Board, But Not Boring
Roll the Dice and Take a Chance on Something New…
Are you vacationed-out, tired of video-gaming, waterlogged by too many trips to the pool and ready to scream if you see one more “SpongeBob” rerun?
In other words, are you bored with summer?
We’ve got a suggestion: Kill that boredom with some great board boredom games. We went to game expert Lizzy Palmer of Barston’s Child’s Play in the District and ask for suggestions. All the games you see on this page are a ton of fun, she said, and there are sure to be at least one or two that you don’t already have.
Maptangle
Borderline Games
Ages 7 and older, 4 to 6 players, $24.95
This clever take on the classic game of Twister challenges your gymnastic and geographic skills at the same time. A huge floor map of the world serves as the game board. There are lots of geographic elements: countries, oceans, rivers, deserts, even man-made landmarks. A deck of cards tells you where to put one foot, then the other. The round is over when someone falls.
Jungle Speed
Ages 7 and older, 2 to 8
players, $25.99
This is a fast-paced shape-recognition game. A wooden totem (图腾柱) sits in the middle. Players flip (翻) over cards one at a time. When your card matches another, be the first to grab the totem so that you can give your card to the loser. But be careful: Some cards look the same but aren’t!
Enchanted Forest
Ravensburger Ages 6 and older, 2 to 6 players,
$24.99
A classic memory game. Take a winding path through the forest and check under the trees for
fairy-tale treasure. Remember what you saw so that when you need a particular treasure you can
go back to that tree to get it. Cool rule: You can split your dice (骰子) roll—for example, move five spaces in one direction and two in the other to land at the right tree.
Go fish for Wildlife Birdcage Press All ages, $9.95
Birdcage has several decks (副) of cards that are more like trading cards. You fish for sea creatures, reptiles, wild animals. Each deck has instructions for several card games, and each card has great photos and fun facts. Great for a trip.
HedBanz Funrise Ages 6 and older, 2 to 6
players, $13.99
Put on a headband and slip in a card that shows an animal or thing. Everyone else can see it but you.Ask questions until you guess what it is—but do it before time runs out!
68. What’s the purpose of writing the article?
A. To advertise several board games to attract potential consumers.
B. To introduce several board games for readers to pass the summer.
C. To try to persuade readers to give up video games and choose board games.
D. To make some suggestions on how to spend the long summer.
69. Suppose Doris, a mother with a six-year old boy, wants to buy some board games for her child. How many kinds of board games can she choose?
A. 2 B. 3 C. 4 D. 5
70. Which of the following games will be the best choice for Mr Smith who wants to find an indoor game that can benefit both his daughter’s mind as well as her body?
A. Go Fish for Wildlife B. Jungle Speed
C. Maptangle Borderline Games D. Hedbanz
71. Which of the following can match the games with their benefits to players?
(1) Enchanted Forest a. to practice your quick response
(2) Maptangle Borderline Games b. to practice your memory
(3) Jungle Speed c. to practice your geographic knowledge
(4) Go fish for Wildlife d. to increase the knowledge about animals
A. bacd B. bcad C. cbad D. cdab
One of the best-known American writers of children’s books is Alfred Strong, or Doctor Strong, as he is better known to readers everywhere. Now, an art show called “Doctor Strong From Then to Now” is travelling around the United States. The pictures and drawings show the history of Doctor Strong.
Doctor Strong first became famous almost fifty years ago when his first children’s book was published. Since then, he has written forty-five books that have sold more than one hundred million copies around the world.
Doctor Strong’s books are known for their easy use of words and colorful, hand-drawn pictures. These drawings bring life to his imaginary creatures. The Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and hundreds of others.
The San Diego Museum, in California, organized the art show. It included about three hundred Doctor Strong’s original(最早的) drawings and some of his writings.
Most of Doctor Strong’s books, although written in a funny way, have serious messages. For example, in Mc Elligot’s Pool, he describes the danger of pollution. He discusses the arms race in The Butter Battle Book, written in 1984.
Doctor Strong is almost eighty-four years old now. He says he never planned to write stories just for children. He says he writes stories that interest people of all ages. He says he uses easy words so that everyone, even a child, can understand. Alfred Strong is a famous _______ in the United States.
A.doctor | B.artist | C.writer | D.reader |
Doctor Strong first became famous in __________.
A.his eighties when an art show was travelling around the United States |
B.his fifties when his drawings and writings were published |
C.1984 when his book Mc Elligot’s Pool was published |
D.his thirties when his first book was published |
Doctor Strong’s books are very popular in America because __________.
A.they are stories about animals such as cats, elephants and so on |
B.they are written in easy words with colorful pictures |
C.he organized the art show in California |
D.they are written in a funny way |
His purpose in writing many such books is __________.
A.to show his original pictures and drawings |
B.to organize a special art show of his own |
C.to make his readers laugh or smile when they read his books |
D.not only to interest people but also to uncover some serious social problems |
Ice Hotel Quebec, located 30 minutes west of Downtown Quebec City, Canada, is only open during the winter season. The hotel is made entirely of ice. The two galleries at the Ice Hotel Quebec feature events such as ice painting and ice sculpture(冰雕) competitions.
Things to Do
Guests have a choice of different winter vacation activities, including cross-country skiing, ice skating, dog sledding (狗拉雪橇), ice fishing and sliding(滑行). Ice Hotel Quebec has a sauna( 桑拿浴),so remember to pack your bathing suit.
Rooms & Suites(套房)
The hotel offers 18 rooms and 14 theme suites built from 12,000 tons of snow and 400 tons of ice. The walls at Ice Hotel Quebec are four feet thick and allow the hotel to keep a temperature of -2℃ to -5℃.
The furniture at the hotel is made of snow and ice, including the beds. The beds are equipped with a thick foam mattress(泡沫床垫)and an extra thick sleeping bag. That is enough to prevent you from catching a cold.
Vacation Tip
Ice Hotel Quebec offers 30-minute guided public tours daily from 10:30am to 4:30pm. It costs $15 CAD for adults, $7.5 for children (under eight), $13for students\seniors (above sixty), and $42 for families.
Plan This Vacation
Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada will be open for its sixth season from January 5th to April 1st. Costs for overnight stays start at $199CAD per person.
If you’re looking for something really different to do on your next trip, think creatively and plan to visit the truly unusual Ice Hotel Quebec! If you visit the Ice Hotel, you can enjoy the following EXCEPT___________.
A.going fishing | B.going skating |
C.appreciating ice sculptures | D.holding an ice party |
Sleeping is not a problem in the Ice Hotel because ____________.
A.the rooms are made of ice |
B.the temperature is as high as -2℃ |
C.the sleeping bags are warm |
D.the walls are four feet thick |
If Mr. Smith attends a 30-minute public tour with his wife and seven-year-old twin sons, he should pay at least_________.
A.$37.5 CAD | B.$45 CAD | C.$42CAD | D.$199 CAD |
Studies show that children who eat breakfast do better in school. It doesn’t take much further thought to know that adults will feel better and do better at work as well. Whether you work at home, on the farm, at the office, at school, or on the road, it is not a good idea to have no breakfast.
If we have no breakfast, we are likely to become tired when our brains and bodies run low on fuel (食物). By mid-morning, a lot of us grab a cup of coffee or eat a sugary candy bar to wake up again. This might work for a few minutes, but by lunch time we are hungry. Eating a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Having no breakfast is a popular way to lose weight, but not a smart one. Many people believe that they will lose weight if they have no meals, but that just isn’t true; the body expects to be refueled a few times a day, starting with a healthy breakfast. Eating breakfast is good for losing weight. In fact, people who eat breakfast are more likely to keep a healthy weight.
A healthy breakfast should have some protein (蛋白质) and some fiber (纤维). Protein can come from low fat meats, eggs, or beans. Fiber can be found in whole grains, vegetables and fruits. A good example of a healthy breakfast might be something simple like a hard boiled egg, an orange, and a bowl of whole grain cereal with low fat milk. Stay away from sugary foods and white bread because they are digested (消化) quickly and will leave you hungry and tired in several hours. Protein and fiber will keep you feeling full until lunch time. The first paragraph mainly tells us that ______.
A.it is necessary to have a good breakfast every day |
B.many adults are too busy to have breakfast every day |
C.many adults go to work without having breakfast |
D.many children go to school without breakfast |
According to the passage, we feel tired at work probably because __.
A.we need to have a cup of coffee | B.we don’t have a good breakfast |
C.our brains don’t work any longer | D.we don’t have enough sleep at night |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.Having a good breakfast can help you to finish your work. |
B.Eating a good breakfast is enough for the whole day. |
C.Breakfast is really the most important meal in a day. |
D.You will be happier if you have a good breakfast. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that ______.
A.it is healthy only to have beans and eggs for your breakfast |
B.you mustn’t have meat for your breakfast |
C.you should eat sugary foods if you feel hungry |
D.you should eat something which has protein and fiber for breakfast |
At some point I noticed that people were staring at me. The box boys at the supermarket spoke to me with respect. People were mistaking me for somebody else. It had to be somebody who weighed close to 300 pounds and wore a full beard. I enjoyed the way people would suddenly turn to look at me as if I wore wings. Nobody mentioned my name, but naturally they assumed I knew who I was. I could hardly ask, “By the way, who am I?”
As a result of being in the public eye, I began to change myself. I kept my shoes shined. Also, I changed shirts every day. The more I changed, the more second looks I received. From enjoying the attention, I began to long for it. I’d always felt I was somebody special. Now others were finally realizing it.
But who did people think I was? I must have been a movie star, or at least a television personality. Then one evening I was sitting at a bus stop in Westwood Village when two young men in an old car looked up at me with that expression I had come to recognize as a respect to my talent and success. One of them said, “Hello, Dom!” So that was who I was! Once I imagined that well-known comedian, I realized I couldn’t have been anybody else. I gave my young fans a big celebrity grin and said, “Hello, boys!” I waved one hand with a welcome-to-Hollywood gesture they would be talking about for years.
I also realized that it was time to go on a diet. I ate more salads and vegetables. I laid off the carbohydrates. I walked a couple of miles every day. When I had lost about 40 pounds, I shaved off my beard. I didn’t realize that my barber had actually been trying to make me look like the fat Dom DeLuise. I waited for my clients to ask, “What did you do to yourself?” But nobody even noticed a change. I melted back into the general population.Why was the author mistaken by people for somebody else? (No more than 11 words) (2 marks)
What did the author do to change himself as a result of being in the public eye? (No more than 12words) (2 marks)
Why did the young man greet the author?(No more than 10 words) (3 marks)
What did the author expect his clients to do ?(No more than 11 words)(3 marks)
Educating girls quite possibly harvests a higher rate of benefit than any other investment available in the developing world. Women’s education may be an unusual field for economists, but increasing women’s contribution to development is actually as much an economic as a social issue. And economics, with its focus on rewards, provides an explanation for why so many girls are deprived of(剥夺)an education.
Parents in low-income countries fail to invest in their daughters because they do not expect them to make an economic contribution to the family: girls grow up only to marry into somebody else’s family and bear children. Girls are thus seen as less valuable than boys and are kept at home to do housework while their brothers are sent to school — the predict becomes self-ffulfilling, trapping women in a vicious circle (恶性循环) of neglect.
An educated mother, on the other hand, has greater earning abilities outside the home and faces an entirely different set of choices. She is likely to have fewer but healthier children and can insist on the development of all her children, ensuring that her daughters and sons are given fair chances. The education of her daughters then makes it much more likely that the next generation of girls, as well as of boys, will be educated and healthy. The vicious circle is thus transformed into a virtuous circle(良性循环).
Few will argue that educating women has great social benefits. But it has enormous economic advantages as well. Most obviously, there is the direct effect of education on the wages of female workers. Wages rise by 10 to 20 per cent for each additional year of schooling. Such big returns are impressive by the standard of other available investments, but they are just the beginning. Educating women also has a significant impact on health practices, including family planning.
Topic: The significance of in developing countries
Viewpoint |
Educating girls is more |
|
From low-income families |
From educated mothers’ families |
|
Attitudes |
Girls are of |
Development should be for |
Practices |
●There is ●Girls are made to stay at home, |
Girls and boys are sure to have |
Consequences |
A vicious circle |
|
|
Educating girls contributes to social benefits, Educating girls in developing countries is important and rewarding. |