I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. While others had Cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids’ too. But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.
My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, then we should be gone one hour or less -- not one hour and one minute. And she always insisted upon us telling the truth. Now you can see how mean she was.
The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept - my mother actually had the courage to break the Child Labor Law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, and learn to cook. We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath every day. The other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of disgrace because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.
Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit. We could not lie in bed “sick” like our friends did, and miss school. Our marks in school had to live up to expectations. Our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, being as different as she was, would be satisfied with nothing less than ugly black marks.
As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.
My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have ever been arrested or divorced. Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults. I am now trying to raise my three children. I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Why? Because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the whole world.The author’s mother wanted her children to _________.
A.do their best at school and be educated and respected citizens |
B.be top students in school and graduate with honors |
C.stop seeing her friends who pretended to be sick to skip classes |
D.bring home colored report cards like her friends did |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
A.The author has a deep hatred for her mother. |
B.The author’s mother set timetables for her children whenever they went out. |
C.Some of the children weren’t able to go to college because of their mean mother. |
D.As a parent, the author is following her mother’s example. |
It can be inferred from the passage that________.
A.All the other kids at school studied better than the author. |
B.The author worked hard and usually got good grades in studies. |
C.Mother was punished for breaking the Labor Law. |
D.The author’s family lived a miserable life. |
Do you want to live a happier, less stressful (有压力的) life?
Try laughing for no reason at all. That’s how thousands of people start their day at Laughter Clubs around the world – and many doctors now think that having a good laugh might be one of the best ways to stay healthy.
The first Laughter Club was started in Mumbai, India, in 1995 by Dr Madan Kataria. “Young children laugh about 300 times a day. Adults laugh between 7 and 15 times a day,” says Dr Kataria. “Everyone’s naturally good at laughing – it’s the universal language. We want people to feel happy with their lives.” There are now more than 500 Laughter Clubs in India and over 1,300 worldwide.
Many doctors are also interested in the effects (效果) of laughter on our health. According to a 5 – year study in the body. Laughter improves our health against illness by about 40%.
So, what happens at a Laughter Club? I went along to my nearest club in South London to find out. I was quite nervous at the beginning of the class, to be honest – I wasn’t interested in laughing with a group of strangers, and I was worried about looking stupid. Our laughter teacher told us to clap our hands and say “ho ho ho, ha ha ha,” while looking at each other. However, our bodies can’t tell the difference between fake laughter and real laughter, so they still produce the same healthy effects.
Surprisingly, it works! After ten minutes everybody in the room was laughing for real – and some people just couldn’t stop! At the end of the class I was surprised by how relaxed and comfortable I felt. So if you’re under stress, then start laughing. You might be very pleased with the results!In which country was the first Laughter Club started?
A.Britain. | B.America. |
C.Australia. | D.India. |
How did the writer feel at the beginning of the class?
A.Surprised. | B.Pleased. |
C.Nervous. | D.Stressful. |
When did the people in the club begin to laugh for real?
A.After a few minutes. | B.After a few hours. |
C.After a few seconds. | D.After a few days. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.Fake laughter and real laughter are both good for health. |
B.40% of the people in Laughter Clubs are good friends. |
C.Adults laugh more often than children in a day. |
D.Laughing is the best way to prevent illness. |
We had known for along time that flowers of different plants open and close at different time of day. Yet no one really understands why flowers open and close like this at special time. The question is not as simple as we might think, as recent experiments have shown. In one experiment, flowers were kept in constant (持续的)darkness. We might expect that the flowers ,without any information about the time of the day, did not open as they usually do. In fact, they continue to open at their usual time. This shows that they have some special ways of knowing the time. Their sense(感觉) time does not depend on information from the outside world. It is inside them: a kind of "inner (内部的)clock". This discovery may not seem to be very important. However, it is later found that not just plants but animals have this "inner clock" which control(控制)the working of their bodies and influences their activities. Human beings, then, are also influenced by it. Whether we wish or not, it affects such things in our life as our need for sleep or need for food.Before the experiment arrived at a conclusion ,people had thought that the flowers would____.
A.never open in constant darkness |
B.change their usual time to open |
C.open ahead of the time as they usually did |
D.continue to open at usual time |
The sense of time that flowers have is connected with_____________.
A.its age and size |
B.light and temperature |
C.a kind of strange power(力量)inside them |
D.some unknown information from the outside world |
What will happen if we make good use of the "inner clock"
A.We'll need less sleep or food. |
B.We'll be able to sleep as long as we wish to. |
C.We'll be able to change our work time when necessary. |
D.We'll have more energy to do our work better. |
What's the Chinese meaning of the underlined word" affects"
A.产生 | B.影响 | C.给予 | D.依赖 |
Roger was a thief,but he wasn't very clever. When he was in school, he stole apples or oranges from other children. Sometimes he stole pencils or books from other children. But he always got caught.
The teacher spoke to Roger's parents and they tried to stop him from stealing things, but Roger wouldn't stop. He kept stealing.
When he was older, he began to steal from stores, but he was still stupid. Once, he went into a store wearing the clothes he had stolen the day before. The still had the price tags(标签) on them, and the store manager called the police. They warned him that he would go to jail if he didn't stop stealing.
Then Roger decided to rob a bank. He planned everything. He got some gloves so that he would not leave fingerprints, and a mask so that no one would recognize him.
" But what if they recognize my voice?" he thought.
He decided to write his message on a piece of paper so that he wouldn't need to speak. He found an old envelope and wrote "give me all the money" on the back of it. He got a toy gun and went to the bank. He put on his musk and his gloves( and showed the note to the bank clerk. The clerk gave him all the money, and Roger ran out of the bank and went home.
Ten minutes later he heard a knock on the door. It was the police. They had come to arrest him for robbing the bank.
" How did you find me so quickly?" asked Roger
" It was easy," said the police." Your address was on the envelope!"How old was Roger when he started stealing things?
A.10 | B.40 | C.70 | D.22 |
What is something Roger did not steal?
A.money | B.food |
C.a shirt | D.a bicycle |
In this story, the underline word "recognize" means __________.
A.know | B.make |
C.watch | D.understand |
How did the police catch Roger?
A.His friend worked in the bank. |
B.The clerk knew his voice. |
C.They found his picture. |
D.They knew his address. |
Sam, a dog, was left behind in Colorado while his owners, Mr. And Mrs. Green moved to Southern California. They did not give the dog up. They found him a very nice home before they moved. They would have let Sam accompany them, but they were afraid the dog’s presence would make it difficult for them to rent a house when they reached their destination.
The Green family lived in Colorado for less than a year. Before that, they had lived in the same neighborhood in California to which they returned. So Sam had been there before, but only for a short time when he was young.
Several months after the Greens left Colorado, after they were comfortably settled back in California, they heard a scratch at the door. They couldn’t imagine who might be there. It never occurred to them that it might be Sam, because they were sure he was happily set up with his new family back in Colorado. When they opened the door, the Greens saw a dirty, tired dog with very hurting feet. The animal looked a little bit like Sam, but no one could believe that Sam could have walked 840 miles on his own. The tired dog spent the night under the family car. The next day, when he was more rested, he performed some of his old tricks. The Greens knew they had their own dog back.The story suggests that _______ .
A.dog owners have trouble renting |
B.many people treat their pets badly |
C.keeping a dog is easy |
D.dogs are too much trouble |
Which is the right order of the following events according to the passage?
a. Sam walked to California.
b. The Greens moved to Colorado.
c. The Greens left Sam.
d. The Greens returned to California.
e. Sam spent the night under the family car.
A.b, d, c, e, a | B.b, c, d, a, e |
C.a, c, b, e, d | D.c, e, d, a, b |
The underlined word “destination” in the first paragraph means _________.
A.the cost of living |
B.the country of one’s birth |
C.the damage to oneself |
D.the place to which one is going |
The Greens knew the dog was Sam ________.
A.because of his hurting feet |
B.from the color and the markings |
C.by the way he walked |
D.after he did some tricks |
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his own language by remembering what he hears when he is a small child, and some children, like boys and girls who live abroad with their parents, seem to learn two languages almost as easily as one. In school it is not easy to learn a second language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
A man’s mind is rather like a camera, but it takes photos not only of what we see but of what we feel, hear, smell and taste. When we take a real photo with a camera, there is much to do before the photo is finished and ready to show to our friends. In the same way there is much work to be done before we can keep a picture forever in our mind.
Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.We usually begin to learn our own language by ________ it.
A.speaking | B.hearing |
C.saying | D.teaching |
If you have a good ________ , you’ll have less difficulty in learning something.
A.teacher | B.camera |
C.memory | D.family |
The children who live abroad with their parents can learn two languages more easily, because ______.
A.they are very clever |
B.they have good teachers |
C.they have more chances to use these languages |
D.they have a better life |
Memory is ________ that we write in our mind and carry about.
A.the best diary | B.the best camera |
C.a great help | D.a beautiful picture |