The ear is an important organ (器官). To make people know the importance of our ears, the govemment set up National Ear Care Day. It falls on March 3rd every year. How much do you know about the ear?
There are three parts in our ears — the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. We can see the outer ear clearly. It can collect sound around us. Then the sound goes through the middle ear to the inner ear and finally to our brain.
Our ears keep working all the time even when we are sleeping, but our brain just pays no attention to it. Sometimes we may wake up suddenly at midnight. That's because our brain hears something, although we don't know what it is.
Our ears also help us keep a balance. There are some organs that are full of liquid (液体) with small hairs around them in the inner ear. The liquid and hairs send messages to our brain to make us keep a balance.
Our ears even have something to do with tasting food. We may have problems telling tastes if there is something wrong with our ears.
You see, ears can do more than we think, so take good care of our ears from now on.
（a）根据短文内容，从方框中选出每段的主旨大意。
| A. Helping us keep a balance B. Keeping hearing day and night C. Different parts of the ear D. Helping with tasting food E. An important organ—the ear |
（b）根据短文内容，补全下面的表格，每空填一词。
| Date | ★National Ear Care Day is on 3rd. |
| Parts | ★Our ears have three parts. They are the outer ear, the ear and the inner ear. |
| Functions (功能) | ★Sometimes we may wake up suddenly at midnight our brain hears something. ★The liquid and hairs in the inner ear messages to our brain to make us keep a balance. ★If there is something with our ears, we may have problems telling tastes. |
