A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves — the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying “Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without us thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh (刻薄的) and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem (自尊) and motivate others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.There is no need for us to feel embarrassed when we talk to ourselves because _________.
| A．almost everybody has the habit of talking to themselves |
| B．talking to ourselves always gives us courage |
| C．we can benefit from talking to ourselves |
| D．it does no harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone |
The underlined part in the third paragraph means that we should also timely ________.
| A．remind ourselves | B．praise ourselves |
| C．make ourselves relaxed | D．give ourselves amusement |
The author would probably hold the view that _________.
| A．encouraging words are sure to lead to kind offers |
| B．negative words may motivate us to make more progress |
| C．people tend to remember friendly words |
| D．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
In which column of the newspaper can you most likely read this passage?
| A．News. | B．Advice column. | C．Health. | D．Language. |
If you could take a large snapshot (照片) of everyone in the United States today, it would contain six minion more females than males. In this country, women outlive men by about seven years. Throughout the modern world, cultures are different, diets are different, ways of life and causes of death are different, but one thing is the same--- women outlive men.
It starts before birth. At conception, male fetuses(胎儿) outnumber female by about 110 to 100; at birth, the rate has already fallen to about 105 boys to every 100 girls. By the age of 30, there are only enough men left to match the number of women. Then women start taking a lead. Beyond the age of 80, there are nearly twice as many women as men.
“If you look at the top ten or twelve causes of death,” said Deborah Wingard, a disease expert at the University of California at San Diego, “every single one kills more men.” She listed out one sad fate after another – heart disease, lung cancer and so on. Each kills men at roughly twice the rate of that it does women.
More than a century ago American men surpassed and outlived the women. But in the 20th century, women began living longer, primarily because pregnancy（怀孕) and giving birth to children had become less dangerous. The gap grew steadily. In 1946, for the first time ever in the United States, females outnumbered males.
Parts of the reasons are self-made. Men smoke more, drink more and take more life-threatening chances than women. Men are murdered (usually by other men) three times as often as women are. They commit suicide at a higher rate and have more than twice as many fatal car accidents as women do. Men are likely to be involved in alcohol-related deaths.
But behavior doesn’t explain away the longevity gap.
Today, some scientists studying the gender gap believe that the data point to one conclusion Mother Nature may be partial(偏袒) to women.
Every living thing is assembled according to instructions on its chromosomes (染色体), and humans have 23 pairs of them. But in males, one of these is a weak non-matching pair, expressed by “xy”. The agreement pair in females is “xx”, and its genetic “backup” power is sometimes listed as a clue to woman’s superior restoring force. If the male’s single “x” chromosome isn’t perfect, it is possible for a serious genetic disorder to appear. Some blood diseases, for instance, are diseases caused by a shortcoming in a single gene on the “x” chromosome. They are far more common in males than females.What may the underlined word “outlive” in Paragraph1 mean?
| A．Become stronger than. | B．Live longer than. |
| C．Be wiser than. | D．Be born more earlier than. |
What can we infer from the second paragraph?
| A．Female fetuses are more than male. |
| B．The female are surpassing the male with age increasing. |
| C．By the age of 30, the female are more than the male. |
| D．Over 90, men are more than women in the United States. |
How many exact diseases are mentioned as examples killing twice men than women?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Ten. | D．Five. |
The best title for this passage is _____
| A．Why women live longer than men |
| B．Women are different from men |
| C．American men once lived longer than the women |
| D．Men smoke and drank more than women |
What did your school smell like? Was it noisy or peaceful? It might not seem important, but a growing body of research suggests that smells and sounds can have an impact on learning, performance and creativity．
Bridget Shield has been conducting studies and advising people on the effects of all sorts of noises, such as traffic and sirens, as well as noise made by the children themselves． "Everything points to a harmful impact of the noise on children’s performance, in numeracy, in literacy, and in spelling,” says Shield．
Shield says the sound of “babble” －the chatter of other children, is particularly distracting in the classroom．。People are very distracted by speech-particularly if it is understandable, but you’re not involved in it．” This phenomenon is also known as the irrelevant speech effect, she says, adding that “it’s a very common finding in open-plan offices as well．’’
In a series of studies published last year, Ravi Mehta found that people were more creative when the background noises were played at a medium level than when volume was low． Loud background noise, however, damaged their creativity． Ravi Mehta suggests there maybe some benefit to playing music or other sounds in an art class or other situations where creativity is the key．
Many teachers all over the world already play music to students in class． Many are inspired by the belief that hearing music can boost IQ in their tasks, the so-called Mozart effect． While the evidence actually suggests it’s a guess to say classical music boosts brainpower, researchers do think pleasant sounds before a task can sometimes lift your mood and help you perform well, says Ravi Mehta," If you like the music or you like the sound-even listening to a Stephen King novel-then you did better． It didn’t matter about the music,“ he says．
However, it’s worth considering that music is not always helpful while you’re trying to work． Trying to perform a task which involves serial recall - for instance, doing mental mathematics-will be distracted by sounds with audio variation, says Ravi Mehta． Songs with lyrics, on the other hand, are more likely to interfere（干扰）with tasks that involve languages-such as reading comprehension．
This isn’t the only sense being related to affecting learning．The second paragraph implies that _________.
| A．general noise also has a harmful effect． |
| B．students are sensitive to noise． |
| C．some children need special sounds to do tasks． |
| D．children aren't affected by their own noise． |
The irrelevant speech effect refers to the fact that _________.
| A．you don’t understand what others are talking |
| B．you are interrupted by the chatting of others |
| C．you are unwilling to chat with other people |
| D．you find what others are talking irrelevant to you |
According to the text, Ravi Mehta believes that __________.
| A．music matters when you want to do better． |
| B．music will help you do mental arithmetic． |
| C．any music can be beneficial as long as you like it． |
| D．songs with lyrics will improve your reading comprehension． |
What might be discussed in the following paragraph?
| A．Whether music is helpful all the time． |
| B．What sound can promote a person’s creativity． |
| C．When smell can improve students’ behavior． |
| D．How smell affects children’s performance． |
“A very disruptive (调皮捣蛋的) six-year-old child kicked my legs and clawed at my hand,” said one teacher. “I broke up a fight and was kicked between my legs,” said another. Many people have heard stories like this. But the situation is more worrying still and it involves parents.
Every child, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born, has the right to achieve their potential, regardless of their parents’ wealth and class. And we recognize that, as a nation, it is a long way to achieve this goal. But with rights come responsibilities and what worries people is that we are in danger of neglecting the latter.
Far too many children are behaving badly at school, even to the point of being violent to staff. This is terrible enough, but it is hard to be surprised since many children are just mirroring the behaviour of their parents. Too many are starting school unable to hold a knife and fork, unused to eating at a table, and unable to use the lavatory(卫生间) properly.
We are in danger of becoming a nation of families living separate lives under one roof. The bedroom, once a place to sleep, has become the living space for the young. Spending hours in front of computer screens, on social networking sites or being immersed (沉迷于) in computer games, children and young people spend little time with their parents. Parents are unable to monitor just what their children are watching.
Schools cannot right the wrongs of society and teachers cannot become substitute parents. Both parties need to work together. Parents must be helped and given confidence to take back control. They are responsible for setting boundaries for their children’s behaviour and sticking to those boundaries. They are responsible for setting a good example to their children and for devoting that most precious of resources---time---so that children come to school ready and willing to learn.In the opinion of the writer, what problem do people ignore?
| A．The violence in the school |
| B．The pressure of students’ learning |
| C．The right to achieve students’ potential |
| D．The responsibilities of the students. |
The underlined part in paragraph 4 means________.
| A．parents care little about children’s life at home |
| B．parents and children live in their separate rooms |
| C．children don’t live with their parents in the same house |
| D．children live a different life from that of parents at home |
The writer’s attitude to the behaviours of parents may be_______.
| A．unconcern | B．understanding |
| C．dissatisfied | D．tolerant |
Searching for airfares（飞机票价） often seems like a game that passengers are bound to lose．
Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute． Looking through multiple websites for the best deal can be a big challenge． Even when you do book, there’s no guarantee that you are going to get the best price．
"You just don’t know when to pull the trigger． It’s not like buying anything else I can think of,” said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog．com．
Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida． Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215． A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each．There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360．
There’s no reason for it, Harrison said．
Fares can change significantly in just a few hours． One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 0n Sunday．
The flight was one of a dozen the Associated Press followed over three months for a vacation between July 16 and 22． The number one finding: avoid booking tickets on weekends． It’s the most expensive time to buy．
There’s no way to guarantee the best fare． But before booking, travelers should pay attention to this additional advice:
Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday． That’s when airlines most often offer sales．
Buy in advance, but not too early． The best time is four to six weeks before traveling． In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to ten weeks and two to three weeks in advance．
Make use of social media． Airlines are giving more benefits like exclusive（独有的 ） sales to travelers who interact with them on Twitter and Facebook． Those specials are often gone within hours．
The so-called discount airlines - JetBlue, Air-Tran, Southwest and Frontier-adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident that the price will stay the same． But their prices aren’t always the lowest．Researching multiple airlines’ fares is the only way to get a good deal．What can we infer from the first sentence of the text?
| A．Passengers are unable to search for airfares． |
| B．Airlines often play games with passengers． |
| C．Airfares are set in different situations． |
| D．It’s difficult for passengers to get the best price． |
The underlined phrase "pull the trigger" in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
| A．start searching | B．get the highest price |
| C．make a purchase | D．get on board the plane |
By using a lot of figures, the author intends to ________.
| A．show there is standard price for every single airline |
| B．discover the rules behind airfares |
| C．guarantee passengers a low price |
| D．prove airfares can vary widely |
Passengers are advised to book flights ________.
| A．in the middle of the week |
| B．on special websites |
| C．several months before traveling |
| D．with airlines which are famous for offering discount prices |
Recently, the TV show “Where are we going, Dad?” produced by Hunan SatelliteTelevision is a big hit across nation. Many famous stars brought their children to a strange village alone, and they had to spend 72 hours with their children there. The program fully showed us a modern version of the “how to be a good father”. As the young parents today are too busy to take care of their children, this new form of “Lost on the way” played by nanny Daddy and cute kids triggered（触发）a lot of people’s emotional resonance（共鸣）. Both the kids and their parents will find that their hearts are being drawn closer. But this kind of feeling has just proved that there is a big spiritual barrier between the modern parents and children.
The TV shows like “Children are hard to support!”, “Where are we going, Dad?”, “hot mom” and “cute kids” are becoming more and more popular. All of these show the new parents’ confusion in children’s education and the appeal for the balance between career and family.
In the real life, on the one hand the young parents feel helpless because they are too busy to accompany their children under the pressures of work and life; on the other hand they continue to do so. The data collected by HNTV shows that nearly two-thirds of their audience are female, among whom 36% are aged from 25 to 34.We can imagine such a scene that one evening a young mother is watching the show with her young children, while her husband is still at work or trapped in socializing, or maybe is just playing computer games in the bedroom. The story of a child without the company of father is still going on. In fact, it is sometimes the same to mothers. In a modern family, it is often the old who take the responsibility of raising a child. Theparticipation of mother in the children’s education is also very low.
It is just this kind of confusion where the parents have gone in the modern family education, and where the parents will guide their children to go that “Where are we going, Dad?” shows us. If a child wants to grow up healthily and safely into a modern citizen with independent personality and free spirit, it is very important for him or her to follow the parents who serve as their first teacher. Maybe this is the real reason why such kind of TV programs could get hot. The truth is that children will go where their parents go; and society will go where the children go.To raise a child in modern society, parents should ________.
| A．break down the barrier between children and teachers |
| B．play computer games with their children |
| C．balance well between family and career |
| D．keep their children at home to avoid socializing |
Which of the following can be inferred in the passage?
| A．36% of the audience of the program are female aged from 25-34. |
| B．Parents shouldn’t entirely leave the education of children to the old. |
| C．In a modern family it is often mothers who are responsible for raising a child. |
| D．The program shows us the confusion where the parents and children will go to play. |
What does the underlined word “participation” probably mean?
| A．taking responsibility | B．understanding |
| C．taking part | D．keeping company |
What attitude towards modern family education does the author express in the second paragraph?
| A．Optimistic. |
| B．Indifferent. |
| C．Proud. |
| D．Worried. |
Which one is the best title of the passage?
| A．New problems in Modern Children’s Education |
| B．Modern Education is Important |
| C．Confusion Behind “Where are we going, dad?” |
| D．Nanny Daddy and Cute Kids |
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