Television in the United States is free. To pay for programs, there are many advertisements. Often these advertisements are short plays with actors. The following television advertisement is like many others that Americans see daily.
We see a man and his wife at the breakfast table. They have been married for a long time. They are not speaking to each other. They haven't spoken to each other at the breakfast table for years. The husband is reading his newspaper. We can't see his face. The wife looks very bored as she pours a cup of coffee for him. Today, she is using a new kind of coffee for the first time. The husband picks up his cup. He isn't very interested. He tastes his coffee. Suddenly he puts down his newspaper. Something is different.! Can it be the coffee? He takes another taste. It's wonderful! He smiles. He looks at his wife and says in amazement,
"Doris, when did you cut your hair?"
Doris is pleased. She answers, "Two months ago."
Doris asks, "Herbie, when did your hair begin to turn gray?"
He replies, "A long time ago."
Doris says, "Oh, very handsome."
Now they aren't bored any more. Breakfast is different. Has a new kind of coffee changed their lives?In the television advertisement, Doris looks bored because ______.
| A．she doesn't like the breakfast that morning |
| B．she has been married to Herbie for a long time |
| C．Her husband doesn't care much for her |
| D．Herbie isn't interested in the breakfast she cooks |
The TV advertisement wants to tell the viewers ______. .
| A．to have an immediate try at the new coffee |
| B．to have a good laugh at the good couple |
| C．that a nice breakfast must go with nice coffee |
| D．that advertisements can certainly increase goods production |
What does the author mean by saying the last sentence?
| A．What kind of coffee can change people's lives? |
| B．How can a new kind of coffee change people's lives? |
| C．Nice coffee can change one's life. |
| D．A new kind of coffee costs quite a lot. |
This text is mainly about ______.
| A．who pays for TV programs in the United States |
| B．what a TV advertisement is usually like in the USA |
| C．why long married couples dislike speaking to each other |
| D．what made Herbie and Doris not bored any more |
D
I am one of seven children. My three sisters and I grew up in a small bedroom with two sets of beds. We shared a closet, a dresser, and just about everything else.
I had friends who were only children. I looked longingly at their perfect dolls and toys placed carefully on their perfect shelves in their perfect little girl bedrooms. They had bathrooms to themselves. These little girls would come home to everything just perfect.
Our bedroom always had stuff hanging about. There just wasn’t room to store the paraphernalia(随身物品) of four girls who had definite ideas about how they wanted their space to be. All of us girls shared a bathroom with our three brothers. From a very young age, I really thought I was hard up.
Looking back, I had to admit my “only children” friends had nice things. They had designer beds and beautiful bedrooms, but I always had someone to play with and talk to. Even if everyone else hated me, one of my sisters would not and that was all I needed.
My sisters and I made up games and went around the neighborhood begging for old dresses so we could put on plays in our garage. Our house was the centre of activity for the whole neighborhood. We had dance shows and baseball games in the street. In short, we had everything we ever needed because we had each other. I have come to realize that there are so many reasons that sisters make a difference to your life and I can give you a few here:
They get you. Your sisters have grown up with you so they know the entire back story of your situation and everything leading to it. They may not agree with you all the time but they never wonder why you do what you do or say what you say.
They have suffered with you through awful times. I know that when one of my sisters is unhappy, I am unhappy too. When some non-family member tries to hurt you, the claws of them will come out!
They have cheered you on. Sisters do get jealous at times but, even so, they are happy that you are doing well. They rejoice at your new bonus as long as you take them out for drinks and fattening appetizers!
They are on the same diet as you. We are women in a world where thinness is equated with beauty. No matter how unjust this is, we are always on a diet. There is nothing like a sister calling and complaining about how she wants an ice cream and can’t ever have one again.
They are aging at the same rate as you. As we get older, we change, and however miserable this can be, it is heartening(令人振奋的) to know that someone shares your misery. They know what you are going through because they are going through it too.
The last and best thing about sisters is that they stick with you. We can have our upsets and misunderstandings but we always come back to each other.
I know many people reading this may have had upsets with their sisters. All I can say is that communication fixes everything. If you miss your sister, tell her so. If you have a BFF(Best Friend Forever) that has stuck with you through thick and thin(不畏艰险地), adopt her as your sister and keep her close to you.What’s the meaning of the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
| A．Only children have a blessed life. |
| B．Only children have their own items and space. |
| C．All the things that only children have are perfect. |
| D．Only children are given more love and care at home. |
What is NOT a reason that sisters make a difference to your life?
| A．They grow old with you. |
| B．They are on the same diet with you. |
| C．They can understand your strange behavior perfectly. |
| D．They stand by you when other family members hurt you. |
The underlined word “rejoice” in Paragraph 8 means ?
| A．fell grateful | B．show great joy |
| C．appear surprised | D．get disappointed |
From the passage, we can learn that the author .
| A．has adopted her BBF as her sister |
| B．has expressed great sympathy for only children |
| C．had a better relationship with her brothers |
| D．has given some advice to those who had upsets with their sisters |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Sisters, my fortune in life |
| B．Family love, the lasting topic |
| C．Communication fixes everything |
| D．Sharing things gives you a better life |
C
Of all the components of a good night’s sleep, dreams seem to be last within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where there is zero logic and dead people can speak. A century ago, Freud formulated(创立理论) his revolutionary theory that dreams were the hidden shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists(神经病学家) had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise”—the random byproducts(副产品) of the neural repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are regulating moods while the brain is “offline”. And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events actually can be bought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better. “It’s your dream,” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago’s Medical Center. “If you don’t like it, change it.”
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during rapid eye movement sleep when most vivid dreams occur as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved: the limbic system or the emotional brain is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex—the center of intellect and reasoning, is relatively quiet. “We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day,” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. This link is shown among the patients in Cartwright’s clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don’t always think about the emotional significance of the day’s events—until, it appears, we begin to dream.
There is probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or “We wake up in a panic,” Cartwright says. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep or rather dream on it and you’ll feel better in the morning.What does Rosalind Cartwright think of dreams?
| A．Dreamers can exercise conscious control over them. |
| B．They are shadows of our unconscious desires and fears. |
| C．People with more emotional changes dream more often. |
| D．They are actually products of our brain’s neural repairs. |
What is shown in Cartwright’s clinic?
| A．The functions of vivid dreams. |
| B．The relation of dreams to emotions. |
| C．The functions of different brain parts. |
| D．The secret of rapid eye movement sleep. |
Casual nightmare sufferers are advised to .
| A．ask for medical help |
| B．relax their mind during the day |
| C．don’t take the dreams seriously |
| D．realize the emotional significance of daily events |
B
Teenagers spend too much time using their cell phones and being connected online these days! Is this a new way to be more social or, does the technology really make them unsocial? And how will this constant connection affect them?
My daughter who is fifteen years old has a smart cell phone which means that she is constantly connected to the Internet and of course Facebook. To be around her means that you have to listen to constant “beeps” and sounds from the cell phone when her friends update their status. It makes me really stressed. But that is me. For my daughter, the cell phone is an extension to her body. She sleeps with her cell phone on the pillow; she eats with her cell phone nearby; She even takes the cell phone to the bathroom.
For the generation who has grown up with the Internet and cell phones, it is important for them to stay close to their cell phones. They get stressed when they are disconnected! And most of them haven’t experienced a life without cell phones. For them, being offline or not having a cell phone is like being totally isolated(与世隔绝的). And when they get online after a long disconnection they are so stressed out, because they have so much catching-up to do!
So how is this constant connection affecting the new generation who has been born with the opportunity to stay connected to the Internet all the time? I see them as guinea pigs(实验对象)! Because nobody knows how this will affect humans in the long run. No research has been done yet on long-term side effects of being constantly reachable and connected to others.
My conclusion is that teenagers’ addiction to cell phones makes them both social and unsocial. The new technology has changed the way they connect with people compared to former generations. They are more social and can be mobile but this also forces them to do more than one job at a time which distracts(分散) their attention and prevents them from focusing on the present, which makes them unsociable. No one knows how this use will affect humans. We will just have to wait and see.The author mentions her daughter to show .
| A．he importance of cell phones |
| B．how annoying her daughter is |
| C．what stress her daughter has created |
| D．teenagers’ constant connection to cell phones |
The underlined word “this” in the passage refers to .
| A．using cell phone at a young age |
| B．being online all the time |
| C．the feeling of isolation |
| D．being guinea pigs |
How does the overuse of cell phones affect teenagers?
| A．It stops teenagers from feeling alone. |
| B．It improves teenagers’ work efficiency. |
| C．It forces teenagers to do several things at the same time. |
| D．It breaks teenagers’ connection with former generations. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards teenagers’ constant connection to cell phone?
| A．Unconcerned | B．Uncertain |
| C．Disapproving | D．Disappointed |
请认真阅读下列短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
Dear Editor,
My family of four had a baggage allowance of two bags per person, but while collectively our weight allowance was under the limit, the airline wanted to charge us per person. Is this fair?
—Bob
A: Baggage allowances are a constant source of frustration for travelers, and none more so than the division of baggage allowances for a family. There was a time when a friendly smile and a knowing look might have saved you from a penalty, but not now when there’s little wriggle room given to the desk staff. Airline travel has gone budget almost right across the board, so if you want ease of passage, you have to pay for it and you have to plan in advance. You need to weigh your luggage before the flight and, if you’re with your family, you have learn to share that weight around before you get to the airport. Sad but true.
Dear Editor,
I put some of my finest smalls into a hotel laundry and they’ve come back shrunk and the wrong colour. The Austrian hotel told me that they were laundered by an outside company and it was at my own risk. What can I do?
—Bob
A: As a rule, one should be cautious about putting good quality clothes into a hotel laundry, unless it has a good reputation or you’ve had previous experiences there. As a guest, you may have signed a wavier(弃权声明书), but even if you did you still can chase it up with the hotel management or its international head office, if it’s part of a chain. There’s also a facility to chase up consumer concerns across the European Union even when you get home. You should contact the UK European Consumer Centre and they’ll help you fight your case, so don’t despair. But remember to be very careful with your smalls next time—perhaps you should take a good supply to avoid potential laundry damage.
What does the editor think of Bob’s problem?
| A．It’s serious. | B．It’s complex. |
| C．It’s frustrating. | D．It’s pretty rare. |
The editor seems to suggest Helen .
| A．bear the consequence herself |
| B．have a talk with the hotel staff again |
| C．ask the outside company to pay for her loss |
| D．turn to the UK European Consumer Centre for help |
Both the two letter’s writers .
| A．met problems when traveling by plane |
| B．had trouble with their consumer rights |
| C．decided to accept the editor’s advice |
| D．failed to enjoy their journey |
D
In recent years, our parenting culture began to send the message that competence（能力） was important for building self-confidence. However, that same parenting culture made a big mistake by telling parents they should tell their children how competent they were. Children can't be convinced that they are competent. Only your children can build their sense of competence.
However, you can do several things to encourage them to develop their own competence. First, you can give them opportunities to gain a sense of competence. You should allow your children to “get their hands dirty” in the daily life and find out what they are capable of.
These daily experiences allow your children to develop specific competencies that will be helpful to them as they grow up. Also, the more individual competencies children develop, the more they will view themselves as globally competent people.
Second, you can be sure that they gain the most value from their experiences. You can direct their focus to the competences that enabled those successes rather than some generic（笼统的） praise of the accomplishment itself. And you can also praise their accomplishments.
A great difficulty for parents is allowing their children to be wrong or do something poorly in the mistaken belief that these experiences will hurt their sense of competence. In fact, whether they do it well isn't important because success isn't really the goal. Instead, the goal is their willingness to keep trying.
Another mistake that parents make is that, after being unsuccessful when their children first try something, they try to correct them so they will succeed the next time they try. That's not to say that you can't lend a hand when they are struggling. But let them take the lead; if they really want your help, they'll ask for it.The passage is mainly about_____.
| A．the arts to praise children |
| B．the ways to help children develop ability |
| C．the ways to evaluate children’s ability |
| D．the proper ways to help children deal with failure |
What should parents say to help children gain value from their experiences?
| A．Well done! |
| B．You are the best! |
| C．You are really careful! |
| D．You’d better do as I do. |
Parents often make a mistake by ______.
| A．getting their children’s hands dirty |
| B．not realizing the harmful effect of failure |
| C．putting themselves into children’s shoes |
| D．telling their children how competent they are |
How did the writer develop the passage?
| A．By asking and answering questions. |
| B．By introducing different opinions. |
| C．By listing examples. |
| D．By giving explanations. |
In which section of a newspaper can you find this passage?
| A． Education | B．Health and Fitness |
| C．Home and Garden | D．Careers |
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