My students often tell me that they don’t have “enough time” to do all their schoolwork.
My reply is often a brief “You have as much time as the president.” I usually carry on a bit about there being twenty-four hours in the day for everyone, and suggest that “not enough time” is not an acceptable explanation of not getting something done.
Once in graduate school, I tried to prove to one of my professors by saying that I was working hard. His answer to me was, “That’s irrelevant (无关的). What’s important is the quality of your work.” Since then I have had time to think carefully about the “hard worker” dodge (诀窍), and I have come to some conclusions — all relevant to the problem of how much time we have.
If you analyze the matter, you can identify two parts of the problem: There is, of course, the matter of “time”, which we can think of as fixed. Then there is the problem of “work” during that time. But, as my professor suggested, it’s not how hard one works but the quality of the product that’s important.
That led me to a new idea: the quality of the work. That concept is perhaps best explained by a sign I once saw on the wall in someone’s office: “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” There is a lot of sense in that idea.
If you can’t get more time, and few of us can, the only solution is to improve the quality of the work. That means thinking of ways to get more out of the same time than we might otherwise get. That should lead us to an analysis of our work habits. Since “work” for students usually means “homework”, the expression “work habits” should be read as “study habits”.
Then, as a smart student, you will seek to improve those skills that you use in study, chiefly reading and writing. If you learn to read better and write better, there are big benefits that pay off in all your studies.
From the passage, we know that the author is probably ______ .
| A．a poet | B．an educator | C．a novelist | D．an engineer |
We can infer from the 2nd paragraph that we students still _____ .
| A．have enough time | B．can meet the president |
| C．get everything done well | D．should accept the explanation |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The author’s students make good use of their time to do all their homework. |
| B．The author tried to tell the professor that he/she (author) had done a good job. |
| C．You can’t improve the quality of the work if you can’t get more time. |
| D．You’ll try to improve your skills in reading and writing if you’re a clever student |
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will learn a musical instrument or ballet or other classes which will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So the parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack (缺乏) self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents aren’t teaching them the most important skills they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It’s an enjoyable but difficult experiment. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually to finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.
Some old machines , such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him curious (好奇) and arouse his interest He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities aren’t merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.Parents in China, according to this passage, _________.
A. are too strict with their children
B. are too rich to educate their children
C have some problems in educating their children correctly
D. are too poor to educate their childrenGenerally speaking, children’s skills_______.
| A．come from their parents |
| B．have nothing to do with their education |
| C．may be different |
| D．have something to do with their marks in the exams |
The writer of this passage doesn’t seem to be satisfied with_______.
| A．the parents’ idea of educating their children |
| B．the education system |
| C．children’s skills |
| D．children’s hobbies |
Doing some cooking at home helps children_________.
| A．learn how to serve their parents |
| B．learn how to become strong and fat |
| C．benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future |
| D．make their parents believe that they are clever |
According to the last paragraph, we can conclude that_________.
| A．broken radios and television sets are useful |
| B．one’s curiosity may be useful for his later life |
| C．an engineer must fix many broken radios |
| D．a good student should spend much time repairing radios |
One night last February, a seventeen-year-old Duffy drove home along a winding road, he saw a strange light thrown against the tree. “I knew it wasn’t the moon”, he said. “I drive this road all the time and I notice little things out of place.”
Duffy stopped his car and got out to examine. Below him far down in the deep valley lay a broken car with its headlights on. Thirty minutes earlier, a man had driven off the edge of the road, which has no guardrail. His car fell and rolled end over end, landing on its top more than two hundred feet below.
Duffy rushed to call for help, then returned and got down to reach the injured driver. Snow covered the valley and the temperature was below freezing. After struggling back up the cliff, Duffy took off his jacket and shirt and wrapped the injured man in time, along with the blankets from his car.
Life-saving deeds are starting to become usual action for Duffy, the oldest of seven children. When he was 12, he saved his ten-year-old brother from drowning. Two years ago, his three-year-old sister ate rat poison, and Duffy cleaned out her mouth, make her drink milk to protect her stomach and called doctors.
“We have tried to teach the children good values, and it looks like we have got some reward for it.” His father says.The strange light came from ________.
| A．The bright moon. | B．Duffy’s car. |
| C．The broken car in the valley | D．an unknown place |
The phrase” landing on its top” means the car lay_________.
| A．on the top of the cliff | B．with its wheels upward |
| C．with its head upward | D．on the road as usual |
Duffy wrapped the man because_________.
| A．he was badly injured | B．he had lost too much blood |
| C．he had nothing on | D．it was too cold that day |
From the above article, we can see Duffy has saved ________ at least.
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
“We have tried to teach the children good values” may probably mean Duffy’s parents often tell their children_________.
| A．to help people in danger | B．how to save people’s lives |
| C．to remember the value of the car | D．how to do business |
This is a true story from Guyana. One day, a boy took a piece of paper from a box. He made a paper ball and pushed it into his nose. He couldn’t get it out. He ran crying to his mother. His mother couldn’t get the paper out, either. A week later, the paper was still in the boy’s nose. His nose began to have a bad smell.
So his mother took the boy to a hospital. The doctor looked up at the child’s nose, but she couldn’t get the paper out. She said she had to cut the boy’s nose to get the paper out.
The boy’s mother came home looking sad. She didn’t want her child to have his nose cut. The next day she took the boy to her friend Sidney who lived in a house with an old lady called May. May wanted to see the child, so the child let her look up his nose.
“Yes, I can see it,” May said. “It will be out soon.”
As she spoke, she shook some black pepper on the child’s nose. The child gave a mighty sneeze and the paper flew out. His mother was surprised. May told his mother to take the boy to the seaside for a swim, for the salt water would go up his nose and stop the bad smell.
So the lucky boy didn’t have to go to the hospital to have his nose cut.After the boy pushed a paper ball into his nose, ____.
| A．he took it out | B．his mother took it out |
| C．he did nothing but cry | D．he tried to take it out but failed |
The paper ball stayed in the boy’s nose for ____.
| A．at most seven days | B．less than seven days |
| C．more than seven days | D．exactly seven days |
According to the story, _____ was most worried about the boy’s accident.
| A．the boy’s mother | B．Sidney | C．May | D．the doctor |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The doctor helped to take the paper ball out of the boy’s nose. |
| B．May succeeded in taking the paper out. |
| C．The boy’s mother found some black pepper to solve the problem. |
| D．The boy had to have his nose cut at last. |
The boy should be taken to the seaside for a swim because ____.
| A．he needed to learn to swim |
| B．the sea water would stop the bad smell of his nose. |
| C．the sea water would wash out the paper ball. |
| D．he needed a rest |
The following are three advertisements from different newspapers. Read them carefully and answer the following questions.
| (China Daily, March 3, 2005) The biggest shopping center will open on March 8. Everybody with today’s China Daily will get a small present that day. You are welcome. Telephone: 38990688; Address: No.6 Xidan Road. |
| (ENGLSIH NEWSPAPER. March 19) English Newspaper needs a foreign editor. He or she must have worked in China for more than 2 years. British nationality is necessary. The salary is $ 100,000 a year. The term is 3 years. In ten days this piece of advertisement will be not useful. Telephone: 3890666; Address: No. 6 Xinling Road. |
| (CHINA FOOTBALL, September 25, 2005) Shanghai Shenhua Team-----Dalian Shide Team TIME: September 25, Sunday (15: 30) PLACE: Hongkou Stadium TICKET PRICE: RMB 25 yuan (for adults); RMB 15 yuan (for students) NAME: China Football Super League COACHES: Farinha & Valeri Nepomniatchi |
If the customer has a China Daily of March 3, 2005, he will get a small present _____.
| A．every day | B．from China Dail | C．on March 8, 2005 | D．on March 3, 2005 |
If a British editor has worked in China for 3 years and comes to the English Newspaper office to ask for the job in April, he will _____ .
| A．get the job | B．not get the job | C．be a good editor | D．be not useful |
When and where will the football match be held?
| A．In Hongkou Stadium on September 25. | B．In Hongkou Stadium on September 19. |
| C．In Shanghai Shenhua on September 25. | D．In Dalian Shide on September 19. |
If three adults and six students want to watch the match, the tickets will cost RMB __ yuan.
| A．165 | B．135 | C．195 | D．225 |
Some people think that all wild animals are very dangerous. Actually, very few of them will attack a man if he leaves them alone. If you met a lion or an elephant, suppose, you would run away, but even a lion will keep away from a man unless it is very hungry. Lions and tigers only kill and eat men when they have grown too old and too weak to catch their usual food, such as deer and other small animals. If you saw a wild elephant, perhaps you would be frightened. Elephants usually run away at once unless you attack them. Some animals get very frightened if they only smell a man; some take no notice at all but quietly walk in another direction. Wild animals only attack hunters when they are afraid that the hunters mean to harm their young ones, or then the hunters shoot at them and make them angry.The word “attack” is closest in meaning to _____________ .
| A．hurt | B．catch | C．hit | D．follow |
Lions and tigers will not kill or eat men ____________ .
| A．unless men try to run away | B．if they are too old and too weak |
| C．if they are able to get enough food | D．however men act towards them |
Some wild animals will become very dangerous ______________ .
| A．when they grow old | B．if they are left alone |
| C．while they are looking for food | D．when their young ones are in danger |
This passage is mainly about______________ .
| A．how to protect wild animals | B．how animals look for their food |
| C．how to make friends with wild animals | D．how animals act towards men |