One evening I went out and left my 17-year-old son in charge of his 8-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister．On this occasion, the work was made less troublesome by the presence of his girlfriend．I left with complete confidence that the older children would do a wonderful job of babysitting the younger children．Later, I discovered that complete confidence was the last thing I should have left home with．
I had decided to return home earlier than planned so that my son and his girlfriend could go out．I called home with this happy news．But instead of hearing his cheerful, grateful voice on the other end of the line, all I heard was the sound of a telephone ringing．
It was, I should point out, after 10 p．m．,when the two younger children should have been in bed, and when the two older children should have been answering the phone．“I’ll give him a lesson,” I said． I decided they must be outside．Why they might be outside at 10:30 on a winter night I had no idea, but it was the only explanation I could come up with．
Finally, in desperation, I called his girlfriend’s house． After what seemed like countless rings, his girlfriend answered．“Yes,” she said brightly, “He’s right here．”
He came on the phone．I was not my usual calm, rational（理智的）self． After all, one of the rules of survival for modern parents is that you can’t trust modern teenagers．“Where are the children?” I said．He said they were with him．They had done nothing wrong．My son had taken the younger children over to his girlfriend’s house just for ice cream and cake．This was too good to be believed． Well, it turns out that I shouldn’t have believed it．It was only part of the truth．
The following Saturday evening we were at my parents’ home, celebrating my birthday．My oldest son gave me the children’s gifts．Mounted and framed were a series of lovely color photographs of my children, dressed in their best clothes, and wearing their most wonderful expressions．They are pictures to treasure a lifetime, all taken by the father of my son’s girlfriend．The author went out and left her eldest son in charge of the younger children because ．
| A．she knew that her eldest son was a good baby-sitter |
| B．she thought it no hard work to take care of the younger ones |
| C．she believed he could do well with his girlfriend’s help |
| D．she could not find a baby-sitter on that winter night |
When the author called home that evening, she found that ．
| A．two younger children had already been in bed |
| B．the children were preparing a birthday gift for her |
| C．her son was quarrelling with his girlfriend |
| D．there was no one answering the telephone |
What might the children do that evening?
| A．They had a birthday party． | B．They framed some photographs． |
| C．They had their pictures taken． | D．They made some beautiful clothes． |
What does the author intend to tell us by the story?
| A．Modern teenagers are not worth trusting． |
| B．It is no easy job to look after young children． |
| C．It’s no good to have a girlfriend at an early age． |
| D．Her children have a caring and tender heart． |
It’s interesting that the arrival of snow has effect on people in different countries. For some countries it is an important happening to celebrate each year, while for others a catastrophe(灾害) or even a wonder.
But there are countries between these two kinds that normally expect snow some time over the winter months, but never receive snow regularly or in the same quantities every year. Britain is one of them, for which the arrival of snow quite simply causes problems. Within hours of the first snowfalls, however light, roads are blocked, trains and buses have to stop in the middle of the way. Normal communication is affected as well: telephone calls become difficult and the post immediately takes more time than usual. And almost within hours, there are also certain shortages----bread, vegetables and other things-----not because all these things can no longer be produced or sent to shops, but mainly because people are frightened and go out and store up with food and so on…just for fear that something bad should happen.
But why does snow have this effect? After all, the Swiss, the Austrians and the Canadians don‘t have such problems. It is simple because there is not enough planning and preparation. We need money to buy equipment to deal with snow and ice. To keep the roads clear, for example, requires snow-ploughs(扫雪机) and machines to spread salt. The reason why a country like Britain does not buy snow-ploughs is that they are used for a few days in any one year, and the money could be more useful in other things such as hospital, education, helping the old and so on..
According to the writer, Britain is a country ________.
| A．which has regular snow | B．which is not well prepared for snow |
| C．for which snow is a catastrophe | D．for which snow is a wonder |
After a few hours’ snowing there are often some shortages of food because ______.
A. shops have closed down B. people buy as much as they can
B. farmers cannot produce any more D. people eat more vegetables in winter
The words "two kinds" in the passage mean the countries ______.
| A．which have weather as yearly happening to celebrate or as rare(少见) weather |
| B．which either have heavy snow or light snow |
| C．to which snow either causes problems or no problems |
| D．which either have snow-ploughs or no snow-ploughs |
The greatest recent social changes have been in the lives of women. During the twentieth century there has been a remarkable shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the nineteenth century would probably have been in her middle twenties, and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old. By the time the youngest was fifteen, the mother would have been in her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years, during which health made it unusual for her to get paid work. Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman‘s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty-five and can be expected to live another thirty-five years and is likely to take paid work until retirement(退休) at sixty. Even while she has the care of children, her work is lightened by modern living conditions.
This important change in women’s life-pattern has only recently begun to have its full effect on women‘s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left schools at the first chance, and most of them took a full-time job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is sixteen, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women usually marry younger, more married women stay at least until shortly before their first child is born. Very many more afterwards return to full or part-time work. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfactions of family life, and with the both husband and wife sharing more equally in providing the money, and running the home, according to the abilities and interests of each of them.
According to the passage, around the year 1900 most women married ________.
A. at about twenty-five B. in their early fifties
C as soon as possible after they were fifteen
D. at any age from fifteen to forty-five
We are told that in a common family about 1900 _________.
| A．many children died before they were five |
| B．seven or eight children lived to be more than five |
| C．the youngest child would be fifteen |
| D．four or five children died when they were five |
When she was over fifty, the late nineteenth-century mother _________.
| A．would be healthy enough to take up paid jobs |
| B．was usually expected to die fairly soon |
| C．would expect to work until she died |
| D．was unlikely to find a job even if she wanted one |
According to the passage, the women of today usually _________.
| A．marry instead of getting paid work | B．marry before they are twenty-five |
| C．have more children under fifteen | D．have too few children |
Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they often see what they really value in life.
He says our relation with others often becomes clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn’t. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.
Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?
Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don‘t Know much. All I am is rich.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.According to the first paragraph, people have not realized ________.
| A．how important money is in their day-to-day life |
| B．how one spends money shows what is important to him |
| C．that money is more important than their philosophy of life |
| D．that their understanding of life is more important than money |
The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ________.
| A．is a good way to test your friendship |
| B．will do harm to your friendship |
| C．will strengthen your friendship |
| D．is a good way to break off your friendship |
What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?
| A．He does not feel that he is well educated. |
| B．He does not think that he is a very important person. |
| C．He does not think that being rich deserves so much attention. |
| D．He does not consider himself to be very successful. |
What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?
| A．Money is an end. | B．Money is a means. |
| C．Money is everything. | D．Money is unimportant. |
Lillian Hanson, a college student, expects to graduate in about two years. What makes Mrs Hanson different from her classmates is her age-----73 years. She has been studying at college, a few courses at a time, for 27 years.
When Lillian Hanson graduated from high school, she went to the bank to borrow money for further education. The banker gave her no encouragement. He didn‘t think that a country girl should borrow money to go to college. He thought she should be at home doing work in the house or around the farm. So Lillian Hanson went home and raised a family of nine children instead of going to college. Mrs Hanson never forgot her dream of getting a higher education. When her children were grown, she tried again.
She finds that it is the hardest part of going back to school at her age to sit in class for long periods of time. Because she is not as quick as she used to be, Mrs Hanson often gets up and walks around classes to keep from getting stiff(不灵活). At the beginning of a course in using the computer, the other students all stood up to give her a warm welcome when she introduced herself and explained why she was there and what her aims were. Mrs Hanson couldn’t go to college immediately after she graduated from high school because _____.
| A．she hadn‘t got enough money | B．she was a country girl |
| C．the banker ordered her not to borrow any money | |
| D．the banker thought she should raise a family of nine children |
The computer students welcomed Mrs Hanson warmly because ______.
| A．she had got an excellent result in the exam |
| B．she was good at telling funny stories |
| C．they wanted to get her help in their studies |
| D．they were deeply moved by her spirit |
Mrs Hanson is the sort of person who ________.
| A．cares for study very much | B．likes to borrow money from the bank |
| C．never misses a chance to talk | D．tries to save any money for her family |
In which order did Mrs Hanson do the following things?
a. she began her studies at college.
b. She finished high school.
c. She got married and gave birth of nine children.
d. She had her 73 rd birthday.
e. She went to the bank to borrow money.
| A．a c b e d | B．b e c a d | C．b c e d a | D．e d a c b |
PALO ALTO, California------"Switching off the television may help prevent children from getting fatter------ even if they do not change their diet or increase the amount they exercise," US researchers said last week.
A study of 192 third and fourth graders, generally aged eight and nine, found that children who cut the number of hours spent watching television gained nearly two pounds(0.9kg) less over a one-year period than those who did not change their television diet.
"The findings are important because they show that weight loss can only be the result of a reduction in television viewing and not any other activity," said Thomas Robinson, a pediatrician(儿科专家) at Stanford University.
"American children spend an average of more than four hours per day watching television and videos or playing video games, and rates of childhood being very fat have doubled over the past 20 years," Robinson said.
In the study, presented this week to the Pediatric Academic Societies‘ annual meeting in San Francisco, the researchers persuaded about 100 of the students to reduce their television viewing by one-quarter to one-third.
Children watching fewer hours of television showed a significantly smaller increase in waist size and had less body fat than other students who continued their normal television viewing, even though neither group ate a special diet or took part in any extra exercise.
"One explanation for the weight loss could be the children unstuck to the television may simply have been moving around more and burning off calories," Robinson said.
"Another reason might be due to eating fewer meals in front of the television. Some studies have suggested that eating in front of the TV encourages people to eat more," Robinson said.The author tries to tell us in the first two paragraphs that ________.
| A．children will get fatter if they eat too much |
| B．children will get thinner if they eat less |
| C．children will get fatter if they spend less time watching TV |
| D．children will get fatter if they spend more time watching TV |
According to the passage, the time American children usually spend on watching TV_____.
| A．is more than four hours a day | B．is less than four hours a day |
| C．doubled in the last twenty years | D．is more than on any other activities |
The time children spend on TV viewing every day is suggested to be about ________.
| A．six hours | B．eight hours | C．three hours | D．one hour |
Which one of the following is right?
| A．Children usually eat fewer while watching TV. |
| B．Children usually eat more while watching TV. |
| C．Children eat the same amount of meals while watching TV. |
| D．Children usually eat nothing while watching TV. |
Why can watching TV increase kids’ weight according to the passage?
A. They usually eat more while watching TV.
B. They burn off fewer calories.
C. They change their diet while watching TV.
D. Both A and B.