My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating. The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．teaching | B．literature | C．humor | D．knowledge |
The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.
| A．funny | B．tiring | C．inspiring | D．brilliant |
The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.
| A．was not able to make students laugh | B．hurt his student’s feelings |
| C．didn’t let his students do the grading | D．had no sense of humor |
When my mother was alive, she used to tell me again and again about the value of just being nice. “Never underestimate（低估）the power of a smile,” she would say. I fear she would be very disappointed looking at the world today. A lot of people don’t smile and when it comes to service today, they’re just not nice. Now don’t give me wrong, not all service workers but a good many.
I was on the phone the other day with a computer help desk. First a man, then later a woman, who couldn’t have been ruder. And this to a customer, who didn’t know his way around a PC. But no matter, I could tell they thought I was a bother, The woman, in fact, seemed to be chewing gum as she unemotionally clicked off a series of commands for me to perform.
The next day I heard from a friend of mine who got a performance review without his boss once looking up at him. Not once.
You see it everywhere. Gone are the days when people cared about you. It’s a sign of the time, I suspect. But that makes me sad — for them and for us all. People who aren’t happy, who don’t smile, who don’t kid, who don’t joke or make light of even bad situations, make for an even worse situation.
And it spreads like a cancer. Someone’s rude to you, you’re rude to them and to the next fellow you meet, and on and on. Smiles are contagious（易感染的）but so annoyances. The boss who can’t be bothered with his workers. The celebrity who can’t be bothered with her annoying fans.
You know, my mom used to judge presidential candidates by how they smiled. I would say, “But mom, you don’t know if that smile is real.”
“Oh, yes I do,” she would tell me. “I can feel it.”
It’s in their eyes, she would say. And it’s in their smile. The rest just kind of falls into place.Why did the writer mention his phone call?
| A．To show many people aren’t nice. |
| B．To prove his mother is wrong. |
| C．To share his funny experience with us. |
| D．To tell us he knows little about computer. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the boss of his friend?
| A．Respectful. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Doubtful. |
When someone is rude to you, you’re advised to ________.
| A．become one just like him or her |
| B．be nice to the people you meet |
| C．be rude to the next person |
| D．make for a worse situation |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Feel a person in his eyes |
| B．Don’t judge a person by his look |
| C．The effect of rudeness |
| D．The power of a smile |
TEN-YEAR-OLD Barack Obama was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii, US. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. A white boy asked him whether his father ate people.
“I lied to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am,” said Obama.
However, 37 years later, the boy made history. Last year Obama became the first black president in US history.
Obama was born in 1961, to an African father and a white American woman from a small town in the US. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii. This unusual background made him wonder who he was. He once turned to alcohol to help forget this question.
With help from his friends, Obama finally turned his life around at college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became only the third black senator (参议员) in US history. During his race to the highest post in the US, Obama talked about his background. He called for a United States of America, rather than a white America or a black America.
“Obama’s success has made Martin Luther King’s dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character,” wrote ABC news.When Obama was ten years old, he was in _______.
| A．Hawaii | B．Kenya | C．Africa | D．Indonesia |
When Obama became president of the US, he was _______.
| A．37 | B．48 | C．47 | D．38 |
Why did Obama lie to his classmates that his father was a Kenyan prince?
| A．Because he was uncertain about his background then. |
| B．Because he dreamed of becoming a Kenyan prince. |
| C．Because he was afraid of being laughed at by his classmates. |
| D．Because he was told his father was a Kenyan prince. |
Which of the following statements is right?
| A．Obama is optimistic all his life. |
| B．Obama was brought up in Africa. |
| C．.According to Luther King, a man should be judged by the content of his |
| D．Obama didn’t work hard at Harvard, but he finally turned president of the US. |
A mother had two daughters. She loved them very much, but two girls would fight with each other from their earliest years. As they grew older, they became total strangers. They had no contact with each other when they were adults.
This caused the mother great pain. Then, later, she had an idea. She decided to write a letter to them. In this letter, she told them how much she loved them, and how she wanted them to love each other in this way. She also gave them news of herself and some guidance on how to live happier lives.
When the letter was ready, she wrote out one copy for each daughter, but these copies were special. Each copy contained only every second sentence of the original letter: the copy for one daughter had only the even (双数的) sentences, and the other daughter’s copy contained only the odd sentences. Neither contained the fullness of the mother’s message.
When the two daughters received their letters, they were puzzled. To understand the half-letter, they would have to put the two letters together and read them as one, which meant they must approach one another again in love and respect. But they each blamed the other for not helping them when trying to read the half-letter.
For a long time, the mother waited in vain. Then one day, when the mother had almost given up hope, there was a knock at the door. There they stood, together. “We’ve come home,” they said at the same time. “We’ve finally put our letters together, and we’ve come to say how much we love you, Mum.” Then she hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and welcomed them back home.The mother gave her daughters incomplete letters mainly to ______.
| A．tell them her news | B．offer them advice |
| C．mend their relations | D．win their hearts |
Upon receiving their letters, the two daughters ______.
| A．complained about each other as usual |
| B．put the letters together and read them |
| C．blamed her mother for the half-letter |
| D．understood the mother’s purpose at once |
Why did the two daughters visit their mother at last?
| A．They missed home very much. |
| B．They felt grateful for the mother. |
| C．They wanted to apologize. |
| D．They had put the letters together. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Two Special Daughters |
| B．A Mother’s Endless Love |
| C．A Sincere Apology to Mother |
| D．An Unusual Letter |
Some children are natural born bosses. They have a strong need to make decisions, manage their environment, and lead rather than follow. Stephen Jackson, a Year One student, "operates under the theory of what's mine and what's yours is mine," says his mother. "The other day I bought two new Star Wars light sabers(剑). Later, I saw Stephen with the two new ones while his brother was using the beat-up ones."
" Examine the extended family, and you'll probably find a bossy grandparent, aunt,
uncle or cousin in every generation. It's an inheritable trait," says Russell Barkley, a professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. Other children who may not be particularly bossy can gradually gain dominance(支配地位) when they sense their parents are weak, hesitant, or in disagreement with each other.
Whether it's inborn nature or developed character at work, too much control in the hands of the young isn't healthy for children or the family. Fear is at the root of a lot bossy behavior, says family psychologist John Taylor. Children, he says in his book From Defiance to Cooperation, "have secret feelings of weakness" and "a desire to feel safe." It's the parents' role to provide that protection.
When a "boss child" doesn't learn limits at home, the stage is set for a host of troubles outside the family. The overly willful and unbending child may have trouble obeying teachers or coachers, for example, or trouble keeping friends. It can be pretty lonely as the top dog if no one likes your bossy ways.
"I see more and more parents giving up their power," says Barkley, who has studied bossy behavior for more than 30 years. They bend too far because they don't want to be as strict as their own parents were. But they also feel less confident about their parenting skills. Their kids, in turn, feel more anxious.Bossy children like Stephen Jackson
| A．make good decisions | B．have little sense of fear |
| C．lack care from others | D．show self-centeredness |
The underlined phrase "inheritable trait" in paragraph 2 means
| A．developed character | B．inborn nature |
| C．accepted theory | D．particular environment |
The study on bossy behavior implies that parents _______.
| A．should give more power to their children |
| B．should be strict with their children |
| C．should not be so anxious about their children |
| D．should not set limits for their children |
SOME teenagers take up smoking during the holidays either because they become "rich" enough to afford a pack of cigarettes or they think they look "cool". Everyone knows that "smoking is bad for you", but do smokers really know what the health warnings mean to them?
Smoking, the world's second leading cause of preventable death, kills 4.9 million people a year, the United Nations said on February 27. The world has about l.2 billion smokers and World Health Organization surveys show that about 20 per cent of them are children aged between 13 and 15 years old.
On the same day, a global treaty(公约) aimed at encouraging children not to smoke and help people kick the habit came into force. This is the first worldwide agreement on a public health issue. It will see strong warnings added to cigarette packets and a ban on all tobacco advertising.
Young smokers may think little of the health effects of smoking. But smoking can stop them from making friends, as most non-smokers don't like being around smokers.
"I feel sick when I see people of my age smoke. Smokers make themselves look less educated ," said Shi Qingyu, a Senior 3 student at Luanxian No 1 High School in Hebei Province. Once while on a bus, he asked a girl who was smoking next to him to put out her cigarette.
For Wang Gezhu, a Senior l girl from Wuxi Furen High School in Jiangsu Province,boys who smoke are less attractive.
"Boys that smoke may think they are cool or impressive, but I think they look weird(怪异的) compared to other ordinary students in my eyes. They only do what others won't risk doing," Wang said.
Every one wants to impress others, but there are ways to show off other than smoking.
On February 26, around 200 students from across the country gathered in Beijing to be awarded for their outstanding performance in the 2004 "Sunflower Cup". The programme included several contests in writing, calligraphy (书法), drawing and painting. It aimed to encourage students to take part in meaningful activities so that they could spend their free time developing healthy habits and hobbies.
"Teenagers are energetic and quick to learn, both good and bad things. For the sake of their own health, teenagers should learn to say no to their first cigarette because life as a smoker is a life of addiction. You can't quit," said Wang Zhengqi, deputy secretary-general (副秘书长) of the Chinese Association on Smoking and Health.How does the writer give us the health warnings of smoking in paragraph 2?
| A．By listing examples. | B．By telling stories |
| C．By offering data. | D．By persuading us. |
Smoking can affect the young from the following aspects(万面) except____.
| A．Smoking will do harm to their health |
| B．Smoking can make them cool |
| C．Smoking will stop them from making friends |
| D．Smoking make them look less educated |
From what the students said in paragraph 5-7, we can learn that
| A．Young smokers want others to pay attention to them |
| B．None of the students like young smokers |
| C．Young smokers usually smoke on the bus |
| D．Young smokers are very brave. |
From the passage. what does the author want to say?
| A．Don't make friends with young smokers. |
| B．Young smokers, drop off your cigarettes ! |
| C．The young smoke because they have enough money. |
| D．Meaningful activities are the only ways to prevent the young from smoking. |