It was Monday, Mrs. Smith’s dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way, Mrs. Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it: “Give my dog half a pound of meat.” Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently: “Take this to the butcher（卖肉者）, and he’s going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher’s shop. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady’s handwriting and presently did as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up immediately.
At midday, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at midday. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at the paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had thought of the dog as one of his customers.
However, the dog came again at four o’clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher’s more surprise, it came for the third time at six o’clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs. Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!When Mrs. Smith’s dog was hungry, what did she give to the dog?
| A．some chicken |
| B．half a pound of meat |
| C．a hot dog |
| D．a piece of paper with some words on it |
Mrs. Smith treated her little dog quite __________.
| A．rudely | B．proudly |
| C．friendly | D．angrily |
From its experience, the dog found that __________.
| A．only the paper with Mrs. Smith’s words on it could bring it meat |
| B．a piece of paper could bring him half a pound of meat |
| C．the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it |
| D．Mrs. Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher |
At the end of the story, you’ll find that __________.
| A．the dog was clever enough to write on the paper |
| B．the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog |
| C．the dog dared not go to the butcher’s any more |
| D．the butcher found himself cheated by the smart animal |
The Internet can provide a wealth of educational resources for small children, if you know where to look. This article will offer some educational websites to small children. You may need to assist your children in navigating(导航) the pages until they understand where their favorite activities are.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted learning is a great website for children, and I know several teachers who rely on it for materials for their classrooms. Most of the information is free, but for $20.00 per year, you can purchase a membership that allows you to have access to the site without the advertising. The pages here are great. There are colored pages and worksheets for toddlers(学步儿童) and school-age children. They focus on learning language, science, animals, geography, astronomy, explorers, music, art and nursery rhymes.
Starfall
Starfall is another good educational website for small children. Teachers often use this website in classrooms. It emphasizes reading skills for early learners. The website is aimed at first grade level learners, but it has tools that can help all children from pre-K to second grade. The website has reading activities, worksheets to download, and a store where you can purchase educational materials for your children.
Sesame Street Workshop
Kids love Sesame Street, and it is always educational. This is one of the funniest websites online for children because it is very well animated and has great sound effects. The website has games and stories for small kids, and they can create letters at the post office and mail them to their favorite characters.
Sprout Online
Sprout has features on its television network, which are just for children. There are games, colored pages, recipes, music, videos, sign language activities and exercise videos for children. There are also online activities based on Sprout television shows. These include Roary the Race Car, the Wiggles, the Mighty Jungle and many others.
These are just a few of many educational websites for children. Small children love to use computers, so help them find some websites that contain fun and learning at the same time.What’s the purpose of the author in writing this passage?
| A．To introduce some educational websites to parents for their kids. |
| B．To let parents distinguish between good and bad websites. |
| C．To attract the readers to download some useful information. |
| D．To enrich young children’s spare time with some Internet games. |
What’s the difference between people who have memberships and those who don’t?
| A．With a membership, you can get the information for free. |
| B．You can download materials you want for free with a membership. |
| C．With a membership, you can have access to the site without the ads. |
| D．You can look through more pages with a membership. |
If you want to buy educational materials for your children, you should choose _________ .
| A．Enchanted Learning. | B．Starfall |
| C．Sesame Street Workshop. | D．Sprout Online. |
Why does the Sesame Street Workshop have more fun than others?
| A．Because it has games and stories for young kids． |
| B．Because children can mail letters to their favorite characters. |
| C．Because it is always educational, and children love it.. |
| D．Because it has great sound effects and animation. |
It can be learnt from the passage that ______ .
| A．Enchanted Learning has reading activities and worksheets to download. |
| B．Starfall is designed for learners from pre-K to second grade |
| C．the Wiggles and the MightyJungle are not based on television shows. |
| D．websites that involve joy and learning are beneficial to kids. |
Country-dwellers(农村居民) often say the constant noise, heavy traffic and crowds of the city would drive them mad. Well, they might be right, according to the latest research. City residents are more likely to develop mental illnesses than those who live in villages, a study has found.
Researchers from Cardiff university examined the lifestyles of more than 200,000 people in Sweden and found that those who lived in urban areas were more at risk from mental illnesses than people who lived in villages.
The experts don’t know exactly why this is but they suggest that town and city residents are more likely to be ostracized(排挤) by those around them. They are more likely to experience discrimination(歧视) if they do not fit in, which can lead to them feeling anxious and even developing mental illnesses.
Dr Stanley Zammit, who led the research said that people living in towns and cities are more likely to develop other mental illnesses that result in personality changes — a condition known as non-affective psychosis(非情感性精神病).
Earlier this year an official report found that village-dwellers live an average of two years longer than those living in towns and cities. According to figures from the Office of National Statistics in the UK, men who live in villages are likely to live for between 78 and 79 years, while those in towns and cities can expect to survive to an age of 76. Women on average survive to their 81st birthday in towns and cities, but live to between 82 and 83 in villages. The small marked town of Wimborne Minster in rural Dorset was named the healthiest place to live in.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Country-dwellers are more likely to develop mental illnesses. |
| B．City-dwellers are more likely to develop mental illnesses. |
| C．Country-dwellers live longer than city-dwellers. |
| D．City-dwellers live longer than country-dwellers. |
The research from Cardiff University was based on the people’s _________.
| A．interests. | B．characters. | C．occupations. | D．lifestyles. |
It can be inferred that ___________.
| A．people like living in towns and cities |
| B．city-dwellers enjoy their peaceful city life |
| C．village-dwellers are more likely to be looked down upon by others |
| D．village-dwellers get along better with their neighbors than city-dwellers. |
Non-affective psychosis is a kind of mental illnesses that is linked to ________
| A．character change | B．temperature rise |
| C．pressure increase | D．energy weakening |
We can learn from the last paragraph that generally ________ .
| A．women living in villages live the longest |
| B．women living in cities live the longest |
| C．men living in villages live the longest |
| D．men living in cities live the longest. |
When Julio Diaz stepped off the subway after work one night, he was simply planning to go to his favorite local diner for a meal. But when a teenage boy approached him with a knife, Diaz knew the evening was about to take a more dramatic(巨大而突然的) turn.
The young man demanded Diaz’s wallet, and Diaz passed it over without objection(异议). But just as he turned to walk away, Diaz called, “Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something.”
The young man turned around, surprised.
“If you’re going to rob people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep warm.”
The teenager looked at Diaz in disbelief, and asked why he would do such a thing. Diaz replied, “If you’re willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, I guess you must really need the money.”He said he was heading out for dinner, and that he would be happy to take someone with him.
The young man decided to take Diaz up on his offer. As they were sitting at the table, the manager, dishwashers and waiters all stopped over to say hello to Diaz, and the young man was amazed at his popularity.
“Haven’t you been taught that you should be nice to everybody?”Diaz asked him.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think people actually behaved that way,” the teenager replied. Thanks to Diaz, he was beginning to see that kindness wasn’t so strange, after all.
When the bill came, Diaz told the teen that he’d have to get the check. After all, he still had Diaz’s wallet.
But the teenager put the wallet on the table without a moment’s thought, and Diaz treated him to dinner. Diaz also gave the would-be robber a $20 bill — in exchange for his knife. “I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right,” Diaz said.When a teenage boy approached him with a knife, Diaz was on his way ________.
| A．to the subway station. | B．to his workplace. |
| C．to have a meal. | D．to see a drama. |
The young man felt surprised when Diaz ________.
| A．stepped off the subway platform |
| B．passed the wallet over without objection |
| C．called him to wait for a moment |
| D．invited him to have dinner together |
The underlined part “take Diaz up on”can be replaced by “________”.
| A．follow | B．understand | C．check | D．accept |
The teenager gave the wallet back to Diaz maybe because _________.
| A．Diaz was so popular with people in the restaurant |
| B．he began to realize people should be nice to others |
| C．Diaz had to pay for the meal they had together |
| D．he had been given a $20 bill to take with him |
Diaz possibly felt _________ during the whole night.
| A．relaxed and happy | B．worried and helpless |
| C．angry and scared | D．surprised and anxious |
I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more long-lasting emotion. Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to exciting parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir(回忆录) after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, and long-time loneliness.
The way people hold on to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually decreases their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very efforts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, charitable work and self-improvement.According to the passage, “fun activities” ____________.
| A．are the things we do before we find happiness |
| B．may help us relax and forget our problems sometimes |
| C．will lead us to the true happiness |
| D．could provide long-last positive effects |
In the author’s opinion, those Hollywood stars ____________.
| A．possess happiness because they are rich and famous |
| B．experience almost all kinds of happy things |
| C．tell us happiness isn’t equal to fun using their own stories |
| D．have to suffer a lot before they become successful |
It is difficult for people to find real happiness because ____________.
| A．they believe happiness is the fun life without pain |
| B．they find pain equals unhappiness |
| C．they fear to lose what they already have in life |
| D．They are afraid all their efforts were in vain |
The main purpose of the text is to ____________.
| A．describe the difference between happiness and fun |
| B．show the true meaning of happiness |
| C．encourage people to pursue fun activities |
| D．advise people to find their real life |
7 ways a government shutdown will affect your daily life
(CNN) -- Democrats and Republicans were unable to resolve (解决) their differences over Obamacare (奥巴马医改计划）and now the government is shut down. The two previous shutdowns — 1995 and early 1996 — cost the country $1.4 billion. But what will the shutdown mean for you? Here are 7 ways the government shutdown will affect you.
7. Vacation all I ever wanted: Need to get away? Well, you can’t. At least not to national parks. Or to national zoos. Or to national museums. They'll be closed. Were you thinking more along the lines of a trip to France? If you don’t already have a passport, you might not get your blue book in time. The last time the government shut down, 200,000 applications for passports went unprocessed.
6. If you drive a car, I'll tax the street: You may be thinking, “No functioning government, no need to pay taxes.” Think again. The Man would continue to collect taxes. U.S. bonds would still be issued. And other essential banking functions will go on.
5. Wait a minute, Mr. Postman: You know that whole “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night” thing? Apparently, the U.S. Postal Service works through shutdowns as well. Sorry, you won’t catch a break from the junk mail.
4. I want a new drug: Oh, the irony (讽刺的). Republicans still want to defund, delay or otherwise withdraw gradually at Obamacare in exchange for funding the government. But the health care act at the center of this storm would continue its process during a shutdown. That is because its funds aren’t dependent on the congressional budget (预算) process.
3. Pass the ammunition (军火): Not so fast. A shutdown would affect the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Translation: That gun permit you wanted processed won’t happen anytime soon if this goes on for a while.
2. Money (that's what I want): Well, if you owned a small business and needed a loan from the government, you would have to wait, depending on how long this lasts. If you were planning to buy a house and needed a federal loan, you would have to wait.
1. I'm proud to be an American: Perhaps the biggest hit would be to the collective psyche (下意识心理). America is the largest economy in the world and a beacon for how democracy ought to work. A recent CNN Research Corporation found that 51% would blame Republicans for the shutdown. The United States has operated without a budget since 2009 and has avoided a government shutdown with last-minute deals. Not only did the government run out of money on Tuesday, but the nation is set to hit its borrowing limit and potentially default on its debt in mid-October. Together, they serve as a double whammy (打击）.Which is the most probably meaning of the underlined word?
| A．Raise some money. | B．Take the money back. |
| C．Borrow some money. | D．went on a strike. |
When the government’s shut down, what can the Americans do?
| A．Apply for a gun permit. | B．Apply for a new passport. |
| C．Apply for a loan. | D．Pay taxes. |
How many times has the American government ever shut down so far?
| A．Once. | B．Twice. | C．Three times. | D．Not mentioned. |
According to the essay, what led to the shutdown of the American government?
| A．The government of America ran out of money. |
| B．The government of America is on debts. |
| C．America is set to hit the borrowing limit of its debts. |
| D．The American government ran out of money and may fail in repaying its debts. |
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