High 1 · Reading series
Lesson 10 · The Question We Kept
Audio track 10
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
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After a heavy rain, the pond near our school looked cloudy. Our group wrote a question for a science project: “Is the pond dirty?” We soon found that the word dirty was too vague. Did we mean color, a smell, or something we could measure?
We visited the pond on several dry days and after two rainy days. We took photographs from the same spot and recorded the weather. The water looked different after rain, but a photograph alone could not tell us exactly what had changed in it. We also learned that taking water samples would require permission and a safer plan.
At the end of the project, we had no simple answer to our first question. Instead, we wrote a better one: “What changes can we observe after rain, and what would we need to measure to explain them?”
I had expected a project to end with a conclusion. Ours ended with a question we could investigate more carefully next term.
Sentence practice
Play any sentence in Dicvo’s Jenny English voice. Before playing all, choose how many times each sentence plays. A practice pause about as long as the sentence follows each play, including before the next sentence. The complete reading remains above.
Choose a sentence to begin.
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After a heavy rain, the pond near our school looked cloudy.
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Our group wrote a question for a science project: “Is the pond dirty?”
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We soon found that the word dirty was too vague.
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Did we mean color, a smell, or something we could measure?
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We visited the pond on several dry days and after two rainy days.
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We took photographs from the same spot and recorded the weather.
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The water looked different after rain, but a photograph alone could not tell us exactly what had changed in it.
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We also learned that taking water samples would require permission and a safer plan.
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At the end of the project, we had no simple answer to our first question.
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Instead, we wrote a better one: “What changes can we observe after rain, and what would we need to measure to explain them?”
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I had expected a project to end with a conclusion.
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Ours ended with a question we could investigate more carefully next term.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
一场大雨后，学校附近的池塘看起来浑浊。我们为科学项目写下问题：‘池塘脏了吗？’很快，我们发现‘脏’太模糊了：是指颜色、气味，还是某种可以测量的东西？
我们在几个晴天和两个雨后去看池塘，从同一位置拍照，并记录天气。雨后水的样子确实不同，但仅凭照片，无法准确判断水中什么发生了变化。我们还了解到，取水样需要得到许可，并制定更安全的计划。
项目结束时，我们没能给第一个问题一个简单答案。相反，我们写出了更好的问题：‘雨后我们能观察到哪些变化？若要解释原因，还需要测量什么？’
我原以为项目一定以结论收尾。我们的项目却以一个下学期可以更认真研究的问题结束。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- cloudy
- 浑浊的；雨后池水看起来不清。
- vague
- 模糊的；‘脏’没有明确指标。
- measure
- 测量；要说明变化需有具体量。
- record
- 记录；小组记下天气。
- alone
- 单凭；照片本身不足以解释水质。
- exactly
- 准确地；无法仅凭外观判定内部变化。
- sample
- 样本；取水样需先计划。
- require permission
- 需要许可；不能自行随意取样。
- observe
- 观察；先确认可看见的变化。
- investigate
- 调查研究；下学期继续追问。
Background notes (Chinese)
水变浑浊是一项可观察现象，却不等于已经测出水质变化。照片记录外观，水样采集另需许可和安全安排；把模糊判断改成可观察、可测量的问题，更适合后续研究。