Love and Friendship
They are both so much related to each other. And both are so dissimilar! What are the differences between friendship and love? Is platonic(柏拉图式的) friendship possible between persons of the opposite sex? _______
What is friendship? Why do we call a person our friend? When do we call someone a very good friend? If we care for a person, if we are always ready to help that person and if we share most of our thoughts with a person, they are our good friends. We can always count upon our good friends in an emergency. We are always sure that our friends will understand why we acted in a certain way. ___ ___ The friendship is so deep and the relationship is so intimate, that most of the things are automatically understood by our friends.
______ In a relationship of deep love, all the sharing that we discussed above is taken for granted. But love transcends(超出) all this. During love, we are attached with a particular person, while in friendship, one may have many friends. A loving relationship makes one so much attached to the other that one gets pained if his/her beloved is hurt! Love also involves a physical element. ____
____ This is a vital difference. Nature gives us love so that the species can go forward. Nature does not give us friendship.
Your heart beats will never increase in anticipation of meeting your friend. ________ You will not feel totally lost, if you don’t meet your friend for a few days. You will not have dreams in your eyes thinking about your friend. But in love, you will do all this and much more. Indeed, there is no comparison between love and friendship.
| A．What about love? |
| B．My answer is “Yes”. |
| C．Let us try and understand. |
| D．Friendship does not have that. |
E.We need not explain anything to our very good friends.
F.You will not lie awake at night thinking about your friend.
G.The physical element may include hand in hand while walking.
AAAGH! The Generation 90s is coming!
Wearing earphones, using complex Net language and constantly text messaging friends, the Gen-90s following the Gen-80s begin to make their world debut （初次登台）.
Each generation or age group has its own symbols and lifestyle. Read on and judge for yourselves if you fit the Gen-90s group.
Earphones
These little devices seem to grow on the heads of the Gen-90s. They might lead to MP3, MP4 or MP101 players, giving these young people a plugged-in, cool and perhaps self-addicted look, of course, life is not always music to the ears.
Martian(火星的) language
They have created their own code-like online language. It’s a mixture of English, Japanese and Chinese that perhaps only Martians can understand. This is an imaginative generation, though they need to be careful to keep it out of their term papers.
Self-Portrait
Saying “cheese” to their own digital cameras is usual for this generation. A little bit of narcissism （自恋） never hurts anyone. It helps them reflect a little on their own lives. But be aware of the risks of posting private photos online.
Text-messaging
They can type their mobile phones as fast as they can speak. This is a generation that respects efficiency(效率). However, oral communication is important and will never go out of style.Whodoyouthinkwouldmostlikelybethereadersofthepassage?
| A．Teenagers | B．Educators | C．Socialists | D．Parents |
According to the passage, if you belong to the Gen-90s , you will ____________ .
| A．just appreciate yourself and ignore others’ strengths. |
| B．have your own symbols and lifestyle. |
| C．have the same symbols and lifestyle of the Gen-80s. |
| D．like music and dance very much. |
According to the text, the writer will choose ______ as a good example to the Gen-90.
| A．Li Hua likes music and always wearing ipod |
| B．Zhang Chao is not only an imaginative boy but do everything efficiently. |
| C．Lily is a shy girl and she doesn’t like making friends. |
| D．Fangfang likes being taken photos and often posting them on line. |
According to this passage, which is WRONG?
| A．Not all teens are careful about posting photos online. |
| B．They type their mobile phones so fast that it can catch the speed of speaking. |
| C．The Gen-90s have a preference for some music players, and even regard them as a necessary part of life. |
| D．They don’t use the cool and complex online language in formal writing. |
The main idea of the passage is about________.
| A．the Gen-90s’ happy life |
| B．the difference between the Gen-80s and the Gen-90s |
| C．the Gen-90s’ unique lifestyle and some practical warnings |
| D．the similarities between the Gen-80s and the Gen-90s |
What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”. Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night.
Boys are found everywhere –on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocalate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket.
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion (消化力) of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs (拇指) on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines. He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature – he is your headache but when you come home at night with only shattered pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”The whole passage is in a tone(调子) of_________.
| A．humor and love | B．respect and harmony |
| C．ambition and expectation | D．confidence and imagination |
The underlined sentence“he has five thumbs on each hand” probably means______.
| A．he has altogether five fingers | B．he is slow, foolish and clumsy |
| C．he becomes clever and smart | D．he cuts his hand with a knife |
According to the writer, boys appreciate everything in the following except________.
| A．ice cream | B．comic books | C．Saturday mornings | D．Sunday schools |
What does the writer feel about boys?
| A．He feels curious about their noise. | B．He is fed up with these creatures. |
| C．He is amazed by their naughtiness. | D．He feels unsafe staying with them. |
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.
My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I’m so glad I did.
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背)in the distance.
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn’t believe it—there aren’t any whale along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.
The little baby whale actually as big as our boat was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡)and waves. “She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea. The author says “I’m so glad I did.”(in Para.2)because_______.
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
| D．he spent the weekend with his family |
The harbour survived the storm owing to ______.
| A．the shape of the harbor | B．the arms of one bay |
| C．the still water in the channel | D．the long coast line |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because _______.
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough |
| C．she had no other whales around to turn for help |
| D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness. |
| B．Fishing provides excitement for children. |
| C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals. |
| D．It’s vital to protect the environment. |
Everyone has good days and bad days.
Sometimes, you feel as if you’re on top of the world and all the questions on your maths test might seem easy. But occasionally you feel horrible, and you lose things and cannot focus on our schoolwork.
For more than 20 years, scientists have suggested that high self-esteem(自尊) is the key to success.Now, new research shows that focusing just on building self-esteem may not be helpful. In some cases, having high self-esteem can make people less likeable or more upset when they fail in something.
“Forget about self-esteem,” says Jennifer Crocker, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, US. “It’s not the important thing.”
Feeling good
Crocker’s advice may sound a bit strange. After all, feeling good can be good for you.Studies show that people with high self-esteem are less likely to be depressed, anxious, shy, or lonely than those with low self-esteem.
However, after reviewing about 18,000 studies on self-esteem, Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, has found that building up your self-esteem will not necessarily make you a better person.
He believes that violent people often have the highest self-esteem of all. He also said:“ There’s no evidence that kids with high self-esteem do better in school.”
Problems
All types of people have problems. People with high self-esteem can have big egos(自我) that can make them less likeable, said Kathleen Vohs, a psychology professor at Columbia University.People with high self-esteem tend to think more of themselves, VOhs says. People with low self-esteem are more likely to rely on their friends when they need help.
What to do
Researchers say it is best to listen to and support other people. Find positive ways to contribute to society. If you fail in something, try to learn from the experience. “The best therapy(药方) is to recognize your faults,” Vohs says. “It’s OK to say, ‘I’ m not so good at that,’ and then move on.”What does the underlined part “on top of the world” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．Quite helpful. | B．Extremely happy. | C．Very unlucky. | D．Rather upset. |
The conclusion drawn from the new research shows that high self-esteem_____.
| A．is not important at all | B．makes people more likeable |
| C．may not be the key to success | D．helps you do better at school |
Which of the following is TRUE according to Vohs?
| A．Feeling good doesn’t mean you lead a happy life. |
| B．People with high self-esteem always seek others’ help. |
| C．People with high self-esteem tend to be selfish. |
| D．People with low self-esteem are often more popular. |
We can infer from the text that the best therapy mentioned in the last paragraph is mainly for people_____.
| A．with high self-esteem | B．with low self-esteem |
| C．who contribute significantly to society | D．who are in need of support |
Kindergarten outside? Yes, indeed. It’s part of a growing worldwide trend toward outdoor education. The schools are called forest kindergartens.
The numbers are small so far in the U.S., but the idea is well established in Europe, with schools in Scotland, England, and Switzerland. By far the most such schools are in Germany, which has more than 400 forest kindergartens.
Some schools feature several hours of outdoor schooling. This is certainly the case with the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs. Children there will be venturing out on the nearby Hemlock Trail to learn more about the natural world. Some lessons are focused on nature; others are academic topics delivered in a natural setting. In all cases, students are active-not sitting at desks or on mats on the floor but walking, running, jumping, solving problems like how to get the mud off the bottoms of their shoes before their parents find out.
Seriously, the focus is on activity at these schools. Studies have shown that children’s immune systems actually get stronger after all of the outdoor activity, and that graduates of forest kindergartens show a higher ability to learn when they progress through their academic careers.
Other schools are all outdoors, all the time. This is the case with the Cedar Song Nature School, on Vashon Island, Washington. Students at this school spend their whole three–hour day outdoors, in a private five-acre forest, doing all kinds of physical activities.
At these forest kindergartens, students learn science by observing and doing it, learn math by applying it to the natural world around them, learn letters and words by putting them together using sights and sounds. These students learn how to get along with one another, individually and in a group. They also develop healthy levels of self-confidence.
Nowadays many children become obese(肥胖的) because of sedentary（久坐的） activities like watching television and playing video games. These outdoor schools give children chances to learn just as much, if not more, from opening their eyes to the real world around them.What do we know about forest kindergartens?
| A．The first one was created in England. | B．They are very popular in Germany. |
| C．There are 400 all over the world. | D．Their number is huge in the U.S. |
What is special about forest kindergartens?
| A．Kids learn more than those at ordinary kindergartens. |
| B．Students go outside when weather permits. |
| C．They value activity very much. |
| D．They are situated in forests. |
The main difference between the Waldorf School and Cedar Song Nature School lies in______.
| A．the subjects | B．the activities |
| C．the outdoor time | D．the teaching methods |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Get close to nature | B．A new trend of education |
| C．Forest kindergartens are popular | D．Outdoor education benefits kids a lot |