What is most likely to affect your success at school or at a job? The ability to read. And that goes for your kids too. The declining literacy(读写能力的下降) of our society has been a main concern of educators for a while now, and yet things are not getting better.
In most cases, how well we learn to read will depend largely on our exposure（接触） to language as children. If we hear people around us talking about all kinds of subjects as children, we naturally pick up the words and phrases they use. If we pick up a lot of words, we will learn to read better.
Much of the traditional advice to struggling readers, theses days, seems to include developing “cognitive strategies”（认知策略）. In this way, readers are asked to centre more, to think, to be interested and ask questions, to analyze, to predict, to reason, and to check their understanding, or worse still to answer questions of what they have read. In other words they are asked to become self-conscious（有自我意识的） readers. I do not agree with this approach.
Here are my several strategies for reading improvement.
Read about things that interest you. If you are interested in what you are reading about, the words will come alive, and you will understand better. The more you read, the better you will become at reading. Just get started and it will become a habit, as long as you are interested in what you are reading.
Read material that is at your level or just a little difficult for you. Read material that you find easy to read, or just a little challenging. Looking up many unknown words in a dictionary is dull, and the results of the dictionary search are quickly forgotten.
_____ If you can hear the new words and phrases that you are reading, you will have an easier time understanding and remembering them. Hearing the rhythm of someone reading a text will help your own reading.
Don’t worry about what you don’t understand. Most of your reading should be for pleasure. You can still enjoy reading without understanding all of what you read. You may even understand some things in your own personal way.
Unfortunately not all reading is just for pleasure. When you are reading a textbook or report or other material for school, you may need to underline, take notes and read some parts over again. However, if you have developed the habit of reading for pleasure, you will find that the skills you need will come naturally, and that you will understand a lot better than before.In Paragraph 2, the author tells us the importance of _____.
| A．hearing people around as children | B．talking ability as children |
| C．contacting different people | D．learning different languages |
Which sentence is best to be filled in the blank in the passage?
| A．Listen as much as possible. | B．Try to use your imagination. |
| C．Great works need to be read out loud. | D．Listen first if you have trouble reading. |
It can be learned from the last paragraph that _____.
| A．you should find pleasure from reading a textbook |
| B．the habit of reading for pleasure is important |
| C．reading for school is helpful for reading for pleasure |
| D．reading for school requires different skills from reading for pleasure |
What is the purpose of the author in writing the passage?
| A．To tell us some ways to improve reading ability. |
| B．To show that poor literacy has been a big problem. |
| C．To teach us how to look for fun in reading. |
| D．To tell us some ways to pick up new words and phrases. |
Since 1989, Dave Thomas, who died at the age of 69, was one of the most recognizable faces on TV. He appeared in more than 800 commercials for the hamburger chain named for his daughter. “As long as it works”, he said in 1991, “I’ll continue to do those commercials.”
Even though he was successful, Thomas remained troubled by his childhood. “He still won’t let anyone see his feet, which are out of shape because he never had proper fitting shoes,” Wendy said in 1993. Born to a single mother, he was adopted as a baby by Rex and Auleva Thomas of Kalamazoo in Michigan. After Auleva died when he was 5, Thomas spent years on the road as Rex traveled around seeking construction work. “He fed me,” Thomas said, “and if I got out of line, he’d beat me.”
Moving out on his own at 15, Thomas worked, first as a waiter, in many restaurants. But he had something much better in mind. “I thought if I owned a restaurant,” he said, “I could eat for free.” A 1956 meeting with Harland Sanders led Thomas to a career as the manager of a Kentucky Chicken restaurant that made him a millionaire in 1968.
In 1969, after breaking with Sanders, Thomas started the first Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, in Columbus, Ohio, which set itself apart by serving made-to-order burgers. With 6,000 restaurants worldwide, the chain now makes $ 6 billion a year in sales. Although troubled by his own experience with adoption, Thomas, married since 1954 to Lorraine, 66, and with four grown kids besides Wendy, felt it could offer a future for other children. He started the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in 1992.
In 1993, Thomas, who had left school at 15, graduated from Coconut Creek High School in Florida. He even took Lorraine to the graduation dance party. The kids voted him Most Likely to Succeed.
“The Dave you saw on TV was the real Dave,” says friend Pat Williams. “He wasn’t a great actor or a great speaker .He was just Joe Everybody.”What is the article mainly about?
| A．The life of Dave Thomas. |
| B．The dream of Dave Thomas. |
| C．The schooling of Dave Thomas. |
| D．The growth of Dave Thomas’s business. |
What do we know about his childhood?
| A．He lived a poor life. |
| B．He had caring parents. |
| C．He stayed in one place. |
| D．He didn’t go to school. |
Choose the right time order of the following events in Thomas’s life.
a. graduated from high school
b. started his own business
c. became a millionaire
d. started a foundation
e. met Harland Sanders
| A．e, b, c, d, a | B．a, e, c, b, d |
| C．e, c, b, d, a | D．a, e, b, c, d |
“He was just Joe Everybody” (in the last paragraph) means_________.
| A．Dave was famous |
| B．Dave was shy |
| C．Dave was showy |
| D．Dave was ordinary |
阅读理解。阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
The Colonel（上校） asked Ashenden a good many questions and then suggested that he had particular qualifications for the Secret Service. Ashenden knew several European languages and the fact that he was a writer provided excellent cover: on the pretext（借口） that he was writing a book he could, without attracting attention, visit any neutral country.
It was while they were discussing this point that the Colonel said, "You know you might get material that would be very useful to you in your work. I'll tell you an incident that occurred only recently. Very dramatic. A foreign government minister went down to a Mediterranean resort to recover from a cold and he had some very important documents with him that he kept in a dispatch case（公文箱）. A day or two after he arrived, he picked up a beautiful blonde at some restaurant or other, and he got very friendly with her. He took her back to his hotel, and when he came to himself in the morning, the lady and the dispatch-case had disappeared. They had one or two drinks up in his room and his theory is that when his back was turned the woman slipped a drug in his glass.
"Do you mean to say that happened the other day?" said Ashenden.
"The week before last."
"Impossible," cried Ashenden. "Why! We've been putting that incident on the stage for sixty years, we've written it in a thousand novels. Do you mean to say that life has only just caught up with us?"
"Well, I can guarantee the truth of the story." said the Colonel, "And believe me, the government has been put to no end of trouble by the loss of the documents."
"Well sir, if you can't do better than that in the Secret Service," sighed Ashenden, " I'm afraid that as a source of inspiration to the writer of fiction, it's washout（失败）."How did the Colonel suggest that Ashenden's being a writer would relate to his work as a spy?
| A．It would make traveling abroad more possible. |
| B．It would make it easier for him to meet people. |
| C．It would enable him to avoid arousing suspicion. |
| D．It would enable him to use the languages he knew. |
The reason for the Minister's trip was ________ .
| A．to fetch some documents |
| B．to get over an illness |
| C．to meet a spy |
| D．to deliver some papers |
According to the Colonel the incident happened _______.
| A．a few days before |
| B．a few weeks before |
| C．two weeks before |
| D．sixty years before |
Ashenden cried 'Impossible' after hearing the Colonel's story because he thought ______ .
| A．it was so stupid |
| B．it was too close to fiction |
| C．it was too embarrassing |
| D．it was too recent |
No matter who you are or where you come from, one thing is certain: you are familiar to the mosquito, although you probably wish you weren't. Mosquitoes are everywhere. They can be found all over the world, and they come in more than 2,500 species(种). Somewhere, at some time, you have surely met at least one.
No one loves the mosquito. But unfortunately, the mosquito may decide who she loves. She? Yes, she. Do you know that only the female mosquito bites? Well, it's true. And it's not because she is unfriendly; she needs blood to reproduce. Do you know how the female mosquito decides whom to bite? She is quite selective, and she chooses her victims(猎物) carefully. First, she uses sensors to find her victim. These sensors are located on her two antennae(触角)and her three pairs of legs. With these sensors, she tests your body moisture, body warmth, and chemical substances in your sweat. If she likes what she finds, she bites. But if you are not attractive, she'll reject you for another one. The next time a mosquito bites you, just remember that you are chosen. You are special.
If the mosquito likes you, she settles onto your flesh very gently, and she breaks your skin with her long nose tip. Long nose tip? What's that? It's a kind of mouth and it sticks out just below the mosquito's eyes. It contains six sharp instruments called styles. She thrusts all six styles into your skin at once, and if she hits a blood pipe, she'll get a full dinner in about a minute. All this usually takes place so quickly and quietly that you may not have doubted anything is happening.
Why does a mosquito bite itch（痒)? The itch is not really from the bite. lt's from the saliva(口水) the mosquito mixes with your blood to keep it from being blocked as she sucks up her long nose tip. By the time the itch begins, she has gone.
And then what happens? Well after her delicious dinner, the mosquito is tired. She just wants to find a place to rest. Heavy with your blood, she picks a spot on a leaf, a wall or a stone to quietly lay her eggs. Just one drop of blood will produce hundreds of eggs.The female mosquito looks for you because she ______.
| A．is thirsty for your blood |
| B．needs blood to reproduce |
| C．loses her heart to you |
| D．feels hungry at the time |
Only when _______does she do biting.
| A．she locates these sensors on her two antennae |
| B．she finds the weather is fine |
| C．she finds body moisture, body warmth and chemical substances |
| D．she finds what she likes |
It is _______that makes you itch.
| A．your blood | B．her bite |
| C．her suck | D．her saliva |
Maggie was very glad that James was not a frequent visitor to the house. In the children’s opinion, they had something that they couldn’t explain or understand about him and that excited their imagination. He stirred(激起) Maggie’s anger, however, so that she often said to her husband. “It’s mercy that brother of yours doesn’t come oftener.”
In fact James came once a year, unexpectedly, around eight o’clock in the evening, and he stayed for six hours of close discussion with his brother. His arrival was a signal to the children that their bedtime would be delayed. Not that he ever spoke to them or played with them. He took no notice of them, as if he was unable to see children, at least until the time came for him to go. Indeed, after his first greeting and a careless kiss, James took no notice of Maggie either, except to add, “You’ll be getting on with the supper, Maggie”. Such was his regard for her.
Maggie paid him back in her own way. She kept the children up, the four of them, to keep her company, she said, but of course they sang and made a noise and broke the endless sound of James’ voice. Very late, they dropped off to sleep in their chairs. Then, when James was about to go, Maggie woke them up and so more or less forced him to part with four shillings before he left. That gave her some satisfaction, for James, though rich, was unwilling to give or share what he had. He always went home by the last train, just after two o’clock.
Maggie’s children secretly stared at their uncle. They could not forget that he had in their mother’s words, “lost two wives and taken a third”. They wondered about those two unfortunate, lost ladies. They asked each other what their fate(命运) had been, and if neither could ever be found again. James never brought his third wife with him nor ever mentioned her. The children decided that he must be so frightened of losing her that he never allowed her outside the door.Maggie never prepared anything special for James because ________.
| A．he was a man difficult to please |
| B．she never knew when he was coming |
| C．she was too busy looking after her children |
| D．he never stayed long enough for a meal |
What do we know about Jame’s behavior?
| A．He was a kind man, with love for the family. |
| B．He was unselfish, especially towards his brother. |
| C．He was anxious to please the family, especially the children. |
| D．He was rude to his sister-in-law. |
Maggie felt pleased when ________.
| A．she paid James the money that she owed him |
| B．James gave some money to the children |
| C．she had to wake James up to catch his train |
| D．James thanked her for the nice supper |
The children did not realize that two of James’ wives ________.
| A．were dead |
| B．suffered from loss of memory |
| C．had run away from him |
| D．might reappear one day |
Sports is not only physically challenging, but it can also mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches(trainers), parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create too much anxiety or stress for young athletes. Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological, and research has showed that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable.
The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback（反馈）to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents’ and coaches’ criticisms to heart and find a flaw in themselves.
Coaches and parents should also be cautious(careful) that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today’s youth sport setting, young athletes may be worried more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game, many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters’ performances. Positive reinforcement should be provided in spite of the outcome. Research shows that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.According to the passage sports is positive for young people in that_____.
| A．it can help them learn more about society |
| B．it teaches them how to set realistic goals for themselves |
| C．it enables them to find flaws in themselves |
| D．it can provide them with valuable experiences |
Many coaches and parents are in the habit of criticizing young athletes _________.
| A．without realizing criticism may destroy their self-confidence |
| B．in order to make them remember life’s lessons |
| C．believing that criticism is beneficial for their early development |
| D．so as to put more pressure on them |
According to the passage parents and coaches should_______.
| A．help children to win every game |
| B．pay more attention to letting children enjoy sports |
| C．enable children to understand the positive aspect of sports |
| D．train children to deal with stress |
The author’s purpose in writing the passage is_______.
| A．to persuade young children not to worry about criticism |
| B．to emphasize the importance of positive reinforcement to children |
| C．to discuss the skill of combing criticism with encouragement |
| D．to teach young athletes how to avoid burnout |