My husband is reading The Secret Garden aloud to our kids. They are at the part where Mary has told Colin that she’s found the garden her mother loved. It’s an exciting moment. But the passage I’m waiting for is a few chapters on, after Colin has tasted his first breaths of fresh air and Mary has grown strong running in the garden. It’s just a detail, but my kids will notice it: a delicious description of roasted potatoes and eggs.
We have a tradition of trying foods from the books we read aloud. It started when we read Elizabeth Enright’s The Saturdays, and one of the boys asked, “What are petit fours?” An answer, my husband and I felt, wouldn’t be as good as a sample. So one Saturday we all sat down having tea and little cakes, covered with pink, green, and yellow. It was exciting for the kids to try a dessert they had learned about in a book. The petit fours they tried didn’t tell them what it was like to live in New York City 60 years ago, but tasting them made the book’s words alive.
Later, when we read C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we had Turkish delight. We read The Penderwicks, written by Jeanne Birdsall, and had gingerbread (姜饼). We read Paddington Bear and tried marmalade.
Soon we will reach the part of The Secret Garden where Mary, Colin, and Dickon roast potatoes and eggs in a small oven (炉) in the earth. My kids will go out into the woods to find the perfect place for an oven of our own. Yes, we’ve eaten potatoes and eggs, but never in the open air.
The world that a good book creates is whole and real, but it lies flat on the page until a reader gives life to it.
The text is written mainly to .
| A．show the importance of reading aloud |
| B．provide a new means of family education |
| C．discuss food culture in children’s books |
| D．introduce some interesting books |
The author believes tasting foods from the books may help children .
| A．understand the books better |
| B．be friendlier to each other |
| C．know more about history |
| D．enjoy more healthy food |
From the fourth paragraph, we can learn that the author’s family .
| A．will look for a secret garden in the woods |
| B．will read The Secret Garden in the open air |
| C．will cook potatoes and eggs in the woods |
| D．will eat roasted potatoes and eggs at home |
Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?
| A．The best way to make kids learn |
| B．Eating means more than reading |
| C．The taste of a good book |
| D．Our roasted potatoes and eggs |
When it comes to success in business and success in life, there are few qualities as important as confidence.
People naturally have different levels of confidence. Some have a higher level of confidence than others do, but even those whose confidence is lacking can learn to build their level of confidence and reach their most important goals. Increasing self confidence is one of the most common reasons people give for seeking the help of psychologists and other professionals.
One of the many places where a greater level of confidence is useful is in the workplace. We all know how difficult it can be, for instance, to ask the boss for a raise. This process can be extremely difficult for those who lack confidence in their own abilities. After all, if you are unsure about your own abilities, how will you ever convince your boss that you deserve more money for the work you do?
Even if you are not asking for that big raise, having plenty of confidence in your abilities is important to success. If you are certain of your abilities, chances are that those around you, whether they are your coworkers, your colleagues or your superiors, will see that confidence, and that will help to assure them that you are the best at what you do.
Being thought of as the person to go to, and being seen as an expert in your chosen field, is naturally very important to success on the job. If you can make yourself the person people go to for guidance and advice, you will help to protect yourself from the ever present danger of downsizing. After all, if you are a recognized expert at the office, you will be regarded as an indispensable member of the team.
Having a high level of confidence, after all, does not mean overlooking the places where you could improve. Knowing what you do well and where you need help will help you enjoy increased success and confidence.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The influence of confidence on one’s life. |
| B．The importance of confidence to success. |
| C．The difference of people’s confidence. |
| D．The judgment on one’s confidence. |
Psychologists and other professionals can offer help to those _____.
| A．who think their goals are hard to reach |
| B．who expect to give guidance to others |
| C．who want to ask the boss for a raise |
| D．who dream to be recognized experts |
What does the underlined word indispensable in Paragraph 5 probably mean?
| A．important | B．attractive |
| C．outgoing | D．energetic |
What message does the author want to convey in the last paragraph?
| A．To overlook one’s disadvantages. |
| B．To make full use of one’s advantages. |
| C．To have great confidence in one’s abilities. |
| D．To make objective evaluations of one’s abilities. |
“Migrant workers”(外来务工人员) is a familiar term for 17-year-old Shi Jian. Her father and uncle often talk about the problems surrounding this group of people. However, Shi cares more about the children of these migrant workers.
Last year Shi’s housekeeper’s daughter had to give up her schooling in Beijing because she would not be allowed to sit the national college entrance exam. She was forced to continue her high school education in her hometown in Sichuan Province.
Shi thinks the current law is unfair for migrant workers’ children, as it prevents them from studying at public schools, unless their parents pay huge sums. So, Shi decided to do a survey of migrant workers so that she could find some solutions to help solve the problem.
In the last six months Shi spoke to 186 migrant workers in Beijing. Her interviewees include babysitters, guards, keepers, supermarket clerks, house cleaners and construction site workers. Shi found out that 55 of them were parents. Among this group, only eight have children who attend schools in Beijing. The other 47 had to leave children with relatives in the countryside. However, 40 of the 47 would like to enroll(使入学) their children in city schools.
From her interviews, Shi found that the workers’ lowest income was 400 yuan each month. Over one-third earn a monthly wage of or below 1000 yuan. “Even schools for migrant workers’ children charge more than public schools. Morever, parents constantly worry about these schools closing or relocating,” she explained.
Shi has recently completed a report about her survey, in which she makes a series of recommendations. “The government can set up public schools for migrants’ children equal to schools for city children. Second, to offset(弥补) migrant workers’ very low pay, public schools should offer them special rates so they can afford their children’s tuition(学费).What drove Shi to do the survey of migrant workers?
| A．Her curiosity about migrant workers’ lives |
| B．She was asked to do a survey of migrant workers as part of a school project. |
| C．Her housekeeper’s daughter was forced to move to her hometown to continue studying. |
| D．She wanted to draw people’s attention and become famous |
According to Shi’s survey, most migrant workers’ kids _____.
| A．don’t live together with their parents |
| B．attend schools near their parents’ working places |
| C．have to help their parents support the family |
| D．always do better in schools than children from the city. |
All of the following prevent migrant workers’ kids from attending schools in cities EXCEPT _____.
| A．their parents’ low income |
| B．their lack of confidence to face the fierce competitions in city schools |
| C．schools’ high tuitions |
| D．that schools for migrant workers’ children may close or relocate |
Shi suggested in her survey that _____.
| A．more private schools for migrants’ children should be built |
| B．more money should be collected for migrants’ children |
| C．children’s tuition should be reduced |
| D．students from the city and the countryside should be encouraged to communicate more |
Simply, language is what people and animals use to communicate their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Of course, animals communicate with each other differently from humans, and each type of animal communicates differently. For example, a bee uses a dance to tell the rest of the bees in the hive (蜂窝) where there is food, while whales communicate through the use of pleasant-sounding sounds. One could say then, that animals use different languages.
Like animals, people also use different languages. Each culture has its own words and symbols that are used by people within that culture to communicate with others in the same culture. For example, a person living in Japan will use the Japanese language to communicate with other Japanese. Unlike animals though, some cultures use more than one language. People within these cultures are said to be either bilingual (双语的) or multilingual (多语的). One such place is Canada. It is very likely that a person living in Canada may speak both French and English. Likewise, a person living in Switzerland may speak Italian, German and French.
Not only do people use different languages to communicate, but languages also have different dialects. A dialect is a difference of a language which uses words and grammar somewhat differently from the standard form of the same language. For example, people who live in Manchester, England speak a dialect that is a little different from people who live in London, England; however, people in both cities speak English.
There are also some people who don’t use a spoken language at all. These people use their hands to communicate. This type of language is called sign language and is most commonly used by people who are deaf.
Now that we know how people communicate, we are faced with a question. Are we part of a certain culture because of the language we speak, or do we speak a particular language because we are part of that culture? To put it more simply, is a Chinese person Chinese because he speaks Chinese, or does he speak Chinese because he was born in China? What part does language play in the definition (定义) of culture?The examples of bees and whales are used to show ______.
| A．animal languages are simple to learn |
| B．people can understand animal languages |
| C．different animals use different languages |
| D．animals communicate with each other |
The main idea of the second paragraph is that ______.
| A．people communicate with those in the same culture |
| B．there can be different languages in the same culture |
| C．a culture can be expressed in several languages |
| D．the symbol of a culture is the language spoken by its people |
To judge whether a person speaks a dialect, you can depend on ______.
| A．what words and grammar he uses |
| B．whether he uses sign language |
| C．where he lives |
| D．who he communicates with |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The culture of different countries |
| B．The language in different cultures |
| C．The development of language |
| D．The meaning of the language |
Dear Guys,
I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected to me last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better - than - average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.
One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the strong desire to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I unwillingly agreed.
Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably（可笑的） simple request. However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, and threw it as hard as I could.
It hit the middle of the fence and bounced（弹跳，反弹）back to me.
Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, Oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.
The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.
This is the point where I start to take issue（争论，不同意见） with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, still.
Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate(绝望的). Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.
“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.
“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.
And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”
I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.
Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.
It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.
I surprised myself --- and I’m sure you as well --- by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery. Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”
Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period was just enough blow for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”
And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment never to throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.
Sincerely, Jen CorderyThe writer agreed to throw the ball because _______.
| A．she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries |
| B．she wanted to refresh her childhood memories |
| C．she could not refuse the polite request from the young man |
| D．she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight |
Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?
| A．To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back. |
| B．To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills. |
| C．To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were. |
| D．To express her dislike towards softball. |
What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer ________.
| A．inspired | B．encouraged |
| C．embarrassed | D．depressed |
What’s the writer’s purpose in writing this open letter?
| A．To express her regret over what she did the day before. |
| B．To announce that she would never play ball games again. |
| C．To joke on her own inability to throw the ball over the fence. |
| D．To criticize the young men for their cruelty to her pride. |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The researchers considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The older a person is, the more stressed he feels. |
| B．The more lighthearted a person is, the happier he is. |
| C．The older a person is, the more clever he grows. |
| D．The older a person is, the happier he grows. |
According to the researchers, what is probably the reason why people grow happier when they get older?
| A．When people get older, they can’t remember bad experiences. |
| B．When people get older, they have no young children to care about. |
| C．When people get older, they learn to adjust their feelings. |
| D．When people get older, they don’t care about their feelings. |
What do you think the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is?
| A．A Gallup organization. | B．A popular science magazine. |
| C．A university in New York. | D．A research institution |
What would the writer probably deal with in next paragraph?
| A．Advice to the young people on how to keep happy. |
| B．Advice to the old people on how to live longer. |
| C．Why women at all ages are more sad, stressed and worried. |
| D．Why people will grow happier with their ages. |
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