1、80年代初中英语课本第五册课文Why the bat comes out only at night？（80年代初中英语课本第五册第1课）Long, long ago, there was a war between the birds and the beasts. No one knows what they fought about. ?The bat did not know whose side he should take. He thought and thought, then decided he must try to be on the side of the winne
2、rs. ?So he watched from far away. After a while, it seemed that the birds were going to win. He flew over to join them. ?“What on earth are you doing here?” a bird shouted at him. ?“Cant you see Im a bird?” the bat said with a smile. “Look, I have swings, just like you.” ?“Come along, then,” said th
3、e bird. “Dont hide behind others.” ?But things changed soon. Now it seemed that the beasts were winning. So the bat left the birds in a hurry and went over to the beasts. ?“What are you doing on our side?” and animal called out to him. “Are you spying on us?” ?“Dont you know Im one of you?” asked th
4、e bat, showing his teeth. “Look. Cant you see Ive got teeth, too?” ?“Who are trying to fool?” said the animals. “We saw you fighting on the side of the birds just now.” ?So the beasts drove him off. Of course the birds refused to take him back. ?When the beasts and the birds saw neither side could w
5、in, they decided to stop fighting. ?Neither beasts nor birds would have the bat as their friend, so he was afraid to leave his home. Ever since then, he comes out only at night. Lesson 2 Nathan Hale（80年代初中英语课本第五册第2课）The young American stood quietly while the British guards searched his clothes. They
6、 found nothing. “If they dont find the maps in my boot,” he thought, “maybe they will let me go. Then Ill try to send the maps to General Washington.” ?“Take off your boots,” one of the guards ordered. The Americans heart beat faster. He took off his boots and handed them to the guard. ?The guard lo
7、oked inside one boot, then another. ?“Use your knife, man!” ordered the British officer nearby. ?The guard brought out his knife and cut one boot open. He stopped suddenly and the American knew what it meant. The maps of the British armys defence works! ?The guards took the American to General Howe.
8、 The general looked at the maps. “I see youve made some drawing of our defence works,” he said. “This can only mean one thing.” ?“Yes, sir.” ?“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” ?“No, nothing.” ?“Whats your name?” ?“Nathan Hale.” ?“Rank?” ?“Captain.” ?The general studied the maps a few more
9、minutes. “Captain Hale,” he said finally. “Ive never seen such fine drawings. You know, we could use a man like you. Why not join us? You dont have to worry about rank or pay.” ?Nathan Hale looked straight at the general. “Nothing could make me turn against my country!” ?“Then theres only one thing
10、I can do, you understand?” ?“Yes, sir.” ?“You will be hanged as a spy early tomorrow morning.” *?*?* ?Nathan Hale looked around as a British soldier put the rope around his neck. ?“Now, Nathan Hale,” said the British officer. “Lets hear what you have to say before you die.” ?Nathan Hale took a last
11、look at his beautiful country and said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” ?Lesson 3 A question of pronunciation（80年代初中英语课本第五册第3课）This happened in?London. It was November and the weather was very wet and cold. ?A Frenchman had caught a very bad cold. He coughed day and
12、night. So he decided to go and get some medicine for his cough. As he did not know much English, he got out his dictionary and looked up the word “cough”. But the dictionary did not tell him how to pronounce the word. He thought it over and remembered that he had learned the word “plough”. He rememb
13、ered that it was pronounced plau. So he thought that c-o-u-g-h must be pronounced kau. ?The he put on his coat and hat and went to a chemists shop. When the man in the shop asked him what he wanted, the Frenchman said: ?“I want something for my cow, please.” ?The man in the shop looked at him. Had h
14、e heard him correctly? ?“I beg your pardon, sir?” he asked. ?The Frenchman repeated: “I want some medicine for my cow.” ?“For your cow?” asked the man. “Are you a farmer?” ?“A farmer?” said the Frenchman in surprise. “What makes you think Im a farmer? I come from?Paris. Im not a farmer.” ?“Wheres yo
15、ur cow, then?” asked the man in the shop. ?“Its here!” replied the Frenchman. He put his hand on his chest and began to cough. “Here it is!” he said. “Ive a very bad cow here.” ?Then the man in the shop understood what the Frenchman meant. He wanted some medicine for his cough. ?Lesson 4 The Arab in
16、 the desert（80年代初中英语课本第五册第4课）An Arab was walking alone through the desert when he met two men. The men looked worried. It seemed that they had lost something. The Arab went over to them. ?“Have you lost one of your camels?” he asked them. ?“Yes,” they said. ?“Was he blind in the right eye and lame i
17、n the left foot?” asked the Arab. ?“Yes, he was? ?“Had he lost a tooth and was he carrying corn?” ?“Yes,” said the men. “Please tell us where he is.” ?“I dont know where he is,” said the Arab. “Ive never seen such an animal.” ?“Did someone tell you about him?” ?“No.” ?The two men looked at each othe
18、r in surprise. They could not believe the Arabs words. Finally, they came up close to him, took hold of him, and shouted: ?“Wheres the animal? And what have you done with our goods?” ?The Arab insisted that he had never seen the camel. At last the men took him before a judge. They said that the Arab
19、 had stolen their camel. ?“Ive never seen their camel,” insisted the Arab. “But Im a man of the desert, and Ive learned to look carefully at everything I see. This morning I saw the tracks of a lost camel. I knew this because there were no mans tracks near those of the camel. I also saw that the cam
20、el must be blind in the right eye, because he had only eaten the grass on his left side and had not touched the grass on his right. The animal was lame because with one foot he left a track much lighter that any of the others. He had lost a tooth, because wherever he ate grass, there was always a sm
21、all space left untouched. I also found groups of ants near the tracks of the camel. They were pulling pieces of corn. From these facts I was able to tell what goods the animal was carrying.” ?The judge and the two men were satisfied with what the Arab had said. Together the four men set out to look
22、for the lost animal. ?Lesson 5?The seagulls of?Salt Lake City（80年代初中英语课本第五册第5课）?Salt Lake City?is a beautiful city in the west of?North America.?The name comes from a great salt lake nearby. The city lies in a valley with high mountains all around it. But long ago there was almost nothing in this pl
23、ace and there were very few people living here. ?More than a hundred years ago, a group of men, women and children moved from the east to the west. They had traveled a long way. At last these brave people came to the great mountains by the salt lake. They crossed the mountains and reached this quiet
24、 place. They decided to stay here, and so they built their homes and made their farms. This was where?Salt Lake City?now lies. ?The people had to work hard on their farms, because their lives depended on their crops. ?One day while they were working in the fields, some farmers saw something strange
25、in the sky. ?“Whats that?” asked one of them. ?“Where?” asked another, as he stopped to look. ?“Over there,” was the reply. ?They saw something like a cloud coming, but it was too low in the sky. As they watched, it came nearer and nearer. Suddenly a shout went up: “Locusts! Millions of them!” ?The
26、words put fear into the hearts of all, because they knew what locusts could do, and they had never seen so many of them before. ?In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything the wheat, the corn, the grass and even the leaves on the trees. ?The farmers brought out things to fight th
27、e locusts. They tried everything. But while they were killing the locusts in one place, millions more arrived in another. What could the farmers do? ?Suddenly there was a great noise. As they looked up, they saw another cloud coming towards them. To their surprise, they saw not locusts this time, bu
28、t seagulls. The farmers cried out, “Theyve come to eat what the locusts have left.” ?But to their joy, they found that the seagulls had come to eat not the crops, but the locusts. They had seen or smelled the locusts and had come from the?Great Salt Lake. Now they were eating the locusts! In a short
29、 while they ate up millions of them. The farmers crops were saved! ?The people were very thankful. They decided that from then on no one should ever kill a seagull. And today, if you go to?Salt Lake City, you can see a monument with seagulls on top of it. ? Lesson 7 The Pyramids （80年代初中英语课本第五册第7课）Th
30、ousand of years ago, the kings of?Egypt?built strong bombs for themselves. Over these tombs they built pyramids. They thought their bodies would be well kept in these until they could come back to life. They also hoped the world could look on the pyramids as monuments to them and would remember them
31、 for ever. ?There are around 80 pyramids in?Egypt. But the Great Pyramid is the biggest of all. It is nearly 5,000 years old. It is about 137 metres high today, but it was once highter. It is made of 2,300,000 huge stones. Most of them are higher than a man and weigh about two and a half tons each. Some weigh as much as fifteen tons. It took more than 100,000 men twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. ?When you look at the pyramids, you cant help wondering how the Egyptians were able to build them thousands of yea
