（浙江省）英语七年级下学期期末专项复习：阅读理解

    Maria is from Asia. She was born (出生)with no legs, but she lives a happy life with love now.

Four years ago, the Stewart's family had five people—the parents, two daughters and one son. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart wanted to have one more child. So they decided to adopt (收养)one.

    Mr. and Mrs. Stewart found an office first. People there gave them a list of children. They saw many names and pictures on it. Then they found the picture of 9-month-old Maria. They thought she was cute and they loved her smiling face. Almost a year later, Maria joined her American family. Everyone welcomed her.

    Now, Maria lives with the family in America. She goes to hospital every month. Doctors there help to make her better. Everyone takes good care of Maria. She likes to play with animals and listens to music.

    "For me, the important things in the world are family and love. A life without love is a yard without flowers, " Mrs. Stewart said.

    Good morning everyone! Welcome to our school. Now you are students of a middle school. All the things here are new. There are lots of school clubs and after-school activities in our school. Do you want to choose (选择)a good one for you? Here is a quick list to help you.

My father is German, but he works in England. He marries my mother, who is an English woman. Her family name is Robinson, so when I was born in 1632 in England, they named me Robinson, after her.

My father does well in his business and I go to a good school. He wants me to get a good job, and live a quiet, happy life. But I want adventure(冒险) and an exciting life.

"I want to be a sailor(水手) and go to the sea," I tell my mother and father. They are very unhappy about this. "Please don't go," my father says. "You won't be happy. Sailors have a difficult and dangerous(危险的) life." And because I love him, and he is unhappy, I try to forget about the sea.

But I can't forget, and about a year later, I see a friend in town. His father has a ship and my friend says to me, "We are sailing(远航) to London tomorrow. Why don't you come with us?"

The next day we sail for London.

But, a few days later, there is a strong wind. The sea is rough(汹涌的) and dangerous, and the ship goes up and down. I am very ill, and I am very afraid.

"Oh, I don't want to die(死)!" I cry. "I want to live! If I live, I will go home and never go to the sea again!"

The next day the wind stops, and the sea is quiet and beautiful again. (To be continued 未完待续)

What do you think of the 2020 Winter Reading Club?

The Winter Reading Club in 2020 is over. We really want to hear from you! We want to make the 2021 Spring Reading Club better, so please give us some ideas.

What is the Spring Reading Club? This club is to keep kids reading over the spring. The club is to make them read happily. When is the Spring Reading Club open? The club will run from February 27th to April 22nd.

Do you want to learn more about the fun games, great activities, nice gifts and other interesting things? You can read our Spring Library Guide or learn about it on the Internet.

______? Children of all ages can have fun in our club.

How much does it cost? The Spring Reading Club needs no money! Then you can keep your money in your pocket. Come and join our club. I'm sure you'll get a lot.

My name is Amy. I work in a library. Here are the rules of our library.

A lot of people like Snoopy. He is so cute and smart. But can you draw him? Here are some tips（小技巧）.

Start with his ears, and up around the top is his head, and then around the front is his face. He's got a tiny little neck, and a collar around it. From there you can draw his arms and paws. When he's sitting down, his two feet look like two big Easter eggs. And when they face us, we can see the bottoms(底部) of his feet like plum blossoms. Now we draw his nose, and his two eyes, some eyebrows for expression(表情) and a great big smile. We will finish off with his tail.

This is the simple way to draw him. Have you got it? If not, you can join our online drawing class for more tips on weekdays. You can also join our weekend class every Sunday morning. Children under 12 are free.

    These days, the Puy du Fou theme park in Western France welcomed six very special cleaners—Boubou, Bamboo, Bill, Black, Bricole and Baco. They are six crows (乌鸦)! As part of the daily show, the theme park has already trained the crows to pick up roses and bring them to a “princess” in a castle （城堡）.

    Workers at the park have taught the crows to pick up small pieces of rubbish. The crows move the rubbish （垃圾） into a small box. After helping to clean the park, they get bird food for their hard work.

    “The park is very clean,” Nicolas de Villiers, the head of the park, said, “The purpose of the crows is to teach people, to open up their minds to think.”

    As a regular （定期的） visitor to the park, Simons, ever said after watching it, "OK! The birds are able to do something that we are much more able to do than them. It shows that we humans cannot throw rubbish everywhere.”

    Earlier this year, Josh Klein taught the crows to collect money and drop it in a special machine. After six months of training, he found that the crows could remember how to get food by working.

Do you play with your phone before bedtime? According to a US study, looking at screens at night can cause us to sleep not well.

In the evening, our brains make melatonin. Melatonin helps us feel sleepy and relaxed. It's an important part of our sleep cycle. Our electronic screens stop that cycle from working normally.

Why? Phones, computers and TVs make blue light. Blue light stops our bodies from making melatonin. Even just a little bit of blue light can have an effect. Eight minutes of blue light can keep your brain "awake" for another hour, according to the study. Even when you are sleeping, you may have lots of dreams. Your brain won't have a good rest.

It's even worse if you play an exciting game before bed. Games make our hearts beat faster, so we have a harder time falling asleep. Then, when we are sleeping, we don't get enough "deep sleep".

Will you play with your phone before sleep now?

After a relaxing weekend, children have to go back to school on Mondays. For parents, they should do something helpful to let their children get to school on time.

Let children take a good shower. It's good for children to take a shower before they go to bed. It can not only help them sleep well but also save time next morning.

Ask children to go to bed early. School generally starts at 8:00 a. m. So please let your children go to bed before 9:30 p. m. Your children should sleep for about nine hours every day. This is quite important as they have to get up early next day.

Make a good breakfast for children. Breakfast can help children study better in the day. It can help students listen to teachers carefully and think well in class. Also, it's good for their health.

Getting to school on time is very important for your children. So please try your best to help them. If you can do the things above, they will study and live happily.