In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.
Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product-the television set.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners-meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.
The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by
| A．big | B．important | C．combined | D．separate |
In the past, Americans tended to .
| A．spend more time eating their food at dinner table | B．eat more food than they have today |
| C．spend more time talking about their day’s experiences at dinner table | |
| D．talk so much that they forgot to eat |
The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to .
| A．The TV programs | B．the pace of modern life |
| C．the wide use of electrical equipment | D．the popularity of fast food |
. The best title for this passage might be
| A．Talk at Dinner Table | B．TV Dinner | C．Pace of Modern Life | D．Problems Caused by TV |
Typing Success in 20 Minutes a Day
— Teaching Your K-12 Students to Type in 20 Minutes a Day
Typing is fast becoming an important skill in our world. Making this skill available to your students is very important. Just 20 minutes of the following activities per day will give your students the finger strength and keyboard knowledge they need to be ready to include typing in their learning programs.
Step 1 Knitting (编织): You can try various styles until you find the one that best suits your students’ abilities. Finger knitting is a great way to start! It helps students focus on finger strength. Knitting with needles is a little more challenging but will suit some older students. The more practice the fingers get the stronger they will become.
Step 2 Key board games: It helps your students become familiar with the keyboard. Students as young as four years old can practice finger placement, letter sounds and names using the keyboard of computers.
Step 3 Clay modeling: Many children develop the ability to be quick and skilful with their hands through creating clay models. The creative nature of this activity keeps children engaged for long periods of time. It helps keep fingers strong and supple.
Step 4 Lego (拼装玩具) building: Little fingers become strong when children pull apart little Lego time and time again. Because of the fun nature of this activity it helps build and does a lot to reinforce the ability to arrange things into an order — another important aspect in typing.
Choose an age-appropriate, interactive and engaging typing program. All students are different and with firm finger skills typing can be easily learned in 20 minutes a day with the use of a mixture of these different approaches. All the following steps can make one’s fingers stronger EXCEPT ____.
| A．Step4 | B．Step3 | C．Step2 | D．Step1 |
The underlined word “it” in Step 4 refers to ____.
| A．little Lego |
| B．the fun nature |
| C．the strength of fingers |
| D．Lego building |
What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A．Activities listed in the text suit students of all ages. |
| B．Different students have different results after following the activities listed. |
| C．Only one activity can be used in a typing program for specific students. |
| D．Firm finger skills are important for learning to type. |
Word Power
Author(s): Kaplan $13.95
You’ll never be at a loss for words again. Energize your vocabulary with must-know everyday words that are the essentials of a good vocabulary, engaging lessons to help you use words in text, hot words often found on tests, tips to help you figure out new words, roots, and more.
Grades: 8 & up Ages: 13 & up
Word Smart Junior
Author(s): Russell Stauffer $ 17.95
Now this is the way to add new words to your vocabulary! Word Smart Junior will make you laugh so much. You’ll be amazed that you’ve just learned more than 120 fascinating and very useful words! Parents, teachers, and friends will marvel at your eloquence (口才)!
Grades: 3-5 Ages: 8-10
Grammar Smart Junior
Author(s): Marcia Reynolds $ 16.85
Do you quake when your teacher says, “Now it’s time for grammar”? Do your verbs agree with your subjects?
Fear no more! A big Hollywood producer and a famous movie star will help you learn all those nasty (讨厌的) elements of grammar. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you learn, and how much fun it can be. You’ll finally know your grammar backwards and forwards, and you’ll never have to worry about it again.
Grades: 7-9 Ages: 12-14
Grammar Smart: An Audio Guide to Perfect Usage
Author(s): Julian Fleisher $ 12.68
The words you use say a lot about you … but the way you put them together says even more. Your grammar makes an immediate and lasting impression on your teachers, and even your friends. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that grammar is too complicated. We’ve created Grammar Smart to help you write and speak with clarity and confidence.
Grades: 6-8 Ages: 11-13 If a ten-year-old boy wants himself to be admired because of his speech ability, he may buy _______.
| A．Word Power |
| B．Word Smart Junior |
| C．Grammar Smart Junior |
| D．Grammar Smart: An Audio Guide to Perfect Usage |
By saying “You’ll finally know your grammar backwards and forwards”, the writer means “________”.
| A．You will be clearly familiar with grammar |
| B．You will know the history of grammar |
| C．You will know the make-up of grammar |
| D．You will learn about the future of grammar |
The four books are all about _______.
| A．fiction and mysteries | B．parenting and teaching | C．literature and arts | D．language study |
Washoe, a female chimpanzee (黑猩猩) believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept.The chimp died on Tuesday night, according to Roger and Deborah Fouts, co-founders of The Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute in Washington, where she lived.
Washoe was born in 1965 in Africa, where she was captured by the Air Force and taken to the US for research use in the space program. In 1966, she left the program and began living with two scientists, Allen and Beatrix Gardner, who led a project to teach the chimp American Sign Language (ASL) in Washoe, Nevada, for which it was named. Washoe had been living on Central Washington University’s Ellensburg Campus since 1980. She had a vocabulary of about 250 words. Also, Washoe taught sign language to three younger chimps: Tatu, 31, Loulis, 29, and Dar, 31
Primate (灵长类) researcher Jane Goodall, in Fouts’ book Next of Kin, noted the importance of the work with Washoe. “Roger, through his ongoing conversations with Washoe and her extended family, has opened a window into a chimpanzee’s mind,” Goodall said.
Though previous efforts to teach chimps spoken languages had failed, the researchers believed there was a better chance using signs. But Washoe’s language skills were disputed by scientists who believed that language is unique to humans. Among those who doubted that chimps could use language were linguist (语言学家) Noam Chomsky and Harvard scientist Steven Pinker. They believed primates simply learn to perform certain acts in order to receive rewards, and do not acquire true language. As for its first task, Washoe was involved with _______.
| A．some space research |
| B．a study on African animals |
| C．an ASL project |
| D．the program of training the Air Force |
In Goodall’s opinion, teaching Washoe ASL ______.
| A．was not successful |
| B．led to the book Next of Kin |
| C．won honor for Fouts |
| D．made a difference |
In the last paragraph, the underlined word “disputed” probably means “______”.
| A．supported |
| B．studied |
| C．questioned |
| D．discussed |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The ASL project was first set up in Africa for the study on Washoe. |
| B．Washoe may communicate with other chimps by signing. |
| C．Washoe must have been able to speak 250 words or so. |
| D．The researchers will prove that most chimps could use language. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Washoe was the first animal to be taught human language. |
| B．Washoe, the chimp, was named in honor of a place. |
| C．There were four chimps in total at Ellensburg Campus. |
| D．Chomsky believed primates only perform silent signs. |
Health experts have long worried about the increasing rate of obesity in kids. It’s an important concern: Being weight or obese during childhood can lead to serious problems normally seen in adults, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Poor diets and a lack of exercise are usually the causes. But would you ever have imagined there might be a connection between the bacteria that lived in your guts （内脏）when you were a baby and the chance that you would become overweight?
Scientists in Finland recently found just such a link. In a recent study, they showed that overweight kids had different species of bacteria living in their guts.
You probably think of bacteria only as germs that can make you sick. While it’s true that some bacteria can make people ill, your body actually depends on some types of bacteria to help you digest food and extract nutrients from it. These “good” bacteria live in your guts, where they process the food you eat.
Human babies get these bacterial helpers from their moms. When a baby is born, some of the bacteria in the mother move into the baby’s body. Growing babies get additional “good” bacteria from the milk their mothers produce. And it turns out the bacteria might play an important role in regulating weight just six years later.
So how could these bacteria affect weight? The researchers still haven’t tested that question, but future tests might lead to an answer.The “link” in Paragraph 2 refers to the relationship between _______.
| A．bacteria and the chance of being overweight |
| B．obesity and diabetes |
| C．diets and the chance of being overweight |
| D．bacteria and exercise |
Which of the following is NOT the function of “good” bacteria?
| A．Helping to digest food. |
| B．Helping to take nutrients from food. |
| C．Helping to regulate weight. |
| D．Making a person ill. |
The purpose of writing this passage is to _______.
| A．introduce the role of bacteria in children’s weight |
| B．analyze the influence of obesity on kids |
| C．give advice on how to lose weight quickly |
| D．explain the function of bacteria in foods |
A month after Hurricane Katrina, I returned home in New Orleans. There lay my house, reduced to waist-high rains, smelly and dirty.
Before the trip, I’d had my car fixed. When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill, she noticed my Louisiana license plate. “You from New Orleans?” she asked. I said I was, “No charge.” She said, and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet. The next day I went for a haircut, and the same thing happened.
As my wife was studying in Florida, we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage(抵押贷款) on our ruined house. We looked at many places, but none was satisfactory. We’d began to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while, when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kemmedy in California. He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings for state, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions attached”) a new house across the lake from New Orleans. It sounded a good to her return, but I replied, thinking him for his exceptional generosity, then we to go back. Then the University of Florida offered to let him house to me. While he want to England on his one year, paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned the poet’s offer to James Kemdedy, and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months.
Throughout this painful experience, the kindness of strangers has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing you wordy possessions to be reminded that people really when given had a channel. The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of .
| A．unconcern | B．sympathy | C．doubt | D．tolerance |
What do we know about James Kemnedy?
A．He was a written of an online magazine |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida |
| C．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
| D．He learned about the author’s sufferings. |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
The author learned from his experience that .
| A．wordy possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people benefit from their sad stories |
| D．human beings are kind after all. |
Which would be the best title for the text?
| A．Terrible Hurricane Katrina. |
| B．Hurricane Is Heartless While Strangers Are Kind. |
| C．Study in Florida. |
| D．The Importance of Helping Others. |
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