初中英语短文.docVIP

1 Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the most important festival for Chinese people all over the world. It is also called the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year. The exact date of the Spring Festival on the Western calendar changes from year to year. However, Chinese New Year takes place between January 1 and February 19. On the Chinese calendar every year has an animals name. These animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. A Chinese legend says that these twelve animals had a race. The first year was named after the rat, the winner. The other eleven years were named according to the order in which the animals arrived in the race. The clever rat jumped onto the oxs back, and then at the end jumped over the oxs head to arrive first! The Chinese believe that a person born in a particular year has some of the characteristics of that animal. 2 A Teenagers Joke: Guidelines for Doing Schoolwork My school had a policy about homework. Students should not spend more than ninety minutes per night doing homework. This is how I use the time for my work. Fifteen minutes looking for assignment; Eleven minutes calling a friend for the assignment; Twenty three minutes explaining why the teacher is mean and does not like teenagers; Eight minutes in the bathroom; Ten minutes getting a snack; Seven minutes checking the TV Guide; Six minutes telling my parents that the teacher never explained the assignment; Ten minutes sitting at the kitchen table waiting for Mom or Dad to do the assignment. 3 The Toad and the Frog A toad saw a frog near the road. He was a fat old frog. He sat and moaned and groaned. The toad said, “Do not moan and groan, Mr. Frog. Hop like me. Hop down the road.” So the frog and the toad went down the road to a big oak tree. “I am home,” said the toad. “Come in and I will make tea.” But Mr. Frog said, in a deep croak, “I must not roam far from home. I will be off to my home near the pond.” 4.