You may often hear some myths（传言）about animals. For example, one dog year equals about seven human years, chameleons（变色龙）change color to match their environment... Today, let's talk about birds. It is said that if you touch a baby bird, the parents will completely abandon（抛弃）it. Do you really believe it?

In fact, most birds have a very poor sense of smell, so in most cases they are unable to even notice the smell of humans on baby birds. Not only that, but most types of birds aren't so quick to abandon their young when they sense danger. Some types will even do their best to protect their young when they are in danger.

Indeed, in very few known cases, parent birds sometimes abandoned their nests from something touching their young, just because they noticed it by sight, not smell. When this happens, the parent birds usually won't care, other than to be a little more careful than normal. Sometimes, they may temporarily（暂时地）abandon the nest in order to better watch whatever disturbed their nest comes back.

What's more, in most cases, even if the nest is destroyed by wind or something to that effect, you could create a new one and put all the baby birds back in it, and when the parents came back, they wouldn't care their baby birds were in a different nest, so long as you put the new nest near where the old one was so they can find it.

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When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book, and a poor man got it.

The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum（羊皮纸）on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone".

The touchstone was a small pebble（鹅卵石）that could turn any common metal into pure gold.

The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this; The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his house, bought a tent, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up normal pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebbles hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold—throw it into sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days stretched into months and the months into years.

One day, however, about midafternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He was used to throwing each pebble into the sea as soon as he picked it up. So when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity（机会）. Unless we are vigilant, it’s easy to fail to realize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

   Stanford is a world famous university on the west coast of the US.
26．, because the poor boy died of a strange disease.

Tourists are often surprised at the beauty of Stanford. Among the green trees, buildings with yellow walls and red tops make up a beautiful picture.
27．. That's because they were the favorites of Mrs. Stanford.

28．. It stands at the center. It was built by Mrs. Stanford to remember her husband who devoted himself to the university. There, students and teachers can communicate with God, and they can also hold great activities, such as concerts and celebrations.

29．. It is the landmark of the university. A man named Hoover had done a lot for the university. The things he once used can be seen on the first floor. On the top of the tower, tourists can have a good look at the whole campus.

As one of the world top universities, Stanford has many subjects that stand among the top ones in the world.
30．. If you want to study computer in a university abroad, maybe it is your best choice.

In Chinese culture, it is believed that people who have fair(浅色的）skin（皮肤）are more beautiful. In western culture, however, the opposite is true-many westerners think tanned skin is prettier. It
36． that different cultures have different ideas of what they think is beautiful.

These cultural meanings of beauty, however, are no
37． important. As more and more people travel overseas, ideas about beauty are being shared among cultures. The Internet has also made it easier for people to share different types of beauty
38． people are always posting pictures on social media. With the help of the Internet, people's views about beauty are always一 
39．. People are now able to
40． borrow ideas from other cultures to help them stand out. So what new fashions can we expect to see in the future?

In some western countries, some people don't like the number 13 because they think 13 is an unlucky number. For example, they don't like to live on the thirteenth floor. One evening, Mr. Smith asked some friends to get t
41． . When all of his friends arrived, he asked them to sit at the table for d
42．. He began to c
43． the people. Suddenly, he cried out, "Oh, there are thirteen people here!" Everyone's face looked pale e
44． Mr. Brown. He said with a smile, "Don't won't, my friends. My wife will have a baby in a few weeks. So we have f
45． people here." All of the friends became happy again. "Congratulations!" they said to Mr. Brown. They all had a good time that evening.

On March 31, 2019, a wildfire in Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture（凉山彝族自治州）led to 31 deaths, including 27 firefighters. And on May 1st, 2016, in Alberta, Canada, a wildfire destroyed an area of nearly 700 square miles. More than 88, 000 people had to leave their homes and thousands of homes were destroyed.

Wildfires are unexpected, unplanned. And the cause of most wildfires is unsure. To burn, wildfires require the right conditions-fuel, oxygen and heat. And global warring is one of the most important reasons. The high temperatures and dry conditions make the fire spread quickly.

In many parts of the world, wildfires happen naturally. They are started by lighting（闪电）or some other special weather conditions. In recent years, there have been more wildfires because of dry, hot weather, and changeable weather patterns because of global warning.

However, many fires are started by people. Sometimes, people clear land for farming. Besides, there are smokers who accidentally set fires.

Wildfires can cause a lot of smoke, which will pollute the air. Lots of lives, property（财产）and valuable forests will soon disappear in wildfires. When trees are burnt down, and heavy rain follows, more disasters such as terrible floods will happen.