(CIP) 3 2010 ISBN 978-7-5446-1918-9 I. II. III. IV. G634.413 CIP 2010 129070 09-2010-242 Copyright 2007 by Cengage Learning Australia, a part of Cengage Learning. Original edition published by Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press is authorized by Cengage Learning to publish and distribute exclusively this adaptation edition. This edition is authorized for sale in the People s Republic of China only (excluding Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan). Unauthorized export of this edition is a violation of the Copyright Act. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Cengage Learning Asia Pte. Ltd. 5 Shenton Way, # 01-01 UIC Building, Singapore 068808 Cengage Learning
Contents My Best Friend s a Genius The Riddle of the Camel Race International Trade: A Case Study Galileo Galilei and the Beginning of Modern Science Life in the Amazon Jungle Papua New Guinea: An Indigenous Society Glossary Key 1 15 29 43 57 71 85 88
George Ivanoff Toby Quarmby Contents Chapter 1 The Boy Genius 2 Chapter 2 The Hyper Phone 4 Chapter 3 Talking to Aliens? 7 Chapter 4 The Future 10
Chapter 1 The Boy Genius NOTES genius n. smart a. weird a. skateboard n. automatic toilet flusher Miles is a genius! That means that he s really smart super brainy! He invents things... weird things, things you think will never work, but they always do. He invents things like flying skateboards, computercontrolled mouse-traps and automatic toilet flushers. How do I know this? Miles is my best friend. My name is Gary. I m not a genius. I don t invent things. But, I m good at helping Miles get out of trouble. That s another thing that Miles is good at getting into trouble. Well... it s his inventions that get him into trouble. 2
The automatic toilet flusher scared Miles s mum so much that she grounded him for a week. Let me tell you about the time Miles made a hyper phone. Yes, that s right, a hyper phone. He sent me out to get the parts he needed for the phone. This was going to be his best-ever invention. It was, sort of. NOTES scare v. ground v. hyper a. best-ever a. 3
Chapter 2 The Hyper Phone What s a hyper phone? It s a mobile phone that lets you talk to aliens. Miles read this feature article about UFOs Unidentified Flying Objects and he was sure that UFOs are spaceships from another planet. Anyway, he decided to talk to the aliens in the UFOs. It won t work, I said when Miles told me about it. A phone s no good unless there s another phone to ring. Why would aliens have mobile phones? If aliens can build spaceships that come to Earth, explained Miles, they must have mobile phones. It s logical! I didn t think it was logical, but there s no arguing with Miles. I just went and got what he needed. NOTES mobile a. alien n. UFO n. unidentified a. logical a. a. 4
NOTES nod v. plug v. sci-fi n. It took Miles three days to make a little box with flashing lights on it. When I saw it for the first time, I just nodded and said, That s great. Then, Miles got out his mobile phone and plugged it into the box. Miles has a weird-looking mobile phone. His parents wouldn t buy him one, so he made one himself. It works really well, and calls don t cost anything, but it looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. 5
Now what? I asked Miles. I m not sure, he said, shrugging his shoulders. I don t know what number to ring. You re joking, I said. Miles just shook his head sadly and closed his eyes. I thought he was going to cry. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. I ve got it! he said. I ll use the computer to quickly ring numbers until we get an alien on the phone. That could take ages, I said. Miles looked sad again... but then the light on his desk started to go on and off, and his mobile phone rang... NOTES shrug v. (eyes) snap open take ages go on and off 6