七年级阅读文章.docx

1.Sing a birthday songTHE lights go out and the candles on the cake are lit (点燃). It’s your birthday! It’s time to make a wish and blow out (吹灭) the candles. But before that, friends and family will sing you a song. Do you know which one? It’s Happy Birthday to You!Every English speaker learns this song at a very young age. It is the most recognized (普遍接受的) song in the English language, according to the Guinness World Records!It is thought that American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill wrote the song as a classroom greeting in the US. It was released (发行) in 1893. Yet the words were very different. Instead of (用……代替) “Happy Birthday to you”, the words were “Good Morning to all.”The two sisters, both teachers, made the song so children could easily sing it to one another. When a student had a birthday, the class would sing to them.Today, the song is popular across the English-speaking world, from the US and Canada, to the UK and Australia.2.Never give upNATALIE Portman is a successful US actress. She is an Oscar winner and also a Harvard University graduate (毕业生).Last month, the 33-year-old gave a speech to graduating students at Harvard. She said she once had a very difficult time at school.Portman went to Harvard in 1999. But at the time she wasn’t so confident (自信的) in herself. She thought she got in the university only because she was famous.“I felt like … every time I opened my mouth I would have to show that I wasn’t just a dumb (愚蠢的) actress,” she said in the speech.The bad feeling went on for two years. Luckily Portman didn’t give up and things got better. In 2003, she graduated with a degree (学位) in psychology (心理学).So Portman thought that the students should be always confident. That way, she said, you can “try things that you never would have tried.”3.I was dreaming of Confucius没有醒来是因为我梦见孔夫子了。MR Lee once dozed off (打瞌睡) while having a meeting. After he woke up (醒来), he felt embarrassed(尴尬的), so he said to the manager: “Just now I dreamt about Confucius, so I