In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet, despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition she won last year.
As a writer I know about winning contests, and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection slip from the publisher. I also know the pressures of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and dashed hopes can surface.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting (借用) my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices. What did the author say about her own writing experience?
| A．She was constantly under pressure of writing more. |
| B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers. |
| C．Her way to success was full of pains and frustrations. |
| D．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer. |
Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
| A．She wanted to share her stories with readers. |
| B．She had won a prize in the previous contest. |
| C．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help. |
| D．She believed she possessed real talent for writing. |
The author took great pains to refine her daughter’s stories because ________.
| A．she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dream of becoming a writer |
| B．she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance |
| C．she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much |
| D．she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing |
What’s the author’s advice for parents?
| A．Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions. |
| B．Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience. |
| C．Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in. |
| D．A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue. |
Rail passengers are being forced to pay thousands of pounds more in fares as a result of poor advice from the national telephone helpline and individual stations, a consumer organization reveals today. Research by Which found that in some cases passengers are being charged almost double the cheapest price because of errors made by staff.
Which asked 25 questions of both station staff and the National Rail Enquiries(NRES)helpline. Only half of the 50 questions were answered correctly. If customers had followed all the advice given, they would have seen ￡ 1,263,60 worse off.
Bad advice was given for the cheapest fare for a single journey between London and Grantham. For a ticket bought on the day of travel, both NRES and a King's Cross station clerk quoted GNER's ￡ 44.50 fare, ignoring a Hull Trains service which leaves 10 minutes earlier and costs just ￡ 20.
Some of the most costly misinformation was given for journeys where season tickets should have been recommended. Passengers making a return journey between Swindon and Penzance twice in a week could buy a ticket from one company for ￡ 70 which would cover all the travel. But both NIRES and station staff quoted ￡ 67 for each journey, making ￡ 134. However, the NRES website proved to be a much more reliable source of information.
Which also checked “the earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket” claims by five companies and found this was not always the case. On some services, prices went up and down at random. Ithiel Mogridge, 52, gave one example of poor advice：“Last Christmas I found my brother a ticket on the thetrainline. com to travel from Blackburn to Yate. While the direct route was ￡ 51, this one involved a change in Newport and cost just ￡ 21. I emailed the details to him and and his partner. They went to Blackburn station, where the clerk insisted the fare was ￡ 51.”Malcolm Coles, editor of which. co. uk, said：“Staff training needs to be improved. In the meantime, we've designed a checklist, available at which. co. uk/railiadvice.”According to the passage “Which” is a________.
| A．national telephone helpline |
| B．department under the British Rail |
| C．consumer organization |
| D．website under the National Rail Enquiries |
When the author said that customers “would have been ￡ 1,263,60 worse off”， he was telling us that customers would have________.
| A．saved ￡ 1,263,60 if they had followed the advice |
| B．spend ￡ 1,263,60 more than the lowest price |
| C．used ￡ 1,263,60 for the survey of 25 questions |
| D．been cheated of ￡ 1,263.60 from the poor advice |
The phrase “at random” in paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“________”．
| A．casually |
| B．purposefully |
| C．exactly |
| D．inevitably |
At one time no one could travel on an English road faster than four miles an hour. That was the law until 1896. A man had to walk in front of a car which could not go faster than man. At night the man had to carry a red lamp.
Once Charles Rolls brought a car from France to England, but he wanted to drive faster than four miles an hour. In order to have no trouble with the police, he had a talk with some of the police officers，who ordered their policemen to_look_the_other_way when the car came along the road. This was a good plan in the country, but not so easy to follow in the busy streets of London.
One night Roils and some friends started from London on their journey to Cambridge. One of the men walked in front with the red lamp, but he walked as fast as he could. The police became very interested in walls and shop－fronts when they heard the car, and not one of them saw it.
They reached a hill, but what a waste of time it was to drive down the hill at four miles an hour! Rolls was getting ready to jump into the car, but then he noticed a policeman who was not looking the other way. The slow car reached him.
“Good evening，” said the policeman, looking at the car.
“Good evening，” said Rolls, holding the lamp.
“One of these horseless things，” said the policeman, looking at it with interest.
“Yes，” said Roils, and waited.
“I've often wanted a ride in one. but of course policemen can't buy things like that.” He turned and looked hopefully in Roll's face.
“Jump in.” said Rolls.
“Thanks，” said the policeman, and did so.“ Now, ”he said, “sitting down, you can let it go just as you like down this hill.
There isn't another policeman on this road for a mile and a half.”The policemen were told “to look the other way”(the underlined part in Paragraph 2)so that________.
| A．they could watch the car coming from the other direction |
| B．the car could go faster than four miles an hour |
| C．they could make sure no one was in the way |
| D．the car would not hit them on the road |
In what way did the policemen carry out the order from their officers?
| A．They greeted Rolls when the car came along. |
| B．They walked in front of the car with a red lamp. |
| C．They pretended to be attracted by something else. |
| D．They stood on duty every 1.5 miles along the road. |
The policeman who said “Good evening” to Rolls wanted to________.
| A．teach Roils a lesson |
| B．have a talk with Rolls |
| C．take a free ride home |
| D．have a car ride experience |
After the policeman jumped into the car, Rolls________.
| A．dared not drive the car faster than he was allowed to |
| B．could drive as fast as he wished within a certain distance |
| C．could drive on any road he liked for the rest of the journey |
| D．drove his car as fast as he could down the hill to Cambridge |
Some of Beijing Zoo's animals are suffering menu changes because of the bird flu spread in Asia.
Gone are the lions' and tigers' delightful “live” chicken dinners. In their menus, instead, are raw beef and mutton. While the lions and tigers go chicken less, the zoo's birds are also receiving some special and uncomfortable treatment these days. The peacocks in Befalling Safari Animal World, who used to be featured in the park and could walk around showing off their beautiful feathers, now are forced to stay in cages.
And turkeys at the Beijing Zoo—believed to be most likely to suffer from the bird flu virus have been moved out of their old home to places separate from visitors. In most cases，display areas with birds have been closed for health reasons.
Yet a good thing about the present situation is that the living conditions of the zoo's birds are being improved, with keepers keeping the display areas cleaner and not as crowded as before. Almost all zoos have done more frequent cleaning and disinfection for bird cages——measures to prevent infection.
In this special period, pigeons(鸽子)are_frowned_upon._In Beijing, many homing pigeon lovers use balconies(阳台)to build cages for birds. Most neighbours are fed up with these cages since they can produce waste and feathers. Now the city's homing pigeon organization is asking all its members to stop letting pigeons out of their cages and keep cages clean. Still, pigeons and some other birds seem less lovely to people than before.
As a Chinese newspaper put it “Doves, are you still angels？”which of the following shows the menu changes in the Beijing Zoo?
| A．The lions and tigers have “live” chicken dinners. |
| B．The lions and tigers eat raw beef and mutton. |
| C．The lions and tigers have chickens only for supper. |
| D．The lions and tigers have beef and mutton for part of meals. |
We can conclude from the text that________.
| A．turkeys have been moved out of the zoo because of the bird flu virus |
| B．peacock shows used to be free of charge |
| C．people can hardly see peacock shows in the Beijing Zoo now |
| D．homing pigeons are safe from the bird flu virus |
The underlined sentence in the text means“________”．
| A．pigeons receive the best care |
| B．people are worried about pigeons |
| C．people feel displeased with pigeons |
| D．people show no interest in pigeons |
阅读下面的短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。
Rush hour traffic is a problem in many big cities around the world. Commuters(道勤者)rush to and from their jobs in cars, buses, subways, trains, and even on bicycles. Large cities in the United States have two rush hours—one in the morning and one in the evening. But in cities in other parts of the world, there are four rush hours. In Athens and Rome, for example, many workers go home for lunch and a nap. After this midday break, they rush back to their jobs and work for a few more hours.
In Tokyo, there's a big rush hour underground. Most of the people in Tokyo take the subways. The trains are very crowded. Subway employees called packers wear white gloves and help pack the commuters into the trains when the doors place. They make sure that all purses, briefcases, clothes, and hands are inside the trains.
In Seoul, many computers prefer to take taxis to get to work. To hail_a_cab,_many people stand at crossroads and raise two fingers. This means they'll pay the cab driver double the usual fare. Some people even raise three fingers! They'll pay THREE times the normal rate.
Streets in Rome are very crowded with automobiles and mopeds(摩托自行车)during rush hours. The city can't make its streets wider, and it can't build new highways, because it doesn't want to disturb many historic sites in the city, such as the Forum and the Colosseum. It took the city fifteen years to construct a new subway system. Construction had to stop every time workers found old artifacts and discovered places of interest to archaeologists(考古学家)．
In many big cities, there are special lanes on highways for carpools. These are groups of three or more people who driver to and from work together. They share the costs of gas and parking and take turns driving into the city.
Getting to work and getting home can be difficult in many places around the world. Rush hour traffic seems to be a universal problem.Big cities have traffic problems during rush hours because there are________.
| A．special lanes on highways |
| B．many commuters |
| C．four rush hours |
| D．many cars on the street |
Most of commuters in Tokyo________.
| A．take subway trains to work |
| B．are packers |
| C．take taxis to work |
| D．carry briefcases to work |
To “hail a cab” means to________.
| A．pay double the normal rate |
| B．try to get a cab |
| C．prefer to take taxis |
| D．to stand at crossroads |
Why did it take a long time to build a subway system in Rome?
| A．Because the streets were very crowded. |
| B．Because there are many historic sites. |
| C．Because the workers discovered many artifacts and places of interest. |
| D．Because the traffic always stopped the construction. |
Commuters in carpools probably________.
| A．live in the city |
| B．take the subway to work |
| C．save money on gas and parking fees |
| D．have special license plates(牌照) |
Tokyo is one of those places that you can love and hate at the same time.
In Tokyo there are always too many people in the places where I want to be. Of course there are too many cars. The Japanese drive very fast when they can. But in Tokyo they often spend a long time in traffic jams. Tokyo is not different from London, Paris and New York in that. It is different when one wants to walk.
At certain times of the day there are a lot of people on foot in London's Oxford Street. But the streets near Ginza in Tokyo always have a lot of people on foot, and sometimes it is really difficult to walk. People are very polite; there are just too many of them.
The worst time to be in the street is at 1130 at night. That is when the nightclubs are closing and everybody wants to go home. There are 35 000 nightclubs in Tokyo, and you do not often see one that is empty.
Most people travel to and from work by train. Tokyo people buy six million train tickets every day. At most stations, trains arrive every two or three hours. There do not seem to be enough trains. Although they are usually crowded, Japanese trains are very good. They always leave and arrive on time. On a London train you would see everybody reading a newspaper. In Tokyo trains everybody in a seat seems to be asleep, whether his journey is long or short.
In Tokyo, I stood outside the station for five minutes. Three fire- engines raced past on the way to one of the many fires that Tokyo has every day. Tokyo has so many surprises that none of them can really surprise me now. Instead, I am surprised at myself：I must go there next year on business. I know I hate the overcrowded city. But I feel like a man who is returning to his long-lost love.Tokyo is different from London in that________.
| A．it has a larger population |
| B．there are more traffic jams |
| C．it is more difficult to go somewhere on foot |
| D．night clubs are sometimes empty |
Japanese trains________.
| A．often leave and arrive on time |
| B．are often crowded |
| C．are the main means people used to travel to and from work |
| D．all of the above |
Where can you find everybody reading a newspaper?
| A．At most London train stations. |
| B．At most Tokyo train stations. |
| C．On a Tokyo train. |
| D．On a London train. |
Fires break out ________in Tokyo according to the writer.
| A．quite frequently |
| B．only several times a day |
| C．not very often |
| D．very seldom |
Which of the following is NOT true about Tokyo?
| A．The streets become more crowded at 1130 at night. |
| B．There are more trains than cars. |
| C．Fire-engines are very busy in the city. |
| D．Tokyo people are friendly. |
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