Have you ever thought about developing your kids’interests in a positive manner? Have you thought about using music to help them focus their energies on a wonderful pursuit (追求)? Do you realize that by doing so, you will better equip them in life? Your little child will love you all his or her life for the first music lessons that you may give.
Most kids have an interest in music. The only thing to do for you is to give direction to their interests so that they can focus on learning the fine art. Music teaches children to be persistent and disciplined. It also teaches them to try towards perfection and be a good team player. All this helps them not only in their studies but also in facing the challenges of life. Thus music at home and home recording are the first lessons you can present to your children.
How to maintain the interests of kids in various kinds of music and instruments? To solve this problem, it is important that at the beginning you bring home something that can hold the child’s interest for quite some time. This would include instruments such as electric guitar or drums. Encourage them to download music which is free over the Internet.
Another thing to remember is that no one becomes an expert overnight. Have patience with your child. No point in fussing over his skills too much. A few words of appreciation will mean the world to them. Ask for their opinions and stick to the choice for quite some time. Be generous in praise.
Music is the perfect gift you can present to your kids. It is never too late and the sooner you start, the better.The author uses three questions at the beginning of the passage to _____.
| A．test readers’ knowledge of music |
| B．show the effect of music on children |
| C．draw readers’ attention to the topic |
| D．ask readers to answer them |
The intended readers of the passage are _____.
| A．teachers | B．musicians | C．children | D．parents |
This passage is mainly about _____.
| A．how to direct children to pursue their interests |
| B．how to make children creative |
| C．how to draw children’s attention to music |
| D．how music affects children’s studies |
I was very disappointed not to be able to go to the jazz (爵士音乐) concert last Friday. The advertisement (广告) in the paper said that you could buy tickets at the theatre box in Richland Hills any day between 10:00 and 4:00. Since I work from 9:00 to 5:30, the only time I could go to the theatre was during my 45-minute lunch break. Unluckily, the theatre is on the other side of the town, and the bus service between my office and Richland Hills is not very good. But if you are lucky, you can make the round (往返的) trip in 45 minutes. Last Monday, I stood at the bus stop for fifteen minutes waiting for the bus. By the time I saw one come around the corner, there was not enough time left to make the trip. So I gave up and went back to the office. The same thing happened on Tuesday, and again the next day. On Thursday, my luck changed. I got on a bus right away and arrived at the theatre in exactly twenty minutes. When I got there, however, I found a long line of people at the office. I heard one man say he had been waiting in line for over an hour. Realizing I would not have enough time to wait in line, I caught the next bus and headed back (奔回) across the town. By Friday I realized my only hope was to make the trip by taxi. It was expensive, but I felt it would be worth it to hear the concert. The trip by taxi only took 10 minutes, but it felt like an hour to me. When I got to the theatre, I was relieved to see that nobody was waiting in line. The reason, however, I quickly discovered, was that they had already sold all the tickets.The man learned that there would be a concert last Friday ________.
| A．from his friends | B．from one of his workmates |
| C．over the radio | D．from the newspaper |
One day the man took ________ to get to the theatre by bus.
| A．forty-five minutes | B．fifteen minutes |
| C．just twenty minutes | D．over an hour |
The underlined word “relieved” may best be replaced by “________”.
| A．worried | B．pleased | C．puzzled | D．sorry |
The writer mainly shows us his _____________.
| A．enjoyment of the concert |
| B．anger for buying the ticket |
| C．efforts to buy the ticket |
| D．disappointment at the concert |
California sea lions are the fastest of all the sea lions, reaching speeds of up to 40 kilometers an hour when swimming. Males are much larger than females, measuring 2 to 2.5 meters and weighing 200 to 453 kilograms. Females only measure 1.5 to 2 meters and weigh 50 to 113 kilograms. They can also move fairly well while on land.
California sea lions can be found living along the Pacific coast of North America. They prefer to live in waters near rocky and sandy shores. On land, they often gather in large groups as many as 1,000 of them. While at sea, they travel in much smaller groups of around 10 or more. They communicate with one another through a series of sounds.
Their diet consists of a wide variety of fish and other sea animals. They are able to hold their breath for up to 10 minutes by slowing down their heart rate, allowing them to hunt for their prey for a longer period of time. They have been known to continuously hunt for up to 30 hours at a time, with their eyesight and hearing playing an important part in finding their food. Being so large, they do not have that many natural predators (天敌) that they need to be on the lookout for.
Eleven months after getting pregnant, the female will give birth to one baby on land. If the baby can survive long enough, they can live to be 20 to 25 years old.
California sea lions are not listed as an endangered species. This is largely because of laws such as the US Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972. Hopefully such acts will continue to show results.What do we know about California sea lions?
| A．They weigh at least 113 kilograms. |
| B．They swim faster than any other sea animal. |
| C．Males are much larger than females. |
| D．They usually move very slowly after leaving the sea. |
Which of the following descriptions about California sea lions might NOT be true?
| A．About 1,000 of them are often seen together on a shore. |
| B．Hundreds of them hunt together at sea. |
| C．They are often seen near rocky shores along the Pacific coast. |
| D．They make a series of sounds to communicate with each other. |
California sea lions slow down their heart rate in order to .
| A．swim faster at sea |
| B．have a rest while hunting |
| C．hunt for over 30 hours at a time |
| D．stay in water for a longer time |
What is the main reason why California sea lions aren’t endangered?
| A．That they are not worth much money. | B．That they have no natural enemies. |
| C．That they are protected well by laws. | D．That they are good at raising the young. |
You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person on the other end has a depressing (令人沮丧的) tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. You are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative (消极的) people can wash out your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.
Life brings ups and downs, but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others’ pity or respect.
When you communicate with positive (积极的) people, your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger (匕首) of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that, all in all, brings you down.
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. This could be a co-worker, or relative. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to a negative person, but all this is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to (附着) you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.How can negative people have effect on us?
| A．By telling US the nature of life. |
| B．By influencing our emotion. |
| C．By comparing their attitude to life with ours. |
| D．By changing our way of thinking. |
Some negative people base their happiness on ____________.
| A．other people’s pity for them |
| B．building up a positive attitude |
| C．making other people unhappy |
| D．other people’s respect for them |
According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us, we are advised __________.
| A．to change negative people’s attitude to life |
| B．to show our dissatisfaction to negative people |
| C．to communicate with negative people as little as possible |
| D．to make negative people feel ashamed of themselves |
What can we learn about negativity?
| A．Its effect can be completely avoided. |
| B．Its effect can last. |
| C．It hardly happens among family members. |
| D．Its effect is smaller than the effect created by a positive person. |
English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.
However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.According to the passage _____________.
| A．boxing rings should be round |
| B．pineapples are the apples on the pine tree |
| C．there should be an egg in an eggplant |
| D．sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things |
Which of the following is the correct plural form (复数形式)?
| A．Beeth. | B．Meese. | C．Geese. | D．Tooth. |
Which of the following has the similar meaning?
| A．Quite a lot and quite a few. | B．Overlook and oversee. |
| C．A wise man and a wise guy. | D．Hot as hell and cold as hell. |
Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
| A．lazy | B．crazy |
| C．clever | D．stupid |
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flow more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they welcome us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly cannot manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!The writer of this passage must be ______.
| A．an American | B．a professor |
| C．a Chinese | D．a student |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| C．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
| D．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ____________.
| A．warmly welcomed at the airport |
| B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
| D．treated hospitably at his home |
A suitable title for this passage would probably be “_____________”.
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships |
| C．Americans’ hospitality |
| D．Friendships between Americans |
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