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 USA or Australia. They also want their children to take extra courses or activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. So parents will spend unreasonable amount of money on education.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary. Some children are skilled in some areas while poor in others.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but not 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 other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need 
later in life. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. The result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious 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. And that is more important.
| A．The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. |
| B．These activities are teaching a child not only to read a book, but also to think , to use his mind. |
| C．What most parents fail to realize ，though ,is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence. |
| D．Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter. |
E. The more cost in education, the better the result will be.
F. Cooking demands patience and time.
How Much to Tip
You’re out to dinner . The food is delicious and the service is fine . You decide to leave a big fat tip . Why ? The answer may not be as simple as you think .Tipping , psychologists have found , is not just about service . Instead , studies have shown that tipping can be affected by psychological reactions to a series of different factors from the waiter’s choice of words , to how they carry themselves while taking orders , to the bill’s total . Even how much waiters remind customers of themselves can determine how much change they pocket by the end of the night .“Studies before have shown that mimicry brings into positive feelings for the mimicker ,”wrote Rick van Baaren , a social psychology professor . “ There studies show that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimics thorn .”
So Rick van Baaren divided 59 waiters into two groups . He requested that half serve with a phrase such as “ Coming up ! ” Those in the other half were instructed to repeat to orders and preferences back to the customers . Rick van Baaren then compared their take home . The results were clear－it plays to mimic your customers . The copycat waiters earned almost double the amount of tips to the other group .
Leonard Green and Joe Myerson , psychologists at Washington University in St . Louis found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by his bill . After research on the 1,000 tips left for waiters , cab drivers , hair stylists , they found tip percentages in these three areas dropped as customers’bills went up . In fact , tip percentages appear to plateau when bills topped ＄100 and a bill for ＄200 made the worker gain no bigger percentage tip than a hill for ＄100 .
“That’s also a point of tipping ,” Green says . “ You have to give a little extra to the cab driver for being there to pack you up and something to the waiter for being there to serve you . If they weren’t there you’d never get any service . So part of the idea of a tip is for just being there .”
1.How many factors affecting the customers’ tipping are mentioned in the passage ?
A.1 B.2 C.3 D.4
2.These studies show that ______.
A.tipping can be affected by physical reactions to many different waiter’s factors
B.people who are being mimicked usually tip less to the person who mimics them
C.the mimic waiters can get almost twice as much money as the other group
D.mimicry makes the mimicker feel bad
3.According to the passage , which of the following will be likely to show the right change of the tip percentages ?
4.We know from the passage that the writer seems to ______.
A.object to Mr Green’s idea about tipping
B.think part of Mr Green’s explanation is reasonable
C.give his generous tip to waiters very often
D.support the opinions of Mr Green and Rick van Baaren about tipping
It gives me great pleasure today to say a few words in praise of a man we will all miss very much . To be honest , I can’t imagine we will do without him when he’s gone . Bill Masters almost single-handed built up our sales force in the Houston area and developed the market position that we enjoy today .In only six years , he has brought the firm from a very low fifth position in the area sales to the point where we now outsell all but one of our competitors . Not omly have we got 37 per cent of the market under Bill’s leadership ; we are increasing our share with each passing month .
As you know , the company has moved Bill to northern California to work his sales magic in one of this company’s competitive areas . But we know that if anyone can do it , Bill Masters can , and I know you all join me in wishing him the best of luck in his new work .
1.The speech was made ______.
A.at a welcome meeting B.after someone died
C.when somebody was leaving D.when they had a new manager
2.How long did Masters work there ?
A.37 years . B.Less than 5 years .
C.About six years . D.Since he began to work .
3.When Bill started to work in Houston area , who had to help him ?
A.many people B.nobody C.about 37 people D.very few people
4.Bill increased the company’s sale ______.
A.by 37 per cent every month B.to the second largest in the area
C.to be the fifth largest in the area D.five times as much as before
第二部分：阅读理解
第一节：阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Almost 40 years ago , a community servies organization started providing eye care in Gujarat State , in western India .
The Rgtary Club of Navsari operates an eye hospital and 9 area eye centers in and around Navssri , whose services are for the poorest people . The group opened the hospital , the Rotary Eye Institute of Navsari , in 1970 . India has only about one ophthalmologist for every 120,000 people . The Institute , however , has ten such specially trained eye doctors . It has restored or improved the eyesight of thousands of patients . Many people with eye problems cannot easily get to a big city for examinations and treatment . They live in villages and have no transportation. The Institute established eye centers called camps in places far from the city . Teams from it travel as far as 150 kilometers to see patients . People go to their nearest camp , where medical workers examine their eyes . The workers look for conditions including glaucoma , night blindness and other problems.Some people are found to have cataracts ,abnormal growths on the eye that can lead to loss of eyesight . India has about 13 million people with the condition . Cataract patients get free operations to correct the problem.
Rotary groups also operate eye banks . Doctors at these centers replace damaged eyes with the healthy eyes of donors who have just died . One such center is the Rotary Rajah Eye Bank . It operates in cooperation with the Rajah Eye Care Hospital in Chennai . The Eye Bank opened in 1996 . Hundreds of patients have received new corneas from donors since then . The cornea is the clear front part of the eye that transmits light . 2 million people in India are blind because of problens of the cornea . The Rotary Rajah Eye Bank holds continuing eye donation campaigns . It urges people to leave the gift of sight to others when they die .
1. Which of the following is True about the Rotary Club of Navsari ?
A.The Rotary Club of Navsari is a community service organization .
B.The Rotary Eye Institute of Navsari has only one eye doctor .
C.The Rotary Club of Navsari includes 9 area eye centers in big cities .
D.The Rotary Club of Navsari offers free operations to all the poor patients .
2.The underlined word “ophthalmologist” in Paragraph 2 refers to ______.
A.a physician who specializes in eyes B.a worker working in countryside
C.a patient suffering eye problems D.a volunteer working in eye centers
3.We can infer from the passage that .
A.there are 13 million Indians having eye problems in total
B.the Rotary Eye Institute of Navsari is located in the center of India
C.the medical treatment is convenient for the local residents
D.communications in Navsari are difficult
4.According to the last paragraph ,the Rotary Rajan Eye Bank gets new corneas mainly by_____.
A.cloning B.donating C.cooperating D.forcing
5.The author develops the passage mainly by ______.
A.providing typical examples
B.making a definition
C.comparing two different areas
D.presenting two examples and drawing a conclusion
Millions of people around the world cook their food over smoky fire every day.It is often difficult to find wood for the fire .People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun.
Solar cooker, or ovens,have been used for centuries.A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in seventeen sixty-seven. Today ,people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world. People use solar ovens to cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.
There are three kinds of solar ovens.The first is a box cooker, It is designed with a special wall that shines or reflects sunlight into the box .Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top of the cooker. A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amonts of food.
The second kind of solar oven is a panel cooker. It includes several flat walls.or panels.that directly reflect the sun’s light onto the food. The food is inside a separate container of plastic or glass that traps heat energy. People can build panel cookers quickly and with very few supplies. They do not cost much.In Kenya ,for example ,panel cookers are being manufactured for just two dollars.
The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic cooker.It has rounded walls that aim sunlight directly into the bottom of the oven .Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens .However, these cookers are hard to make.They must be re-aimed often to follow the sun .Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and eye injuries if they are not used correctly.
You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper. They will not catch fire. Paper burns at two hundred thirty-two degrees Celsius. A solar cooker never gets that hot. Solar ovens cook food at low temperatures over long periods of time. This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other things.
1.What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?
A.To tell the readers how to make solar ovens.
B.To advertise the solar ovens.
C.To give the readers brief introduction of solar ovens.
D.To help readers to save cost on fuel.
2.According to the passage we can conclude that ______.
A.panel cooker is the cheapest oven of the three
B.panel cooker is easy to make
C.box cooker is easy to make
D.box cooker is the most effective oven
3.If you have much food to cook ,you’d better choose .
| A.a box cooker |
B.a panel cooker |
| C.a parabolic cooker |
D.a paper cooker |
4.From the passage we know that .
A.solar cookers are dangerous to use
B.solar cookers don’t burn while cooking
C.solar cookers cost less than other cookers
D.Swiss often use solar cookers while cooking
Barack Obama has never been shy about comparing himself with Abraham Lincoln. He did so when he announced his presidential election in lllinois ,where both he and Lincoln served in the legislature (立法机关) . “The life of a tall ,thin ,self –made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible.” Obama said. “He tells us that there is power in words and that there is power in hope.” Such comparisons have contiuned on big and small occasions,but the most important similarity ,in Obama’s mind, is how he plans to govern if elected.
Obama says he admires Doris Kearns Goodwin’s wonderful Lincoln biography, Team of Rivals.”He talks about it all the time .” says a top assistant .”He is particularly interested in the idea that Lincoln successfully won the hearts of many people who had run against him for President,some of them even disagree with him firmly .” “The lesson is that you shouldn’t let your hatred get in the way of hiring absolutely the best people .” says Obama.”I think American people are practical and so I have an interest in casting a wide net , seeking out people with a wide range of expert knowledge,including Republicans, for the highest positions in the government.”
“I don’t want to have people who just agree with me .”He says . “I want people who are continually pushing me forward and I’d be very interested in having those sorts of Republicans in my government, especially people who can speed up a responsible and logocal conclusion to the Iraq war..”
1.According to Barack Obama, the biggest similarity between Lincoln and himself is ______.
A.they both lived lllinois
B.they served in the same office
C.both of them are black
D.they have the same idea in governing
2.Obama is willing to cooperate with those who disagree with him because .
A.he is interested in Republicans’ideas
B.he doesn’t want to show his hatred to the public
C.they have the highest positions in the government
D.they may push him to make the right decisions
3. The author wrote the passage to .
| A.compare Obama and Lincoln |
B.help Obama to win more support |
| C.tell us something about Obama |
D.announce Obama’s political ideas |
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A.Obama is a member of the Republicans.
B.The passage was written after the presidential election.
C.Doris Goodwin is one of Obama’s assistants.
D.In the end Lincoln was able to get the support of the people who once hated him.