When Ben Franklin was very only a boy, he always wanted to know about things. He was always asking his father and brothers “What?” and “How?” and “Why?”
They couldn’t always tell him what he wanted to know.
When they couldn’t tell him, Ben tried to find out for himself.
Many times Ben did find out things that no one knew before. The other boys would say, “That’s Ben Franklin! He’s always finding out something new! ”
Ben lived close to the water. He liked to go there to see the boats. He saw how the wind blew them across the water.
One day Ben said to himself, “Why can’t the wind help me float across the water? And I’m going to try.” Ben got his big kite. He took hold of the kite string and ran with it. The wind took the kite up into the air. Then Ben jumped into the water.
The wind blew the kite high into the air. Ben began to float across the water. Soon he was on the other side, and he had not worked at all.
One boy shouted, “Look at Ben floating across the water! His kite takes him to the other side without any work!”
“Yes”, said another. “He’s always finding new ways to do things.”When he was only a child, Ben _____.
| A．liked to fly a kite by himself |
| B．always asked easy questions |
| C．always liked to play with water |
| D．always liked to find out how things worked |
His father and brothers _____.
| A．couldn’t answer all his questions |
| B．could answer all his questions |
| C．tried hard to find out something new for him |
| D．were too busy to answer his questions |
How did Ben Franklin float across the water?
| A．The other boy took him across it. |
| B．The water carried him across it. |
| C．The flying kite took him across it. |
| D．A boat took him across it. |
He found out many things that ____.
| A．children didn’t know |
| B．his father and brothers knew |
| C．people didn’t know |
| D．most people knew |
According to some researchers, you should not praise children for everything that they do. It does not help them build self-confidence.
Most parents and teachers agree that praise can help increase children’s self-confidence —the more, the better. However, according to some researchers, only proper praise is good for children. If adults praise everything children do, it makes children look for praise all the time, not trying to do their best. "Teachers should not say things like ’good job’ or ’nice work’ whenever a child does anything. They should encourage them to continue to improve," some researchers advise.
Another idea is that children with high self-confidence are happier, and do better at school. About this, Marshall Duke, a researcher in children, says, "High self-confidence brought in by too much praise does not make children happier, get more, or become able to do more. Finding a child’s advantages (强项) and developing them can help build confidence more than too much praise can." Praise also loses its effect (影响) if it is given equally to all students.
"It’s important to tell children the truth about what they’ve done. Honest feedback (反馈) is far better than empty praise," Duke adds. "People have got into the habit of not telling children when they’re wrong. That makes it hard for them to deal with difficulties when they grow up. That’s just how the world is."According to some researchers, if parents praise their children too much, their children will ______.
| A．always look for praise |
| B．increase self-confidence |
| C．become strong |
| D．do better in their studies |
In order to help children build self-confidence, some researchers advise parents to ______.
| A．make them live more happily |
| B．let them do more difficult work |
| C．help them do better in school |
| D．encourage them to improve |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?
| A．Praise makes children become successful. |
| B．Children don’t know what they’re really good at. |
| C．The same praise for all children has no meaning. |
| D．Duke thinks praise is more important than finding children’s strengths. |
What is the last paragraph about?
| A．It’s important to have the habit of praising children. |
| B．Children should know their mistakes as soon as possible. |
| C．We should praise children honestly and tell them their mistakes. |
| D．What children with high self-confidence are like. |
I have been a student at Bentley College in Waltham for some time now, so I have a lot of experience and know how things work at Bentley. As a freshman(新生)at Bentley College you will be living in the Tree Dorms, Slade Hall or Miller Hall. I would highly suggest that you choose to live in the Tree Dorms because this is where most fresh-men are going to be living. There will be a lot of activities going on in the building and you will meet lots of people. Slade Hall is next to the parking lot(停车场)and not far from the Tree Dorms, so that would be your second choice. As Miller Hall is small and far away, it would be my last choice for freshmen housing. If Bentley offers you the chance to live with second or third year students you’d better refuse their offer and live with freshmen. Living with your classmates will make the transition (过渡) into college life a lot easier.
As a freshman your classes should be easy. After freshman year your classes will become a lot more difficult, so I advise that you get down to business early in the first year. There are two very easy things you can do to increase your knowledge as a freshman. The first is to just go to class and the second is to always do your homework. I also highly advise that you do it on your own and try to stay disciplined(遵守纪律的). It is too easy to put your homework away and then get really behind and not be able to learn everything before a mid-term or final exam. The author advises freshmen to live in the Tree Dorms because ___________.
| A．it is across the parking lot from Slade Hall |
| B．it is small and quite far away from the playground |
| C．there are many second and third year students there |
| D．there are many freshmen and more activities |
Where is Slade Hall?
| A．Near Miller Hall. |
| B．Far from Tree Dorms. |
| C．Beside the car park. |
| D．Near the classrooms. |
According to the author, how can freshmen improve knowledge?
| A．Remember to do homework by discussing it with others. |
| B．Finish homework and go to class every day. |
| C．Try to spend more time in the library. |
| D．Be able to learn something before a mid-term or final exam. |
The author writes the passage to ___________.
| A．tell new students how to get used to college life |
| B．tell new students about their teachers and dormitory |
| C．show the differences between college and high school |
| D．tell readers about some funny things at Bentley College |
One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.
The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”
“Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.
The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”
The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”
The young man felt ashamed and left silently.How did the young man find the precious stone?
| A．He found it in his food. | B．He dug it out in a valley. |
| C．He saw it in the woman’s bag. | D．He noticed it shining in the stream. |
What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Money. | B．Worry. | C．Health. | D．Trouble. |
The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.
| A．he found the stone was not precious |
| B．he understood the real meaning of joy |
| C．he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone |
| D．he wanted to get something even more precious |
Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．A special stone | B．The joy of giving |
| C．A woman and a young man | D．An experience in the mountains |
Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．The underlined word “nerds” can probably be．
| A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills |
| B．successful top students popular with their peers |
| C．students with certain learning difficulties |
| D．born leaders crazy about social activities |
What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students． |
| B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students． |
| C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films． |
| D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society． |
What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
| A．The interviews with more students． |
| B．The role IQ plays in learning well． |
| C．The techniques to be better learners． |
| D．The achievements top students make． |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study． |
| B．The brightest students can never get low grades． |
| C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments． |
| D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers |
When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, they usually talk simultaneously（同时的）about a variety of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’ s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen -- they can’ t do both -- and they don’ t understand that women can. Besides, women consider that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships -- not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the subtle body language signals that reveal how the characters are feeling emotionally. Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully in order to maintain relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to relate the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a means of bonding. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr Michael Lewis, author Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at, baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents respond the brain bias of their children. Since a girl’ s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we therefore talk to them more. Consequently, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short grunts in reply.While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they
| A．are afraid of awkward silence with their families and friends |
| B．can both talk and watch the screen at the same time |
| C．think they can have a good time and develop relationships |
| D．have to explain the plot and body language to their husbands |
After a vacation with her girlfriend, a woman would talk to her again on the phone for hours in order to .
| A．experience the happy time again | B．keep a close tie with her |
| C．recommend her a new scenic spot | D．remind her of something forgotten |
What does the author want to tell us most?
| A．Women’ s brains are better organized for language and communication |
| B．Women love to talk because they are more sociable than men. |
| C．Men do not like talking because they rely more on facts. |
| D．Social conditioning is not the reason why women love talking. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Women Are Socially Trained to Talk |
| B．Talking Maintains Relationships |
| C．Women Love to Talk |
| D．Men Talk Differently from Women. |