“Which meal do we all need most, breakfast, lunch or dinner?” Miss Baker asks. Boys and girls wave their hands in the air. They know the answer.
“What do you think, Jim?” Miss Baker asks.
“Dinner,” Jim answers.
“Dinner is the big meal of the day,” says Miss Baker. “But I don’t think we need it most.”
Tom puts up his hands. “ Do we need lunch most?”
“No,” says Miss Baker. “We need breakfast most.” “Why is this so?”
“From night to morning is a long time to go without food,” says Ann.
“That’s right,” says Miss Baker. “We need food every morning. What may happen to us if we have no breakfast?”
The students have many answers to give.
“We may feel hungry.”
“We may not feel like working.”
“We may feel sick.”
“Yes, you are right,” says Miss Baker. “Now let’s talk about what makes a good breakfast. Give me your answers. I will write them on the blackboard.”____ are discussing eating.
| A．The mother and children |
| B．Some of the boys and girls |
| C．The teacher and her students |
| D．A group of friends |
Miss Baker thinks ______ is a big meal of the day.
| A．breakfast | B．lunch | C．dinner | D．picnic |
Why is breakfast the most important meal? Because_____.
| A．it is the last meal |
| B．there are usually a lot of nice things to eat at breakfast. |
| C．people like to enjoy food before going to work. |
| D．from night to morning is a long time to go without food. |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language. A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density (密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible (灵活的),” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and thirty-four. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ________.
| A．science on learning a second language |
| B．man’s ability of learning a second language |
| C．that language can help brain power |
| D．language learning and maths study |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means _______.
| A．a researcher on language learning |
| B．a second language learner |
| C．a person who can speak two languages |
| D．an active language learner |
We may know from the scientific findings that ________.
| A．the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn’t know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people’s brain |
| D．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that _________.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
When I was about 12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings(缺点). Week by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn’t a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly, then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you’re really like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could—and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I go to fairly clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it. “That’s just for you.” he said, “You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”
Daddy’s advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice.What does “Week by week her list grew” mean?
| A．Week by week she discovered more shortcomings of mine and pointed them out to me. |
| B．She had made a list of my shortcomings and she kept on adding new ones to it so that it was growing longer and longer. |
| C．I was having more and more shortcomings as time went on. |
| D．Week by week, my shortcomings grew more serious. |
Why did her father listen to her quietly?
| A．Because he believed that what her daughter’s “enemy” said was mostly true. |
| B．Because he had been so angry with his daughter’s shortcomings that he wanted to show this by keeping silent for a while. |
| C．Because he knew that his daughter would not listen to him at that moment. |
| D．Because he wasn’t quite sure which girl was telling the truth. |
Which do you think would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Not an Enemy, but the Best Friend |
| B．The Best Advice I’ve Ever Had |
| C．My Father |
| D．My Childhood |
F. Scott Fitzgerald, born on September 24, 1896, an American novelist, was once a student of St. Paul Academy, the Newman School and attended Princeton University for a short while. In 1917 he joined the army and was posted in Alabama, where he met his future wife Zelda Sayre. Then he had to make some money to impress her.
His life with her was full of great happiness, as he wrote in his diary “My own happiness in the past often got such joy that I could share it even with the person dearest to me but had to walk it away in quiet streets and take down parts of it in my diary.”
This side of paradise, his first novel, was published in 1920. Encouraged by its success, Fitzgerald began to devote more time to his writing. Then he continued with the novel the Beautiful and Damned (1922), a collection of short stories Thales of the Jazz Age (1922), and a play The Vegetable (1923). But his greatest success was the novel The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, which quick brought him praise from the literary world. Yet it failed to give him the needed financial（财政的） security(安全，保障). Then, in 1926, he published another collection of short stories All the Sad Young Men.
However, Fitzgerald’s problems with his wife Zelda had an effect on his writing. During the 1920s he tried to reorder his life, but failed. By 1930, his wife had her first breakdown and went to a Swiss clinic. During this period he completed novels Tender Is the Night in 1934 and The love of the last Tycoon in 1940. While his wife was in hospital in the United States, he got totally addicted to alcohol（酒精）. Sheila Graham, his dear friend, helped him fight his alcoholism.Which of the following is the correct order to describe Fitzgerald’s life according to the passage?
a. He became addicted to drinking.
b. He studied at St. Paul Academy.
c. He published his first novel This Side of Paradise.
d. The Great Gatsby won high praise.
e. He failed to reorder his life.
f. He joined the army and met Zelda.
| A．f-c-e-a-b-d | B．b-e-a-f-c-d |
| C．f-d-e-c-b-a | D．b-f-c-d-e-a |
We can infer from the passage that Fitzgerald_______.
| A．had made some money when he met Zelda in Alabama |
| B．was well educated and well off before he served in the army |
| C．would have completed more works if his wife hadn’t broken down |
| D．helped his friend get rid of drinking while his wife was in hospital |
The passage is probably followed by a concluding(总结的) paragraph about_____.
| A．Zelda’s personal life |
| B．Fitzgerald’s contributions to the literary world |
| C．Fitzgerald’s friendship with Graham |
| D．Zelda’s illness and treatment |
I have a neighbor we call “Happy”. I have never seen her angry at anything and never heard her say a harsh (苛刻) word to anyone or about anyone.
Happy and her husband Ben, 70, have a huge garden. They spent many happy hours together working on it. Most of the neighbors watched interestingly as Ben doubled the size of their garden. As the cost of food climbed faster than Ben’s beans, we all wished we also had such a large garden. As the rest of us spent our dollars at the market, Happy could be seen picking beans in her back yard.
Last month, Happy and Ben invited most of the neighborhood over for an “all-day food fest”. We were told to bring gloves and arrive very early in the morning. We didn’t know what was about to take place.
By 9:00 am, there were nine of us in the garden picking tomatoes, beans, okra, and squash. By 10:00 am, there was lots of laughter. We shared a lot of stories. By five o’clock, everyone was a little drunk from the wine and beer. After dinner, we played games. As we were leaving, Happy and Ben handed each of us a shopping bag filled with the bounty（收成）of the day, already packaged and frozen. What a delightful gift!
Well, the point wasn’t so much about the food. The true gift was a day of friends enjoying one another’s company. None of it would have happened if it had been for Happy and Ben’s garden. Now they have a blog about gardening in case we decided to plant a garden. And I am so proud of my tomato plants!According to paragraph 2, people wish they also had a garden so that_______.
| A．they didn’t have to spend so much money on food |
| B．they could grow vegetables and sell at the market |
| C．they could invite their neighbors and hold parties in it |
| D．they could spend happy times together with their family in it |
For what purpose did Happy and Ben invite the neighbors to their garden?
| A．To ask them to attend a birthday party. |
| B．To help them get to know each other. |
| C．To let them enjoy what they grew in the garden. |
| D．To ask them to share some interesting stories. |
What did the writer most probably think of the time he spent in the garden?
| A．It was too long. |
| B．It was wonderful. |
| C．It was not as good as he thought. |
| D．It was too terrible. |
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 cheer us up or let us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves — the positive and negative (正面和负面) influences are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too shy to admit(承认) it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be because more and more scientists believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us make ourselves active, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. It is said that as much as 77% of self-talk is likely 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 influence they will have. But we should realize that our words cause certain influence in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the salesperson will probably answer in a similar manner. Otherwise you may get into trouble.
Words have power because of their lasting influences. Many of us feel sorry for 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 have power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-confidence and encourage others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to cure? The choice is ours. There is no need for us to feel shy 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 may gain quite a few advantages of 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 ________ in time.
| A．remind ourselves |
| B．praise ourselves |
| C．make ourselves relaxed |
| D．give ourselves fun |
The writer would probably hold the view that ________.
| A．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
| B．negative words may encourage us to make more progress |
| C．people prefer to remember friendly words |
| D．encouraging words are sure to lead to kind offers |
In which column(版面) of the newspaper can you most likely read this passage?
| A．News. | B．Nature. | C．Health. | D．Culture. |
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