TheUnitedStatesisonthevergeofl-优题课

In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.
What do we learn from the first paragraph?

A．A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays.

B．Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities.

C．Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time.

D．Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.

What did the author say about her own writing experience?

A．She was constantly under pressure to write more.

B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

C．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

D．Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations.

Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?

A．She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

C．She wanted to share her stories with readers.

D．She had won a prize in the previous contest.

The author took great pains to improve her daughter’s stories because _______.

A．she wanted to help Rebecca realize her dreams of becoming a writer

B．she was afraid Rebecca’s imagination might run wild while writing

C．she did not want to disappoint Rebecca who needed her help so much

D．she believed she had the knowledge and experience to offer guidance

The underlined sentence probably means that the author was _______.

A．trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life

B．trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished

C．making sure that her daughter would win the contest

D．helping her daughter develop real skills for writing

What’s the author’s advice for parents?

A．Children should be given every chance to voice their opinions.

B．Parents should keep an eye on the activities their kids engage in.

C．Children should be allowed freedom to grow through experience.

D．A writing career, though attractive, is not for every child to pursue.

It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why.
First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things. It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing. If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”. Look around you. With very few exceptions (例外), either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new.
Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning. Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work.
Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success. Why?
Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeeded. Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer.
But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences of a mistake. Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again.
We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem. Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate (分配) these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again. Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career.
There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.”
So go forth and make mistakes. And learn. And grow. And prosper(成功).
From the second paragraph, we can conclude that _______.

A．mistakes are unnecessary for development

B．we are afraid of trying new things

C．it’s common for people to make mistakes

D．mistakes are better than not trying

The underlined word “eliminate” means _______.

A．avoid

B．dismiss

C．accept

D．solve

According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is _______.

A．avoiding making the same mistakes	B．accepting the punishment willingly
C．taking consequences into account	D．trying things out one by one

The article is mainly about _______.

A．how to deal with mistakes	B．what benefits mistakes bring
C．how to achieve success	D．how to make use of your mistakes

What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?

A．Never mind, I can always try again.	B．I’d better stay out of trouble.
C．Great! Now I can learn something.	D．Look at this mess. Anyone would be upset.

Searching for airfares (飞机票价) often seems like a game that passengers are bound to lose.
Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Looking through multiple websites for the best deal can be a big challenge. Even when you do book, there’s no guarantee that you are going to get the best price.
“You just don’t know when to pull the trigger. It’s not like buying anything else I can think of,” said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.
Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215. A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each. There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360.
There’s no reason for it, Harrison said.
Fares can fluctuate significantly in just a few hours. One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 on Sunday.
The flight was one of a dozen the Associated Press followed over three months for a vacation between July 16 and 22. The number one finding: avoid booking tickets on weekends. It’s the most expensive time to buy.
There’s no way to guarantee the best fare. But before booking, travelers should pay attention to this additional advice:
• Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s when airlines most often offer sales.
• Buy in advance, but not too early. The best time is four to six weeks before traveling. In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to 10 weeks and two to three weeks in advance.
• Make use of social media. Airlines are giving more benefits like exclusive (独家) sales to travelers who interact (互动) with them on Twitter and Facebook. Those specials are often gone within hours.
• The so-called discount (折扣) airlines – JetBlue, Air-Tran, Southwest and Frontier – adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident that the price will stay the same. But their prices aren’t always the lowest. Researching multiple airlines’ fares is the only way to get a good deal.
What can we infer from the first sentence of the text?

A．Passengers are unable to search for airfares.

B．Airlines often play games with passengers.

C．Airfares are set in different situations.

D．It’s difficult for passengers to get the best price.

The underlined phrase “pull the trigger” in Paragraph 3 probably means _______.

A．start searching	B．get the highest price
C．make a purchase	D．get on board the plane

By using a lot of figures, the author intends to _______.

A．show there is standard price for every single airline

B．discover the rules behind airfares

C．guarantee passengers a low price

D．prove airfares can vary widely

Passengers are advised to book flights _______.

A．in the middle of the week

B．on special websites

C．several months before traveling

D．with airlines which are famous for offering discount prices

A few months ago as I wandered through my parents’ house, the same house I grew up in, I had a sudden, scary realization. When my parents bought the house, in 1982, they were only two years older than I am now. I tried to imagine myself in two years, ready to settle down and buy the house I’d still be living in almost 30 years later.
It seemed ridiculous. On a practical level, there’s no way I could afford to buy a house anytime soon. More importantly, I wouldn’t want to. I’m not sure where I’ll be living in two years, or what kind of job I’ll have. And I don’t think I’ll be ready to settle down and stay in one place.
So this is probably the generation gap that divides my friends and me from our parents. When our parents were our age, they’d gotten their education, chosen a career, and were starting to settle into responsible adult lives.
My friends and I – “Generation Y” – still aren’t sure what we want to do with our lives. Whatever we end up doing, we want to make sure we’re happy doing it. We’d rather take risks first, try out different jobs, and move from one city to another until we find our favorite place. We’d rather spend our money on travel than put it in a savings account.
This casual attitude toward responsibility has caused some critics to call my generation “arrogant”, “impatient”, and “overprotected”. Some of these complaints have a point. As children we were encouraged to succeed in school, but also to have fun. We grew up in a world full of technological innovation: cellphones, the Internet, instant messaging, and video games.
Our parents looked to rise vertically(垂直的)--starting at the bottom of the ladder and slowly making their way to the top, on the same track, often for the same company. That doesn’t apply to my generation.
Because of that, it may take us longer than our parents to arrive at responsible, stable adulthood. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In our desire to find satisfaction, we will work harder, strive for ways to keep life interesting, and gain a broader set of experiences and knowledge than our parents’ generation did.
By Ariel Lewiton
When the author walked through her parents’ house, she _______.

A．was frightened that she had no idea what she wanted from life

B．started to think about her own life

C．realized I should buy a house.

D．wondered why her parents had settled down early

What is the main “generation gap” between the author and her friends and their parents according to the article?

A．Their attitude toward high technology.

B．Their ways of making their way to the top.

C．Their attitude towards responsibility.

D．Their ways of gaining experience.

Which of the following might the author agree with?

A．It’s all right to try more before settling down.

B．It’s better to take adult responsibility earlier.

C．It involves too much effort to rise vertically.

D．It’s ridiculous to call her generation “arrogant”.

What can we conclude from the article?

A．The author is envious of her parents enjoying a big house at her age.

B．Growing up in a hi-tech world makes “Generation Y” feel insecure about relationships.

C．“Generation Y” people don’t want to grow up and love to be taken care of by their parents.

D．The author wrote this article so that others would be able to understand her generation better.

What is the main theme of the article?

A．The sudden realization of growing up.

B．A comparison between lifestyles of generations.

C．Criticisms of the young generation.

D．The factors that have changed the young generation.

Every child has written their names on the beach at some point.
But whereas most people’s “handwriting” is washed away, one super-rich Arab sheikh(酋长) has ensure that his graffiti(胡写乱画) will last a little longer.
Hamad Bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, 63, has scrawled his name in sand on an island he owns with letters so big that they be seen from space.
The word “HAMAD” measures 1,000 meters high and is a staggering two miles long from the “H” to the “D” on the Al Futaisi Island.
And rather than allow the writing to be washed away by the ocean, the letters actually form waterways that absorb the encroaching(渗入) tide. The ruler’s name is even visible on Google’s map service.
Hamad dreamed up the idea and had his workmen work hard for weeks to craft the enormous piece of sand graffiti. It is not known how much it cost to make.
However, the sheikh boasts a personal fortune second to the Saudi king’s.
Hamad, also known as the “Rainbow Sheikh”, is a member of the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family.
He is understood to have some 200 cars including seven Mercedes 500 SELs painted in different colors of the rainbow which he stores in a giant pyramid.
The Arab sheikh had a taste for doing things on a large scale. He built the world’s largest truck—eight times the size of the Dodge Power Wagon, with four bedrooms inside the cabin.
Hamad constructed a motor home in the shape of a giant globe which is exactly 1 millionth the size of the actual earth.
Alongside his displays of wealth he has become a well-known philanthropist(慈善家) in medicine and supplied a complete Kinney stone operating theatre to a public hospital in Morocco where he continues to fund its stuff.
Which of the following in NOT true according to the passage?

A．Hamad is a man who wants himself to be well-known from apace.

B．Hamad is a super-rich person who always does something unusual.

C．Hamad is a man who is always so mean in his family

D．Hamad is a man who boasts his fortune is second to the Saudi king’s

In what way could Hamad make his handwriting last longer?
A. The word “HAMAD” measures 1,000 meters wide and high.
B The word “HAMAD” is a staggering two miles long from the “H” to the “D”.
C. The word “HAMAD” actually forms huge waterways that absorb the encroaching tide.
D. The word “HAMAD” cost his workmen a lot of hard work for several weeks.
Why does Hamad have his seven Mercedes-Benz500 SELs painted in different colors?

A．Perhaps he hoped his cars were stored in a giant pyramid safely.

B．In some ways he could make a very strange rainbow.

C．Maybe he just wanted to show off his wealth.

D．He is always interested in making his cars like these.

Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A．The Rainbow Sheikh’s name can be seen from space

B．The richest Arab sheikh’s name has made many funny things

C．A great person likes doing things on a large scale

D．A well-known philanthropist displays his wealth