When I was young, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard. I remembered him as a neighbor who was nicer than anyone else in the neighborhood.
When Dr. Gibbs was happy, he was planting trees. And his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
Dr. Gibbs had some interesting theories about planting. He talked about trees that weren’t watered would grow deep roots in search of water. So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak (橡树) and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with the rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs died a couple of years. Every now and again, I walk by his house and look at the trees that he planted twenty-five years ago. They’re very strong now.
I planted a couple of trees a few years later. I watered them regularly and took good care of them. Whenever a cold wind blows, they shake their leaves and branches.
The funny thing about those trees of Dr. Gibbs was that difficulty seemed to help them in ways comfort and ease never could.What was Dr. Gibbs’ life goal?
| A.To build a forest. | B.To save more lives. |
| C.To make a lot of money. | D.To study plants. |
One of Dr. Gibbs’ theories about planting was that ______.
| A.he often talked to the trees | B.he kicked the trees heavily |
| C.he never watered the trees | D.he buried the leaves around the roots |
What does the writer mainly want to tell us?
| A.Trees are not as weak as we think. |
| B.We should listen to others’ advice. |
| C.Difficulty is necessary for growth. |
| D.Planting trees is good for the environment. |
It’s time to do something for your father – the man who for many people has been an encouragement and support since birth.
The third Sunday of June is Father’s Day. The holiday honors not only fathers, but also all men who act as father figures, such as stepfathers, uncles and grandfathers.
The idea of Father’s Day came from the
love and appreciation of American lady called Sonore Smart Dodd in 1909.
Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. He rai
sed six children by himself on a countryside farm in Washington State after his wife died during the birth of their sixth child.
When Dodd became an adult, she realized the selflessness her father has shown in raising his children as a single parent.
It was her father who did all for his children. In the eyes of his daughter, William Smart was a
courageous, selfless and loving man.[
Dodd’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Washington on June 19th, 1910.
In 1924, US President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day. Finally, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson declared the third Sunday of June as Father’s day.
So this is a perfect chance to let your father know what he means to you. To show your love and respect, you need not buy an expensive gift. You can send him a home – made card; You can call him every day; Even you can give him a sweet smile when he comes back from work. All these little things are easy for us to so, but they can show your care and love to your father.Father’s Day always falls on .
| A.the same day every year | B.the last day of June |
| C.the third Sunday of June | D.June 16th of each year |
Which of the following was NOT used to describe the character of Dodd’s father?
| A.Loving | B.Sellless. | C.Humorous. | D.Courageous. |
What does the underlined word “raise” in the fourth paragraph mean?
| A.抬高 | B.饲养 | C.升起 | D.养育 |
Who declared the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day?
| A.President Coolidge. | B.President Johnson. |
| C.President Washington. | D.President Lincoln. |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A.Father’s Day | B.Being a Good Father |
| C.Dodd’s Father | D.Showing Love to Your Father |
I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language — the way it can evoke(唤起) an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all—all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I’ve been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as “broken” English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than “broken”, as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I’ve heard other terms used, “limited English,” for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people’s perceptions(认识)of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother’s “limited” English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is, because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won’t get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as “broken”, and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal(内在的)language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts. By saying “Language is the tool of my trade”, the author means that ______.
| A.she uses English in foreign trade | B.she is fascinated by languages |
| C.she works as a translator | D.she is a writer by profession |
The author used to think of her mother’s English as ______.
| A.impolite | B.amusing | C.imperfect | D.practical |
Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?
| A.Americans do not understand broken English. |
| B.The author’s mother was not respected sometimes. |
| C.The author’ mother had positive influence on her. |
| D.Broken English always reflects imperfect thoughts. |
The author gradually realizes her mother’s English is ______.
| A.well structured | B.in the old style | C.easy to translate | D.rich in meaning |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A.The changes of the author’s attitude to her mother’s English. |
| B.The limitation of the author’s perception of her mother. |
| C.The author’s misunderstanding of “limited” English. |
| D.The author’s experiences of using broken English. |

The US government has started a website, Admongo, to help children think critically about the advertising aimed at them. It claims to provide visitors with an “aducation” through games and other entertainment.
A cartoon man dressed in old time pilot clothing greets visitors to Admongo. "Call me Haiz", he says upon arrival in a rocket ship that opens up with a crazy world inside it. Spacey dance music plays in the background as Haiz tells visitors that they need to learn about advertising.
Its inventors say eight to twelve years old is the age kids develop their critical thinking abilities. Kids that age are also a big market for advertisers.
The idea behind Admongo is to teach children three things: To identify the advertiser. To know what the advertiser is really saying. And to know what the advertisement is trying to get the child to do.
Children learn these things through a video game. They create their own game character. They can choose different skin colors, hair styles, eye and mouth shapes. Then they begin a trip through ad-land, where there are ads on buses and billboards. The players have to find all the marketing in the neighborhood before they can move on to the next level.
The Admongo game takes players inside a home, to the advertising studio and everywhere else ads can be found. It is a complete exploration of the world of marketing.
One such area is food marketing. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says it is a big business. The FTC estimates that food, drink and fast-food restaurants spent more than one and a half billion dollars on advertising to young people in 2009.
The FTC says children are important for three reasons. They buy products. They influence parents and caregivers to buy. And they are the future adult buyers of the products.
A recent study says most advertising aimed at children is for foods of the lowest nutritional value. First Lady Michelle Obama has said she would like to see advertisers marketing healthy foods for children.What is the best title of the text?
| A.A website aimed at children’s food | B.The cartoon guide named “Haiz” |
| C.An “aducation” website for children | D.A popular online video game |
Why did the government start the website?
| A.To advertise the video game for children. | B.To help children know about advertising. |
| C.To attract the biggest market of buyers. | D.To sell the products of its company. |
What can players do in the website game?
| A.Play video games during the trip. | B.Travel to a supermarket. |
| C.Eat in a fast-food restaurant. | D.Choose appearance for their character. |
Children are important for advertising because they are ______.
| A.important for the society | B.the most potential buyers |
| C.easily influenced by ads | D.easily affected by poor products |
According to Michelle Obama, lots of foods advertised for children are ________.
| A.of low quality | B.yummy | C.of high nutrition | D.healthy |
In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally(通常)see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve(神)tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation and the expression for emotions(情感). In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by a smaller nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain are.Which of the following is best to outline(概括)the article?
| A.Research on the Brain | B.Differences between Men and Women |
| C.People’s Different Brains | D.Who Are Better, Boys or Girls |
______ men and women think differently.
| A.Sex makes | B.The different brains make |
| C.The different experiences make | D.The influences of society make |
According to the article, girls are generally better than boys at ______ in your school.
| A.Mathematics | B.Physics | C.English | D.Chemistry |
Which of the following is true?
| A.The left side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls. |
| B.The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys. |
| C.Men are better than women in all things. |
| D.The area in girls used for language skills develops better. |
In men and women the number of nerves connecting the halves of brain _______.
| A.is the same | B.is different | C.is zero | D.can’t be found out |
Scientists are not sure how the brain follows the tracks of time.One theory holds that it has a group of cells specialized to record the intervals (间隔)of time, while another theory holds that some neural processes (神经突)act as an inside clock.
Whichever theory it may be, studies find, the cells have a poor grasp of longer interval.Time does seem to slow during an empty afternoon and race when the brain focuses on challenging work.Stimulants (兴奋剂), including caffeine, tend to make people feel as if.time is passing faster; complex jobs, like doing taxes, can seem to drag on longer than they actually do.And emotional events — a breakup, a promotion, a transformative trip abroad —tend to be sensed as more recent than they actually are, by months or even years.In short, some psychologists say, the findings support the philosopher Martin Heidegger' s observation that time "persists merely as a consequence of the events taking place in it."
Now researchers are finding that the opposite thing may also be true: if very few events come to mind, then the sense of time does not persist; the brain shortens the interval that has passed.
In one classic experiment, a French explorer named Michel Siffre lived in a cave for two months, cut off from the rhythms of night and day and man-made clocks.He appeared then, convinced that he had been isolated for only 25 days.Left to its own devices, the brain tends to shorten time.
In earlier work, researchers found that a similar case at work in people’s judgment of intervals that last only moments.Relatively infrequent stimuli, like flashes or tones, tend to increase the speed of the brain' s internal pacemaker.
On an obvious level, these kinds of findings offer an explanation for why other people' s children seem to grow up so much faster than one's own.Involved parents are all too well aware of first step in their own children; however, seeing a cousin's child once every few years, without bothering memories, shortens the time.What can we infer from the first paragraph?
| A.Scientists have agreed about how the brain records time. |
| B.Scientists all think that some cells record the intervals of time. |
| C.Scientists haven't agreed on how the brain records time. |
| D.Scientists all hold the theory that neural processes are an inside clock. |
According.to Paragraph 3, if we have few things to do, the brain will____.
| A.make the intervals of time long |
| B.make the intervals of time short |
| C.keep a state of rest |
| D.stop working |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A.Michel Siffre didn' t think he had stayed in the cave for as long as two months. |
| B.Parents tend to think their own children grow faster than others. |
C.Michel Diffre actually stayed in the cave for twenty-five days. |
| D.Children usually bring bad memories to their parents. |
In which column of a newspaper can we find this passage?
| A.Social news | B.Community activities |
| C.Science | D.Children s life |