Science Books for Kids of All Ages

To help you choose the perfect education al books for your child, we've created this handpicked list of the best science books for kids. The titles featured here spark curiosity, encourage leaning, and are lots of fun, too.

About Time: A First Look at Time and Clocks

Author: Bruce Koscielniak; Price: US $8.55

Long ago people used the sun, the moon, and the water to tell time. Soon after we began using our knowledge about the natural world to build clocks and to create calendars made up of months and years. Centuries later, we have clocks and calendars all around us. This book tells the amazing story of how it all happened!

Animalium: Welcome to the Museum

Author: Katie Scott;Price: US $8.99

This book opens the doors of the natural history museum for your child all year round! It features 200 full-color specimens accompanied by lively, informative text and more. Discover the animal kingdom inglorious detail with unique illustrations that combine science and art.

Bang!: How We Came to Be

Author: Michael Rubino; Price: US $16.00

"Bang! And that was it, the beginning of everything." So begins this beautifully illustrated story of evolution. This book conveys not only the facts but also the excitement of the scientific explanation of our world, from the origin of the universe to the present reality of our planet.

Bedtime Math: The Truth Comes Out

Author: Laura Overdeck; Price: US $10.99

This book makes learning about math as fun as dessert after dinner! It combines math and cool facts for one fun and wild adventure. Now kids can discover the science behind all their favorite things: marshmallows, soda, ice cream, and more. With over 100 math problems on a variety of topics, kids will find math isn't just fun — it can be found everywhere!

1. （1） What can kids learn in the book About Time?

   A . The tough life of ancestors. B . The origin of the sun and the moon. C . The old ways to measure time. D . The wildlife in the natural world.
3. （2） What do Animalium and Bang have in common?

   A . They are children's novels. B . They are popular for cheap price. C . They are collected in the museum. D . They are illustrated stories for kids.
5. （3） Which book can make numbers fun and easy?

   A . Bang. B . Bedtime Math. C . Animalium. D . About Time.

In 2005, Calvin Echevarria was on top of his game. He had two jobs, bought a house and was raising a 3-year-old daughter with his wife. But suddenly, it felt like it was all being taken away. He could no longer work as a FedEx driver because he was going blind.

He was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy (糖尿病视网膜病变). "I lost my sight and the job, but I don't care about that. All I care is about my wife and my daughter," he told CBS News. "How am I going to see my daughter grow?"

Echevarria at first worked on developing independent living skills like walking with a cane (手杖). But he wanted to learn more-like skills that would be useful for a job. That's when he found Lighthouse Works in Orlando, a company that creates jobs for the blind.

"Seven out of 10 Americans who are blind are not in the workforce," said Kyle Johnson, the president and CEO of Lighthouse Works. "And we knew that people who are blind are the most highly educated disability group on the planet. And so, very capable people, who want to work and contribute. So, we created Lighthouse Works to help them do that."

At Lighthouse Works, nearly half of the employees are blind. Echevarria works in the call center. In his work, Echevarria uses a system called JAWS to "hear" the computer. The system reads the computer screen to him in one ear a she listens to a customer call in his other ear. Now he has gotten good at it and can listen to JAWS on a dramatic speed. ""It gives me a purpose. It makes me feel better because I can provide for my family." he said.

His original worry was not being able to be there for his daughter. Now, he is her mentor (导师), because she's an employee at Lighthouse Works as well. He said, "Little kids come to their parents, and all of a sudden when they become teenagers, they go away. Now, we're going back again to those days that my daughter used to come to me all the time. And I still feel needed."

1. （1） What did Echevarria wish to do most after he went blind?

   A . Make efforts to buy a new house. B . Collect money to treat his disease. C . Find a job to provide for his family. D . Develop independent living skills.
3. （2） Why did Kyle Johnson create Lighthouse Works?

   A . To found an on-profit charity. B . To help the blind learn living skills. C . To train advanced computer talents. D . To get the blind to enter the workforce.
5. （3） What can be inferred about Echevarria from paragraph 5?

   A . He is the most capable employee in the company. B . He has better listening ability than others. C . He had no trouble in adapting to the new life. D . He is happy to have a new career now.
7. （4） What does the author intend to show in the last paragraph?

   A . A father's love to his daughter. B . A new employee's achievement. C . A daughter's promise to her father. D . A company's contributions to the blind.

Josefa Marin went to New York from Mexico in 1987, supporting her daughter back home with the $140 a week she earned at a sweater factory. With that small income, she had to collect recyclables, trading in cans for five cents each.

When the clothing factory closed down in the late 2000s, she became a full-time recycler, picking up cans and bottles to make ends meet.

Marin's story is not unique. Millions around the world make a living from picking through waste and reselling it — a vital role that keeps waste manageable. In New York City, the administrative department collects only about 28 percent of the cans that could be recycled. Rubbish collectors, however, keep millions of additional recyclables out of landfills every year.

Yet collectors are ruled out by government policies. The United States Supreme Court in 1988 stated that household garbage is public property once it's on the street. That enables police to search rubbish for evidence, but that protection hasn't always been extended to recyclers. And in places like New York City, which is testing city-owned locked containers to hide garbage from rats, containers are made clearly inaccessible for collectors.

"There's value in the waste, and we feel that value should belong to the people, not the city or the corporations", says Ryan Castalia, director of a nonprofit recycling and community center in Brooklyn.

Recognized or not, waste pickers have long been treated with disrespect. Marin recalls an occasion when someone living next to a building where she was collecting cans threw water at her. "Because I recycle doesn't mean I am less of a person than anyone else," she says. It's a pity to see that the government doesn't stand by the garbage collector's side, either.

Fortunately, some governments are starting to realize that protecting the environment and humanity go hand in hand. Brazil classified waste picking as an official occupation in 2001. In 2009, Colombia's government granted the right to collect valuable garbage. The U.S. is slowly catching on too. After all, to the government, the garbage is garbage, but to the collectors, it's something they make a living on.

1. （1） What is the author's purpose of telling about Marin?

   A . To highlight waste collectors' role. B . To reflect the unemployed's hardship. C . To praise her devotion to her daughter. D . To show the seriousness of unemployment.
3. （2） How does the author show the importance of waste pickers' work in paragraph 3?

   A . By citing reference. B . By contrasting. C . By giving definitions. D . By cause-effect analysis.
5. （3） What would Marin agree with?

   A . No job is noble or humble. B . Business is business. C . The early birds catches worms. D . One good turn deserves another.
7. （4） Which of the following is the best title for the text?

   A . Who owns our garbage? B . How can we end poverty? C . Who takes blame for waste? D . How should we recycle rubbish?

What's the effect of poetry on our brain? Scientists have been investigating the neuronal (神经元的) connections and brain circuits that can work in the reading of poetry for some time. And, even though the research has only just begun, the results are already fascinating.

Poetry has the oldest recorded texts in literature. Although it's impossible to say exactly when it began to be used in the oral tradition, we dare to say that it's accompanied humanity forever. This gives us an idea of the impact that poetic language can have on our emotional and cognitive state. The emotional response to literature in general shares areas of activation with music. However, more areas of the right hemisphere (半球) seem to be related to poetry. The researchers measured the goosebumps resulting from the tingling (强烈感受) sensation in reading poetry. This type of sensation has also been proven to result from music. However, the tingling sensations produced by poetry activate different areas of the brain compared to those activated by music.

Dr. Eugen Wassiliwizky's team collected data on behavioral responses in people reading or listening to poetry. They proved that poetry is capable of causing emotional responses and rich emotional experiences. In addition, a poem expresses the poet's ideas. From a psychological view, poetry is a game of language that manages to group words in a surprising way. We could compare this with how a chef combines ingredients that seem impossible to combine, producing extraordinary results. Poetry is based on rules of construction. It sets up a rhythm, which then breaks, before finally returning to it. The play on the meanings of words, sometimes several meanings in just one word, is extremely intellectually inspiring. We can read a poem a thousand times, and still find its new meanings.

Generally, our passage through the wonderful world of poetry is cut short by a rather reduced exposure during childhood and the overly analytical approach of this literary genre (类型), which is given in most schools. Although the studies that experts have conducted on poetry get a lot of interesting results, poetry still holds a mystery that science hasn't yet been able to investigate. For example, why a perfect cadence (抑扬顿挫) and rhythm can lift the spirit of people is the new challenge for the research.

1. （1） What is the main difference between poetry and music?

   A . Music causes fewer goosebumps. B . Poetry creates more tingling sensations. C . They work on different parts of the brain. D . They are processed in different parts of the brain.
3. （2） What does the author probably think of poetry?

   A . It expresses something about the poet. B . It is vague in its meaning but rich in emotional experience. C . It combines ingredients and extraordinary results. D . It's a pure game of language that only surprises readers.
5. （3） What might be the problem when we learn poetry at school?

   A . We make children more exposed to it. B . We haven't read a poem a thousand times. C . We rely too much on our teachers. D . We analyze this literary genre too much.
7. （4） Where can you read the passage?

   A . In a paper on geography. B . In a newspaper. C . In a biography. D . In a magazine on wildlife.

People are always living with technology nowadays. Here comes a smart home, which is controlled by the touch of a button. This acts like a remote control to activate household systems and monitor inside temperatures. If done successfully, a smart home system will be integrated so smoothly that a household will appear to run itself.

Home automation is designed to introduce efficiency to a home. An efficient smart home uses sensors to prevent over watering of outdoor gardens and control room temperatures, all of which can reduce expenses. In addition to cost savings, home automation often provides a sense of security to homeowners.

Families with children or elderly adults in the home may be reassured by some safeguards in smart home security, like fire alarms that alert the appropriate agencies in the event of a problem. Lighting activation runs on timers, which can be a life saver if an oven is left on when someone leaves the home.

Home automation is not just for safety, however. With a centralized control unit, a person does not have to leave the couch to turn down the blinds or even order groceries, which can be automated.

Such a home becomes dependent on technology for routine tasks. If something goes wrong with the central automation unit, it is not just one appliance at risk as malfunctions can disrupt systems that are vital to running a home. As a result, for all people, a home can become a place of technical faults that repeatedly require repair.

A. Smart devices can talk to each other.

B. It achieves this by saving homeowners time and money.

C. There are some drawbacks with an automated home system.

D. It can also provide convenience for people living in the home.

E. Through home automation, an entire house can be connected via a smart controller.

F. Besides protecting people, it also offers security for expensive items inside a residence.

G. Home automation enables you to operate your equipment with the sound of your voice.

I have been adopted by an American family since I was fifteen months old. Growing up in the second-whitest county in California, I had little interest in my1 as an adopted Chinese American. After I moved to Tucson, my curiosity about my identities2 as I was exposed to a larger Chinese population there.

During my four years at Northern Arizona University (NAU), I took two years of3 language courses, which was a major marker in my adventure to4 myself.

Through my class, I was introduced to the NAU Chinese culture club, where I5 my knowledge of Chinese culture and connected with international students from China and students who were deeply6 Chinese culture.

Then I had an opportunity to study abroad in Hong Kong for a year. Surrounded by mainly people who looked like me, I did not feel like I7 as I usually do in the US. I became8 connected to Hong Kong and its9. The experience10 me to find beauty and11 in the complexities (难题) of holding many identities.

After returning from my12 abroad, I started to volunteer at the Education Abroad Office at NAU. I13 my experience and encouraged other NAU students to go abroad, as it was such a14 experience and enabled me to better understand myself. I'm15 to call myself an adopted Chinese American.

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

A man looking at his smart phone while walking across a railway crossing in Nanjing (have) a close knock on Oct. 22. He was so absorbed in his smart phone that he didn't see a train approaching until it brushed past him, (throw) him to the ground. This should serve a warning that people should be aware of their surroundings, especially crossing a road.

(lucky), the man survived a brush with death, but the incident forced the driver to stop the train. 18-minute delay followed the incident, led to a break in the running of other trains on the route.

The smart phone (addict) has spread like an infectious disease. It's evident that it will do great harm to society. What's even (bad), some addicts become impatient with relatives and friends.

Some people blame the smart phone for the tragedy, yet in fact people's weakening self-control and self-discipline are (blame).

假如你是学生会主席李华，你们学校准备组织学生在下周三赴重庆科技馆进行研学活动，请你用英语给国际部交换生写一则通知。要点如下：

1.研学时间和地点；

2.研学活动内容；

3.报名方式。

注意：1.词数80词左右；

2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯

3.重庆科技馆 Chongqing Science & Technology Museum   研学study tour

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阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

On a weekend, a woman won a big bag of coins at a game machine. She took a break for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room. But first she wanted to put the coins in her room.

"I'll be right back and we'll go to eat," she told her husband. Then she carried the bag to the lift. As she was about to walk into the lift she noticed two men already aboard.

Both were huge, very huge figures. The woman was scared. Her first thought was: "These two are going to rob me." Her next thought was: "Don't be afraid. They look like nice gentlemen."

But fear seized her. She stood and stared at the two men. She felt anxious and ashamed. She hoped they didn't read her mind. Surely they knew her hesitation about joining them in the lift. It was all too obvious. Her face was red. She couldn't just stand there, so with an effort of will she picked up one foot and stepped forward and followed with the other foot and was on the lift. Avoiding eye contact, she turned around and faced the lift doors as they closed.

A second passed, and then another second, and then another. Her fear increased! The lift didn't move. Panic consumed her. "Oh dear," she thought, "I'm about to be robbed!"

Her heart sank and sweat poured. Then one of the men said, "Hit the floor." Instinct (本能) told her: Do what they tell you. The bag of coins flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collapsed on the lift carpet. A shower of coins rained down on her. "Take my money and spare me," she prayed. More seconds passed.

She heard one of the men say politely, "Madam, if you'll just tell us what floor you're going to, we'll push the button." The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He couldn't help laughing.

Para. 1：She lifted her head and looked up at the two men.

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Para. 2：Then, the lift arrived at her floor.

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