Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome successful man devoted to his work and family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting be around? What had held him back before?
The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing. I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his mew home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was. Why did the author feel bitter about her father when she was a young adult?
| A．He was silent most of the time. |
| B．He was too proud of himself. |
| C．He did not love his children. |
| D．He expected too much of her. |
When the author went out with her father on weekends, she would feel ________.
| A．nervous | B．sorry | C．tired | D．safe |
What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
| A．More critical. | B．More talkative |
| C．Gentle and friendly. | D．Strict and hard-working. |
The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to ________.
| A．the author’s son | B．the author’s father |
| C．the friend of the author’s father | D．the café owner |
Beijing today, first published in May, 2001, is the capital’s only English weekly newspaper and is published with the help of the Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government and run by Beijing Youth Daily. Its readers include English-speaking foreigners living in Beijing and local Chinese who have great interest in English or take English as a working language.
The paper’s main content deals with metropolitan life, explaining the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western culture. Its culture and lifestyle part is regarded as a guide to metropolitan life in Beijing.
The paper has 24 pages in four main sections:
NEWS: Select stories that discuss cultural differences.
COMMUNITY: Reports on developments related to foreigners in the city and a platform(平台)by which they can communicate with a bigger audience.
CULTURE and LIFESTYLE: Highlights from international lifestyle and fashion trends in Beijing
STUDY: Cheerful and humorous pieces to help English-language students improve their skills
Beijing Today circulates 50,000 copies published every Friday. It is one of Beijing’s most authoritative(权威的) English media sources, and is sold at post newsstands and distributed in hotels, apartment complexes, etc.
Price: 2 yuan per issueWhich of the following sections would be the best choice to exchange thoughts with others？
| A．NEWS | B．COMMUNITY | C．CULTURE and LIFESYLE | D．STUDY |
If you want to subscribe to Beijing Today for half a year, you need to pay ________.
| A．52 yuan | B．24 yuan | C．104 yuan | D．48 yuan |
What CANNOT you read in Beijing Today?
| A．News abou foreign cultural festivals |
| B．fashion trends in Paris. |
| C．Discussions with foreigners |
| D．Skills in improving English |
KFC(肯德基), one of the most famous fast-food chains, saw its reputation in China shaken because of “quick chicken”. Recent years, KFC has ever shocked us more than once because of its food safety, which made itself in severe trust crisis. Now it greatly surprised us again owing to the poultry（禽肉）incident. We could never believe it should have cheated us again and again. In fact, as a well-known restaurant chain, KFC’s business records at China’s is not very good. There’s no doubt that the very incident has made things worse and worse.
However, what surprised us is that although a series of misdeeds had reduced KFC’s reputation, its business is increasing. What’s more, KFC just made a so-called apology after what had happened, the content of which is not responsible at all for the public. As a matter of fact, this is not an ordinary chance incident. Recent years have seen so many food-safety problems in China, such as wasted oil, lean meat powder（瘦肉精）, melamine（三聚氰胺）, which has done great damage to people’s life. We don’t know what can be eaten and how much harmful food we have eaten. Now it is not wars and natural disasters but everyday food safety that has been a great risk to human health.
So what can be done to prevent our health from being damaged? To begin with, the related departments should strengthen laws to stop such illegal products from being produced. In addition, it would be a good idea to call on the media to perform its further function to monitor the businesses, factories and traders. Besides, everybody should be made aware of the risks of harmful food and only in this way can people improve their self-protection. In a word, everyone should play a role in making our food safer and better in quality. Meanwhile, the government and the related departments should take their responsibilities for people’s health.According to the text, we can learn that KFC made itself in severe trust crisis________.
| A．because it had food safety problems many times |
| B．because it is one of the most famous fast-food chains |
| C．no people went to it |
| D．many people don’t like it |
From the passage, we learn that after the “quick chicken” incident ________.
| A．KFC was closed |
| B．KFC apologized to the public though it was not sincere |
| C．no people went to KFC |
| D．there is no longer chicken in KFC |
We can learn that the author thinks that people’s health is in danger because of ________.
| A．war | B．natural disaster | C．food safety | D．disease |
The main purpose of the passage is to ________.
| A．introduce some food safety incidents | B．make people not support KFC |
| C．ask people not to eat fast food | D．appeal to people for food safety |
In a recently published book, I came across some exercises with interesting names such as fishbone diagrams, lotus flowers and clustering. As I used these exercises in my classes, I noticed that students were interested. They said more and wrote more. They enjoyed expressing their ideas and sharing them in groups. They were no longer passively waiting for the bell , but actively taking part in the lesson. I find that creativity can act as a way to increase participation and improve fluency.
Creativity has become a popular word in recent years. Scholars in arts, psychology, business, education and science are all working to get a deeper understanding of it. Robert J. Stemberg is a creativity specialist and Yale professor of psychology. He defines creativity as “the ability to produce work that is both new (original） and appropriate(applicable to the situation ） ”. This definition is useful, as we want our students to use language in a new way and to use it correctly and properly. Mot scholars say there are two types of creativity: big “C” creativity and small “c” creativity. Big “C” creativity refers to genius level thinking that results in artistic masterpieces and scientific breakthroughs. Small “c” creativity refers to everyday level thinking that can be used in any situation our emphasis is on the latter. While it goes without saying that any of our students could go on to be the next Picasso or Edison, our aim is to help students produce more ideas and use language in a new way. The underlined words “waiting for the bell ” in the first paragraph probably means______.
| A．longing for a phone call | B．hoping to have a bell |
| C．expecting the end of the class | D．waiting to speak in the class |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author thinks the exercises in the book were _____.
| A．popular | B．useful | C．scientific | D．Creative |
When you use a familiar word in a new way, you are ________.
A creative in the sense of big “C” creativity.
B. creative in the sense of small “c” creativity..
C. not creative in the sense of big “C” creativity..
D. not creative in the sense of small “c” creativity.The main purpose of the passage is to _________.
| A．show how useful the book is |
| B．explain what creativity is |
| C．discuss how one can be creative |
| D．tell what teaching aims at |
How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演）and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day” they speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing） as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的） mental state. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area？I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.The first paragraph of the passage tells us that_______ .
| A．we always try to find some time to write a book |
| B．we always make plans but seldom fulfil them |
| C．we always enjoy many of life's best moments |
| D．we always do what we really want to do |
The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6） most probably means .
| A．leave for | B．return to | C．give up | D．rely on |
The man ( paragraph 6） left his first job partly because he was______.
A. in an abnormal mental state B. under too much pressure
C. not well paidnot respectedWhat is probably the best title for the passage?
| A．Provide Homes For Our Family | B．Take Up Horse-riding |
| C．Value This Very Day | D．Stay Alive |
Childhood was an illusion (错觉）and the illusion was this: everything was bigger. No, I mean everything, not just houses and shops and grown-ups, but colors and flowers and journeys, especially journeys which seemed endless. “Are we there yet, Daddy?”
Funfairs (游乐场） were huge things that spread for miles around you with noise and lights and exciting danger. Rainy days at home when you were ill seemed to last for ever. Being a grown-up yourself was an unthinkable distant possibility. Every sound was louder, every game was grander, every pain unbearable.
As I’ve grown old, life has become smaller. Tastes have dulled. Surprises have turned into shocks. Days go by unnoticed. How can I regain childhood when it was an illusion?
I have only one repeatable and wonderful way and even in this way I can regain only part of that larger world. I can play upon the stage like a child and make the crowd laugh and laugh with them, sometimes helplessly like a child, and then, even though I’m a sixty-one-year-old man, I can almost catch the colors and sounds and stillness of those bigger years when I was little.How does the author feel about his childhood?
| A．It was endless. | B．It was unpleasant. |
| C．He is glad that it is over. | D．He misses it as a grown-up |
The author thinks that everything was bigger in childhood because________
| A．children could not make proper judgments. |
| B．children were curious and eager about life |
| C．things appeared really big in children’s eyes |
| D．to grow up seemed so long for children |
The world seems to have become smaller to the author because_______.
| A．life is disappointing | B．time goes by too fast |
| C．he has had too many surprises | D．foods no longer taste delicious |
The author enjoys playing on the stage so as to_______.
| A．act like a child | B．live an unusual life |
| C．make the crowd laugh | D．regain his childhood |