Ever since Stephanie’s 13th birthday we have been receiving comments from other adults expressing their sympathies because our daughter is now a teenager．We’ve heard everything from，“Sure she’s a good kid，but just wait，now that she’s teenager…”to the ever inspiring，“Well，all kids are rotten when they are teenagers，just try to go through it the best way you can．”What’s more upsetting is that many of these insensitive adults feel the need to share their negative predictions well within the hearing of both our daughters．
I know that teenagers can be moody（闷闷不乐）and difficult at times，but I’m 38 and I can also be difficult and moody．We worry about the future and want today’s kids to know that we care for them and that there are opportunities that wait for them．However, at the very point they set out on that journey toward adulthood we stand there watching them disapprovingly（不赞成），just waiting for them to make mistakes．“just like we knew they would．”We tell them to respect themselves and to say no to drugs，yet we fail to set a positive example by treating them with kindness and consideration，demonstrating（示范）our respect for them．
I have，at times been guilty of this behavior but am now realizing that the more I see each person as a person，the more I am pleasantly surprised in some way or another. For example，a few weeks ago my husband and I were having dinner at our favorite restaurant and two teenage boys came in and sat down right beside us．I must admit that my first thought was，“perfect，there goes our quiet, peaceful dinner．”I was so wrong! These young men were well behaved．quiet and left a nice tip for the waitress．Once I looked beyond the jeans so loose they were practically falling off and the multi-colored hair, I saw what fine people these kids were．
Many of the people who，perhaps unknowingly, treat teens with disrespect are unhappy about the fact that pop singers and sports stars are our children’s heroes. I feel that unless we give them something better to go after, we really shouldn’t complain．When their children reach their teens，parents usually expect_________．
| A．trouble | B．sympathy |
| C．congratulations | D．inspiring comments |
In the author’s opinion，the trouble with parents is that________．
| A．they are too watchful of their teenage children |
| B．they are too concerned about their children’s future |
| C．they fail to treat teenagers with enough kindness and respect |
| D．they speak ill of their children within their hearing |
When two teenagers came into the restaurant and sat beside the author, her first thought was that__________．
| A．they were wrong to have chosen this restaurant for dinner |
| B．something interesting was going to happen over dinner |
| C．her quiet dinner with her husband would be ruined |
| D．she and her husband were going to have a pleasant surprise |
What does the author think of the two teenage boys?
| A．They may become nice people if they are willing to change their lifestyle． |
| B．They are typical of teenagers who wear ill-fitting clothes and dye their hair． |
| C．They’re fine young men despite their loose jeans and multi-colored hair． |
| D．They will respect you if you respect them． |
Charles Blackman：Alice in Wonderland
An Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Australia
June -12 August 2007
Venue (地点) The Ian Potter Centre
Admission Free entry
Charles Blackman is famous for his beautiful painting of dreams. In 1956, he heard for the first time Lewis Carroll's extraordinary tale of Alice in Wonderland -the story of a Victorian girl who falls down a rabbit hole, meets a lot of funny characters and experience all kinds of things. At that time, Blackman's wife was suffering form progressive blindness. The story of Alice moving through the strange situations, often disheartened by various events, was similar to his wife's experiences. It also reflected so much of his own life. All this contributed to the completion of the Alice in Wonderland paintings.
Illustrator Workshop
Go straight to the experts for an introductory course in book illustration. The course includes an introduction to the process of illustration and its techniques, workshop exercise and group projects.
Dates Sunday 17 June &Sunday 5Aug. 10am-1pm
Venue Gas Works Arts Park
Wonderful World
Celebrate the exhibition and Children's Book Week with special activities just for the day, including a special visit from Alice and the White Rabbit
Date Sunday 24 June, 11am-4pm
Venue Exhibition Space. Level 3
Topsy-Turvy
Visit the exhibition or discover wonderful curiosities in artworks in the NGV Collection and make a magic world in a box. Alice and the White Rabbit will be with you. Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland will be screened.
Dates Sunday 8, 15, 22, 29 July, and Tuesday 24-Friday 27 July, 12noon-3pm
Venue Theatre, NGV Australia
Drawing Workshop
Distortions of scale (比例失真) can make artworks strange but interesting. Find out how Charles Blackman distorted scale in his paintings to create a curious world. then experiment with scale in your own drawings. More information upon booking.
Date Friday 27 July, 10: 30am-3pm
Venue Foryer, Level 3
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Charles Blackman's paintings come from.
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| 2． |
Which two activities can you participate in on the same day?
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| 3． |
To understand the Alice in Wonderland paintings, you should go to.
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| 4． |
Activities concerning children's books are to be held
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The city of Rome has passed a new to prevent cruelty to animals. All goldfish bowls are no longer allowed and dog owners must walk their dogs.
This comes after a national law was passed to give prison sentences to people who desert cats or dogs.
“The civilization of a city can be measured by this,” said Monica Carina, the councilor (议员) behind the new law.
“It’s good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention,” she told a Rome newspaper.
The newspaper reported that round bowls don’t give enough oxygen for fish and may make them go blind.
“Rome has tried to protect fish more than anywhere else in the world. It stands out for recognizing that fish are interesting animals who deserve(值得) over respect and compassion every bit as much as dogs and cats and other animals,” said Karin Robertson, a director of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Last year a law was passed in Italy that gives people who desert pets big fines (罚款) and prison sentences. Since then local governments have added their own animal protection rules.
The northern city of Turin passed a law in April to give pet owners fines of up to ＄598 if they do not walk their dogs three times a day.
The new law in Rome also says that owners mustn’t leave their dogs in hot cars or cut their dogs’ tails to make them look lovelies. The law also gives legal recognition to the “cat ladies” who feed homeless cats. The cats live all over the city from ancient ruins to modern office car parks.The new law passed in Rome will ________.
| A．help improve fishing environment |
| B．guarantee better conditions for goldfish |
| C．stop people from catching goldfish |
| D．discourage keeping goldfish at home |
The underlined word “compassion” in Paragraph 6 is the closest in meaning to ________.
| A．pity | B．praise | C．support | D．popularity |
People may break the law in Turin if they ________.
| A．keep their dogs or cats in cars |
| B．feed homeless animals in car parks |
| C．raise their cats near ancient ruins |
| D．shut their dogs home all day long |
Sports shoes that work out whether their owner has done enough exercise to warrant time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.
The shoes- named Square Eyes- contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day’s efforts.
The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University in London, UK. “We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out,” she says. “And I wanted to tackle that with my design.”
Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.
Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals precisely one minute of TV time.
Existing pedometers(计步器) normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. “It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort,” she says. “That was one of my main design considerations.”According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to _____.
| A．keep a record of the steps of the wearer. |
| B．deal with overweight among teenagers. |
| C．enable children to resist the temptation of TV. |
| D．prevent children from being tricked by TV programs. |
Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?
| A．They regulate a child’s evening TV viewing time. |
| B．They determine a child’s daily pocket money. |
| C．They have raised the hot issue of overweight. |
| D．They contain information of the receiver. |
What is stressed by health experts in their suggestion?
| A．The exact number of steps to be taken. |
| B．The precise number of hours spent on TV. |
| C．The proper amount of daily exercise and TV time. |
| D．The way of changing steps into TV watching time. |
Compared with other similar products, the new design ___.
| A．make it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat. |
| B．counts the wearer’s steps through shaking. |
| C．records the sudden movement of the wearer. |
| D．sends teenagers’ health data to the receiver. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time |
| B．Smart Shoes Guarantee More Exercise |
| C．Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise |
| D．Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight |
When Andrea Peterson landed her first teaching job, she faced the daunting task of creating a music program with almost no money for equipment or supplies in a climate where standards-based learning was the focus and music just provided a break for students and teachers.
For her drive and creativity in overcoming those challenges, she's been name national teacher of the year.
Principal Waynes Kettler said he's worked with many outstanding teachers in his 22 years as an educator, but Peterson is "just that one step above anybody I've ever worked with before."
Kettler and others at Monte Cristo Elementary School talk about the ways she has introduced the learning from other classrooms into her music program and her creativity in working around things such as the lack of money for new music.
When students were reading S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders in their regular classroom, Peterson helped them write a 30-minute play with scenes from the book. Then they chose three Broadway tunes that focused on race, equality and social justice, the themes of the book. Peterson composed two other sons herself after classroom discussions about the play and the book.
The honor means a lot to residents of Granie Falls. It's inspiring to know that people from small towns can even win national honors.
As national teacher of the year, Peterson will spend the next year outside classroom, as a national and international spokeswoman for education.
Not surprisingly, she is a big believer in the value of arts education. She said it's essential for schools to offer classes such as art or music and physical education because for some kids one of those subjects is the only thing that motivates them to come back to school day after day.
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The underlined word "daunting" in Paragraph 1 most probably means.
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| 2． |
When Peterson began her teaching career,.
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| 3． |
What is the most important reason that Peterson won the award?
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Which of the following is an example of Peterson's way of teaching music?
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| 5． |
In Peterson's opinion,.
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| 6． |
It can be inferred from the text that.
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If you look for a book as a present for a child, you will be spoiled for choice even in a year when there is no new Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling’s wizard is not alone: the past decade has been a harvest for good children’s books, which has set off a large quantity of films and in turn led to increased sales of classics such as The Lord of the Rings.
Yet despite that, reading is increasingly unpopular among children. According to statistics, in 1997 23% said they didn’t like reading at all. In 2003, 35% did. And around 6% of children leave primary school each year unable to read properly.
Maybe the decline is caused by the increasing availability of computer games. Maybe the books boom has affected only the top of the educational pile. Either way, Chancellor Gordon Brown plans to change things for the bottom of the class. In his pre-budget report, he announced the national project of Reading Recovery to help the children struggling most.
Reading Recovery is aimed at six-year-olds, who receive four months of individual daily half- hour classes with a specially trained teacher. An evaluation earlier this year reported that children on the scheme made 20 months’ progress in just one year, whereas similarly weak readers without special help made just five months’ progress, and so ended the year even further below the level expected for their age.
International research tends to find that when British children leave primary school they read well, but read less – often for fun than those elsewhere. Reading for fun matters because children who are keen on reading can expect lifelong pleasure and loving books is an excellent indicator of future educational success. According to the OECD, being a regular and enthusiastic reader is of great advantage.Which of the following is true of Paragraph 1?
| A．Many children’s books have been adapted from films. |
| B．Many high-quality children’s books have been published. |
| C．The sales of classics have led to the popularity of films. |
| D．The sales of presents for children have increased. |
Statistics suggested that ___.
| A．the number of top students increased with the use of computers. |
| B．a decreasing number of children showed interest in reading. |
| C．a minority of primary school children read properly. |
| D．a large percentage of children read regularly. |
What do we know about Reading Recovery?
| A．An education of it will be made sometime this year. |
| B．Weak readers on the project were the most hardworking. |
| C．It aims to train special teachers to help children with reading. |
| D．Children on the project showed noticeable progress in reading. |
Reading for fun is important because book-loving children ____.
| A．takes greater advantage of the project. |
| B．shows the potential to enjoy a long life. |
| C．is likely to succeed in their education. |
| D．would make excellent future researchers. |
The aim of this text would probably be ____.
| A．to overcome primary school pupils’ reading difficulty. |
| B．to encourage the publication of more children’s books. |
| C．to remind children of the importance of reading for fun. |
| D．to introduce a way to improve early childhood reading. |