Every summer, no matter how urgent work schedule is, I take off one day exclusively for my
son. We call it dad-son day. This year our third stop was the amusement panic, where we discovered
that he was tall enough to ride one of the fastest roller coasters (过山车)in the world. We experienced through face-stretching turns and circles for ninety seconds. Then, as we stepped off the ride, in a calm voice, he remarked that it was not as exciting as other rides he’d been on. As I listened, I began to sense something seriously out of balance.
Throughout the season, I noticed similar events all around me. Parents found it hard to find new stimulations for cold kids. Surrounded by ever-greater stimulation, their young feces were looking disappointed and bored
Facing their children’s complaints of "nothing to do", parents were spending large numbers of dollars for various forms of entertainment In many cases the money seemed to do little more than buy relief from the terrible complaint of their bored children. This set me thinking the obvious question: "How can it be so hard for kids to find something to do when there’s been such a range of stimulating entertainment available to them?"
What really worries me is the strength of the stimulation. I watch my little daughter’s &ce as she absorbs bloody special effects in movies.
Why do children facing such excitement seem starved for more? Thai was, I realized, the point I discovered during my own adolescence that what creates excitement is not going fast, but going faster. Excitement has less to do with speed than changes in speed.
I am concerned about the increasing effect of years at these levels of feverish activity. It is no mystery to me why many teenagers appear uninterested and burned out, with a "been there, done that" air of indifference toward much of life. As increasing numbers of friends’ children are advised to take medicine to deal with inattentiveness at school or anti-depressants (抗抑郁药)to help with the loss of interest and joy in their lives—I question the role of kids’ boredom in some of the diagnoses (处方).
My own work is focused on the chemical imbalances and biological factors related to behavioral and emotional disorders. These are complex problems. Yet I’ve been reflecting more and more on how lie pace of life and the strength of stimulation may be contributing to the rising rates of psychological problems among children and adolescents in our society.The reason why the author felt surprised in the amusement park was that ________.
| A．his son was not as excited by the roller coasters ride as expected |
| B．his songs enjoyed turns and circles with his face stretched |
| C．his son appeared upset but calm while riding the roller coasters |
| D．his son could keep his balance so well on the fast moving roller coasters |
According to the author, children will probably feel excited ________.
| A．if their parents allow them to ride roller coasters very often |
| B．since parents spend money on the same form of entertainment |
| C．after they take anti-depressants according to the diagnoses |
| D．if they are often exposed to more stimulating entertainment |
From his own experience, the author came to the conclusion that children seem to expect _______.
| A．a much wider variety of sports facilities |
| B．activities that require complicated skills |
| C．the change of the forms of recreation |
| D．more challenging physical exercise |
. In order to relieve children’s boredom, the author would probably suggest ________.
| A．adjusting the pace of life and strength of stimulation |
| B．promoting the practice of dad-son days |
| C．consulting a specialist in child psychology |
| D．balancing school work with after school activities |
In many African countries, the care of orphans has been mainly led by foreign donor organizations. However, Sister Florence has changed all that. Using her own resources, Sister Florence is leading the work of raising orphans from different backgrounds. Sister Florence Wanjala’s biggest motivation to start the orphan program was when she saw a little boy whose parents had died. The boy was living with a cruel grandparent and he would visit the grave of his mother, crying for support. Sister Wanjala wanted to give a helping hand and give him hope. From that time, she started feeling the call to help a larger number of orphans.
She opened an office with a few friends and coordinated (协调）a program to help the orphans. All the registrations were done in the office and the program so far has 8000 children. Sister Wanjala said, “My dream is to help the orphan to live a holistic (完整)life and be a good Kenyan citizen to help this country. Many people think that the way to support orphans is to put them in an institution（孤儿院）. Others support them up to the age of eighteen, but here, we do it very differently.” For Sister Wanjala, putting a child in an institution is normally her last choice. She prefers the orphans to live in a foster(寄宿的) home.
She said, “I’m so encouraged and happy to see the orphans succeeding. When they come first or second in class, it shows how the program has helped them, and that’s encouraging to me as I continue to coordinate the program.”Through her charity work, more than 1000 orphans have been able to find a home. Sister Wanjala, as a mother, takes care of her own family.What inspired Sister Wanjala to start the orphan program?
| A．Her preference for kids. | B．Her own similar experience. |
| C． A sad story about an orphan. | D．Her successful charity work. |
Sister Wanjala opened an office mainly to ______.
A. set up as many institutions as possible for orphans
B start a program to offer orphans a foster family
C. provide school education for those orphans
D. raise more money for the homeless kidsWhat does the underlined sentence probably mean?
| A． She didn’t want orphans to live in an institution. |
| B． She preferred to put orphans into an institution. |
| C． She had no choice but to put orphans in institutions. |
| D． She sent orphans into an institution in the end. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A． Sister Wanjala finally adopted the little boy. |
| B． Sister Wanjala found foster homes for 8000 orphans. |
| C． Sister Wanjala was too busy to care for her own family. |
| D． Sister Wanjala was not alone in helping orphans. |
It was an autumn morning shortly after my husband and I moved into our first house. Our children were upstairs unpacking，and I was looking out of the window at my father moving around mysteriously on the front lawn. “What are you doing out there?” I called to him.
He looked up, smiling. “I’m making you a surprise.’’ I thought it could be just about anything. When we were kids, he always created something surprising for us. Today, however, Dad would say no more ，and caught up in the business of our new life ，I eventually forgot about his surprise.
Until one gloomy day the next March when I glanced out of the window，I saw a dot of blue across the yard. I headed outside for a closer look. They were crocuses (番红花）throughout the front lawn 一 blue, yellow and my favorite pink ，with little faces moving up and down in the cold wind. I remembered the things Dad secretly planted last autumn. He knew how the darkness and dullness of winter always got me down. What could have been more perfectly timely to my needs?
My father’s crocuses bloomed (开花）each spring for the next five seasons, always bringing the same assurance： Hard times are almost over. Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon.
Then a spring came with only half the usual blooms and the next spring there were none. I missed the crocuses ，so I would ask Dad to come over and plant new bulbs. But I never did. He died suddenly one October day. My family were in deep sorrow, leaning on our faith.
On a spring afternoon four years later, I was driving back when I felt depressed. It was Dad’s birthday, and I found myself thinking about him. This was not unusual — my family often talked about him, remembering how he lived up to his faith. Suddenly I slowed as I turned into our driveway. I stopped and stared at the lawn. There on the muddy grass with small piles of melting snow ，bravely waving in the wind, was one pink crocus.
How could a flower bloom from a bulb more than 18 years ago, one that hadn’t bloomed in over a decade? But there was the crocus. Tears filled my eyes as I realized its significance.
Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon. The pink crocus bloomed for only a day, but it built my faith for a lifetime.According to the first three paragraphs, we learn that ______.
| A． it kept bothering the author not knowing what the surprise was |
| B． the author was unpacking when her father was making the surprise |
| C． it was not the first time that the author’s father had made a surprise |
| D． the author knew what the surprise was because she knew her father |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A． The author usually felt depressed in the season of winter. |
| B． The author’s father planted the crocuses to lift her low spirits. |
| C． The author often thought about her father after he died. |
| D． The crocuses bloomed each spring before her father died. |
The author’s father should be best described as ______.
| A． a part-time worker who loved flowers |
| B． a kind-hearted man who lived with faith |
| C． a full-time gardener with skillful hands |
| D． an ordinary man with doubts in his life |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A． Crocuses — My Source of Faith | B．Crocuses— Father’s Surprise |
| C． A Pink Crocus — My Memory | D．Crocuses in Blossom — My Favorite |
It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.
Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that “To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.
Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena. “The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.
Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”. In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.The author mentions Dr. Johnson’s comment to show that______.
| A．most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson |
| B．Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation |
| C．the comment was accurate two hundred years ago |
| D．English conversations usually start with the weather |
What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?
| A．A social trend. |
| B．An emotional state. |
| C．A historical concept. |
| D．An unknown phenomenon. |
According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that______.
| A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather |
| B．there is nothing special about the English weather |
| C．the English weather attracts people to the British Isles |
| D．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty |
What is the author’s purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To explain what English weather-speak is about. |
| B．To analyse misconceptions about the English weather. |
| C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman. |
| D．To convince people that the English weather is changeable. |
Not all bodies of water are so evidently alive as the Atlantic Ocean, an S-shaped body of water covering 33 million square miles. The Atlantic has, in a sense, replaced the Mediterranean as the inland sea of Western civilization. Unlike real inland seas, which seem strangely still, the Atlantic is rich in oceanic liveliness. It is perhaps not surprising that its vitality has been much written about by ancient poets.
"Storm at Sea", a short poem written around 700, is generally regarded as one of mankind's earliest artistic representations of the Atlantic.
When the wind is from the west
All the waves that cannot rest
To the east must thunder on
Where the bright tree of the sun
Is rooted in the ocean's breast.
As the poem suggests, the Atlantic is never dead and dull. It is an ocean that moves, impressively and endlessly. It makes all kinds of noise-it is forever thundering, boiling, crashing, and whistling.
It is easy to imagine the Atlantic trying to draw breath-perhaps not so noticeably out in mid-ocean, but where it meets land, its waters bathing up and down a sandy beach. It mimics(模仿) nearly perfectly the steady breathing of a living creature. It is filled with symbiotic existences, too: unimaginable quantities of creatures, little and large alike, mix within its depths in a kind of oceanic harmony, giving to the waters a feeling of heartbeat, a kind of sub-ocean vitality. And it has a psychology. It has personalities: sometimes peaceful and pleasant, on rare occasions rough and wild; always it is strong and striking.
| 1． |
Unlike real inland seas, the Atlantic Ocean is.
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| 2． |
What is the purpose of using the poem "Storm at Sea" in the passage?
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| 3． |
What does the underlined word "symbiotic" mean?
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| 4． |
In the last paragraph, the Atlantic is compared to.
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Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5,500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5,100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn't become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren't going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modem road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road-a base layer (层) of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same lime, metal hubs (the central part of a wheel) came into being, followed by the pneumatic tyre(充气轮胎) in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads (柏油路). As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.
| 1． |
What might explain why transport wheels didn't become popular for some time?
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| 2． |
What do we know about road design from the passage?
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| 3． |
How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
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| 4． |
What is the passage mainly about?
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