"I Went Skydiving at 84!"
As a young girl growing up in the 1930s, I always wanted to fly a plane, but back then it was almost unheard of a woman to do that. I got a taste of that dream in 2011,when my husband arranged for me me ride in a hot air balloon for my birthday. But the experience turned out to be very dull. Around that time ,I told my husband that I wanted to skydive. So when our retirement community（社区）announced that they were having an essay competition and the topic was an experience of a lifetime that you wanted to have, I decided to write about my dream.
In the essay, I wrote about my desire to skydive, stating George Brush Sr. did it at age 80. Why not me? I was just 84 and in pretty good health. A year went by and I heard nothing. But then at a community party in late April 2009, they announced that I was one of the winners. I just couldn't believe it.
One june 11, 2009, nearly 40 of my family and friends gathered in the area close to where I would land while I headed up in the airplane. My instructor, Jay, guided me through the experience. The plane was the noisiest one I had ever been in, but I wasn't frightened-I was really just looking forward to the experience. When we reachen 13,000 feet, Jay instructed me to throw myself out of the plane. When we first hit the air, the wind was so strong that I could hardly breathe. For a second I thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" But then everything got calmer. We were in a free fall for about a minute before Jay opened the parachute（降落伞）, then we just floated downward fo zhout five minutes. Being up in the clouds and looking at the view below was unlike anything I have ever felt-much better than the hot air ballon. I was just enjoying it.
Skydiving was really one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope other people will look at me and realize that you don't stop living just because you are 84 years old. If there's something you want to experience, look into it. If it's something that is possible, make it happen.
What happened to the auther in 2001?
The author mentioned George Bush Sr. in her essay to
How did the authou feel immediately after she jumped out of the plane?
What did the author enjoy most when she was skydiving?
The beautiful clouds
The wonderful view
The company of Jay
The one-minute free fall
Which word could be used to replace the word "instructor," in Paragraph 3?
doctor
conductor
pilot
trainer
A new study of 8,000 young people in the journal of HealthandSocialBehavior shows that although love can make grownups live healthily and happily，it is a bad thing for young people.Puppy love (早恋) may bring trouble for young people and can cause depression (沮丧)．The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys，and young girls are the worst of all.
The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”．According to the study，even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic (浪漫的) relationship”，this “loss of self” is much more likely to cause depression when it happens to girls.Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions.They won’t tell that to their parents.
Dr.Marianm Kaufman，who works on young people problems，says 15% to 20% of young people will have depression during their growing.Trying romance often causes the depression.She advises kids not to jump into romance too early.During growing up，it is important for young people to build strong friendship and a strong sense of self.She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends，attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family.
Parents should watch for their children’s eating or mood changes.If they see some，they need to give help.The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age.Love will always make us feel young，but only maturity (成熟) gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects.What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Puppy love may bring young people depression. |
| B．Parents should agree to their children’s love. |
| C．Romance is a twoedged sword for grownups. |
| D．Romance is good for young people. |
Who are most likely to become depressed?
| A．Young people who have a strong sense of self. |
| B．Young boys whose parents watch for their behavior. |
| C．Young girls who always hide their feelings and opinions. |
| D．Careless parents whose children are deep in love. |
According to the passage，the author ________ puppy love.
| A．is for | B．is against |
| C．is not interested in | D．thinks highly of |
Dr.Marianm Kaufman does NOT suggest parents’encouraging their kids to ________.
| A．keep close to their friends |
| B．attend more interesting activities |
| C．chat more on line |
| D．spend more time with their family |
TheInventionofHugoCabret，by Brian Selznick，is a novel like no other.There are pages of exciting events and then suddenly，wait! A picture with tiny details，then a big picture that takes up the whole page－and the next page，and the next page，and the next！The pictures are actually telling the story.It’s like a book and a movie all in one.
I recently had the opportunity to talk with Selznick about his unique novel.I wanted to know just how he came up with the concept of writing a novel that reads like a picture book.
“Because the book was so much about movies and the history of cinema，I also wanted to figure out how to make a book that was also like a movie，” Selznick said.
Writing and illustrating the book was a long and hard process，Selznick said.One of the challenges was figuring out what the story was really about and what happens to the main character，Hugo.Selznick also had to figure out how to make the narrative and the pictures work together to tell the story.
Working with pictures was natural for Selznick.He has actually spent most of his career as an illustrator and really considers himself more of an artist than a writer.
But sometimes figuring out what was going to happen in the story was not easy，he told me.He had no idea what the story was going to be about when he started writing.He didn’t know if it was going to be sad，adventurous，or exciting.For now，Selznick doesn’t plan on writing a sequel (续集) to the book，but he warns，“You can never say never.”TheInventionofHugoCabret is ________.
| A．a novel on which a popular movie has been based |
| B．a novel only using pictures explaining series of events |
| C．a book which tells children how to draw pictures |
| D．a book packed with pictures－a combination of words and drawings |
What does Brian Selznick think of writing the novel?
| A．Challenging. | B．Timesaving. |
| C．Adventurous. | D．Foolish. |
By saying “You can never say never”，Selznick means ________.
| A．it’s hard to say whether he will continue writing the book |
| B．it is such a difficult book that he won’t continue it |
| C．he will never give up writing a sequel to the book |
| D．he will never write a novel like TheInventionofHugoCabret |
It can be inferred that the text is ________.
| A．an introduction to an unusual novel |
| B．a summary record of an interview |
| C．a biography of the novelist Brian Selznick |
| D．an ad persuading kids into buying the novel |
Many kids are too busy to have time to play creatively or relax after school.Kids who complain about the number of activities they’re involved in or refuse to go to them may be a sign that they’re burdened with stress.
How can you help kids deal with stress? Proper rest and good nutrition can improve such skills，as can good parenting.Make time for your kids each day.Whether they need to talk or just be in the same room with you，make yourself available.
Even as kids get older，quality time is important.It’s really hard for some people to come home after work，get down on the floor，and play with their kids or just talk to them about their day－ especially if they’ve had a stressful day themselves.But expressing interest in your kids’days shows that they’re important to you.
Help your child deal with stress by talking about what may be causing it.Together，you can come up with a few solutions like cutting_back_on afterschool activities，spending more time talking with parents or teachers，developing an exercise habit，or keeping a journal.
You can also help by anticipating(期待) potentially stressful situations and preparing kids for them.For example，let a child know ahead of time (but not too far ahead of time) that a doctor’s appointment is coming up and talk about what will happen there.Keep in mind，though，that younger kids probably won’t need too much advance preparation.Too much information can cause more stressreassurance(放心) is the key.
Remember that some level of stress is normal; let kids know that it’s OK to feel angry，scared，lonely，or anxious and that other people share those feelings.The passage is mainly written for ________.
| A．parents | B．teachers |
| C．kids | D．doctors |
You can do the following to help reduce children’s stress EXCEPT ________.
| A．making yourself available |
| B．showing interest in kids’ days |
| C．reminding them some stress is OK |
| D．trying to offer more information |
The underlined “cutting back on” in the fourth paragraph probably means ________.
| A．reducing | B．increasing |
| C．creating | D．expecting |
The purpose of the passage is ________.
| A．to find out the sources of stress |
| B．to offer tips on dealing with stress |
| C．to give advice on how to relax |
| D．to explain why stress is harmful |
It was almost four o’clock in the morning when the fire broke out.“We watch one window blow out，and then another，and heard people shouting，”says Stanley,21，a junior from Westfield State College in Massachusetts.Students were throwing ropes made from bed sheets out their windows，and a couple of them were trying to climb down.
Almost all the hotel’s 502 rooms were filled with college students from across the United States who were spending their holiday here in Acpulco，Mexico.As the smoke thickened，Moreno ran upstairs to where other Westfield students were rooming.“Some people had no idea what was going on，”he says.“I was shouting at the top of my voice.I made sure I hit every door.”At the same time，Stanley was downstairs helping people get through the smokefilled hall.There he joined forces with Nalewanski who had just come back from his own night out.
“Let’s go.”Nalewanski says.He and Stanley wet their shirts in the bathroom and wrapped them around their mouths and noses so they could breathe.Then they ran up the stairs.
Nalewanski and Stanley found Moreno on the fourth floor.They all ran upstairs and down the corridors(走廊) on every floor，hitting every door hard.
In the end，no one was seriously injured.Even more unbelievable，all the Westfield students made it back to Massachusetts later that same day.
Westfield president Evan Dobelle says，“I have a great deal of pride in these young men and they were able to react in such an emergency.”What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．College students have a terrible holiday |
| B．College students survived a big fire |
| C．Heroes：close call in a hotel fire |
| D．A big fire broke out in a hotel |
What do we learn from Stanley from the passage?
| A．He is in his last year in college. |
| B．He is a very brave young man. |
| C．He was reading a book when the fire broke out. |
| D．He was the first one to find out there was a fire. |
According to the passage ________ might not have woken up people during the fire.
| A．Evan Dobelle | B．Nalewanski |
| C．Stanley | D．Moreno |
The students helped people out through all of the following ways EXCEPT ________.
| A．helping people get through the hall |
| B．shouting loudly to warn people |
| C．hitting doors to wake people up |
| D．Making ropes for people to climb down |
A new study suggests that the way to weight loss may be clear.A couple of glasses of water before meals help dieters lose about 5 pounds more than those who do not drink water.While drinking water before a meal may fill a person up，the contents of their meal are important as well.Should a person be eating a low－fat diet or a lowcarbohydrate (低糖的) diet? Or does it matter at all?
Recent research suggests that one diet isn’t any better than the other.A few weeks before the water study，another concluded that lowfat and lowcarbohydrate diets tied in weight loss.While the lowcarbohydrate dieters did show a slight increase in good cholesterol (胆固醇) and a reduction in blood pressure，there was not much difference in the dieters’weight loss.The point here is that the person had to stick to the diet.What helps a person see a diet through? It could be body type.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association，as reported by Timemagazine，found that body shape is the key to which diet a person will be able to stick with.Apples are people who carry most of their weight above the belt，while pears carry their weight around their hips (臀部)．Apple types were more likely to be highinsulin secretors (高胰岛素分泌者) who respond more strongly to carbohydrates in their bodies.They lost the most weight on a lowcarbohydrate diet.Pears were lowinsulin secretors who lost the same amount of weight on both diets.Unstable (不稳定的) insulin levels can create stronger hunger senses，causing the apple types to go off their diet plans.
All of these studies again come down to choosing the diet that helps you eat less.The bodytype diet does make some sense as men are more likely to be apple types，with larger stomachs，and tend to do well on higherprotein diets，while women，who tend to carry weight around their hips，find themselves drawn to the lowfat diets.The reality is if a diet is failing you try another one.A plan you can’t，or won’t，stick to will never work，no matter what the research says.If you want to lose weight but don’t know what diet suits you，you can always ________.
| A．drink a few cups of water after each meal |
| B．drink a few cups of water before each meal |
| C．eat plenty of pears |
| D．eat plenty of apples |
Compared with a lowcarbohydrate dieter，a lowfat dieter may ________.
| A．lose weight faster |
| B．put on weight faster |
| C．have less good cholesterol |
| D．have a lower blood pressure |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Women on highprotein diets usually do well in weight loss. |
| B．Men on highcarbohydrate diets usually do well in weight loss. |
| C．Men usually like eating apples while women mostly enjoy pears. |
| D．Whether a person can stick with a diet depends largely on his or her body shape. |
In the author’s opinion，________.
| A．men don’t get hungry as easily as women |
| B．apple types work better than pear types in weight loss |
| C．the result of the recent research is not of much value |
| D．strong will as well as proper methods is the key to weight loss |