Material Girl no more? Madonna says writing children’s books is more satisfying than being a movie star.
Her book, The English Roses, wen t on sale on September 15th, appearing in 100 countries and in 30 languages as the first in her series of tales for children. The pop diva (女歌唱家), whose only book until now was the 1992 photo essay titled “Sex”, said she wrote the books to teach children some of the life lessons she’s learned over the years.
“The most fun that I’ve had of all the things I’ve done successfully has been to write these books. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m not doing it to become more famous, and I’m not doing it to become richer. I’m doing it because I want to share something I know with children.”
Hours after its release, the 43page book was already No. 3 on Amazon, com’s sales list. The first print is 1 million copies worldwide, with more than 750,000 in the United States. The English Roses is about a friendship shared by four girls and their mutual (共同的) envy of a beautiful classmate, with illustrations (插图) by fashion artist Jeffrey Fulvimari.
“There is one lifegiving force in the world,” Madonna declared. “When we disconnect from this lifegiving force, that’s when we bring pain and suffering into our lives. Each of the stories has to do with different ways you disconnect from God. ”Madonna also said she was deeply affected by the experience of raising two children, Lourdes, 6, and Rocco, 3. The English Roses is the latest among a growing number of celebritywritten children’s books.
The next book in the series, “Mr Peabody’s Apples,”will be out in November.Each tale is set in a different time and place and has new characters and different illustrators.
1.How many books does Madonna’s series of tales include?
A.At least 3. B.4. C.At least 2. D.6.
2.According to the idea of Madonna, the underlined phrase “life-giving force”in Paragraph 5 refers to .
A.The English Roses. B.God C.Mr Peabody’s Apples. D.her life
3.When Madonna said writing children’s books was more satisfying than being a movie star,she meant that .
A.she was more satisfied with her writing children’s books
B.she was more satisfied as a movie star C.being a movie star was not really successful
D.she was not a Material Girl any more
4.According to the passage,Madonna wrote the book The English Roses in order to .
A.provide children with fun B.teach children some life lessons
C.teach children how to become famous D.share her success with children
Too many people want others to be their friends, but they don't give friendship back. That is why some friendships don't last very long. To have a friend, you must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous (宽宏大量的); be understanding.
Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven't been honest, you may lose your friend's trust. Good friends always rely on one another to speak and act honestly.
Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them, you help your friend know better.
Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend's place so that you can understand the problem better.
No two friendships are exactly alike (相同的). But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.Some friendships don't last long because _____.
| A．there are too many people who want to make friends |
| B．those who give others friendship receive friendship from others |
| C．some people receive friendship but don't give friendship back |
| D．they don't know friendship is something serious |
According to the passage, honesty is _____.
| A．something countable |
| B．the base of friendship |
| C．as important as money |
| D．more important than anything else |
In the third paragraph, the underlined word 'they' refers to (指) _____.
| A．generosity and friendship |
| B．generosity and sharing |
| C．your ideas and feelings |
| D．your clothes |
The best title of this passage is _____.
| A．How to Be a Friend |
| B．Honesty Is the Best Policy |
| C．A Friend in Need Is a Friend indeed |
| D．Three Important Points in Life |
Fuzhou Road is famous for its book stores.
Shanghai’s City of Books (Nandong)
Address: No. 345, Nanjing Road. E. near Shandong Road N.
Tel: 6322-1557
Opening Hour: 9:30—21:30
It is a branch of Shanghai’s City of Books. It doesn’t sell any foreign language books, but you can buy CDs of computer games and software.
Traffic: Metro Line No. 2 (Nanjing Road E. Station)
Shanghai’s City of Books
Address: No. 465, Fuzhou Road
Tel: 6391-4848
Opening Hour: 9:30—20:30
This is the biggest book store in Shanghai with six floors. Each floor has different kinds of books, but most English books are for Chinese students preparing for exams.
Foreign Language Bookstore
Address: No. 390, Fuzhou Road
Tel: 6322-3200
Opening Hour: 9:00—18:00
You can find many English novels on the ground floor, as well as dictionaries. There is a corner on the ground floor for foreigners who want to learn Chinese.
On the higher floors, you can find some professional books in English. Of course, many of the books are for Chinese students.
Shanghai Culture Commercial Building
Address: No. 355, Fuzhou Road
Opening Hour: 9:00—17:30
This store has a variety of stationery (文具) and painting materials. If you major in painting or art, this is a good place to find professional materials.If you want to buy CDs of computer games, you can get off at ______.
| A．Nanjing Road E. Station | B．Shandong Road N. Station |
| C．Fuzhou Road E. Station | D．Nanjing Road N. Station |
If your foreign friends want to learn Chinese, you can suggest they go to ______.
| A．No. 345, Nanjing Road. | B．No. 465, Fuzhou Road |
| C．No. 390, Fuzhou Road | D．No. 355, Fuzhou Road |
From the introduction of the four book shops, Li Hua can buy a drawing-board as a birthday gift for her sister between ______.
| A．9:30 and 21:30 | B．9:30 and 20:30 |
| C．9:00 and 18:00 | D．9:00 and 17:30 |
People often ask me how I became successful in that six-year period of time while many of the people I knew did not. The answer is simple: The things I found to be easy to do, they found to be easy not to do.
I found it easy to set the goals that could change my life. They found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the books that could affect my thinking. They found that easy not to. I found it easy to attend the classes. They said it probably really wouldn’t matter. Six years later, I’m a millionaire and they are all still blaming the economy, the government and company policies. They neglected(忽视) to do the basic, easy things.
In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing can be summed up in a single word: neglect. It is not the lack of money – banks are full of money. It is not the lack of opportunity – the government continues to offer the most opportunities. It is not the lack of books – libraries are full of books – and they are free! It is not the schools – the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of good advisors. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is neglect.
Don’t do the things which cause us to feel guilty(感到内疚的) and guilt erodes our self-confidence. As our self-confidence reduces, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity goes down, so do our results. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins changing from positive to negative, our self-confidence becomes even less … and on and on it goes.
So my suggestion is that when giving choice of “easy to” and “easy not to”, do not neglect to do the simple, basic, “easy” but potentially life-changing activities.Why did the author become a millionaire in six years?
| A．He was a very lucky man. |
| B．He didn’t come across difficulties. |
| C．He did some basic and easy things. |
| D．He set himself long-term life goals. |
The underlined word “erodes” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_____”.
| A．changes | B．neglects |
| C．weakens | D．exposes |
What is the main reason that some people fail to succeed?
| A．They don’t have good opportunities. |
| B．They neglect the importance of success. |
| C．They lack the government’s support. |
| D．They don’t make use of what they have. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Being self-confident works |
| B．Nothing can not be neglected |
| C．Everything is easy to do |
| D．Success is easy, but so is neglect |
Why are so many people afraid to fail? Quite simply because we forget that failure is part of the human life and that every person has the right to fail. Every person is able to fight failure and finally succeed.
Most parents work hard at preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards(标准). When a child finishes making a table, the mother describes it as “perfect” even though it doesn’t stand still. Another way is to blame others. If John fails in science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
There’s a problem with the two ways. It makes a child unprepared for life in the real world. Young children need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time, and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win. A child often feels terrible, of course, when he is not invited to a birthday party, or is not chosen into a football team. But parents should not say “It doesn’t matter.” quickly. The young should be allowed to experience failure and be helped to come out of it.
Failure never gives people pleasure. It hurts both adults and children. But it can be really good to your life when you learn to use it. You must learn to ask “Why did I fail?” Don’t blame anyone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong and how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about asking them. Success just repeats what has been done. It is not as good a teacher as failure. You can learn how to give a good party from an unsuccessful one.How do most parents prevent their children from failure?
| A． They give them some presents. |
| B． They don’t tell them that they have failed. |
| C． They don’t blame others. |
| D． They help them to come out of failure. |
Which of the following does a person need to learn when he fails?
| A． It’s impossible to enjoy a game if he misses it. |
| B． He is the worst of all. |
| C． It’s natural not to win a game and no one can win all the time. |
| D． His teammates are not good enough. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A． Learning from Failure |
| B． Ways of Preventing Failure |
| C． Reasons of Failure |
| D． Getting Pleasure from Failure |
There was once a man called Mr．Flowers, and flowers were his only joy in life．He spent all his free time in one of his four glass-houses and grew flowers of every color, with long and difficult names, for competitions．He tried to grow a rose of a new color to win the silver cup (银杯) for the Rose of the Year．
Mr．Flowers’ glass-houses were very near to a middle school．Boys of around thirteen of age were often tempted (引诱) to throw a stone or two at one of Mr．Flowers’ glass-houses．So Mr．Flowers did his best to be in or near his glass-houses at the beginning and end of the school day．
But it was not always possible to be on watch at those times．Mr．Flowers had tried in many ways to protect his glass, but nothing that he had done had been useful．He had been to school to report to the headmaster; but this had not done any gooD.He had tried to drive away the boys that threw stones into his garden; but the boys could run faster than he could, and they laughed at him from far away．He had even picked up all the stones that he could find around his garden, so that the boys would have nothing to throw; but they soon found others．
At last Mr．Flowers had a good ideA.He put up a large notice (布告) made of good, strong wood, some meters away from the glass-houses．On it he had written the words: DO NOT THROW STONES AT THIS NOTICE．After this, Mr．Flowers had no further trouble; the boys were much more tempted to throw stones at the notice than at the glass-houses．It was Mr．Flowers’ hope to ________．
| A．build glass-houses in his free time |
| B．grow the Rose of the Year in a silver cup |
| C．win a silver cup for growing a rose of a new color |
| D．grow a rose with the longest name |
Boys were often tempted to ________．
| A．throw stones at Mr．Flowers’ glass-house |
| B．throw stones at Mr．Flowers from their school |
| C．be in or near by Mr．Flowers’ glass-houses |
| D．play with Mr．Flowers near his glass-houses |
Mr．Flowers stayed in or near by his glass-houses _______．
| A．at times when school-boys were walking near them |
| B．all the school day when there were no boys about |
| C．where he could not be seen by the boys passing |
| D．at the beginning and end of the school day |
Mr．Flowers had tried to ______ to protect his glass．
| A．be on watch in his free time |
| B．ask the headmaster for help |
| C．pick up all the stones around his garden |
| D．do all the above |
Mr．Flowers’ good idea was to ______．
| A．write some words on the glass |
| B．put up a large notice to cover his glass-houses |
| C．give the boys something else to throw stones at |
| D．send for policemen |