When it comes to President Obama, most of his personal business is already known by the public. Personal information about his children, Malia and Sasha, however, has been kept a little more under wraps.
The New York Times recently released a list of rules that Michelle Obama has mentioned over the years that Malia and Sasha must follow during their time in the White House, as well as in general. See how the first family educates their children:
The girls must write reports about what they’ve seen on their trips, even if it’s not required by their school.
Malia may use her cell phone only on the weekends, and she and her sister cannot watch television or use a computer for anything but homework during the week.
Malia and Sasha have to play two sports: one they choose and one selected by their mother.
Malia must learn to do laundry(洗衣服) before she leaves for college.
The girls have to eat their vegetables, and if they say they are not hungry, they cannot ask for cookies or chips later.
While these might be shocking to some, Michelle said, “They’re not little princess. It’s just basic rules, boundaries, and expectations that we would have normally.”
Michelle also mentions another set of rules:
The girls must do their chores(家务), though the White House has a large staff. Malia and Sasha have chores of their own.
They must play a team sport, because it’s about learning how to play on a team, how to lose and how to win gracefully.
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It sounds like Michelle and Barack want the best for their kids and to make them as well-rounded as possible. What are your thoughts on the Obama family rules? What’s the passage mainly about?
| A．The first family daily life. | B．The first family rules. |
| C．How to be good parents. | D．How to be good students. |
What do the underlined words “under wraps” probably mean?
| A．Attractive. | B．Calm. | C．Secret. | D．Public |
What has to be followed after the girls’ every trip?
| A．Emails. | B．Photos. | C．Homework. | D．Reports. |
Which of the following is the exception for the girls?
| A．To use cell phone freely. | B．To play two sports. |
| C．To learn to do laundry. | D．To eat their vegetables. |
Which of the following is NOT True according to the passage?
| A．The girls have to obey the rules only when they live in the White House. |
| B．The girls must do their chores though there might be lots of help around. |
| C．The girls must play a team sport to gain team spirit by working together. |
| D．The parents want to make the girls grow healthily as common children. |
Money Matters for Students
GETTING A GRANT（补助）
Who pays?
The Local Education Authority (LEA) for the area in which the student is living.
Who can get this money?
Anyone who gets a place on a first degree course, although a student who has already attended a course of advanced further education may not. Students must also have been resident in the UK for at least three years, which can exclude (排除) some students from overseas.
SPECIAL CASES
If a student has worked before going to college:
A student who is 26 or more before the course starts and who has worked for at least three of the previous six years will get extra money--￡155 a year if 26, increasing to a maximum of ￡615 at 29 or more.
If a student is handicapped (残疾的):
LEAs will give up to ￡500 to help meet extra expenses—such as buying a tape recorder for a blind student, extra heating or special food.
Banking:
Most of the big banks offer special services to students who open accounts (in the hope that they will stay with the bank when they become rich officials). A student won’t usually have to pay bank charges as long as the account stays in credit. Some banks allow students to overdraw by ￡100 or so, and still don’t make charges (though they do charge interest).A student from Japan who has been staying in England for a year and intends to go to college in a few months will _________.
| A．get money if he is taking a first degree course |
| B．be unable to get money from any LEA |
| C．get money from any LEA when he has finished his course |
| D．have to open a bank account before he gets any money |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．A student already attending a course of advanced education is sure to get a grant. |
| B．A student aged 30 can get extra money—￡615 a year. |
| C．A student usually must pay back charges when the account is in credit. |
| D．Students are allowed to overdraw by ￡100 or so in any bank. |
Why is it likely that a bank will welcome new students as their customers?
| A．They know students receive money regularly. |
| B．They charge students extra. |
| C．They hope students will be rich in the future. |
| D．They need student accounts in term-time. |
Where can you probably read this passage?
| A．A notice-board in a college. | B．A dictionary. |
| C．A newspaper. | D．A banking office. |
There is a wonderful story about a young girl who had no family and no one to love her.
One day, feeling very sad and lonely, she was walking through a grassland when she noticed a small butterfly caught in a thorn (荆棘) bush. The young girl carefully released the butterfly. Instead of flying away, the little butterfly changed into a beautiful fairy. The young girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“For your wonderful kindness,” the good fairy said to the girl, “I will give you any wish you would like.” The little girl thought for a moment and then replied, “I want to be happy.” The fairy leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. Then the fairy disappeared.
As the little girl grew up, there was no one in the land as happy as she. Everyone asked her the secret of happiness. She would only smile and answer, “The secret of my happiness is that I listened to a good fairy when I was a little girl.”
When she was very old and on her deathbed, the neighbors all gathered around her, believing that her unbelievable secret of happiness would die with her. “Tell us, please,” they begged, “Tell us what the good fairy said.” The lovely old woman simply smiled and said, “She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, no matter how old or young, how rich or poor, had need of me.”Noticing the butterfly was caught by the thorn, the orphan girl _______.
| A．helped the butterfly escape from the thorn |
| B．felt sad, but she didn′t go up to help it |
| C．fell down on it too[ |
| D．failed to help it release from the thorn |
The butterfly _________ after it was saved by the little girl.
| A．flew away | B．still died |
| C．changed into a fairy | D．was more beautiful than before |
The only thing that the little girl wanted was_________.
| A．to be rich | B．to have her own parents |
| C．to have a lot of friends | D．to be happy |
The neighbors all gathered around the old happy woman when she was dying, because ______.
| A．they loved this woman deeply and they didn′t want her to die |
| B．the woman had lots of money to be shared after she died |
| C．they wanted to know the secret of her lifetime happiness |
| D．they wanted to pray for her after her death |
Who give us life, raise us and are our constant support and wellwishers？Our mothers. That’s why millions of people across the world take Mother’s Day as an opportunity to express thanks and send best wishes to their moms.
However, the celebration of Mother’s Day is not the recent thing that many believe it to be. It was the ancient Greeks who started the tradition by celebrating their annual spring festival in honor of Rhea, the mother of many gods and goddesses.
Later, in the 1600s, Mothering Sunday came to be celebrated in England. On the fourth Sunday of Lent (大斋期), children brought flowers and special fruitcakes to show their respect for their mothers. It may be the root of the modern Mother’s Day.
Thanks to the great efforts of Julia Ward Howe and Anna Jarvis, Mother’s Day became an official festival in the US. It is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Later, many countries began to celebrate this day as Mother’s Day.
Today, Mother’s Day is an international festival honoring mothers. It is celebrated all over the world in different ways. In Western countries，the most common way is to treat mothers with breakfast in bed .Kids often allow their mothers to sleep till late in the morning while they prepare her favorite breakfast with their fathers. Some also make handmade gifts or buy beautiful carnations (康乃馨). It is the day when you acknowledge your mothers contribution in your life and pay a tribute (礼品) to her, often with flowers and gifts. It complements Father’s Day, the celebration honoring fathers.
Today, Mother’s Day is a day celebrated on various days in many places around the world.Why do people across the world celebrate Mother’s Day?
| A．Because they want to express thanks and send best wishes to their mothers. |
| B．Because they want to express thanks and send best wishes to Rhea. |
| C．Because Mother’s Day is an official festival in the US. |
| D．Because Mother’s Day is an international festival. |
The modern Mother’s Day came from________.
| A．Greece | B．China | C．America | D．England |
From the passage we can learn that________.
| A．Rhea is the mother of many gods and goddesses of England |
| B．many people wrongly believe Mother’s Day has a short history |
| C．in America Mother’s day is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent |
| D．on Mother’s day fathers have to get up early to prepare breakfast |
The passage mainly wants to tell us________.
| A．how to celebrate Mother’s day |
| B．what to do on Mother’s day |
| C．the historical change of Mother’s day |
| D．the meaning of Mother’s day |
Down-to-earth means being honest, open, and easy to deal with. It is a pleasure to find someone who is down-to-earth. A person who is down-to-earth is easy to talk to. He or she accepts others as equals. A down-to-earth person may be an important member of society, of course, but they do not let their importance go to their heads, and they do not consider themselves to be better than others who are less important. Someone who is filled with self-importance and pride, often without cause, is said to have his nose in the air. There is no way a person with his nose in the air can be down-to-earth.
Americans use another expression that is similar in some way to down-to-earth. The expression is both feet on the ground. Someone with both feet on the ground is a person with a good understanding of reality. He has what is called common sense. He may have dreams but he does not allow them to block his knowledge of what is real. The opposite kind of person is one who has his head in the clouds. A man with his head in the clouds is a dreamer whose mind is not in the world. Sometimes such a dreamer can be brought back to reality; and sharp words from the teacher, for example, can usually get a daydreaming student to put both feet back on the ground.
The person who is down-to-earth usually has both feet on the ground. But the opposite is not always true. Someone with both feet on the ground may not be as open and easy to deal with as someone who is down-to-earth. When we have both our feet firmly on the ground, we are realistic and we act honestly and openly toward others, and our lives are like the ground below us, solid and strong.If a person has his nose in the air, he _______.
| A．is confident |
| B．is easy to deal with |
| C．is down to the earth |
| D．is always self-important and pride. |
What can a daydreamer probably be like?
| A．A person full of dreams in life. |
| B．A person with his head in the clouds. |
| C．A person with both his feet on the ground |
| D．A person with a good understanding of reality. |
The underlined sentence “But the opposite is not always true.” most probably means that ______.
| A．the opposite direction is always wrong |
| B．the person who has his nose in the air is not true |
| C．a man with his head in the clouds is often not intelligent |
| D．a person who has both feet on the ground may not be down-to-earth |
From the passage, we can infer the person who is _____ is the most popular kind of person.
| A．down-to-earth | B．standing on the ground |
| C．with his nose in the air | D．with his head in the clouds |
Grand Opening
Bentwood Truck Museum
Saturday, November 8, at 10:00 A. M.
After eighteen months of hard work by more than 100 volunteers, the Bentwood Truck Museum is ready to open. The old factory had been scheduled to be destroyed. When Roger Haygood heard about the plan to tear down the building, he bought it so that he could store his collection of old trucks there. Then he had the idea of turning the building into a truck museum.
During the past year and a half, the old building has been transformed into a treasure chest of memories. Instead of a dark and dull house, the building has become a cheery, bright home for all kinds of trucks from the past. The museum now houses 68 trucks, and we hope to have even more soon. There is a 1959 school bus, a 1942 bakery truck, and a 1937 fire engine. Our oldest vehicle is a 1919 milk truck. Our newest vehicle is a 1966 tow truck.
You can take a ride on a fire truck, a mail truck, or an ice-cream truck. Rides are $ 2.00, but you can get a ticket for a free ride at any grocery store in Bentwood.
Help us celebrate our grand opening by bringing your family and friends! There is something to interest everyone who attends. The Bentwood Truck Museum is a special piece of our history.
To get to Bentwood Truck Museum, take Route 29 (Kingston Highway) to Palmer Street. Go south on Palmer Street for one block and take a left onto Norman Drive. You will see the museum building and the amusement park on your left. Parking is available across the street, on your right.Where is Bentwood Truck Museum?
| A．On Norman Drive. | B．On Palmer Street. |
| C．On Kingston Highway. | D．On Route 29. |
What is special about this museum?
| A．It is built on the ruins of an old building. |
| B．It offers visitors free rides to the museum. |
| C．It exhibits trucks dating back to about 100 years ago. |
| D．It's transformed from an old factory by volunteers. |
What's the purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To introduce the old history of Bentwood Truck Museum. |
| B．To persuade readers to attend the opening of the museum. |
| C．To explain why Bentwood Truck Museum was set up. |
| D．To call on the visitors to take a ride in old trucks. |