Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult (成年人)I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions.(面部表情) Gone was my father’s critical(挑剔的)air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I’m delighted with my new friend.
My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was. Why did the author feel bitter about her father when she was a young adult?
A.He was silent most of the time. |
B.He was too proud of himself. |
C.He did not love his children. |
D.He expected too much of her. |
When the author went out with her father on weekends, she would feel_______.
A.nervous | B.sorry | C.tired | D.safe |
What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
A.More critical | B.More talkative (健谈的) |
C.Gentle and friendly | D.Strict and hard-working |
You and your friends will have lots of fun with Rabbit
Ears Walkie -Talkies. You can talk to someone who is in another
room at your house or someone who is up to 180
feet away from you. You can take your walkie
-talkie with you when you go camping or walking.
Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies are easy to use. This is what you do:
1. Push the ON button.
2. Hold the TALK button in and say something. If your friend has his/her walkie - talkie on, he/she will hear you.
If you want to talk for a long time, you can lock the TALK button. Just push the button in and up. When you finish talking, push the TALK button down.
3. When you finish talking, let go of the TALK button and listen. When your friend pushes the TALK button and says something, you will hear what your friend says through your walkie -talkie.
4. When you finish talking with your friend, push the ON button again to turn your walkie-talkie off.
REMEMBER ◆If you cannot hear , push L (loud) to make it louder. ◆If it is too loud, push S (soft) to make it quieter. |
What are Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies used for?
A.Locating places. | B.Listening to music. |
C.Giving directions. | D.Talking with others. |
How can you lock the TALK button?
A.Keep the button on. | B.Hold the button back. |
C.Push the button in and up. | D.Turn the button off and down. |
Which button will you push when you can't hear clearly?
A.L | B.S | C.TALK | D.ON |
The author writes this passage to _____.
A.show how to use Rabbit Ears Walkie -Talkies |
B.explain to the readers his camping experience |
C.introduce some special ways to make friends. |
D.tell how to make Rabbit Ears Walkie –Talkies |
Every culture has a recognized point when a child becomes an adult, when rules must be followed and tests passed.
In China, although teenagers can get their ID cards at 16, many only see themselves as an adult when they are 18. In the US, where everyone drives, the main step to the freedom of adult life is learning to drive. At 16, American teens take their driving test. When they have their license, they drive into the grown-up world.
“Nobody wants to ride the cheese bus to school,” said Eleanor Fulham, 17. She brought the pressure back to memory, especially from kids from wealthier families. “It’s like you’re not cool if you don’t have a car,” she said.
According to recent research, 41% of 16 to 19-year-olds in the US own cars, up from 23% in 1985. Although, most of these cars are bought by parents, some teens get part-time jobs to help pay.
Not all families can afford cars for their children. In cities with subways and limited parking, some teenagers don’t want them. But in rich suburban areas without subways, and where bicycles are more for fun than transportation, it is strange for a teenager not to have a car.
But police say 16-year-olds have almost three times more accidents than 18 and 19-year-olds. This has made many parents pause before letting their kids drive.
Julie Sussman, of Virginia, decided that her son Chad, 15, will wait until he is 17 to apply for his learner’s permit.
Chad said he has accepted his parents’ decision, although it has caused some teasing from his friends. “They say that I am unlucky,” he said, “But I’d rather be alive than driving, and I don’t really trust my friends on the road, either.”
In China, as more families get cars, more 18-year-olds learn to drive. Will this become a big step to becoming an adult?Which may serve as the BEST title of the article?
A.Cars Helping You to Grow-Up | B.Driving into the Grown-Up World |
C.Teenagers’ Driving in America | D.Recognized Point of Becoming an Adult |
16-year-old drivers have more accidents possibly because.
A.they want to show themselves off | B.they are never experienced drivers |
C.older people always drive better | D.they never drive carefully on the road |
Which may NOT be taken into consideration when deciding whether to buy a car?
A.How well off the family is. |
B.Whether the kid is old enough. |
C.What traffic condition there is around. |
D.Whether it’s practically needed. |
When Chad said “I don’t really trust my friends ...”, he meant that .
A.he might run into his friends if he drove |
B.he didn’t agree with his friends |
C.he might not be safe if his friends drove |
D.he was afraid that his friends might well lie to him |
The passage mainly gives information about .
A.an American culture |
B.a cultural difference between America and China |
C.a change in the Chinese culture |
D.the relationship between driving and a person’s development |
When we walk on a street or sit down to have a cup of coffee in a small café in Shanghai, we will often see foreign faces at every turn. Today, foreigners do not come to Shanghai to seek adventures, as they did in the old days, or arrive in the city for a short visit, as some did when China just carried out the opening-up. Instead, many foreigners come to Shanghai to settle in the city. They are attracted by the life in Shanghai and choose to stay in the city. Their stay has made Shanghai more like an international city.
Early in the 1990s, a group of Western-style buildings emerged at the Gubei New District in the southwestern part of the Hongqiao Development Zone in Shanghai. The Western-style buildings, marked by their great arches and the typical flavors of the unique European style, appealed to many foreigners and become their favorite choice when they came to live or work in Shanghai. Foreigners gathered in the zone, enjoying their quiet life there.
As the city further develops, more and more foreigners choose to live in the downtown area where most native Shanghai people live. They live close to local residents and gradually become interated(一体化)into the local life—they learn to cook local dishes, they learn to speak the Shanghai dialect and they celebrate traditional Chinese holidays together with native people. Their lifestyle is becoming more and more similar to that of local residents.
In the past, foreigners that came to Shanghai were mostly representatives(代表)sent to work in the city. Today, however, many foreigners that live in the city are students, business starters or ordinary people. Related information shows that there are more than 50,000 foreigners living and working in Shanghai.Foreigners used to come to Shanghai to_____.
A.start small cafés | B.help build houses |
C.have a short visit | D.learn the Shanghai dialect |
The underlined word“emerged”in the second paragraph probably means_______.
A.built | B.appeared | C.stood | D.lay |
In the past, most of the foreigners coming to Shanghai were_______.
A.business starters | B.students | C.ordinary people | D.representatives |
Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
A.There are fewer foreigners in Beijing than in Shanghai. |
B.It is the foreigners who make Shanghai an international city. |
C.Many foreigners enjoy the traditional Chinese festivals. |
D.The foreigners came to Shanghai to seek for money in the past. |
The best title for this text would be______.
A.Foreigners Settling in Shanghai | B.The Development of Shanghai |
C.The Lifestyle of Shanghai People | D.Contributions of Foreigners in Shanghai |
Is there anything more important than health? I don’t think so. “Health is the greatest wealth,” wise people say. You can’t be good at your studies or work well when you are ill.
If you have a headache, toothache, backache, earache or bad pain in the stomach, if you complain of a bad cough, if you run a high temperature and have a bad cold, or if you suffer from high or low blood pressure, I think you should go to the doctor. The doctor will examine your throat, feel your pulse, test your blood pressure, take your temperature, sound your heart and lungs, test your eyes, check your teeth or have your chest X-rayed. After that, he will advise some treatment, or some medicine. The only thing you have to do is to follow his advice.
Speaking about doctor’s advice, I can’t help telling you a funny story. An old gentleman came to see the doctor. The man was very ill. He told the doctor about his weakness, memory loss and serious problems with his heart and lungs. The doctor examined him and said there was no medicine for his disease. He told his patient to go to a quiet place for a month and have a good rest. He also advised him to eat a lot of meat, drink two glasses of red wine every day and take long walks. In other words, the doctor advised him to follow the rule: “Eat with pleasure, drink with pleasure and enjoy life as it is.” The doctor also said that if the man wanted to be well again, he shouldn’t smoke more than one cigarette a day. A month later the gentleman came into the doctor’s office. He looked cheerful and happy. He thanked the doctor and said that he had never felt a healthier man.“ But you know, doctor,” he said, “it’s not easy to begin smoking at my age.”The writer thinks that_____.
A.health is more important than wealth |
B.work is as important as studies |
C.medicine is more important than pleasure |
D.nothing is more important than money |
The doctor usually tells his patient what to do______.
A.without examining the patient | B.after he has examined the patient |
C.if the patient doesn’t take medicine | D.unless the patient feels pain |
The underlined part means “______”.
A.he was feeling better than ever | B.he wasn’t a healthy man |
C.he was feeling worse than before | D.he will be well again |
From the last sentence of the passage, we learn the man_______ before the doctor told him not to smoke more than one cigarette a day.
A.was a heavy smoker | B.didn’t smoke so much |
C.didn’t smoke | D.began to learn to smoke |
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.The doctor usually tests his/her blood pressure when a person is ill. |
B.The man told the doctor he couldn’t remember things. |
C.The man thanked the doctor. |
D.The man didn’t follow the doctor’s advice. |
I sat at my seat waiting for the school paper to be passed around. I waited anxiously, knowing that once I received it I would know how good a writer I really am.
When the paper arrived at my classroom, I nearly knocked down five of my classmates to get to the first paper. With a school paper in my hands, I returned to my seat. About a month earlier, I had handed in one of, what I believed to be, my best stories. I named it Symbol of Success. The head of the English Department at my school, Professor Cullen had said that she would include some reviews of students’ stories in the latest school paper. Professor Cullen was known for her rough criticism. Impressing her was very hard but I wanted to be the first to do so.
I sat at the edge of my seat as I read through the other story reviews. There wasn’t one story that got more than three stars .I became calm and wasn’t anxious to know my review. It was long after that I heard someone shout out “Five stars?! Seriously!” from behind me. I turned around and saw the shocked expression of Gene’s face, “Peter, your story got five stars!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I turned my attention back to my story and saw the five stars at the end of the review that I had not read yet. I looked through the review written by Professor Cullen. She wrote that I had a gift for story writing.
I was proud that I achieved what I thought was impossible .For so long I believed I wasn’t as good as I thought I was and that my talent was not enough to cover up my lack of wring skills .But this review proved that I was truly a good writer and that there was a future ahead of me in the field of fiction writing. The review and the five stars meant the world of me. Those five stars became the symbol of my success.How did the writer get the school paper?
A.His teacher gave it to him first |
B.The publisher sent it to him first |
C.His friend helped him get the first one. |
D.He rushed ahead to get the first one by himself. |
What can we learn about Professor Cullen?
A.She was very gentle to everyone. | B.She seldom praised her students. |
C.She was very cold to her students. | D.She was respected by her students. |
We can learn from this text that Peter_______.
A.had thought his story was better than those of others |
B.was always anxious to know the review about him |
C.didn’t know he got five stars until others told him |
D.looked through a few stories that had got four stars |
What did Professor Cullen think of Peter’s story?
A.She thought highly of it . |
B.She thought it was just so-so. |
C.She thought it was extremely bad |
D.She doubted if it was written by him. |
Why did the review and the five stars mean the world to Peter?
A.Because they helped him learn writing skills |
B.Because they made him happy for some time |
C.Because they helped him enter a key university |
D.Because they made him see his writing talents |