DLastweekJayMcCarrollandTheHSU-优题课

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背)in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it—there aren’t any whale along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale actually as big as our boat was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡)and waves. “She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.
The author says “I’m so glad I did.”(in Para.2)because_______.

A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing

B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea

C．he experienced the rescue of the whales

D．he spent the weekend with his family

The harbour survived the storm owing to ______.

A．the shape of the harbor	B．the arms of one bay
C．the still water in the channel	D．the long coast line

The mother whale failed to help her baby because _______.

A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long

B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough

C．she had no other whales around to turn for help

D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction

What is the theme of the story?

A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness.

B．Fishing provides excitement for children.

C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals.

D．It’s vital to protect the environment.

Everyone has good days and bad days.
Sometimes, you feel as if you’re on top of the world and all the questions on your maths test might seem easy. But occasionally you feel horrible, and you lose things and cannot focus on our schoolwork.
For more than 20 years, scientists have suggested that high self-esteem(自尊) is the key to success.Now, new research shows that focusing just on building self-esteem may not be helpful. In some cases, having high self-esteem can make people less likeable or more upset when they fail in something.
“Forget about self-esteem,” says Jennifer Crocker, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, US. “It’s not the important thing.”
Feeling good
Crocker’s advice may sound a bit strange. After all, feeling good can be good for you.Studies show that people with high self-esteem are less likely to be depressed, anxious, shy, or lonely than those with low self-esteem.
However, after reviewing about 18,000 studies on self-esteem, Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, has found that building up your self-esteem will not necessarily make you a better person.
He believes that violent people often have the highest self-esteem of all. He also said:“ There’s no evidence that kids with high self-esteem do better in school.”
Problems
All types of people have problems. People with high self-esteem can have big egos(自我) that can make them less likeable, said Kathleen Vohs, a psychology professor at Columbia University.People with high self-esteem tend to think more of themselves, VOhs says. People with low self-esteem are more likely to rely on their friends when they need help.
What to do
Researchers say it is best to listen to and support other people. Find positive ways to contribute to society. If you fail in something, try to learn from the experience. “The best therapy(药方) is to recognize your faults,” Vohs says. “It’s OK to say, ‘I’ m not so good at that,’ and then move on.”
What does the underlined part “on top of the world” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Quite helpful.

B．Extremely happy.

C．Very unlucky.

D．Rather upset.

The conclusion drawn from the new research shows that high self-esteem_____.

A．is not important at all	B．makes people more likeable
C．may not be the key to success	D．helps you do better at school

Which of the following is TRUE according to Vohs?

A．Feeling good doesn’t mean you lead a happy life.

B．People with high self-esteem always seek others’ help.

C．People with high self-esteem tend to be selfish.

D．People with low self-esteem are often more popular.

We can infer from the text that the best therapy mentioned in the last paragraph is mainly for people_____.

A．with high self-esteem	B．with low self-esteem
C．who contribute significantly to society	D．who are in need of support

Kindergarten outside? Yes, indeed. It’s part of a growing worldwide trend toward outdoor education. The schools are called forest kindergartens.
The numbers are small so far in the U.S., but the idea is well established in Europe, with schools in Scotland, England, and Switzerland. By far the most such schools are in Germany, which has more than 400 forest kindergartens.
Some schools feature several hours of outdoor schooling. This is certainly the case with the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs. Children there will be venturing out on the nearby Hemlock Trail to learn more about the natural world. Some lessons are focused on nature; others are academic topics delivered in a natural setting. In all cases, students are active-not sitting at desks or on mats on the floor but walking, running, jumping, solving problems like how to get the mud off the bottoms of their shoes before their parents find out.
Seriously, the focus is on activity at these schools. Studies have shown that children’s immune systems actually get stronger after all of the outdoor activity, and that graduates of forest kindergartens show a higher ability to learn when they progress through their academic careers.
Other schools are all outdoors, all the time. This is the case with the Cedar Song Nature School, on Vashon Island, Washington. Students at this school spend their whole three–hour day outdoors, in a private five-acre forest, doing all kinds of physical activities.
At these forest kindergartens, students learn science by observing and doing it, learn math by applying it to the natural world around them, learn letters and words by putting them together using sights and sounds. These students learn how to get along with one another, individually and in a group. They also develop healthy levels of self-confidence.
Nowadays many children become obese(肥胖的) because of sedentary（久坐的） activities like watching television and playing video games. These outdoor schools give children chances to learn just as much, if not more, from opening their eyes to the real world around them.
What do we know about forest kindergartens?

A．The first one was created in England.	B．They are very popular in Germany.
C．There are 400 all over the world.	D．Their number is huge in the U.S.

What is special about forest kindergartens?

A．Kids learn more than those at ordinary kindergartens.

B．Students go outside when weather permits.

C．They value activity very much.

D．They are situated in forests.

The main difference between the Waldorf School and Cedar Song Nature School lies in______.

A．the subjects	B．the activities
C．the outdoor time	D．the teaching methods

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．Get close to nature	B．A new trend of education
C．Forest kindergartens are popular	D．Outdoor education benefits kids a lot

Thirty years ago not many people would have dreamed of doing the repairs and decorations in their own homes. In those days labor was fairly cheap and most people would have thought it worthwhile to employ a professional painter and decorator, unless of course they were either very hand up or were in the trade themselves.
Today, however, it is quite a different story. Men and women in all walks of life turn their hands to all sorts of jobs round the house including painting, papering, putting up shelves and wall units, and tiling walls and floors. Some people with no professional training of any kind have even successfully built their own houses. These jobs have been made easier today by the introduction of prepared materials, which require the minimum amount of skill to use. In every high street throughout Britain nowadays there is at least one “Do-It-Yourself” shop containing a vast range of timber, tiles, paints, wallpapers and floor coverings besides tools of every description including power drills and many accessories. “Do-It-Yourself” is a booming business; all these shops do a roaring trade and look like continuing to do so. Probably the main reason for the craze is the high cost of present-day labor and the shortage of building firms willing to do small jobs.
Why did people employ professional workers to decorate homes thirty years ago?

A．Because they could not do it themselves.

B．Because professional workers were very cheap.

C．Because they had no time.

D．Because professional workers could do much better.

Thirty years later what changes took place?

A．People could do everything themselves.

B．Few people chose to be a professional worker.

C．People with no professional training successfully built their own houses.

D．New expensive materials required no skills at all.

What caused the DIY craze?

A．Young people liked to follow the fashion.

B．“Do-It-Yourself” is a booming business.

C．There were fewer building companies.

D．High cost of professional workers.

What is the speaker telling us ?

A．How DIY comes into being.	B．Changes in building.
C．Changes in housing.	D．Great changes in these thirty years.

They say money doesn’t grow on trees. But it certainly appears to do so on the mysterious coin-studded(嵌满) trunks dotted around the UK’s woodland. The strange phenomenon of old trees with coins fixed firmly all over their bark has been spotted on trails from the Peak District to the Scottish Highlands. The coins are usually knocked into felled (砍伐的) tree trunks using stones by passers-by, who hope it will bring them good fortune.
These fascinating spectacles often have coins from centuries ago buried deep in their bark and warped by the passage of time. The tradition of making offerings to gods at wishing trees dates back hundreds of years, but this combination of the man-made and the natural is far more rare. It used to be believed that god’s spirits lived in trees, and they were often decorated with sweets and gifts — as is still done today at Christmas. The act is like tossing money into ponds for good luck, or the trend for couples to attach “love padlocks” to bridges and fences to symbolize lasting romance. Some pubs, such as the Punch Bowl in Askham, Cumbria, have old timbers with splits in them into which coins are forced for luck. There are seven felled tree trunks with coins pushed into them in the picturesque village of Portmeirion, in Wales.
Meurig Jones, an estate manager at the tourist destination, told the BBC, “We had no idea why it was being done when we first noticed the tree trunk was being filled with coins. I did some detective work and discovered that trees were sometimes used as ‘wishing trees’. In Britain it dates back to the 1700s — there is one tree somewhere in Scotland which apparently has an old coin stuck into it. ” He said that a sick person could press a coin into a tree and their illness would go away. If someone then takes the coin out though, it’s said they then become ill. We haven’t made it known at all, it’s just happened,” he added. “It’s quite amazing really.” In Scotland, there is also a legend about a kissing tree. If a young man could drive a nail into a tree with one blow, he earned a kiss from his sweetheart.
What was the real reason why in UK people knocked coins into the old trees?

A．It was hoped that it would bring them good future and make the trees more beautiful.

B．Nobody knew why there was such a strange custom that it could make them lucky.

C．It might come from the tradition of making offerings to gods hundreds of years ago.

D．It was said that god’s spirits lived in trees and doing so could please the gods of the trees.

The underlined part in Paragraph 2 may mean ____________.

A．this combination of the man-made and the natural is far from realistic.

B．the mysterious phenomenon of old trees with coins is rarely seen in the world.

C．people wanted to make the works of art with the help from the forces of nature.

D．the appearance of trees would be nicer than their original.

The passage mainly tells us that________.

A．some people attached “love padlocks” to bridges and fences to symbolize lasting romance

B．a particular way in which people made good wishes is still popular in the UK

C．visitors tossed money into ponds for good luck just as they knocked coins into the trees

D．a long history of a strange phenomenon of old trees with coins in the UK

Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?

A．Who Says Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees?

B．Do Trees with Some Coins Become Valuable?

C．Is It Really Amazing to Have Coins Fixed into Trees?

D．What Is the Purpose of Knocking Coins into Trees?