Parents are a child’s first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, a nonprofit agency called Covenant House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.
The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me. Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby depending on the season.
She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy and overly demanding. Delores Clemens says, “That’s not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he’s going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Cuddle your baby. Hug him! And she started to do that. They just want a little cuddling and a little love. And it works!”
Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered. Around three hundred fifty teenage mothers graduate from Covenant House's Mommy and Me class every year.
In class, with her baby son is Natasha.She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in seeking a more secure life.
The World Health Organization says the United States has forty-one births for every one thousand girls age fifteen to nineteen. That is higher than other developed countries, as well as some developing ones. By comparison, northern neighbor Canada has fourteen births and southern neighbor Mexico has eighty-two.What is the text mainly about?
A.Parents who are a child’s first teachers. |
B.A nonprofit agency that offers a more secure(安全的)life. |
C.A class where teens learn mothering and are mothered. |
D.A kind teacher who helps homeless young mothers. |
Covenant Houses’ Mommy and Me class is intended to _____.
A.provide homeless young mothers with a warm shelter |
B.help homeless young mothers become good parents |
C.help mothers in New York be good parents |
D.teach some parents how to love their children |
What can we know about Delores Clemens from the text?
A.She thinks a crying baby should be picked up and hugged. |
B.She has a mother of five and a grandmother. |
C.She teaches advanced skills on how to be good mothers. |
D.She is very glad for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. |
According to the World Health Organization, which country has the highest births for girls age fifteen to nineteen?
A.Canada |
B.The United States of America |
C.Britain |
D.Mexico |
(B)
WHEN an NBA player is young he thinks he can win the championship by himself. It is only later when he has aged and been through many battles that he learns an important lesson: there is no "I" in "team".
There is no better example of the value of teamwork than the Boston Celtics. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett were all superstars on three different teams. Yet, none of them had any titles to show for it. Then, last season, they decided to sacrifice money and individual statistics to play together. Garnett and Allen joined Pierce on the Celtics and changed the NBA in the process.
It started in simple ways. Garnett and Allen are two of the most intense athletes in the world. They treat every second of every practice like it is the NBA championship. If you want to play alongside them then you will have to do the same. So, the young guys on the Celtics started giving their full effort too.
Pierce had been the star of the Celtics for many years. He used to shoot the ball many times a game. But with the addition of Allen and Garnett he shot less and focused on defense. His selflessness showed the young players that doing what made the team better was the only thing that mattered.
When the Celtics were winning and the game was almost over, Garnett, Pierce and Allen would come out of the game. But they wouldn’t just sit on the bench. Instead, they stood and cheered and screamed for their teammates. They wanted to support their friends and teammates.
Now, the guys who don't play know they can still affect the game by cheering so they scream and cheer when Garnett, Allen and Pierce are playing. The Celtics have developed a strong relationship. They are more than just teammates. They are brothers.
The result: the Boston Celtics won the 2008 NBA championship and are considered the favorites to win the Eastern Conference championship again this year.
There is a saying that goes, “A successful team beats with one heart.” If that is the case, the Celtics may have the biggest heart in the NBA.
66. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. The stories of three famous basketball superstars.
B. The importance of teamwork among teammates.
C. A famous basketball team named the Boston Celtics.
D. Matches between the Boston Celtics and other teams.
67. From the passage, we can see that _______.
A. most mature NBA players believe they can win the championship by themselves
B. Pierce, Garnett and Allen had to give up personal glory for team success
C. Allen, Pierce, together with Garnett had been the stars of the Celtics for many years
D. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett had won NBA championships before they joined hands.
68. What does this sentence “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’.” mean in Paragraph 1?
A. “I” will be missing once "I" am on the court.
B. “I” work so hard in a team that “I” will forget who “I” am.
C. The members of the team are more important than the individual.
D. Surrounded by other players, “I” don’t seem to exist.
69. Which of the following is NOT true about Pierce’s recent performance?
A. He became an even better shooter with others’ help.
B. He focused much more attention on defence.
C. He created more chances for teammates.
D. He stood and cheered for his teammates.
70. Which of the following didn’t contribute to the success of the Boston Celtics?
A. The whole team has become devoted to each and every stage of the game.
B. The cooperation and teamwork among the teammates in the match.
C. The influence of Garnett, Allen, Pierce and other teammates’ cheering.
D. The increasing frequency of team players on the bench.
第三部分阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
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,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
(A)
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 percent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote (推销) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius to sell it.”
61. Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
A. The cost of its package. B. The price of the product.
C. The colour of its package. D. The brand name of the product.
62. The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off” (in Para.3) means that the colours _________.
A. attracted the customers stronglyB. caused the customers to lose interest
C. tricked the customers into shoppingD. had weak effects on the customers
63. Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
A. The way to promote goods. B. The discovery of a genius.
C. The team to produce a good product.D. The brand name used by successful producers.
64. According to the passage, which of the following statement is true?
A. Making soap is so easy that any fool in the world can make it.
B. Greens, yellows or silver are considered to be healthy colours.
C. 25 years ago, the founder of Pears soap was a pretty girl herself.
D. The size of a product can have an effect on the shoppers.
65. Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
A. Choice of Good Products B. Disadvantages of Products
C. Effect of Packaging on Shopping D. Brand Names and Shopping Tricks
Passage Twenty (The Law to Keep the Oil Industry under Control)
The Norwegian Government is doing its best to keep the oil industry under control. A new law limits exploration to an area south of the southern end of the long coastline; production limits have been laid down (though these have already been raised); and oil companies have not been allowed to employ more than a limited number of foreign workers. But the oil industry has a way of getting over such problems, and few people believe that the Government will be able to hold things back for long. As on Norwegian politician said last week: “We will soon be changed beyond all recognition.”
Ever since the war, the Government has been carrying out a programme of development in the area north of the Arctic Circle. During the past few years this programme has had a great deal of success: Tromso has been built up into a local capital with a university, a large hospital and a healthy industry. But the oil industry has already started to draw people south, and within a few years the whole northern policy could be in ruins.
The effects of the oil industry would not be limited to the north, however. With nearly 100 percent employment, everyone can see a situation developing in which the service industries and the tourist industry will lose more of their workers to the oil industry. Some smaller industries might even disappear altogether when it becomes cheaper to buy goods from abroad.
The real argument over oil is its threat to the Norwegian way of life. Farmers and fishermen do not make up most of the population, but they are an important part of it, because Norwegians see in them many of the qualities that they regard with pride as essentially Norwegian. And it is the farmers and the fishermen who are most critical of the oil industry because of the damage that it might cause to the countryside and to the sea.
1.The Norwegian Government would prefer the oil industry to
A.provide more jobs for foreign workers.
B.slow down the rate of its development.
C.sell the oil it is producing abroad.
D.develop more quickly than at present.
2.The Norwegian Government has tried to
A.encourage the oil companies to discover new oil sources.
B.prevent oil companies employing people from northern Norway.
C.help the oil companies solve many of their problems.
D.keep the oil industry to something near its present size.
3.According to the passage, the oil industry might lead northern Norway to
A.the development of industry.
B.a growth in population.
C.the failure of the development programme.
D.the development of new towns.
4.In the south, one effect to the development of the oil industry might be
A.a large reduction on unemployment.
B.a growth in the tourist industry.
C.a reduction in the number of existing industries.
D.the development of a number of service industries.
5.Norwegian farmers and fishermen have an important influence because
A.they form such a large part of Norwegian ideal.
B.their lives and values represent the Norwegian ideal.
C.their work is so useful to the rest of Norwegian society.
D.they regard oil as a threat to the Norwegian way of life.
Passage Nineteen (TV’s Harmfulness)
Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television? How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn’t been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it. Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes, we never fond it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events. We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the goggle box. We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do – anything, providing it doesn’t interfere with the programme. The monster demands and obtains absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced.
Whole generations are growing up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost. The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living-room and turning on the set. It doesn’t matter that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or spectacles of sadism and violence – so long as they are quiet.
There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world. Every day, television consumes vast quantities of creative work. That is why most of the programmes are so bad: it is impossible to keep pace with the demand and maintain high standards as well. When millions watch the same programmes, the whole world becomes a village, and society is reduced to the conditions which obtain in preliterate communities. We become utterly dependent on the two most primitive media of communication: pictures and the spoken word.
Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchairs watching others working. Little by little, television cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself. Television may be s splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization. In quiet, natural surroundings, we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic tyranny of King Telly.
1.What is the biggest harm of TV?
A.It deprives people of communication with the real world.
B.People become lazy.
C.People become dependent on second-hand experience.
D.TV consumes a large part of one’s life.
2.In what way can people forget TV?
A.Far away from civilization.
B.To a mountain.
C.By the sea.
D.In quiet natural surroundings.
3.What does a mother usually do to keep her children quiet?
A.Let them watch the set.
B.Put them in the living room.
C.Let them watch the rubbish.
D.Let them alone.
4.What does the first sentence in the first paragraph mean?
A.We found it difficult to occupy our spare time.
B.We become addicted to TV.
C.What we used to do is different from now.
D.We used to enjoy civilized pleasures.
Passage Eighteen (Strictly Ban smoking)
If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite link between smoking and bronchial troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly deceiving yourself. No one will accuse you of hypocrisy. Let us just say that you are suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking. This needn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company. Whenever the subject of smoking and health is raised, the governments of most countries hear no evil, see no evil and smell no evil. Admittedly, a few governments have taken timid measures. In Britain for instance, cigarette advertising has been banned on television. The conscience of the nation is appeased, while the population continues to puff its way to smoky, cancerous death.
You don’t have to look very far to find out why the official reactions to medical findings have been so lukewarm. The answer is simply money. Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax. It’s almost like a tax on our daily bread. In tax revenue alone, the government of Britain collects enough from smokers to pay for its entire educational facilities. So while the authorities point out ever so discreetly that smoking may, conceivable, be harmful, it doesn’t do to shout too loudly about it.
This is surely the most short-sighted policy you could imagine. While money is eagerly collected in vast sums with one hand, it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with the other. Enormous amounts are spent on cancer research and on efforts to cure people suffering from the disease. Countless valuable lives are lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that everybody would be much better-off if smoking were banned altogether.
Of course, we are not ready for such a drastic action. But if the governments of the world were honestly concerned about the welfare of their peoples, you’d think they’d conduct aggressive anti-smoking campaigns. Far from it! The tobacco industry is allowed to spend staggering sums on advertising. Its advertising is as insidious as it is dishonest. We are never shown pictures of real smokers coughing up their lungs early in the morning. That would never do. The advertisement always depict virile, clean-shaven young men. They suggest it is manly to smoke, even positively healthy! Smoking is associated with the great open-air life, with beautiful girls, true love and togetherness. What utter nonsense!
For a start, governments could begin by banning all cigarette and tobacco advertising and should then conduct anti-smoking advertising campaigns of their own. Smoking should be banned in all public places like theatres, cinemas and restaurants. Great efforts should be made to inform young people especially of the dire consequences of taking up the habit. A horrific warning – say, a picture of a death’s head – should be included in every packet of cigarettes that is sold. As individuals, we are certainly weak, but if governments acted honestly and courageously, they could protect us from ourselves.
1.Why do a few governments take timid measures toward smoking?
A.because they are afraid of people.
B.Because diseases cost a lot.
C.Because they are afraid of the cutting down of their revenue.
D.Because they are afraid of manufacturers.
2.The tone of this passage is
A.critical.
B.ironical.
C.distaste.
D.amusing.
3.What does the sentence “because you are in good company” mean?
A.you are backed by the government.
B.You are not alone.
C.You have good colleagues.
D.Governments are blind to evils of smoking too.
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A.World Governments should conduct serious campaigns against smoking.
B.World governments take timid measures against smoking.
C.smoking is the most important source of income to many countries.
D.tobacco industry spends a large sum of money on medical research.