"Look at Amy's picture!" Mom said， too loud． She does that when she's excite， because she can't hear herself． Some kids turned to stare at us and I wanted to hide．
I led my family into my classroom and looked around． Other kids and parents were there， but I didn't see Evelyn．
Ms． Jennings walked over to us． I introduced her to my family and explained that my parents are deaf．
"Oh，" she said． "Well， how do you say ‘Welcome!' in sign language？"
"Like this．" I swept my open right hand in toward my body， palm （掌心） up．
She repeated the movement．
"Thank you，" Mom said， smiling． "It's nice to meet you．"
Ms． Jennings looked surprised． "You speak very well，" she said．
In sign language， I repeated what Ms． Jennings had said in case my parents hadn't read her lips （嘴唇）．
Mom nodded． "I lost my hearing as a child， after I'd learned to talk． Amy's father was born deaf． He can talk， too， but he's shy about his voice．"
Dad smiled in agreement．
Some of my classmates were watching us and whispering． Then I noticed Evelyn and her mom standing by the door．
"I sit over there，" I told my family and quickly walked toward my desk．
"Hi， Amy，" Evelyn said suddenly．
I turned around． "Hi．"
"I didn't know your parents are deaf，" she said．
"Yeah．" I couldn't think of anything else to say．
"And you can talk to them with your hands？ That's so cool．"
"You think so？" I asked． I exhaled with relief．
Evelyn nodded． "It's like a secret code． Would you teach me some words sometime？"
I smiled． "Of course．"
"One of my dad's neighbours uses signneighbours，" she said． "Maybe I can surprise her with a greeting next time I visit my dad．"
"Your dad doesn't live with you？" I said．
She shook her head． "My parents are separated．"
"Oh， I…" I'd been so worried about my family that I hadn't thought about Evelyn's family． "Hey， if you come over tomorrow， we can practice some sign language then．"
I got my parents' attention． "Mom， Dad，" I said， signing， "I'd like you to meet my friend Evelyn and her mom．"
（1）How is Welcome!' said in sign language？
（2）When Amy exhaled with relief， she most probably felt ．
A． worried
B． proud
C． relaxed
D． nervous
（3）What can we infer from the passage about Amy？
A． She learned sign language by herself．
B． She didn't want her parents to come．
C． She won't share Evelyn's family secret．
D． She won't be so shy about her family．
If you have failed in the past to try to make big changes in life，try again now，one tiny step at a time．
Every year it’s the same．As December comes to an end，you think about the new year and all the ways you want to improve your life. But as you start to write down your hopes for the new year，you think about the last year．You excitedly write down all the changes you are going to make，but by the end of January those ideas get lost in your busy life．
Here’s a suggestion：Forget the too big，hard-to-achieve goals(目标) and just think about the small ones．“We often think that we have to do everything in big steps, even though it’s so hard for us to reach it．” said Robert Maurer，who recently wrote the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life．“What we try to do is to begin with such a small step that we can’t find any excuse not to do it．”
“Kaizen”，a Japanese word，is used to mean to change behavior and attitudes（态度）．During World War Il，American factory managers were able to increase productivity by trying small, continuous improvements instead of sudden changes．After the war，the idea was brought to a rebuilding Japan．It made Japan develop fast. The Japanese called it “kaizen”, which means “improvement”．
Maurer studied the idea and did some experiments with it. “Kaizen” could possibly help people succeed in doing everythingRobert Maurer wrote a book to tell us .
| A．we should do everything in big steps |
| B．how to change one’s life with one small step |
| C．we should try a lot of sudden changes |
| D．how to find a small step without any excuse |
The writer of the passage suggests we should .
| A．make changes at the end of the year |
| B．do few experiments with “kaizen” |
| C．do things with hard-to-achieve goals |
| D．take a tiny step to achieve big goals |
Which of the following is TRUE from the passage?
| A．Robert Maurer studied “kaizen” and found it helpful. |
| B．You can achieve your goals if you are not too busy. |
| C．You can’t find any excuse not to reach a big goal. |
| D．“Kaizen” was brought to Japan during World WarⅡ. |
Everyone needs friends. Friends bring us happiness and hope in our lives. But the ability to make friends changes from person to person. To some people, making friends is easy, and to others it’s very difficult.
Making friends is a skill, and the first thing is to know how to get along with others.
If you have trouble in making friends, maybe I can tell you how to do it.
★Realize your own good points. You have skills and talents that others will like.
★Believe that you are a good person and have something nice to share with others.
★Be humorous. Learn to laugh at yourself and your weakness. Remember to smile to others.
★Respect the others. Everyone has his own idea. Learn how to listen to others’ ideas without trying to make them accept yours.
★Be kind. If you are kind to others, they will usually be kind to you. There are hundreds of little things you can do to show kindness. Open the door for someone. Wave to a friend and so on.
★Don’t complain(抱怨). Learn to accept what you can’t change, and work hard to change what you can. No one is willing to hear your complaining all the time.
★Never give up. Even if you are faced with some closed-minded people, never give up. And try to find someone who will understand you. Why do we need friends according to the passage?
| A．Friends can do everything for us. |
| B．Friends can bring us happiness. |
| C．Friends accept our ideas all the time. |
| D．Without friends we could not live. |
What’s the first thing we should learn in order to make friends?
| A．To help others. | B．To smile to others. |
| C．To get along with others. | D．To listen to others’ complaints. |
Which of the following shows a sense of humor?
| A．Opening the door for someone. |
| B．Complaining to others all the time. |
| C．Laughing at ourselves and our weakness. |
| D．Finding someone who will understand us. |
A SCHOOL REPORT
| Name: Edward Scott School: Kelvin Grove State High School Grade: 7 Term ending: 6, May |
 An English boy |
|
| Subjects |
Assessment(评价) |
|
| Mathematics |
He is a little weak in this, but he has tried his best to catch up with others. |
|
| Science |
He can work out many difficulties. Well done! |
|
| English |
He is the best in the class. Keep it up. |
|
| French |
His reading is very good, he can remember many words. |
|
| History |
He is not so good at this, but has done better than before. |
|
| Geography |
He is familiar (熟悉的) with the names of many places in the world. |
|
| Music |
He doesn't like pop songs, though sings very well. |
|
| Remarks(评语): Edward has the ability to do a lot better. More work is needed next term. |
||
| Class teacher: Ivy Principal: M . L . Martin School reopens: 11, September |
||
Edward's best subject is .
| A．science | B．French |
| C．geography | D．English |
Edward is not so good at .
| A．science and geography | B．mathematics and history |
| C．history and French | D．music and English |
According to the form, which of the following sentences is TRUE?
| A．Edward can't sing songs very well. |
| B．Edward doesn't do well in science. |
| C．Edward learns two foreign languages in school |
| D．Edward can do better if he works harder in school. |
People have used pigeons to carry messages to one another for hundreds of years. In the 12th century, the royal palaces of Iraq and Syria included pigeon houses so the kings could be kept informed of their generals’ victories and defeats on the battlefield. In fact, pigeons were a common way to send messages right up through World War II.
Many countries, such as the United States, England, France, Germany, and Italy, in both World War I and World War II, used carrier pigeons. Not only were the birds often the fastest, most reliable way to send messages, they could also be used to reach soldiers far behind enemy lines, where radios and field telephone lines were useless. Since they could easily be released (释放) from airplanes or ships, every branch of the armed services used the birds. In World War II, more than 3,000 soldiers and 150 officers were needed to care for and train the tens of thousands of birds in the U.S. Pigeon Service.
Carrying messages could be a dangerous job. Some pigeons performed with such bravery that they became famous and were even awarded medals, such as England’s Dicken Medal of Gallantry. In a few cases, pigeons even became prisoners of war. In 1918 American forces captured a pigeon named Kaiser, which had been trained to fly special missions for Germany during battle. He was taken to America, where he lived to the age of 32. The most famous pigeon of all may have been Cher Ami. Stationed in France during World War I, he carried twelve important messages for American forces. On his last mission, though wounded, he carried a message that saved the lives of 194 American soldiers. For his extraordinary service, he was awarded the French “Croix de Guerre.”
Carrier pigeons are a slightly different breed (品种) from the kind of pigeons you see on city streets. They are much thinner and taller, with longer legs. Many people find carrier pigeons ugly because of their big wattle, a bent buildup of skin on the beak（鸟嘴）; however, people who raise pigeons often enjoy this strange appearance and consider carriers the best of their breed.
Today, modern communication methods can carry information from one place to another hundreds of times faster than a pigeon could do. However, few people would argue with the fact that carrier pigeons—especially those that served in the military—have earned their place in history. Stories about brave pigeons such as Cher Ami, President Wilson, and Colonel’s Lady have the power to inspire us as no fax machine or high-speed Internet connection could ever do.Many countries used carrier pigeons in the war because_______.
| A．they could be believed in |
| B．they were easily raised |
| C．they could reach the enemy lines |
| D．they could hardly be found by airplanes |
Which is the best example to show the bravery of carrier pigeons?
| A．Carrier pigeons could fly to places where radios and telephone lines were useless. |
| B．For his extraordinary service, Cher Ami was awarded the French “Croix de Guerre”. |
| C．In World War II, more than 3,000 soldiers were needed to care for and train the pigeons. |
| D．In the 12th century, kings in Iraq were kept informed of the victories and defeats by pigeons. |
From the passage, we can learn _________.
| A．how carrier pigeons developed in history |
| B．how to train carrier pigeons to get victory |
| C．carrier pigeons played an important role in the wars in the old days |
| D．pigeons inspired soldiers to fight before high-speed Internet invented |
"Earworms", some people call them. Songs that get stuck in your head go round and round, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. For no clear reason you cannot help yourself from humming or singing a tune by Lady Gaga.
To a psychologist, the most interesting thing about earworms is that they show a part of our mind that is clearly outside of our control. Earworms arrive without permission and refuse to leave when we tell them to. They are parasites (寄生虫) living in a part of our minds.
If you have got an earworm you can suffer an attack of it simply by someone mentioning the tune, without having to hear it. This proves that earworms are a part of long-term memory. Humans have an "inner ear", for remembering phone numbers, for instance. When it gets infected with earworms, rather than review our plans for the day, or lists of things to remember, the inner ear gets stuck on a few short bars of music or a couple of phrases from a song. A part of us that we normally do not have to think about, that should just do what we ask, has been turned against us, upsetting us with a request that we never asked for. The mind is an inner world which we do not have complete knowledge of, or have control over.
Fortunately psychology can provide some advice on how to deal with an uncontrollable mind. Consider the famous "don’t think of a white bear" problem, which tells you to try not to think about white bears, or to do something else, to avoid both thinking of the white bear and not thinking of the white bear. For earworms, the solution may be the same. Our inner ear has become infected with an earworm. This is a part not under our control, so just sending in instructions to "shut up" is unlikely to be of much help (and has been shown to make it worse). Much better is to employ the inner ear in another task. If your mind is poisoned by Brittany Spears’ Toxic, for instance, then try singing Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head. Let me know if it works!According to the passage, earworms are ______.
| A．songs that keep going round in our mind |
| B．worms that live in a part of our brain |
| C．tunes by pop singers like Lady Gaga |
| D．parasites clearly under our control |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Singing songs may get earworms out of your head. |
| B．Earworms are used for keeping long-term memory. |
| C．Humans do not have complete control over their mind. |
| D．You won’t suffer from earworms unless you hear the song. |
What does “it” in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．The instruction to shut up your mind. |
| B．“Don’t think of the white bear” problem. |
| C．Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You out Of My Head. |
| D．Using the earworm-infected inner ear in another task. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The causes and influences of earworms. |
| B．What earworms are and how to deal with them. |
| C．How to clear earworms out of your head. |
| D．The relation between earworms and popular songs. |
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