Lesson 8 Bees

I

1、Look at that bee on the flower. See how it shakes its wings, and works with its little feet. Ah! It is off to another flower. It is working again!

2、Now it is off to another! How busy it is! It does not rest a minute in one place.

It seems to have a great deal of work to do, and to be in haste to get it done.

3、Now let us go to the other end of the garden.

4、Do you see those little straw houses, which have no windows, and only a very small door?

5、They are the houses in which the bees 1ive, and are called hives.

6、A great many bees live in each hive. See how many are going in!

7、When spring comes, and the flowers begin to bloom , the bees come out of the hives very early in the morning. They fly away, and gather the sweet juice out of the flowers.

8、The bee has a long tongue, which it thrusts into the flower, to suck up the juice.

Then it carries the juice to the hive, and makes it into honey.

II

10、WHEN a bee sets out in the morning to look for honey, it does not visit only the flowers near at hand. It goes very often more than a mile from its own hive; but it never loses its way.

11、When a shower of rain comes on, it takes shelter in some little hole in a wall, or perhaps among the leaves of a tree, or inside a large flower. When the sun peeps out again, it mounts up into the air, and flies swiftly home.

12、Bees gather not only honey, but also a kind of golden dust, from the inside of flowers. This dust they carry home on their hind legs. They use it to make bee-bread in the hive, as food for the young bees.

13、This dust they also use to make wax; and with the wax they build a great many 1ittle cells, all of the same shape, and all nicely fitted together.

14、They fill those cells with the sweet honey. The little waxen cells filled with honey are called the honey comb.

(376 words)

Exercises

Ⅰ. How well did you read?

1. [Note the fact] What will the bee do when it rains?

A. It will take shelter in some places.

B. It will mount up into the air and fly swiftly home.

C. It will build a little waxen cell to hide in.

2. [Draw a conclusion] What can you learn from the first part?

A. The bee is hardworking.

B. The bee is in haste.

C. The bee makes honey.

3. [Note the fact] According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A. The bee will lose its way if it goes more than a mile from its own hive.

B. The houses where the bees live are called hives.

C. The little waxen cells filled with honey are called shelters.

4. [Note the fact] What else does the bee gather besides the sweet juice out of the flowers?

A. A kind of wax.

B. A kind of little cell.

C. A kind of golden dust.

5. [Grasp the main idea] What is Paragraph 8 mainly about? It’s mainly about .

A. what the bee looks like when spring comes

B. why the bee carries the juice to the hive

C. how the bee gathers the sweet juice out of the flowers

Ⅱ. Read for words.

Choose one best paraphrase or Chinese meaning for the underlined words or expressions.

1. It seems to have a great deal of work to do, and to be in haste to get it done. (Para.2, line 4)

A. in the sky B. finished in time C. in a hurry

2. The bee has a long tongue, which it thrusts into the flower, to suck up the juice.(Para. 8, line 1)

A. 把……放在 B. 把……投入 C. 把……戳进

3. When a shower of rain comes on, it takes shelter in some little hole in a wall, or perhaps among the leaves of a tree, or inside a large flower. (Para. 10, line 1)

A. builds a hive B. hides himself C. keeps honey

4. When the sun peeps out again, it mounts up into the air, and flies swiftly home.(Para. 10, line 2)

A. comes out B. goes down C. rises

Ⅲ. Writing practice.

1. What does the bee look like when it is working on the flower?

2. Where do they live?

3. What are the hives made of?

4. Why do the bees go out early in spring?

5. How does the bee suck up the juice?