“Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton (骨骼) in the closet (衣橱)？”Jessica asked. “A skeleton in the closet?” her mother paused thoughtfully, “Well, it’s something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad’s family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be ‘a skeleton in his family’s closet’. He really wouldn’t want any neighbor to know about it.”
“Why pick on my family?” Jessica’s father said with anger. “Your family history isn’t so good, you know. Wasn’t you great – great grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?”“Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners.”“Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now,” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica’s parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica’s closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica’s mother sank into a faint (晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
“What happened? Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school’s skeleton, Mum,” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I meant to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad.” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They’re both crazy,” she thought.According to Jessica’s mother, “a skeleton in the closet” means .
| A．a family honor | B．a family secret |
| C．a family story | D．a family treasure |
What can we learn about some Australian’s ancestors from Paragraph 2?______.
| A．They were brought to Australia as prisoners. |
| B．They were the earliest people living in Australia. |
| C．They were involved in some crimes in Australia. |
| D．They were not regarded as criminals in their days. |
Jessica’s mother fell down into a faint because she was .
| A．knocked | B．frightened | C．injured | D．surprised |
Why did Jessica bring a skeleton home? _________.
| A．She was curious about it. | B．She planned to keep it for fun. |
| C．She needed it for her school task. | D．She intended to scare her parents. |
Jessica’s parents laughed madly at the end of the story probably because .
| A．they were crazy |
| B．they were overexcited |
| C．they realized their misunderstanding |
| D．they both thought they had won the quarrel |
Penguin Group
Ordinary People Change The World!
Penguin Group and TFK have partnered together to help teachers show their students how they can make the world a better place. Building the encouraging lives of historic figures including Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein, this attractive program takes a look at the real life stories of ordinary young people who grew up to become extraordinary adults!
Download the classroom poster, student worksheets and teacher’s guide provided below.
Classroom Poster : You can be a Hero, too. Classroom Poster
Teachers Guide : Ordinary People Series Teacher’s Guide
Student Worksheet : Who’s Your Hero? Worksheet
Student Worksheet : Hero Matchup Worksheet
PGA Junior League Golf
It Takes a Team!
TIME For Kids and PGA Junior League Golf have developed a program all about using teamwork to reach goals. Download this poster to get your students involved in the power and fun of teamwork and cooperation.
Encourage your class to go to timeforkids.com/teampoll and take the poll!
Classroom Poster : It Takes a Team!
International Fund for Animal Welfare(IFAW)
Cats, Dogs, & Us
TIME for Kids has partnered with IFAW to present an educational animal awareness program called Cats, Dogs, & Us. This project is sure to attract and engage students with discussion starters, in-class activity ideas, a video viewing guide, and many other in-depth and fun resources. Preview IFAW’s Cats, Dogs, & Us video at http://ifaw.org/cats-dogs-and-us
Classroom Poster : Cats, Dogs, & Us Classroom Poster
Classroom Poster / Teachers Guide : Cats, Dogs, & Us Teachers Guide Full View
Teachers Guide : Cats, Dogs, & Us Teachers Guide Pages
Special Olympics
Special Olympics Project UNIFY®
in TIME and Special Olympics have teamed up to promote understanding of people’s differences in the classroom, school and community. Special Olympics Project UNIFY® is an education-based project that uses sports and education programs to activate young people to develop communities where all youth are agents of change-promoting respect, dignity and support for people with mental disabilities.
TFK Extra : in TIME Project UNIFY® Student Guide
Teachers Guide : in TIME Project UNIFY® Teachers GuideWho are the materials mainly intended for?
| A．Teachers. | B．Parents. |
| C．Students. | D．Headmasters. |
What is the purpose of “Penguin Group”?
| A．To train students to be ordinary people. |
| B．To encourage students to learn from great people. |
| C．To provide teaching materials for history teachers. |
| D．To offer students different kinds of reading materials. |
Which of the following is designed for students to learn to cooperate?
| A．IFAW | B．Penguin Group |
| C．PGA Junior League Golf | D．Special Olympics |
To know how to help a slow classmate better, you’d better go to “______”.
| A．timeforkids.com/teampoll |
| B．Hero Matchup Worksheet |
| C．http://ifaw.org/cats-dogs-and-us |
| D．In TIME Project UNIFY® Student Guide |
People should listen to music for no more than one hour a day to protect their hearing, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests.
It says 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of permanently damaging their hearing by listening to “too much, too loudly”.
It said audio devices(音频设备), concerts and bars were causing a “serious threat”.
WHO figures show 43 million people aged 12-35 have hearing loss and the number is increasing. In that age group, the WHO said, half of the people in rich and middle-income countries were exposed to unsafe sound levels from personal audio devices. Meanwhile 40% were exposed to damaging levels of sound from clubs and bars.
The proportion of US teenagers with hearing loss went from 3.5% in 1994 to 5.3% in 2006.
“What we’re trying to do is raise awareness of the problem that is not talked about enough, but has the potential to do a lot of damage that can be easily prevented,” said Dr Etienne Krug, the WHO’s director for injury prevention.
The full report argued: “While it is important to keep the volume down, limiting the use of personal audio devices to less than one hour a day would do much to reduce noise exposure.”
Dr Krug said: “That’s a rough recommendation, it is not by the minute, to give an idea to those spending 10 hours a day listening to an mp3-player. But even an hour can be too much if the volume（音量）is too loud.”What might be the main cause of hearing loss according to the passage?
| A．Listening to music frequently. |
| B．Listening to music at concerts. |
| C．Listening to too much and too loud music. |
| D．Listening to music from poor audio devices. |
How many people aged 12-35 were most likely to suffer from hearing loss according to WHO?
| A．3.5%. | B．5.3%. | C．40%. | D．50 %. |
Which of the following ideas would Dr Etienne Krug agree with?
| A．Safe noise exposure is based on the limitation to both volume and time. |
| B．One hour of exposure to loud music a day will do no damage to hearing. |
| C．With proper volume, one can listen to an mp3-player for 10 hours a day. |
| D．It will be OK to be exposed to loud noise from personal audio devices. |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Away from music |
| B．How to enjoy music |
| C．Risk of hearing loss |
| D．Warning of hearing damage |
It’s no secret that doing good makes others happy – but did you know it can make you happy as well?
According to a study, people participating in meaningful activities were happier and felt that their lives had more purpose than people who only engaged in pleasure-seeking behaviors.
Try giving these four things to others to start your journey to a happier and healthier lifestyle.
1. Your Time
With a busy life, it can be hard to find any time to give away. However, volunteering your time has great benefits, including making new friends and connections, learning new skills and even advancing your career.
According to a paper about the link between health and volunteering, volunteering is connected with lower instances of depression and reduces the risk of dying by 22 percent.
2. Your Attention
Most of us think we’re good listeners, but according to psychologist Paul Donoghue, most people are aware that others don’t listen as well as they could. In addition, they’re not fully aware that they themselves aren’t listening.
When practicing mindfulness meditation(正念禅修), you focus on what you experience in the moment and let your thoughts and emotions pass through without judgment. Did you know that giving someone your undivided attention helps you also? When done well, active listening strengthens your focus－which is a major part of good meditation.
3. Your Compassion
The psychological meaning of compassion is the ability to understand another person’s emotional state. Compassion differs from empathy(移情) in that those who experience compassion not only put themselves in another person’s shoes, but also want to reduce that person’s suffering.
A brain-imaging study showed that the brain’s pleasure centers are equally active when we give money to the poor as when we receive money ourselves.
4. Your Money
According to an experiment, those who spend money on other people are significantly happier than those who spend the same quantity of money on themselves.
Whether or not you can offer other gifts, donating money helps make real change happen. It represents time spent, compassion and careful attention to the needs of others.Who is the happiest according to the study mentioned in Paragraph 2?
| A．Bill, who is often invited to play golf by his wealthy uncle. |
| B．Tom, who is on the way to be the richest man in the world. |
| C．Mike, who is not well-off but often does what he can to those in need. |
| D．John, who is a disabled young man but has married a very beautiful girl. |
What does the underlined word “depression” in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．pleasure | B．unhappiness |
| C．connection | D．misunderstanding |
Which of the four gifts matters most according to the author?
| A．Time. | B．Money. | C．Attention. | D．Compassion. |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To encourage people to help others. |
| B．To give the meaning of “happiness”. |
| C．To offer a practical way of life. |
| D．To show his kindness. |
A US student has just spent 30 days on an “insect diet ” – eating insects three times a day. Camren Brantley-Rios says traditional meats such as pork and beef are unable to continue and he wanted to try out what many consider the diet of the future.
Many people would not like the idea of eating insects distasteful, even if it were not disgusting. Not so long ago Brantley-Rios was among them. But for the last month he has been eating insects for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“I’m mainly sticking to three kinds,” he says.
Occasionally he has included different insects. Preparing these he “actually cried”, though he insists they were surprisingly good.
Insects consume fewer resources than animals, like pigs and cows, to produce the same amount of protein(蛋白质), Brantley-Rios says – and more than two billion people worldwide include insects in their regular diet, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
“There’s not really a need to eat insects in America because we have it so nice,” Brantley-Rios says. “We have finer meats and we’re lucky to have that luxury(奢侈), so there’s not much of a pressure to eat insects right now. But what a lot of people are trying to do is make it a little bit more marketable.”
He has ordered insects from farms that usually supply zoos, which need them “to feed certain animals”. He has always made sure the insects have been fed on an organic diet, he says, and only bought species he knows are safe to eat.
He knows that one person eating insects won’t make much difference. To have a real environmental effect, millions would have to follow his example.Why has the US student tried out an “insect diet”?
| A．To seek for future vegetables. |
| B．To advocate traditional meats. |
| C．To make up for the lack of meat. |
| D．To explore new forms of protein. |
What can we learn about Brantley-Rios from Paragraph 2?
| A．He is tired of meats like pork and beef. |
| B．He didn’t like the idea of eating insects. |
| C．He had nothing to eat but insects last month. |
| D．He advised people to eat insects though disgusted. |
What does the underlined part “actually cried” in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．was scared | B．was pitiful |
| C．was sorry | D．was puzzled |
How does Brantley-Rios guarantee the safety of his insect diet?
| A．He tests each species before eating it. |
| B．He has insects raised on his own farm. |
| C．He feeds his insects on an organic diet. |
| D．He orders insects for certain zoo animals. |
Minimalism （简约主义） is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features．
As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life．
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned． I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it． Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now．
I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears． Either they store it away or they get rid of it．
You might think nostalgically（怀旧的） about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it． I’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy．” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is．
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move． It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry． When you keep things you don’t need they become a burden that ties you to a place． Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff． And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden．
Of course there are exceptions． There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans． But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?
Hence, minimalism． And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it’s because what really makes me happy is freedom． And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things．
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential．
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can’t do it with old things weighing me down． And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms．In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to．
| A．introduce a topic | B．present his own idea |
| C．describe a scene | D．offer an argument |
Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because．
| A．they haven’t had any life-changing experiences |
| B．they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff |
| C．they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away |
| D．they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?
| A．It takes the burden off her while she is moving． |
| B．It reduces her attachment to her personal things． |
| C．It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires． |
| D．It helps her to realize how true life is． |
By saying “there are exceptions”, the writer means
| A．little is left if we keep what we cherish most in our life |
| B．minimalism should be practised accordingly in different situations |
| C．minimalism is a method difficult to employ in reality |
| D．life is full of exceptions so it’s difficult to preserve what we value |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Minimalism brings happiness． |
| B．Minimalism is applied in many fields． |
| C．Minimalism makes people think nostalgically． |
| D．Minimalism is about able to move． |