B
“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” --a document stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores. Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled(挫败的),” admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press, stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids. Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs, “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----until Bob signed the contract, therefore, she decided to relax and enjoy it.
Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria, his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative(暂时的) title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
45. The couple signed the contract because _______.
A. Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself
B. Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest
C. they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks
D. Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book
46. It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.
A. pay a certain amount of money
B. admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood
C. say sorry to his wife D. do all the housework for years
47. What can we learn about Pat Peters?
A. She was hard-working and selfless. B. She was pretty and kind-hearted.
C. She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.
D. She did not love Bob any longer.
48. Which of the following can best end the news story?
A. “Wait till your mother gets home!” B. “My experience of being a mother.”
C. “I’m proud of you all, my dear!” D. “Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”
King Solomon, the most powerful and the most respected Israeli king, once said, “Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value a man who speaks the truth.” He wrote a book called Proverbs, which is part of the Bible and studied carefully even today.
There was a college graduate in Wuhan who shared his own experience about being truthful. It is a good lesson for everyone who reads of his experience.
Mr. Lou went to work for a factory making electrical machines. On the first day of his job, he accidentally broke an electrical machine because of his inexperience. Since it was very expensive, it caused Mr. Lou to become frightened about what his boss might say to him. The machine was worth his six months’ salary.
He decided to try and repair it. After working on it for about 2 hours, he could make it function, but it didn’t work as well as it should.
After spending a restless night, Mr. Lou felt he must tell his boss the truth. The next morning, he showed the broken machine to his boss nervously, for he didn’t know what the result would be. To his great surprise, the boss praised him for being truthful and even later gave him a rise.
Mr. Lou never forgot this dramatic experience. He had to make the choice of hiding his mistake by saying nothing or of telling the truth. The boss had found an honest new employee who would prove later to be of great value to the company.
Being honest makes a person worthy of trust, which is so important for a family, a company, and even a country.
60. The underlined part “honest lips” (in Paragraph 1) most probably refer to “_____”.
A. people who speak the truth B. lips of honest people
C. people loyal to their king D. lips of people loyal to the king
61. What did Mr. Lou do first after he broke the electrical machine?
A. He hid it in a secret place. B. He reported it to the boss at once.
C. He repaired it himself. D. He replaced it with a used one.
62. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Mr. Lou was excited and happy to have the machine repaired.
B. Mr. Lou told the boss the truth in order to get a rise later.
C. The boss was disappointed and sad about the broken machine.
D. The boss thought honest employees were of great value to the company.
63. By telling the story of Mr. Lou, the author wants to show that _____.
A. mistakes can sometimes bring good luck to a person
B. being truthful is a most important character of a person
C. employees should always be careful with their work
D. experience is important for an employee to do his work well
第三部分:阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Does this situation seem familiar to you? Your English is progressing well, the grammar is now familiar, the reading comprehension is no problem, you are communicating quite fluently, but: Listening is STILL a problem! First of all, remember that you are not alone. Listening comprehension is probably the most difficult job for almost all learners of English as a foreign language. The most important thing is to listen as often as possible. The first step is to find listening resources. The Internet is really a useful tool for English students. You can download The RealPlayer from RealMedia.com. The RealPlayer allows you to use the Internet like a radio station.
Once you have begun to listen on a regular basis, you might still be frustrated (懊恼) by limited understanding. What should you do?
Here is some of the advice I give my students:
●Accept the fact that you are not going to understand everything.
●Stay relaxed when you do not understand — even if you continue not to understand for a long time.
●Do not translate what you hear into your native language.
●Listen for the general idea of the conversation. Don’t concentrate on detail until you have understood the main ideas.
I remember the problems I had in understanding spoken German when I first went to Germany. In the beginning, when I didn’t understand a word, I insisted on translating it in my mind. This method usually resulted in confusion. Then, after the first six months, I discovered two extremely important facts. Firstly, translating creates a wall between the listener and the speaker. Secondly, most people repeat themselves constantly. By remaining calm, I noticed that — even if I didn’t pay much attention I could usually understand what the speaker had said.
56. The best way to improve our listening is to _____.
A. practice as much as possible
B. find as many listening resources as possible
C. use the Internet like a radio station
D. speak naturally and read as much as possible
57. Which of the following is a good habit when listening?
A. Try to understand everything. B. Try to get the main ideas.
C. Pay much attention to details. D. Translate each word in your mind.
58. Why did the writer mention his / her experience in Germany?
A. To prove the importance of translating.
B. To show the problems of speaking a foreign language.
C. To tell us the importance of staying calm.
D. To point out an ineffective method of listening.
59. The underlined part “a wall” in the last paragraph refers to “_____”.
A. a communication barrierB. culture shock
C. language conflict D. a little misunderstanding
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.
62. According to this passage, Parents in China .
A. are too strict with their children
B. are too rich to educate their children
C. have some problems in educating their children correctly
D. are too poor to educate their children
63. Generally speaking, children’s skills .
A. come from their parents
B. may be different from child to child
C. have nothing to do with their education
D. have something to do with their marks in the exams
64. The writer of this passage does not seem to be satisfied with .
A. the parents’ ideas of educating their children B. the education system
C. children’s skills D. children’s hobbies
65. Doing some cooking at home helps children.
A. learn how to serve their parents
B. learn how to become strong and fat
C. make their parents believe that they are clever
D. benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future
C
Kids Wall Art
Large wall posters for kids. Your kids will love these cool posters by artist Darla Daly. Zebras boarding in the skateboard park, a group of jungle animals play in the playground and two giraffes take a drive in the city. Your kids will enjoy decorating their bedroom walls with these posters and their friends will think they are the coolest!
Displaying 1 to 4 (of 4 products)
Name: Alphabet Wall Art Size: 44×72cm(17.5″×28″) Dispatch time: at 9:00 am. every day Prices: $6.8/piece Colorful alphabet art for your kids’ bedroom and playroom. A fun, educational art piece that all kids will enjoy. Kids and babies will love learning their animals and the ABC at the same time! |
Name : Kids World Map Size: 45×75cm(17.5″×29.5″) Dispatch time: at 5:00 am. on Wednesday Prices: $7.2/piece A Colorful, large print by artist Carla Daly. Your kids will love this illustrated world map showing the lands, oceans and the fun animals that live in them. An educational map that will keep your kids amused for hours! |
Name : Skateboard Park Size: 44×60cm(17.5″×23.5″) Dispatch time: at 9:00 am. on weekends Prices: $8.8/piece Fun zebra children’s wall art! Children and kids will love these fun animals enjoying this popular kids’ sport. Boys and girls will enjoy decorating their bedroom walls with this colorful bedroom wall art. |
Name City slickers Size: 44×55cm(17.5″×23.5″) Dispatch time: at 2:00 pm. every day except Friday Prices: $6.5/piece Cute kids wall art of two cool giraffes taking a drive through the city, unusual, fun style for kids walls! Your kids will love this fun giraffe wall art. Boys and girls will have fun decorating their bedroom walls with this colorful bedroom wall art. |
58. Of the four posters, which one is the cheapest?
A. Alphabet Wall Art. B. Kids World Map.
C. Skateboard Park. D. City Slickers.
59. Which poster has the biggest size?
A. Alphabet Wall Art. B. Kids World Map.
C. Skateboard Park. D. City Slickers.
60. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Kids can just learn some English letters on Alphabet Wall Art.
B. City Slickers posters can be bought at 2:00 pm every day in a week.
C. Kids can get some geography knowledge on Kids World Map.
D. Kids can find two cool giraffes on Skateboard Park.
61. The underlined word “illustrated” in Poster II most probably means “ ”in Chinese.
A. 印刷 B. 装饰 C. 展示 D.图解
The World Health Organization raised the pandemic(流行病) flu alert(警戒) to six, the highest level, which means that the H1N1 swine flu is spreading world-wide.
The WHO will ask all countries, including the countries that haven’t yet reported any cases, to make plans to control this disease.
“It was reported that about 35,000 people infected with the H1N1 virus in 74 counties,” Margaret Chan, an officer of the WHO, said on Thursday. “Further spread of the disease is possible,” Ms Chan said. So far, WHO doesn’t expect a sudden jump in the number of serious or dead cases reported.
In Australia, the number of people who got the flu became more than three times as many as before in the past week, reaching 1,263 on Thursday, when three new ones were reported in this country. It recorded its first case of the disease on May 9. “Australia tells us not because of the number of cases, but because of the strong facts of community transmission(群体性传播),” said the spokesman for the World Health Organization. He said the WHO is also watching on similar evidence in the UK, Spain, Japan and Chile.
In Hong Kong, the government on Thursday ordered the nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools to close for two weeks after a dozen students at one school tested positive for swine flu. Elsewhere in Asia, health officials in Thailand found 30 new H1N1 cases, raising the total there to 46.
54. How many levels does WHO use to warn people against the pandemic flu?
A. Five. B. Six. C. Seven. D. Eight.
55. WHO raised the pandemic flu alert to the highest level because .
A. all countries in the world have reported dead cases
B. there is a sudden jump in the number of cases reported
C. there is no medicine to cure this flu
D. it is spreading in the world
56. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The number of people who got the flu has dropped slightly in the past week in Australia.
B. The WHO ask the countries that have reported cases to make plans to control the disease.
C. The number of people who got the flu reached more than 1,000 in Australia on Thursday.
D. The Hong Kong government ordered all schools to close for two weeks on Thursday.
57. This passage mainly tells us something about .
A. WHO’s raising the pandemic flu alert
B. how to prevent this kind of flu
C. people who got the pandemic flu
D. the ways to avoid the serious pandemic flu