Few of us haven't read Cinderella, the story of a young woman living in poverty who meets the prince of her dreams, Some might not want to admit it, but there is a hidden Cinderella in everyone's heart—we all wish we could achieve recognition or success after a period of obscurity(默默无闻) or neglect.
Mary Santiago has that secret dream, too.Her story is featured in Another Cinderella Story, a film set in a US high Mary is shy but loves to dance.Compared with other girls, she is invisible.However, her world changes completely when a famous teenage pop singer, Joey Parker, appears.
Joey is everything the rest of the boys in her class are not—kind, handsome and desirable.Mary and Joey's paths cross at a ball.They meet and falHn love with each other.But when Mary has to.rush back home, she leaves behind her MP3 player, which becomes the only clue Joey has to find the girl of his dreams.Of course, there is a wicked(邪恶的) stepmother, who turns out to be Dominique Blatt and she takes in Mary after her dancer mother dies.Dominique treats Mary like a maid and does everything she can to make sure Mary doesn't get into the top dance school.Her two daughters are equally determined to stop Joey falling for Mary, even if that means embarrassing her.
The story, though it mostly follows Cinderella, does add a few modem day twists to the classic fairy tale.Refreshingly, the film, unlike many high school films, does not focus on looks, although the actors are all beautiful.There is also a lot less materialism in Another Cinderella Story than in many similar movies.
"The movie takes the Cinderella fairytale as its jumping off point," writes movie critic Amber Wilkinson."The focus is firmly on following your dream."The first paragraph is mainly to _____.
A.build interest and lead us to Mary's secret dream |
B.remind us why Cinderella is popular all the years |
C.inform us of the main topic of the whole passage |
D.tell us how interesting the fairy tale Cinderella is |
In the movie, Mary Santiago is the main character who .
A.is brave in expressing her iove |
B.is attended badly by the stepmother |
C.has a dream of meeting a prince |
D.is embarrassed by the pop singer |
What can we infer from the passage?
A.Joey is just like other boys in Mary's class. |
B.Mary's mother influences her a lot m singing. |
C.Not many people have a dream to be realized. |
D.The MP3 player helps Joey in finding Mary. |
The passage is mainly _____.
A.an introduction to a film |
B.a review about a film |
C.an essay about dreams |
D.an advertisement of Cinderella |
According to the passage.Another Cinderella Story _____.
A.follows Cinderella with nothing new |
B.pays more attention to the looks of the actors |
C.encourages young people to follow their dreams |
D.focuses more on materialism than other films |
Our children feel stressed out by an educational system that actually uses stress as an educational technique. It's a constant pressure of homework deadlines,essays and exams. And our children are told at a young age that failing a test means that they are failures in life. They'll end up nowhere if they don't pass this or that exam. Our educational system is based on a very Western idea that life is a struggle and you'd better measure up. It's survival of the fittest. While there is some truth to this,not as much as people think.
Our ancestors didn't develop a constant stress environment. Back then,stress came quickly and was over quickly,it wasn't like the stress of modern education. Stress was originally just a shortterm biological response to danger;however,the constant stress of modern education rarely stops. It's long term,at least ten years and usually more.
Recent research has shown that the neurological(神经系统的)response to stress is the same response that is found in depression. So,what's the solution? A number have been proposed,including but not limited to the following.
________.Exercise consumes energy that would otherwise build up in the stress response and could cause physical and mental problems.
Teach relaxation exercises. Allowing the mind and body to relax cuts off the stress response and reduces the neurological fatigue(疲惫),enabling the individual to recover at least somewhat.
Pay attention to thinking. Training the stressed student to pay attention to his or her own mind to a point where he or she is sufficiently aware to shut off the stress response when necessary.
Of course,there's a logical answer to the problem. Just rearrange our teaching methods to encourage,rather than prevent,the natural curiosity and joy in learning that we are all born with. This would remove the stress and probably cut learning time in half.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Getting rid of the modern education. |
B.Helping children live a happy life. |
C.Dealing with stress in modern education. |
D.Taking measures to learn at school. |
How did our ancestors treat education?
A.They believed education could bring the best out. |
B.They felt education could bring shortterm stress. |
C.They thought education was the only way to success. |
D.They knew the importance of good education. |
Which of the following is the best for the blank?
A.Try to save energy as much as possible. |
B.Quite a few children avoid exercise. |
C.Make sure that kids get exercise. |
D.Set a few limits to your physical activities. |
If you are a teacher in a high school, ______.
A.you should leave students in a good mood |
B.you should ignore the stressed student |
C.you should relax yourself as far as possible |
D.you should stick to your teaching methods |
Alibaba started taking the lead in China, simply enough, by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商)with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to identify: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its marketplaces attract 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year—and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets—not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing almost a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is secondary to(对…来说是次要的) consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售)buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping—big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beijing, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how extensive(广大) the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A.Alibaba | B.a new store |
C.a business | D.a foreign website |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A.The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
B.Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
C.Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail now. |
D.TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.Shopping online is TaoBao. |
B.Alibaba greatly influences people’s daily purchase in China. |
C.The influence of shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
D.How the author purchases online in China. |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the passage refer to?
A.Alibaba acts as a bridge between buyers and sellers. |
B.Alibaba will continue to develop. |
C.Alibaba stands out as the best online site. |
D.Alibaba is of middle size among all the online sites. |
The day when the jobs were handed out was one of the most exciting moments for all the children in the class. It took place during the first week of the term. Every kid was given a job for which they would be responsible for the rest of that school year.
Some jobs were more interesting than others, and the children were eager to be given one of the best ones. When giving them out, the teacher took into account which pupils had been most responsible during the previous year. During the previous year Rita had carried out the teacher’s instructions perfectly. All the children knew Rita would be given the best job.
But there was a big surprise. Each child received a normal job. But Rita’s job was very different. She was given a little box containing some sand and one ant. Though the teacher insisted that this ant was very special, Rita felt disappointed. Most of her classmates felt sorry for her. Even her father became very angry with the teacher and he encouraged Rita to pay no attention to this insignificant pet. However, Rita preferred to show the teacher her error by doing something special with that job of little interest.Rita started investigating all about her little ant and gave the ant the best food, and it grew quite a bit bigger.
One day, a man, who looked very important, came into their classroom and declared, “Your class has been chosen to accompany me, this summer, on a journey to the tropical rain forest, where we will investigate all kinds of insects. Among all the schools of this region, your class has best cared for the little ant.”
That day the school was filled with joy and celebration. Everyone thanked Rita for having been so patient and responsible. And many children learnt that to be given the most important task, you have to know how to be responsible even in what are the smallest tasks.What does the underlined sentence mean?
A.Each child got an important job. |
B.Each child got an interesting job. |
C.The perfect student got the job of everyone’s preference. |
D.The most responsible student got the job of least interest. |
What is Rita’s attitude to her father’s suggestion?
A.Negative. | B.Uncertain. |
C.Totally positive. | D.Acceptive. |
We can infer that the man who made the declaration is a _________.
A.hunter | B.director |
C.biologist | D.principal |
When we can see well, we do not think about our eyes often. It is only when we can notsee perfectly that we come to see how important our eyes are.
People who are nearsighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Many people who do a lot of close work, such as writing and reading, become nearsighted. Then they have to wear glasses in order to see distant things clearly.
People who are farsighted face just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length. If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts(白内障). Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
When night falls, colors become fainter to the eyes and finally disappear. After your eyes have grown used to the dark, you can see better if you use the side of your eyes rather than the centers. Sometimes, after dark, you see a small thing to one side of you, which seems to disappear if you turn your head in its direction. This is because when you turn your head, you are looking at the thing too directly. Men on guard duty sometimes think they see something moving to one side of them. When they turn to look straight at it, they can not see it any more, and they believe they were mistaken. However, this mistake happens because the center of the eye, which is very sensitive in daylight, is not as sensitive as the sides of the eye after dark.We don’t know that our eyes are of great importance until _____.
A.we think about our eyes |
B.we cannot see clearly |
C.we wear glasses |
D.we have to do much reading |
According to the passage, who is more likely to be nearsighted?
A.A typist. | B.A sailor. |
C.A tourist. | D.A driver. |
People who are farsighted _____.
A.can do a lot of close work without glasses |
B.can only see things that are very close to their eyes |
C.have difficulty reading a book if they hold it at arm's length |
D.can correct their eyes by glasses |
To see a small thing at night, it is better to look _____.
A.with wide open eyes | B.with half shut or narrowed eyes |
C.straight at it | D.in a slightly different direction |
Why do parents have such a difficult time to communicate openly and honestly with their teens? For this, there are many reasons but most of them stem from not being able to properly understand their teens. It is a dangerous gap because parents will have to communicate with their teens about a wide variety of issues during the most important years of their lives. Thus, parents must know how to communicate openly and honestly with their teens.
Here are a few tips to make communication easier between parents and teenagers.
1. Try not to talk down to your teens. Make them feel as if their views really matter, which not only helps your discussions with your teen but bring you closer to him.
2. Imagine what it would be like to be a teen. Try to remember some of the negative feelings you experienced as a teenager and apply it to your teen's situation.
3. Never make negative remarks to your teen about what he has said or done.
4. Remember how much courage it would have taken for your teen to come and talk to you about his personal issues. So listen respectfully.
5. Don't ignore your teen's feelings because it is usually a cry for help. For instance, if your teen is unusually angry, it may be time to spend a bit of quality time with your teen to determine what is wrong and where he is coming from.
It is, therefore, necessary for parents to strive to keep lines of communication open at all times with their teens. Try to remember what it was like to be a teenager and how vulnerable(脆弱的)you felt. Then you will be well on your way to help your teen communicate more openly and honestly.Why don't teens want to talk about their personal issues with their parents?
A.Because they can't respect their parents. |
B.Because they can't understand their parents. |
C.Because their parents won't understand them well. |
D.Because their parents are not honest. |
When your son comes to you for help, you should NOT _____.
A.listen respectively | B.treat him seriously |
C.care about his feeling | D.make negative remarks |
Which of the following has the similar meaning to the underlined phrase “talk down to”?
A.put down | B.look down upon |
C.chat with | D.quarrel with |
The best title for this passage is _____.
A.Causes of generation gap |
B.Relations between teens and parents |
C.Suggestions for parents-children effective communication |
D.Problems with communication between teens and parents |