外研版九年级英语上册Unit2课文原文

Module 1

When I arrived, it was early morning and it was raining. I got out of the car, went through a gate and walked along a path. In the east,

the sky was becoming light, but beside the path, it was still very dark. I knew it was there, but there was nothing to see.

After about a kilometer, a stranger appeared in front of me.

“Am I going the right way?” I asked. He knew where I was going. “yes,” he replied, “you‟ll get there in five minutes.” Finally, I came to

some rock, and stopped. I looked carefully over them, but it was still too dark to see anything.

Suddenly, the clouds cleared and the rain stopped. The sun rose

behind me and beyond the rocks. I saw that the ground fell away and down to a river, far below me. I was on the edge of the Grand Canyon,

one of the wonders of the natural world. I looked down to the Colorado River about 2,000 metres below

me. If you put the three tallest buildings in the world at the bottom of

the canyon, they still won‟t reach the top. Then I looked across to the other side of the canyon. How far is it? It‟s 20 kilometres, maybe

more. Finally, I looked to my left and to my right, and on both sides the canyon disappeared into the distance...over 400 kilometres long.

The Grand Canyon is not just big. It‟s huge!

That morning on the edge of the canyon, I asked myself a question. It‟s not “how deep is it? ” or “how wide is it? ”or “how long is it? ”

but “Is the Grand Canyon the greatest wonder anywhere in the natural world? ” I know the answer. But what do you think?

Module 2

My favourite great book is the adventures of tom sawyer by mark

twain. Tom lives with his aunt Polly in the quiet streets of St Petersburg, Missouri. He‟s a lively and clever young boy, and he

finds himself in many exciting adventures. He runs away with his two friends, Huck Finn and Joe, to an island in the middle of the

Mississippi River for days. With Huck he goes looking for treasure,

with Becky he gets lost in a cave, and finally, they find a box of gold. My favourite scene in the book is when everyone thinks Tom is

dead. He decides to go to his own funeral. He hides and watches for a time, and then suddenly he appears. Everyone is surprised to see him

but they‟re also pleased to see him alive.

Tom is the hero of the story, but there are other important characters. Huck is an outsider and everyone is afraid of him. Becky

is pretty with fair hair, Joe is Tom‟s best friend, and Injun Joe is the bad man of the story.

The themes of the story are to do with children growing up and

becoming more serious. It describes how strangers are seen in small towns of America. Finally, it talks about freedom, social rules and

how people are punished for bad behaviour. Why do I think Tom Sawyer is a great book? Mark Twain wrote

the story in 1876, but it‟s still read and loved by people all over the world today. And although it‟s only a story, Twain wrote it in the

everyday English of the southern states of America in the 19th century,

so it sounds very real. Today it‟s thought to be one of the greatest books in American literature. Go on---read it! I know you‟ll enjoy it,

too.

Module 3

For liu Xiang, life as a sporting hero has just begun. First of all, he‟ll be invited to competitions around the world. He‟ll be chosen to

represent China at the Olympic Games. He‟s a symbol of China‟s international sporting success.

And now that he‟s well known all over the world, liu Xiang will

also be asked to appear in advertisements and films, and even to record music. But his coach Sun Haiping is making sure that he

trains regularly. Liu Xiang will be advised by his coach how to be a great sportsman, and by his manager how to be a star.

Liu Xiang is not an overnight success. He was born in Shanghai on

July 13, 1983 and like many Olympic sports stars, he stared training when he was very young. In Grade Four, he went to the Junior Sports

School of Putuo District of Shanghai. Liu was encouraged at first to train as a high jumper. Then, in 1998,his skill at hurdling was noticed

by his coach Sun Haiping. Liu Xiang was helped by a special programme. It was set up in

2001 to help young sportsmen and sportswomen. Liu‟s races were

recorded, and his performance was compared with the world‟s best sports stars. Sun Haiping used the information to change Liu‟s

training programme. In 2002 he won his first international 110m hurdles event in Switzerland, and in the same year, a gold medal at

the Asia Games in Korea. In 2004, Liu won the first Olympic gold

medal in the same event for China in Athens, Greece. So what‟s next for Liu Xiang? Has he found out that there‟s more