Mrs. Goff is a math teacher at Lincoln High School. Mrs. Goff and I met my freshman year. Zach Howe and I were on our way to a baseball game when he said he needed to get his stuff from Mrs. Goff’s room. I had no idea who she was then, but he said she was great. Well, he was definitely right.
Last year, I had a college math class that required me to be in the computer lab, which was located directly behind Mrs. Goff’s room. When I struggled in the section, I would go to Mrs. Goff’s and ask for assistance. She told me that I was a little too dependent and not confident enough in my ability.
A little confidence, combined with effort, will do wonders for anyone in anything. If you go into something thinking negative thoughts, negative things will happen. Mrs. Goff taught me that it was OK to make a few mistakes. Mistakes are a part of everyone’s life. She told me that it is how you learn from them that defines your character. A person that learns from his or her mistakes is more likely to be a successful person in life.
This year, I have spent a lot of time with Mrs. Goff. She really helps me instill(逐渐灌输) confidence in myself and others around me. The encouragement that she has given me made me realize that I can do the same thing for people. Therefore, she has helped my leadership skills and increased my confidence in being outgoing.
Mrs. Goff is a great role model in my life, and I appreciate everything she has done for me. I will never forget the things that she has done for me and the things she has helped me learn and accomplish throughout high school. I hope to be as good a teacher as she and give encouragement that she has for me and all of her students.What can we conclude from the passage?
| A．A little confidence may help you achieve what might be impossible. |
| B．Mrs. Goff is the best math teacher. |
| C．A teacher determines the fate of a student. |
| D．The author became successful due to Mrs. Goff. |
What does the author intend to say in the third paragraph?
| A．You are sure to succeed with confidence and effort. |
| B．Take a positive attitude towards your mistakes. |
| C．Try to avoid making mistakes in your everyday life. |
| D．A successful person may make fewer mistakes. |
It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
| A．the author now is working as an excellent teacher. |
| B．Mrs. Goff has a great effect on the author. |
| C．the author has made many mistakes at school. |
| D．Mrs. Goff should have helped the author more. |
Mrs. Goff spent much time with the author______.
| A．to make him realize he can help people around |
| B．to help him gain more and more confidence |
| C．to tell him how to give others encouragement |
| D．to share her experience with him and others. |
Be careful what you say around your dog. It might understand more than you think.
A border collie named Rico recognizes the names of about 200 objects, say researchers in Germany. The dog also appears to be able to learn new words as easily as a 3-year-old child. Its word-learning skills are as good as those of a parrot or chimpanzee(黑猩猩).
In one experiment, the researchers took all 200 items that Rico is supposed to know and divided them into 20 groups of 10 objects. Then the owner told the dog to go and fetch one of the items and bring it back. In four tests, Rico got 37 out of 40 commands right. As the dog couldn’t see anyone to get clues, the scientists believe Rico must understand the meanings of certain words.
In another experiment, the scientists took one toy that Rico had never seen before and put it in a room with seven toys whose names the dog already knew. The owner then told Rico to fetch the object, using a word the dog had never heard before.
The correct object was chosen in seven out of l0 tests, suggesting that the dog had worked out the answer by process of elimination(排除法). A month later, Rico remembered half of the new names, which is even more impressive.
Rico is thought to be smarter than the average dog. For one thing, Rico is a border collie, a breed (品种)known for its mental abilities. In addition, the 9-year-old dog has been trained to fetch toys by their names since the age of nine months.
It’s hard to know if all dogs understand at least some of the words we say. Even if they do, they can’t talk back. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to sweet-talk your dog every now and then. You might just get a big, wet kiss in return!From paragraph 2 we know that __.
| A．animals are as clever as human beings |
| B．all dogs are smarter than parrots and chimpanzees |
| C．chimpanzees have very good word-learning skills |
| D．all dogs have similar learning abilities as 3-year-old children |
Both experiments show that .
| A．Rico is smart enough to get all commands right |
| B．Rico can recognize different things including toys |
| C．Rico has developed the ability of learning mathematics |
| D．Rico won’t forget the names of objects once recognizing them |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The purpose of the experiments is to show the border collie’s mental abilities. |
| B．Rico has a better memory partly because of its proper early training. |
| C．The border collie is world-famous for recognizing objects. |
| D．Rico is born to understand its owner’s commands. |
What does the writer want to tell us?
| A．To train your dog. |
| B．To talk to your dog. |
| C．To be friendly to your dog. |
| D．To be careful with your dog. |
Robert Owen was born in Wales in 1771. At the age of ten he went to work. His employer had a large private library so Owen was able to educate himself. He read a lot in his spare time and at nineteen he was given the job of superintendent(监工) at a Manchester cotton mill. He was so successful there that he persuaded his employer to buy the New Lanark mill in Scotland.
When he arrived at New Lanark it was a dirty little town with a population of 2,000 people. Nobody paid any attention to the workers’ houses or their children’s education. The conditions in the factories were very bad. There was a lot of crime and the men spent most of their wages on alcoholic drinks.
Owen improved the houses. He encouraged people to be clean and save money. He opened a shop and sold the workers cheap, well-made goods to help them. He limited the sale of alcoholic drinks. Above all, he fixed his mind on the children's education. In 1816 he opened the first free primary school in Britain.
People came from all over the country to visit Owen’s factory. They saw that the workers were healthier and more efficient than in other towns. Their children were better fed and better educated. Owen tried the same experiment in the United States. He bought some land there in 1825, but the community was too far away. He could not keep it under control and lost most of his money.
Owen never stopped fighting for his idea. Above all he believed that people are not born good or bad. He was a practical man and his ideas were practical. “If you give people good working conditions”, he thought, “they will work well and, the most important thing of all, if you give them the chance to learn, they will be better people.”For Owen, his greatest achievement in New Lanark was _____________.
| A．improving worker’s houses |
| B．helping people to save money |
| C．preventing men from getting drunk |
| D．providing the children with a good education |
From the passage we may infer that Owen was born ___________.
| A．into a rich family | B．into a noble family |
| C．into a poor family | D．into a middle class family |
We may infer form the passage that no children in Britain could enjoy free education until ___.
| A．1771 | B．1816 | C．1825 | D．1860 |
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just look up at the sky and read the weather forecast right away? Well, you can. The forecast is written in clouds. If you can read that writing, you can tell something about the atmosphere. With some practice, you can become a pretty good weather forecaster. Who knows, you might even do as well as meteorologists（气象学家）.
Meteorologists use much more information than just the appearance of the clouds to make their forecast. They collect data（数据）from all over the world. Then they put it into powerful, high speed computers. This does give the meteorologists an advantage, because they can track（追踪）weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country. But you have an advantage, too. You can look at the sky and get your data directly. A meteorologist uses a computer forecast that’s several hours old to make a local forecast.
What are you seeing when you look at a cloud? “A picture of moisture(水汽)is doing in the atmosphere,” says meteorologist Peter Leavitt. There’s moisture throughout the atmosphere. Most of the time you don’t see it, because it’s in the form of an unseeable gas called water vapor. Sometimes, the temperature of the air gets cold enough to cause the waster vapor to change to liquid water. It’s called condensation(凝结), and we see it happen all the time (for example, when humid air from the shower hits the cold glasses of a mirror). When enough water vapor condenses（冷凝）, droplets(小滴）come in the air. These droplets scatter(分散) light. A cloud is seen.
Watching clouds over a day or two tells you a lot more than a single cloud about the weather to come. Changes in clouds show changes in the atmosphere. You should begin to notice patterns. Certain clouds, following each other in order, can signal an approaching storm. But don’t take our word for it; see for yourself.According to the passage, an ordinary person might read the weather forecast as well as meteorologists _________.
| A．with some simple practice looking up at the sky |
| B．with the help of the high-speed computers |
| C．through complex (复杂的) instruments |
| D．by visiting a weather station |
Meteorologists can make their weather forecast.
| A．by using information of the appearance of the clouds only |
| B．by collecting data from parts of the world |
| C．by collecting and analyzing（分析）the data |
| D．by watching the sky |
According to the passage, your advantage in weather forecast is that.
| A．you have a high-speed computer |
| B．you observe the sky and get your data directly |
| C．you have more instruments at home |
| D．you can track weather patterns as they move from west to east across the country |
This passage mainly tells us about how to.
| A．train ourselves as meteorologists |
| B．be an assistant to a meteorologist |
| C．forecast the weather by ourselves |
| D．broadcast the weather forecast |
It was 8:35 am. My girls and I were rushing through the front door of the school as I yelled, “Hurry up! The bell was about to…” RIIIIIIIING! The girls froze and their eyes widened. My shoulders sagged(下垂). We were too late.
We were often late for school last year, and every time we ran breathlessly into the attendance I heard myself making silly excuses to Beth, the long-suffering secretary: our alarm didn’t go off; there was so much traffic; it was my husband’s fault; the dog…I didn’t know-something about the dog!
As time passed by, my lying became a habit, and it raised a red flag for me. Lying - even in the form of “harmless” excuses - means we’re ashamed. Shame is different from guilt. Healthy guilt is fair and helpful. But shame can be dangerous. Nothing ruins the connection between two people more quickly than shame and lies do. Anyone trying to live a healthy and honest life must avoid shame at any cost. I was trying to live a healthy and honest life, but my excuses were keeping me from reaching my goal. So I vowed（发誓）to do something different .
The next time we were late, I went to the attendance office. When Beth asked me to fill in a form with the reason for being late, I told the truth. “These days, we are very tired and disorganized,” I wrote. Beth looked down at that form, and the slowly looked up at me. She gave us a warm and big smile and her blue eyes twinkled. She started laughing. So did my kids and I.
We’re all imperfect human beings. We make mistakes. Everyone does make mistakes. However, it’s OK to tell the truth about them. It’s OK to forgive ourselves and promise to try again.By writing Paragraph1, the author wants to show that.
| A．her daughters were not easy to deal with |
| B．she didn’t have an organized lifestyle |
| C．her daughters didn’t like going to school |
| D．she lived a lazy life with her daughters |
What do we know about the author from Paragraph2?
| A．She lived an extremely busy life. |
| B．She liked complaining about life. |
| C．She liked making fun of other people. |
| D．She liked making excuses for her lateness. |
We learn that as time went by, the author.
| A．found that other people liked lying to her |
| B．realized the harm of lying and wanted to change |
| C．found that shame had a positive effect on her life |
| D．realized that she could no longer live a healthy life |
The last paragraph shows when we make a mistake we should.
| A．blame it on different things |
| B．never let others know it is our fault |
| C．never forgive ourselves for making it |
| D．forgive ourselves and try harder next time |
As weather cools across the United States, a growing number of Americans visit farms. They harvest fruits, enjoy hay wagon rides and walk in the fields. These people are called “agri-tourists.” They improve the economy of rural areas and help farmers increase their profits.
School children are walking in a corn field maze. The corn is cut into tricky passageways that make it difficult to find a way out. The children are from Yorktown Elementary School in Bowie Maryland. They have traveled to Montpelier Farms in Prince George’s County which is also in Maryland. The farm is about 40 kilometers from The White House.
Debbie Pierson is the student’s teacher. “We go on these kind of field trips so that the children will have a hands-on experience of what it’s like to be on a farm,” Pierson said.
In Loudoun County Virginia, there are farms where grapes are grown for use in making wine. Many of the farms let people visit, and drink the wine that is made there. Bill Hatch owns the Zephaniah Farm Vineyard. He holds wine tastings in his home. “We are doubling the number of visitors to our farm every year. We have an average of 250 people on a weekend,” Hatch said.
As more people visit farms, more farmers are adding activities in which visitors can take part.
Malcolm Baldwin owns WeatherLea Farm and Vineyard in Loudoun County. Six years ago, he began letting people be married at his farm. They can also sleep at the farm overnight. Mr. Baldwin says the money he makes from these activities let him keep his small farm operating. “But without the animals, and without the vines, the wedding business wouldn’t be as profitable (有利可图的), because people like to see the vines. They like to see the animals and without which I don’t think this will be a popular place,” Baldwin said.We can infer from the first paragraph that people always go for field trips in _______.
| A．Spring | B．Summer | C．Autumn | D．Winter |
The underlined word “maze” in the passage is similar to “_______”.
| A．puzzle | B．trip | C．house | D．activity |
On Malcolm Baldwin’s farms, visitors can ________.
| A．taste the wine made in the USA |
| B．raise and hunt animals |
| C．do wedding business |
| D．have fun as well as bring him money |