A couple of years ago I took the family on a winter vacation to New York City to experience the holiday atmospheres. The longest lines that week weren’t in the Empire State Building, at the Statue of Liberty Ferry or any of the Big Apple’s other landmarks (地标) , but at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, where people crowded into FAO Schwarz.
It was not until I got inside that it became clear how only one toy store could provide everything else that Manhattan offers between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Far more than a shopping experience, the hour we spent wandering along the aisles(通道) at FAO Schwarz was more like visiting a museum of everything that children care for very much. And for me — and all of the other bright-eyed grownups — it was a trip down my memory lane to the toys we knew as kinds.
America’s most unique toy stores are found from coast to coast, in big cities and also in small towns. Let’s have a look at some others.
The Dinosaur Farm in South Pasadena, Calif.: Former rock musician Dave Plenn opened the shop in 1994, a year after “Jurassic Park” brought the creatures back into the spotlight again. But he says his wife ---who was then working for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles— rather than the big movie proved the inspiration for the dinosaur store.
Mild Zone: A more traditional specialty store, which sells model cars like Matchbox, Hot Wheels and Johnny Lightning. “It’s such an addicting (上瘾的) hobby,” says Burke, who admits that he originally created the store as a means to feed his own toy car collection. “Once you buy your first, you can never stop.” The store has around 30,000 cars. Mile Zone’s customers are from kinds with a wish for speedy toys to grown-ups who view the model cars as time travel back to their youth.
59. The author wrote the first paragraph mainly to show _________.
A. the poor traffic condition in New York B. the nice holiday atmosphere in New York
C. the popularity of toy stores in New York D. the charming landmarks in New York
60. Walking into FAO Schwarz gave the author a chance to ___________.
A. recall his life of childhood B. visit a most special museum
C. study the history of Manhattan D. learn the way of producing toys
61. Dave Plenn was inspired to open the Dinosaur Farm by ________.
A. his wife B. “Jurassic Park” C. his research on nature D .rock music
62. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. dinosaur toy stores are more popular than traditional ones
B. some unique toys have been displayed in local museums
C. some popular toy stores have become new landmarks
D. customers of toy stores are more than children
Mrs Keller had a big family. Her husband had a factory in the town. One of her sons was a lawyers and the other two were drivers. And her two daughters worked in the post office. The old woman stayed at home and could do all housework and wouldn’t employ anybody.
One evening, the telephone rang while the old woman was preparing supper. She went to answer it. She was told that one of her sons died in a traffic accident. She heard this and fell in a faint. When she came back to life, she was in hospital. And she needed to be helped after that.
Several months later she was told on the telephone her daughter died while she was being operated on. The old woman was so sad that she had to be in hospital again. From then on she was afraid to answer any telephones and sometimes she was afraid hear the bell. Of course it brought them some trouble and some important business was held up. So her husband advised her to see a psychiatrist. The man examined her carefully and then asked her some questions.
“You will soon be all right if you follow my advice, Mrs Keller.” said the psychiatrist.
The old woman took the medicine the doctor gave on time and tried to forget her dead son and daughter. And two months later she went to see the psychiatrist again.
“You have saved me, Doctor,” the old woman said, as soon as she saw him.
“Are you afraid to answer the telephone now?”
“No,” answered Keller.
“I dare answer it whether it rings or not.”Mrs Keller could do all housework because ______.
| A．she had no money to employ a helper. |
| B．she was strong enough to do all at home |
| C．she didn’t believe anybody |
| D．only she was free at home |
The old woman fell in a faint because _____
| A．she went to answer the telephone. |
| B．she was very ill that evening |
| C．she walked in the room carelessly |
| D．she heard the news about her son’s death. |
After she came out of hospital, Mrs Keller wasn’t _________as before.
| A．strong | B．able | C．clever | D．sad |
______made the old woman not answer the telephone.
| A．The doctor’s advice | B．Her husband’s suggestion |
| C．Her poor health | D．The two pieces of bad news |
I moved into a new house in July. Since then I have met a few of my neighbors who are very nice people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors I know. There were nine neighbors whom I knew by name or spoke with often when I was out in my yard. I knew which houses they lived in.
I decided to add one more to my list. This lady I decided to add lives down the street from me. I meet her every morning walking to work as I drive down the street. She always smiles to me. But I had no idea who she was and which house she lived in.
I planned to make small fruit baskets and leave them on my neighbor's front porches (门廊) on Christmas Eve. I signed the cards: “Happy Holidays from 5104 Northumberland Road.”
I saved the last for the friendly lady. I finally decided on a house where I met her each morning and guessed that it was hers.
My neighbors really appreciated the baskets and would tell me as they saw me in the yard or 
they would call, and a couple even came by to thank me.
This morning I found a small note in the mailbox. It was addressed simply: Resident, 5104 Northumberland Road.
The Thank You card really caught me by surprise. I opened it and read the message, “Thank you for the lovely fruit basket you left on our porch. It was very thoughtful. Richard Kelly passed away last week. He talked a lot about how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really appreciated it.”
I had no idea who Richard Kelly was and that he had been seriously ill. I had left that nice lady’s basket on his porch by mistake. I wanted to say sorry, but that would be wrong. I believe that Mr. Kelly was meant to have that basket because he was dying. I hate that the nice lady did not get to receive a fruit basket on Christmas, but I believe if she knew what had happened, she would be happy. I feel pleased to have helped Richard Kelly's last days be more cheerful. How many Christmas gifts did the author intend to send?
| A．9. | B．8 | C．10 | D．11 |
Where did the friendly lady live?
| A．She lived at the end of Northumberland Road. |
| B．Her address was 5104 Northumberland Road. |
| C．She was thought to share a house with Mr. Kelly. |
| D．The author was not sure about her address at all. |
How did the author’s neighbors respond to his gifts?
| A．They liked the gifts very much and were thankful. |
| B．They were thankful that they wanted to be friends. |
| C．They all made phone calls to say “Thank You”. |
| D．They all visited him by person to show gratitude. |
What does the author mean in the last paragraph?
| A．He was regretful that the nice lady didn’t receive his gift. |
| B．He was glad to have made Mr. Kelly's life more pleasant. |
| C．He thought Richard Kelly deserved to receive that basket. |
| D．The old lady was happy to sacrifice to make Kelly happy. |
Grown-ups know that people and objects are solid. At the movies, we know that if we reach out to touch Tom Cruise, all we will feel is air. But does a baby have this understanding?
To see whether babies know objects are solid. T. Bower designed a method for projecting an optical illusion (视觉影像) of a hanging ball. His plan was to first give babies a real ball, one they could be expected to show surprised in their faces and movements. All the 16 to 24-week-old babies tested were surprised when they reached for the illusion and found that the ball was not there.
Grown-ups also have a sense of object permanence. We know that if we put a box in a room and lock the door, the box will still be there when we come back. But does a baby realize that a ball that rolls under a chair does not disappear and go to never-never land?
Experiments done by Bower suggest that babies develop a sense of object permanence when they are about 18 weeks old. In his experiments, Bower used a toy train that went behind a screen. When 16-week-old and 22-week-old babies watched the toy train disappear behind the left side of the screen, they looked to the right, expecting it to re-appear. If the experiment took the train off the table and lifted the screen, all the babies seemed surprised not to see the train. This seems to show that all the babies had a sense of object permanence. But the second part of the experiment showed that this was not really the case. The researcher substituted (替换) a ball for the train when it went behind the screen. The 22-week-old babies seemed surprised and looked back to the left side for the train. But the 16-week-old babies did not seem to notice the switch (更换). Thus, the 16-week-old babies seemed to have a sense of “something permanence,” while the 22-week-old babies had a sense of object permanence related to a particular object.The passage is mainly about .
| A．babies’ sense of sight | B．effects of experiments on babies |
| C．babies’ understanding of objects | D．different tests on babies’ feelings |
In Paragraph 3, “object permanence” means that when out of sight, an object .
| A．still exists | B．keeps its shape | C．still stays solid | D．is beyond reach |
What did Bower use in his experiments?
| A．A chair | B．A screen | C．A film | D．A box |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The babies didn’t have a sense of direction. |
| B．The older babies preferred toy trains to balls. |
| C．The younger babies liked looking for missing objects |
| D．The babies couldn’t tell a ball from its optical illusion. |
Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.
Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.
Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift”— to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leadin
g industrialised nations found that working mothers in Br
itain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development.
Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A fat
her who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 mi
nutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.
| A．hate | B．forget | C．miss | D．control |
Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?
| A．Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves. |
| B．The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family. |
| C．Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays. |
| D．Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children. |
From Para. 4, we can infer that ___________.
| A．Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues |
| B．working mothers can seek help on line |
| C．working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother |
D．Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers |
What critics say means that _____________.
A．it is wise for working moth ers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders |
| B．children do not like nurseries or childminders at all |
| C．nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children |
| D．too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health |
I’m fat. I’m too skinny. I’d be happy if I were taller, shorter, had curly hair, straight hair, a
smaller nose, bigger muscles, longer legs. Do any of these statements sound familiar? Do you often put yourself down? If so, you’re not alone. As a teen, you’re going through a ton of changes in your body. And as your body changes, so does your image (形象) of yourself. Lots of people have trouble getting used to it and this can affect their confidence.
Some people think they need to change how they look or act to feel good about themselves. But actually all you need to do is change the way you see your body and how you think about yourself.
The first thing to do is recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape, size, or color it comes in. If you’re very worried about your weight or size, go to your doctor to check that things are OK. But it’s no one’s business but your own what your body is like—finally, you have to be happy with yourself.
Nex
t, find which aspects (方面) of your appearance you can change and which you can’t change and need to accept—like their height, for example, or their shoe size.
If there are things about yourself that you want to change and can do this by making goals for yourself. For example, if you want to get fit, make a pan to exercise every day and eat nutritious foods.
When you hear negative comments coming from within yourself, tell yourself to stop. Try building your confidence by listing three things in your day that really gave you pleasure. It can be anything like the way the sun felt on your face, the sound of your favorite band, or the way someone laughed at your jokes.From the first paragraph, we can infer that .
| A．many teens can’t accept their body change easily |
| B．most teens like to have a special body image |
| C．teens prefer to change their body image quickly |
| D．teens usually change their opinions on their body image |
Which of the following does the author probably agree with?
| A．Change the way other people look at you. |
B．Go to your doc tor for advice on how to change your body. |
| C．Realize you can’t change everything about yourself. |
| D．源Learn from some celebrities on how to change your body. |
The underlined phrase “put yourself down” in the first paragraph probably means .
| A．make yourself fall down | B．say negative things about yourself |
| C．force yourself to do something | D．write down your name somewhere |
The passage is mainly about .
| A．how to adjust to the changes of your body |
| B．how to build confidence by changing your body |
| C．how to keep an attractive body image |
| D．how to find pleasure in your day |