People often talk as if shyness is a disease or mental condition that can be cured. I prefer to think of it as an emotional disability. It’s something we are born with and something we carry with us in our entire lives. There are too many people, however, who seem to be determined to find some way of doing away with their shyness. In my opinion, it’s a waste of time. I don’t mean that we should do nothing about it; quite the contrary, I think we need to separate the basic fact of our shyness from our ability to take part in a social environment.
Look at one of the most famous shy people of them all, Johnny Carson. This man is painfully shy, yet for decades he made a living talking and associating with different people every night, in front of a national audience. Carson has never done away with his shyness, but he has successfully found a way to deal with it to the extent that he could be, not just a talk show host, but a legend among talk show hosts. Look also at Sally Fields, who has recently admitted her problem with shyness. This is a woman who has appeared in many films, TV shows and interviews, yet in her early years she was so shy that she turned down a lunch invitation from Jane Fonda because she was terribly afraid of meeting her.
I guess that our shyness is there because each of us is born with some insecurity and this insecurity prevents us from reaching out to others the way people with a more open personality do. As we grow up and become adults, we allow our social skills to grow and develop. But we are still stuck in kindergarten or elementary school or wherever it was when our shyness took root in our soul. In the author’s view, shyness can be explained as .
| A．a not very normal mental condition |
| B．a disease that can be easily cured |
| C．something we pick up after birth |
| D．a kind of emotional disability |
From the passage, we know that Johnny Carson .
| A．has dealt with shyness very successfully |
| B．has done away with his shyness carefully |
| C．is described as a hero in some legend books |
| D．failed to become a good talk show host |
The passage tells us that Sally Fields was .
| A．proud all the time |
| B．close to Jane Fonda |
| C．impolite when young |
| D．shy in her early years |
The author thinks that our shyness is there because .
| A．we are not open enough |
| B．we don’t feel secure at heart |
| C．we try to reach out to others all the time |
| D．we lack some social skills |
Agatha Christie went out at night．She never forgot the night when she met a robber many years ago．
That evening, she was invited to a birthday party which lasted until 2 o’clock in the morning．Agatha walked in the quiet street alone． Suddenly from the shadow of a dark building a tall man with a sharp knife in his right hand ran out at her． “Good morning, lady,” the man said in a low voice, “I don't think you wish to die here!”
“What do you want?” Agatha asked．
“Your earrings(耳环)． Take them off!”
Agatha suddenly had a bright idea． She tried to cover her necklace with the collar (衣领 ) of her overcoat while she used the other hand to take off both of her earrings and then she quickly threw them on the ground．
“Take them and let me go,” she said． The robber saw that the girl didn’t care for the earrings at all, only trying to protect the necklace． He thought the necklace would cost more, so he said, “Give me your necklace．”
“Oh, sir． It’s not worth much． Please let me keep it．”
“Stopping rubbish(废话)． Quick!”
With shaky hands, Agatha took off her necklace． As soon as the robber disappeared, she picked up her earrings and ran as fast as she could to one of her friends．
The earrings cost 480 pounds and the necklace the robber had taken away cost only six pounds．Agatha never forgot the night, for she _______．
| A．was robbed of her earrings |
| B．had a good time at the birthday party |
| C．was robbed of her necklace |
| D．was robbed, but she fooled the robber |
The birthday party ___________．
| A．was over at 2 | B．didn’t end after 2 |
| C．ended before 2 | D．didn’t end at 2 |
Which of the following is not true? ______．
| A．Agatha pretended not to care for her earrings |
| B．Agatha pretended to care for her necklace |
| C．Agatha really cared for her earrings |
| D．Agatha didn’t care for her earrings at all because they were not too expensive |
After reading the story，you may know that Agatha was a _____ girl．
| A．brave and famous | B．clever and brave |
| C．foolish | D．beautiful |
Many people consider their pets members of the family and are very sad when they die, but what if you could clone your dog, cat or bird?
A scientist in New Orleans, who has proved his ability to clone other animals, is now offering the possibility to pet owners here in Wisconsin．
Scientists have not been able to clone dogs, cats or other pets, but if and when the time comes, several companies will be ready and able to do the job．
The question is: Are you ready to clone your pet? Brett Reggio is betting on it．He is working on his Ph. D at Louisian State University. He's successfully cloned a goat five times and wants to try the process on family pets． So he started a business called Lazaron． “What Lazaron provides is the first step in the cloning process． ”He said．“It’s for curing and storing the fiberglass cells that will be used for cloning．”
“Your first reaction is yeah! I think I’d like that．” said Donna Schacht, a pet owner．
“I don’t believe you can ever replace a special love,” pet owner Paulette Callattion said．
Most pet owners will tell you freezing your pet’s DNA in hopes of one day cloning it is a personal decision．
Scientists say that cloning your own pet doesn’t mean that the offspring（后代） will have the same intelligence, temperament（性情） or other qualities that your pet has．From the passage we know that scientists have ______．
| A．tried to clone animals |
| B．cloned many kinds of animals |
| C．been able to clone pets for people |
| D．once cloned goats successfully |
Brett Reggio started a business in order to _____．
| A．clone pets for people |
| B．store the DAN of people’s pets for cloning one day |
| C．make pets members of a family |
| D．collect different ideas on cloning from people |
Some people seem not interested in cloning pets because___________．
| A．they think it would be too expensive |
| B．they don’t think scientists will one day be able to clone their pets |
| C．they think the cloned pet would not be the one they once had |
| D．they don’t want to give any love to the cloned pet |
If you cloned a pet, your might find that it_____．
| A．looked different from the pet you once had |
| B．turned out to be another kind of animal |
| C．had a different character |
| D．were just the same pet your once had |
How do you enter a room full of strangers? Do you walk right in full of confidence? Or do you try to slip in without being noticed? ______
In life, we admire those who do their tasks confidently. We prefer people who appear to know what they are doing. But where does that confidence begin?
Developing self-confidence starts very early. It’s parents’ role to get kids on the right track toward becoming confident people. ______ That can be done by focusing on the child’s strengths. Parents should encourage their children to try new things and take risks. When children make mistakes, their parents should still let them know that they are loved. Children whose parents do these things will likely develop into confident adults. ___
___ So what’s the solution?
◎With most things in life, practice makes perfect, and that is true of confidence skills. ______
◎Always hold your head high and look people in the eye. Answer questions clearly and confidently.
◎Focus on the things that you do well, and look for opportunities to use those abilities.
◎Prepare thoroughly for every project. You’ll approach the task more confidently knowing that you are ready.
◎______ It could be a good test score or a prize from a contest. Remind yourself that one success often leads to the next.
However, all humans fail at times, and you will too. Even with efforts to try all the above, you will never be perfect. But you can learn to love and accept yourself and live your life with confidence.
| A.Keep in mind an item that reminds you of a recent success. B.The more you practice them, the easier they will become. C.The way you go into new situations show your level of self-confidence. D.Our goal is to prepare students to go into the world with confidence. E.To help that process, parents should always offer more praise than criticism. F.Learning from mistakes helps you face the same situation later without fear. G.But self-confidence still doesn’t come easily. |
One potential problem with allowances is that children’s responsible behavior can become about earning the allowance rather than the intrinsic(固有的)value of their family responsibilities. For example, if you pay your children for taking out the rubbish, they see this chore (家务事) as a job that they should be rewarded for instead of a responsibility they must fulfill as part of the family. But giving children an allowance for weekly chores is not necessarily bad. You are rewarding them for fulfilling their family responsibilities, but it is not for a specific act. It is an appreciation of their commitment to your family values. You are also conveying another important message that their actions have consequences: if they do good things, good things happen. They also learn a lesson about the market economy, namely that work is rewarded.
Allowances can also be used as punishment and to teach children lessons about family values. For example, if your children join a group of kids smashing (砸碎) pumpkins on Halloween, a part of a reasonable punishment might be to require them to pay the families out of their allowance to replace the pumpkins. Thus, your children learn that bad behavior has financial consequences. Meanwhile, by relating the punishment to the misdeed, you ensure that your children see the connection and learn the value lesson.
How much allowance should you pay your children? The precise amount depends on your family’s financial situation, the cost of living and your children’s needs. Children can start to earn a weekly allowance as early as 5 years of age. An increase of $ 1 per week for each year of your children’s lives is realistic until they reach their mid-teens. When they begin to drive and date, you can calculate their expenses and establish a reasonable allowance that covers their needs.The first paragraph mainly tells us that giving allowance to children may____________.
| A．lead to children’s preference for money rather than anything else |
| B．lead to children’s preference for earning money on their own |
| C．cause the problem that children value money more than responsibilities |
| D．cause children to earn money instead of going to school |
When your children join a group of kids smashing pumpkins on Halloween, ___________.
| A．you should give them some allowances to pay for the pumpkins |
| B．they should be rid of their opportunity to celebrate Halloween |
| C．you should ensure your children see the connection with their lessons |
| D．they should face the consequence of losing their own money |
It can be inferred from the passage that_____________.
| A．the author doesn’t want to give any tips on the allowance amount |
| B．allowances given to children of different ages may vary |
| C．children under 6 can’t be given any allowance |
| D．the allowance amount grows depending on the amount other children receive |
These days everyone is worried about the size of their carbon footprint. In order to reduce global warming we need to make our carbon footprints smaller. But how much CO2 are we responsible for?
A new book by Mike Berners Lee, an expert, might be able to help. The carbon footprint looks at the different things we do and buy, and calculates the amount of CO2 all of the following created: the ingredients, the electricity, the equipment, the travel and commuting of the beer, and the packaging. It’s amazing how many different things need to be included in each calculation. And it’s frightening how much carbon dioxide everything produces.
This can help us decide which beer to drink. From Berners Lee’s calculations, it’s clear that a pint (568ml) of locally brewed beer has a smaller carbon footprint than a bottle of imported beer. This is because the imported beer has been transported from far away, and it uses more packaging. The local beer only produces 300g of CO2, but the imported beer produces 900g! So, one pint of local beer is better for the environment.
Berners Lee has even calculated the carbon footprint of cycling to work. Nothing is more environmentally friendly than riding a bike, surely? Well, it depends on what you’ve had to eat before. To ride a bike we need energy and for energy we need food. So if we eat a banana and then ride a kilometer, our footprint is 65g of CO2. However, if we eat bacon before the ride, it’s 200g. In fact, bananas are good because they don’t need packaging, they can be transported by boat and they grow in natural sunlight.
So, does this mean that cycling is bad for the environment? Absolutely not, for a start, if you cycle, you don’t use your car, and the fewer cars on the road, the fewer traffic jams. And cars in traffic jams produce three times more CO2 than cars traveling at speed. Cycling also makes you healthy and less likely to go to hospital. So maybe it’s time for us all to start making some changes. Pass me a banana and a pint of local beer, please.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Everything produces carbon dioxide equally. |
| B．The imported beer is much better than the local beer in quality. |
| C．Actually bananas are good in general because they produce less CO2. |
| D．To make our carbon footprints smaller, we should often drink more beer. |
The underlined word “brew” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “___________”.
| A．make | B．put | C．look after | D．take place |
What’s the main purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To tell the differences among bikes, beer and bananas. |
| B．To call on us to take action to make carbon footprint smaller. |
| C．To introduce what CO2 really is in our life. |
| D．To remind us to start healthy eating habits. |
Where can we probably read this passage?
| A．In a science fiction story. | B．In a newspaper advertisement. |
| C．In a science research report. | D．In a travel magazine. |