One year ago, when Fiona turned four, Sam and I decided to home-school her instead of sending her to pre-school．I have always felt that the 0-5 years are an irreplaceable dreamtime．As Fiona is an inventive, observant child, sensitive and funny and great company, it would be a tragedy to find school rubbing away her uniqueness and restricting the building of her personality．
I tried not to reproduce school at home．I never had the urge to get a chalk, or a blackboard．I didn’t go and search out a curriculum(课程表)．I felt that my children would learn best if I stayed accessible (易接近的)and stayed out of their way．
Every day we worked some, relaxed some, read some and played some, but Fiona did not seem particularly happy here．She lost her temper once in a while．
How strange it was that my child who was free from school didn’t want to be free at all．Her friends all went to pre-school．She felt left out of a major part of her friends’ shared lives and experiences．I thought she was not in school for very strong, clear reasons, one of which was that the quality of learning my child did at home would be good, even better than expected．
Well, here was a situation I hadn’t expected．When we first decided to do this, Sam and I agreed that we would reassess(再评价)the situation for each child as she turned seven．Meanwhile we would offer her non-school-based opportunities to give her plenty of time with other kids-ballet lessons and swimming classes．She seemed to be enjoying all．But at times she kept asking when she was going to school．Whenever she asked this question, we told her that there would be a family meeting about it when she turned seven．She nearly always responded, “That’s when I’m going to go, then．” A fair amount of her curiosity was about school and I was afraid she was dreaming of going to school before she turned seven．
Although the advantages of home-schooling, I think, far outweigh its disadvantages, it is important for me to respect my daughter’s feelings and allow her to direct her own education．If her curiosity leads her to school, isn’t that where she should go?
Next week I’ll drive Fiona to her school．I hope that Fiona will learn to read and discover something wonderful to pursue in the world that opens up for her．I hope she will find the school activities provide her with satisfactory kid-time．
1．The writer decided to home-school her daughter, Fiona, because she thought________．
A．children aged 0-5 were too young to go to pre-school
B．Fiona may not be accepted by schools for her bad temper
C．home-schooling was much better than school education
D．children at Fiona’s age were too young to have their characters formed by school
2．In home schooling her daughter the writer tried to_______．
A．make her home just like a school
B．teach with a pointer, a piece of chalk, and a blackboard
C．be there when her child wanted her but tried not to stand in her way
D．teach according to a curriculum, which was suitable for Fiona
3．What was the writer’s biggest problem in home schooling her daughter?
A．She couldn’t decide what to teach and how to teach her daughter
B．She was not sure whether her teaching was suitable for Fiona．
C．She could not make Fiona give up the thought of going to school．
D．She didn’t know how to control Fiona’s temper
4．We can learn from the text that_______．
A．Fiona always acted against her mother’s instructions
B．it was against Fiona’s wish that she was educated at home
C．home-schooling was popular some years ago
D．Fiona’s parents would ask her opinions about school education
Many people go to work each day to a job they hate. The harmful feelings influence their entire life, putting a negative cloud over the home, their friends and many of their other activities. There is a better way to live your life. Meaningful purpose is a driving force that adds enthusiasm to your days. Here are a few steps to get the new career rolling:
Do some self-analysis. Ask yourself --- What really matters to me? What problem or wrong would I like to fix? What do I enjoy? Where are my interests and hobbies? What are my strengths? What is my secret passion(激情)? What do I want to do with the rest of my life? Reviewing these questions can give you new insight to where you want to go.
Use your unique genius and talents. Every person is born with a unique set of natural abilities. Talents, such as managing, creating, researching, training others, drawing, can all seem like easy work because you have a natural flair（才能）for them. True happiness comes from combining your natural talents, developing and excelling(胜过) in them, and working in a field, job, industry that you have a passionate interest in.
Make a decision. Only action can change your life. Read a book. Take vocational tests. Use a good career-management professional. Do some career exploration and gather all the information you need. Then make a decision and go forward. Outline the action steps to reach your career goal. Finding meaning, passion and purpose every day you go to work is the wonderful reward, so don’t wait any longer. Begin right now and set in motion your own plan to live a happier, more satisfying life.Which is the best title of the passage?
| A．Do not Hate Your Job Any Longer. |
| B．Steps on How to Live Happily and Comfortably |
| C．Suggestions on How to Build a More Meaningful Career |
| D．Find Out Your Natural Talents and Make a Success. |
According to the passage, by analyzing ourselves, we can .
| A．know the true meaning of our life |
| B．understand better about the career we want |
| C．find out our own unique genius and talents |
| D．improve relations with our family and friends |
According to the passage, it’s easier to make success in the work which we .
| A．have much experience at |
| B．have professional knowledge about |
| C．have been performing for a long time |
| D．have a natural talent for |
The purpose in writing this passage is to _____.
| A．direct people to choose their career |
| B．reveal some wrong-doings at work |
| C．give some solutions to deal with troubles at work |
| D．persuade people to work hard to make a happier life |
Outdoor picnics and parties are very popular in America in the summertime. Visit any park between Memorial Day (end of May) and Labor Day (beginning of September) and you'll find families and groups of friends enjoying the warm weather and sharing a meal. Birthday celebrations, family reunions, sporting events and holidays are all common reasons to host a get-together. But just wanting to be outside on a nice summer day is the best reason!
Food is an important part of any gathering, and in the summer Americans love to cook outside on grills（烧烤架）. All kinds of meats, such as hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and sausages, and even vegetables like corn, peppers or potatoes can be cooked on the grill. Many typical families have grills in their yards, and many parks also have grills for public use. Men seem to particularly like to do the job of barbecuing the food, even if they don't usually cook at any other time. Many have “secret recipes” for a delicious barbecue sauce（调味料）.
Other guests at the party will often be asked to “ bring a dish to share”. This means that they will make some kind of side dish (a salad or vegetable) or dessert, and share it with the others. If you make something very delicious, people may want you to make it every time! Fried chicken and sandwiches are popular at picnics too, because you eat them with your hands. Potato salads and baked beans are favorite side dishes.According to the passage, Americans hold outdoor activities in ______.
| A．January | B．April |
| C．June | D．October |
According to the passage, who generally barbecues the meat at gatherings?
| A．women | B．men |
| C．the old | D．the young |
Which of the following statements is True?
| A．It is forbidden to barbecue in all American parks . |
| B．Americans don’t like beans at all. |
| C．Americans don’t like outdoor activities very much. |
| D．If your friends like your side dish very much , they will want you to cook it again next time. |
Lions are opportunists. They prefer to eat without having to do too much work. When resting in the shade, they are also watching the sky to see what is flying by, and even in the heat of the day they will suddenly start up and run a mile across the plains to find out what is going on. If another animal has made a kill, they will drive it off and take the kill for themselves. A grown lion can easily eat 60 pounds of meat at a single feeding. Often they eat until it seems painful for them to lie down.
The lionesses (母狮) , being thinner and faster, are better hunters than the males (雄狮). But the males don’t mind. After the kill they move in and take the best share.
Most kills are made at night or just before daybreak. We have seen many, many daylight attempts but only ten kills. Roughly, It’s about twenty daytime attempts for one kill.
When lions are hiding for an attack by a water hole, they wait patiently and can charge at any second. The kill is the exciting moment in the day-to-day life of the lion, since these great animals spend most of their time, about 20 hours a day, sleeping and resting.
Lions are social cats, and when they are having a rest, they love to touch each other. After drinking at a water hole, a lioness rests her head on another’s back. When walking, young lions often touch faces with older ones, an act of close ties among members of the group.By describing lions as “opportunists” in the first paragraph, the author means to say that lions _______________ .
| A．are cruel animals |
| B．are clever animals |
| C．like to make use of other animals |
| D．like to play with other animals |
According to the text, which of the following is true?
| A．Lions make most kills in the daytime. |
| B．Males care more about eating than active killing. |
| C．Lions are curious about things happening around them. |
| D．It doesn’t take lions too much time to make a kill. |
Lions spend most of their time, about 20 hours a day, ______________.
| A．playing and killing | B．sleeping and resting |
| C．eating and sleeping | D．playing and sleeping |
How can we know that lions are social animals?
| A．They depend on each other. |
| B．They look after each other well. |
| C．They readily share what they have. |
| D．They enjoy each other’s company陪伴. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Powerful Lions | B．Lions at Work and Play |
| C．Lions, Social Cats | D．Lions, Skilled Hunters |
As a boy, Charles Robert Darwin collected anything that caught his interest: insects, coins and interesting stones. He was not very clever, but Darwin was good at doing the things that interested him.
His father was a doctor, so Darwin was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine, and was planned to follow a medical career. But Charles found the lectures boring. Then his father sent him to Cambridge University to study to be a priest. While at Cambridge, Darwin’s interest in zoology and geography grew. Later he got a letter from Robert FitzRoy who was planning to make a voyage around the world on a ship, the Beagle. He wanted a naturalist to join the ship, and Darwin was recommended(推荐). That voyage was the start of Darwin’s great life.
As the Beagle sailed around the world, Darwin began to wonder how life had developed on earth. He began to observe everything. After he was home, he set to work, getting his collection in order. His first great work The Zoology of the Beagle was well received, but he was slow to make public his ideas on the origin of life.
Later Darwin and Wallace, another naturalist who had the same opinions as Darwin, produced a paper together. Darwin’s great book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (《物种起源》) appeared. It attracted a storm. People thought that Darwin was saying they were descended from monkeys. What a shameful idea! Although most scientists agreed that Darwin was right, the Church was still so strong that Darwin never received any honors for his work.
Afterwards, he published another great work, The Descent of Man. His health grew worse, but he still worked. “When I have to give up observation, I shall die,” he said. He was still working on 17, April, 1882. He was dead two days later.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Charles Darwin’s ideas |
| B．Charles Darwin’s works |
| C．Father of modern biology: Charles Darwin |
| D．The greatest scientist: Charles Darwin |
Darwin’s father sent him to Edinburgh to _____.
| A．make him like natural history |
| B．make him become a doctor |
| C．let him change his hobbies |
| D．have him give up his collection |
According to the passage, Charles Darwin’s whole life was changed by _____.
| A．his study at Cambridge University |
| B．his collection of coins |
| C．the naturalists at Cambridge |
| D．the voyage of the Beagle |
The underlined part “they were descended from monkeys” probably means “_____”.
| A．they gave monkeys life |
| B．they were different from monkeys |
| C．they were developed from monkeys |
| D．they had to live with monkeys |
Which is the right order about Charles Darwin according to the passage?
a. He published another great work, The Descent of Man.
b. His father sent him to Cambridge University to study to be a priest.
c. His first great work The Zoology of the Beagle was well received,
d. He got a letter from Robert FitzRoy who was planning to make a voyage around the world on a ship.
| A．acbd | B．bdca | C．bcda | D．abdc |
Football is, I believe, the most popular game in England: one has only to go to one of the important matches to see this. Rich and poor, young and old, one can see them all there, shouting for their teams. One of the most surprising things about football in England is the great knowledge of the game which even the smallest boy seems to have. He can tell you the names of the players in most of the important teams. He has pictures of them and knows the results of large numbers of matches. He will tell you who he thinks will win such a match, and his opinion is usually as good as that of men three or four times of his age.
Most schools in England take football seriously（认真地）— much more seriously than nearly all European schools, where lessons are all very important and games are left for the children themselves. In England it is believed that education is not only a matter of filling a boy’s mind with facts in the classroom; education also means the training of character by means of games, especially team games, where the boy or girl has to learn to work with others for his or her team instead of working for himself or herself alone. Therefore the school plans games and matches for its students. Football is a good team game. It is good both for the body and the mind. That is why it is every school’s game in England.Football games are very popular in England among _____________ .
| A．all the people | B．grown-ups |
| C．boys only | D．boys and girls |
In England, a boy’s opinion of a match is often______________.
| A．three or four times better than that of a man |
| B．worse than that of a man |
| C．as good as that of a man |
| D．worth thinking three or four times |
In England, education means _________________ .
| A．filling a boy’s mind with stories |
| B．more than the teaching of knowledge |
| C．the teaching of knowledge only |
| D．training character by means of football games |
We can use_______ instead of the underlined word “therefore”
| A．however | B．as a result |
| C．why | D．at that place |
From the passage, we learn that ________________ .
| A．schools in England make use of football games for the training of character |
| B．England is better than all the European countries |
| C．football is more important than lessons |
| D．only some schools in England have football game |
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