Dear Michelle:
Why can't my daughter manage her life better? She is 17 and an honor student, but she seems to be wasting her life away with a boyfriend who is holding her back.
He consumes every waking, minute of her precious time and smooth-talks her as well.
His goal is to get her to agree to go to the college of his choice, not her choice, and because his grades are lower, his choice will be limited.
I feel like I want to rescue her, but she pushes me away and shuts me out. She has only brought us pride and joy; and now this! Help!
A worried mother
Dear Mother of a 17-year-old Girl:
Hmmmmm. What's the matter with kids today? Remember that song from "Bye Bye
Birdie"?
Well if you do not, let me fill you in about teenagers and their life-management skills.Do not expect too much too soon because at the ripe age of 17, life-management is not within their reach, not should it be.
Life experience creates both the conditions and the skills for management, and if management went before experiene, there would be tittle of it.
Your daughter is an honor student for good reasons. She is smart, studies with
intelligence and you have given her good Values.
When the time comes for her to apply for college, and she visit the ones that were specifically desigened for student the top of their grade, she will most likely break away from her boyfriend's influenee.
It is rare for an honor student to change the path of their academic career for puppy love. That being said, them might be some adoldscent wisdom in her behavior after all.
Perhaps she is choosing to worry you, her parents, for unconscious reasons. Being such a good girl and being a steady source of joy might have become a bit too much for her.
Let your daughter have her own private moment of 11th grade rebellion. She deserves a break from perfection.
MichelleFrom the mother's letter we can learn that her daughter
| A．is being fooled by the boy | B．has fallen behind in her studies |
| C．doesn't talk much with her mother | D．has chosen which college to attend |
According to Michelle; 17-year-teenagers .
| A．are too young to manage their life |
| B．are old enough to live their own life |
| C．should have managemnent before experience |
| D．have reached the age of an adult |
The underlined word"puppy-love"refer to
| A．false love | B．foolish love | C．pure love | D．adolescent love |
Michelle seems to believe that the daughter will finally
| A．come up with the right decision |
| B．follow her boyfriend's advice |
| C．worry her parents for unconscious reasons |
| D．influence her boyfriend's behavior |
The best title for the passage would be
| A．College of kids' own choice |
| B．How can I help my girl? |
| C．How to manage teenagers' life? |
| D．A 17-year-old girl and her mother |
Hummingbirds have got their name from the distinct “hum” sound made by their rapidly flapping (拍打) wings. The size of the bird decides the number of flaps it can do. The average lifetime of a hummingbird is 3 or 4 years, but some of them have lived beyond 12 years also. They are unique in many ways. Besides the number of rapid flaps they can do per second, they can also fly backwards.
Hummingbirds have an amazing sense of assessing the amount of sugar in the nectar (花蜜) they eat. They feed on the nectar of flowers. Hummingbirds do not feed on flowers whose nectar contains less than 10% sugar. Talk about a sweet tooth! As they cannot sustain themselves on nectar alone because of its poor nutritional value, they also feed on insects and spiders, and hummingbird food mixture that one can make at home.
Attracting hummingbirds to your garden will require a little planning. Plant butterfly bush, mimosa, coral bells, foxglove, morning glory, etc. These flowers attract the hummingbirds due to their high visibility (可见性) and nectar production. Avoid using pesticides (杀虫剂), as it will not only kill the insects around the flowers, but hurt the hummingbirds as well.
A common food for these birds is the sweettasting sugar syrup (糖浆). Hummingbird food ingredients are just two: sugar and water. Take a large clean bowl, pour in it four cups of hot water, and dissolve one cup of table sugar in it. Stir slowly until all sugar has dissolved.
Hummingbirds, tiny as they are, collect a lot of nutrition. Providing them with hummingbird food mixture made of sugar water is a sure way to get all these beauties humming in your garden.Hummingbirds will have some little animals for their meal when .
| A．they can't find any green plants |
| B．they can't take in enough nutrition |
| C．they are bored with eating nectar |
| D．they are too old to fly |
In order to attract hummingbirds, you should .
| A．plan high trees |
| B．grow plants with small flowers |
| C．grow plants whose flowers are bright in color |
| D．grow plants coming into flower in the morning |
The main idea of the fourth paragraph is .
| A．how to prepare food for hummingbirds |
| B．where hummingbirds can find delicious food |
| C．hummingbirds can't live for long without sugar |
| D．hummingbirds like manmade food better than nectar |
COOL INVENTIONS
From school to band Practice, the Venturi Eclectic is an Earth-friendly way to get Where you want to go. This battery-powered, zero-emission (meaning it doesn't pollute the air) vehicle runs mainly on renewable energy. Solar panels on the Eclectic's roof absorb sun rays when you're driving. On windy days, you can connect a machine to the car's roof that collects energy from the wind while you're parked. The Eclectic's top speed is 28 miles an hour; the battery lasts for 31 miles before it needs to be recharged. Zipping (迅速行进) around the neighborhood has never been better.
Here's an eco-friendly way to tell time: Simply fill the Bedol Water-powered Clock's tank (箱) with water, add some lemon juice, and the clock will display the time without the need for environmentally harmful batteries. There are two sets of metal electrodes (电极) inside the water tank. Water contains ions (离子) that carry negative and positive charges. These ions complete a charge between the electrodes, creating enough energy to power the clock. Just refill the tank every few weeks, and this clock will keep on ticking.
Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC) will be the first car to attempt to break the l,000-mile-an-hour barrier. (The current record is 763 miles an hour.) A concept for now, the rocket-shaped car gets its initial push to 350 miles an hour from a jet engine. Then a rocket fires up, pushing the SSC past 1,000 miles an hour. In order to keep the car streamlined (流线型的), the driver lies back at a 45-degree angle.
You're having a blast at your friend's birthday party. But when it's time to bring out the cake, everyone crowds around, blocking your view. No worries. Throw the Triops into the air, and this clever camera captures the view from above. The Triops can take three pictures at once, each from different angles. You can also record sounds and command the Triops to start shooting whenever it hears that noise. That's one smart camera.According to the passage, the Venturi Eclectic .
| A．is popular with businessmen | B．is suitable for a long trip |
| C．can turn wind into energy | D．has only a little gas emission |
What is the common characteristic of the Venturi Eclectic and the Bedol Water-powered Clock?
| A．They don't need batteries. | B．They are difficult to operate. |
| C．They can be powered by water. | D．They are environmentally friendly. |
The underlined phrase “having a blast” in the last paragraph probably means .
| A．looking at a picture | B．enjoying yourself |
| C．blowing out a candle | D．recording sounds |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The Triops is sensitive to sounds. |
| B．The driver of the SSC must be of great size. |
| C．The color of the Bedol Water-powered Clock is like that of lemon. |
| D．The SSC doesn’t have anything to do with a rocket actually. |
In 1995, Susan Boyle went to Glasgow to audition (试演) for My Kind of people, a televised talent show popular in the UK. She was immediately rejected. She was nervous during the audition, and felt she didn't perform well, but her brother said that she was rejected because of her plain looks. Boyle was not discouraged and continued to sing at church and at the karaoke nights in a local pub.
Boyle suffered a personal loss in 1997, when her father passed away. After his death. Boyle put her big dreams on hold to care for her sick mother Bridget Boyle. The mother and daughter often talked of Susan's possible fame. Bridget Boyle encouraged her daughter to take part in singing competitions. “She was the one who said I should enter Britain's Got Talent. We used to watch it together.” Susan later told reporters. “She thought I would win.”
In 1999, Boyle used all of her savings to pay for a professional demo (样本唱片) tape. which she sent to record companies. In 2002, Boyle began taking singing lessons from voice coach Fred O'Neil.
In 2007, Boyle's mother passed away at the age of 91. A neighbor reported that when Bridget Boyle died, her daughter “wouldn't come out for three or four days or answer the door or phone.” She lived alone with her cat, Pebbles. For over a year, she refused to sing. But in August of 2008, O'Neil urged her to try out for Britain's Got Talent. Convinced that the performance would be an honor to her mother, Boyle auditioned in Glasgow, Scotland. She sang I Dreamed A Dream in the first round of the show, which was aired on 11 April 2009.
The 47-year-old Scottish woman's plain looks provided a sharp contrast (对比) to her powerfully beautiful voice. The performance astonished the audience and the judges. Online videos of her performance totaled over 40 million views within a week. Although she failed to win the final of Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle became globally popular. Her first album I Dreamed A Dream has sold over five million copies.Bridget Boyle's attitude towards her daughter's musical talent can be described as .
| A．critical | B．doubtful | C．indifferent | D．optimistic |
From Para. 4 we learn that Boyle .
| A．was slightly discouraged by her voice coach |
| B．entered Britain's Got Talent to prove her ability |
| C．decided to give up her singing career |
| D．was deeply affected by her mother's death |
Which of the following is TRUE about Susan Boyle?
| A．Her international fame grew rapidly in 2008. |
| B．Her audition for My Kind of People failed. |
| C．She has never stopped singing since 1995. |
| D．She was the winner of Britain's Got Talent. |
In writing this passage, the author mainly intends to .
| A．tell us how Boyle's dream came true |
| B．let us know more about Boyle's personal life |
| C．show how Boyle was influenced by her family |
| D．explain how to enter and win a talent show |
___Stephen: Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer. When I began to discover what other
people's lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
___Susan: I'm a girl from England and has studied French for years. I'm here in Fudan University studying Chinese. I like China as it is full of mysteries. So I hope the voluntary work will help me to get in touch with Chinese people and get to know about China．Although my study is busy, I can be free at night and at the weekends.
__Tim: Since I myself have overcome a lot of difficulties in my life, I understand young people's problems and I know how to listen patiently to others and offer some advice. I'm working now in the daytime so I can only spend two to three hours a day at night to help others.
Lisa: I burst into tears when I saw those children in a TV programme. What a sight. They are only bone and skin left. What's worse, every day the children are dying because of lack of food．I realized how lucky I am with enough food and a good chance to get education. The summer vacation is coming and I hope I can do something for them.
| A．As we know, the 2010 World Expo are held in Shanghai and many people from other countries come to visit China．The taxi drivers in Dongfeng Taxi Company think the way to show kindness is to be able to greet the foreigners in their languages. They need someone who can teach them languages and the best time is at night when they are not so busy. |
| B．Tom is so addicted to on-line games that he cannot concentrate on his study like before. Now he often misses school in order to play games, thus telling lies to his teachers and parents again and again. Though he realizes what he does is wrong, he just can't stop it. How badly he needs someone's help. |
| C．Mane, a 44-year-old single mother of three, has to walk two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she doesn't know which bus to take. What's worse, since she does not know words, she can not write out a shopping list. Also, she can only recognize items by sight, so if the product has a different label, she will not recognize it as the product she wants. |
| D．"Helping hand" organization will hold an event to help the starving children in Africa．The event starts in August and those taking part in will go without food for 30 hours. In this way, it is expected that money will be raised for the poor children. |
My friend had also seen it. He grew up l
iving in a forest in Europe, and the moon meant a lot to him then. It had touched much of his life.
I know the feeling. Last December I took my seven-year-old daughter to the mountainous jungle of northern India with some friends. We stayed in a forest rest-house with no electricity or running hot water. Our group had campfires outside every night, and 
indoors when it was too cold outside. The moon grew to its fullest during our trip. Between me and the high mountains lay three or four valleys. Not a light shone in them and not a sound could be heard. It was one of the quietest places I have ever known, a bottomless well of silence. And above me was the full moon, which struck me deeply.
Today our lives are filled with glass, metal, plastic and fibre-glass. We have televisions, cell phones, pagers, electricity, heaters and ovens and air-conditioners, cars, computers.
Struggling through traffic that evening at the end of a tiring day, most of it spent indoors, I thought: before long, I would like to live in a small cottage. There I will grow vegetables and read books and walk in the mountains And perhaps write, but not in anger. I may become an old man there, and wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled and measure out my life in coffee spoons. But I will be able to walk outside on a cold silent night and touch the moon.The best title for the passage would be______.
| A．Touched by the moon | B．The pleasures of modern life |
| C．A bottomless well of silence | D．Break away from modern life |
What impressed the writer most in the mountainous jungle of northern India?
A．No modern equipment  |
B．Complete silence. |
| C．The nice moonlight | D．The high mountains |
Modern things (Paragraph 4) are mentioned mainly to______.
| A．show that the writer likes city life very much |
| B．tell us that people greatly benefit from modern life |
| C．explain that people have less chances to enjoy nature |
| D．show that we can also enjoy nature at home through them |
The author wrote the passage to_______.
| A．express the feeling of returning to nature |
| B．show the love for the moonlight |
| C．advise modern people to learn to live |
| D．want to communicate longing for modern life |
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