Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learned that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though.
There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property.
I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co-worker told me that this boy’s teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking，the boy ran in. I told my co-worker that I would take care of him.
I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation:
“So what happened today?”
It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn’t let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start，which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to find his teacher to apologize.The boy made trouble for his teacher because he_____ .
| A．was accused of destroying property |
| B．was told not to yell at other children |
| C．was made to do things against his will |
| D．was blamed for creating an air of tension |
Why didn’t the author do anything about the boy’s bad behavior at first?
| A．She didn’t want to make it worse. |
| B．She didn’t mind the huge mess at all. |
| C．She was tired of shouting and threats. |
| D．She hadn’t thought of a coping strategy. |
The author managed to get the boy to talk to her by _____.
| A．playing games with him |
| B．giving him a good suggestion |
| C．describing his teacher’s feelings |
| D．avoiding making critical remarks |
Why did the boy have tears in his eyes in the end?
| A．He was sorry about his reputation. |
| B．He was regretful about his behavior. |
| C．He was fearful of the author’s warning. |
| D．He was sad for the author’s misunderstanding. |
When employing role-plays, debates, topic discussions, etc., I have noticed that some students are often timid in expressing their viewpoints. This seems due to a number of reasons:
·Students don't have an opinion on the subject.
·Students have an opinion, but are worried about what the other students might say or think.
·Students have an opinion, but don't feel they can say exactly what they mean.
·Students begin giving their opinion, but want to state it in the same eloquent manner that they are capable of in their native language.
·Othermore actively participating students, feel confident in their opinions and express them eloquently making the less confident students more timid.
In fact, conversation lessons and exercises are intended to improve conversational skills. For this reason, I find it helpful to first focus on building skills by eliminating some of the barriers that might be in the way of production.Having been assigned roles, opinions and points of view that they do not necessarily share, students are freed from having to express their own opinions. Therefore, they can focus on expressing themselves well in English. In this way, students tend to concentrate more on production skills, and less on factual content. They also are less likely to insist on literal translations from their mother tongue.
Applying this approach can begin slowly by providing students with short role plays using cue cards. Once students become comfortable with target structures and representing differing points of view, classes can move onto more elaborated exercises such as debates and group decision making activities. This approach bears fruit especially when debating opposing points of view. By representing opposing points of view, students' imagination are activated by trying to focus on all the various points that an opposing stand on any given issue may take. As students inherently do not agree with the view they represent, they are freed from having to invest emotionally in the statements they make. More importantly, to some extent, students tend to focus more on correct function and structure when they do not become too emotionally involved in what they are saying.
Of course, this is not to say that students should not express their own opinions. After all, when students go out into the "real" world they will want to say what they mean. However, taking out the personal investment factor can help students first become more confident in using English. Once this confidence is gained, students - especially timid students - will be more self-assured when expressing their own points of view.The passage is mainly about how to ______ .
| A．teach students to do role-plays |
| B．have conversation lessons effectively |
| C．teach students to express their own opinions |
| D．help students discuss in class |
Which of the following does NOT make students shy in expressing their opinion?
| A．Other students are more eloquent. |
| B．They have no their own opinions. |
| C．They’re good at their own mother tongue. |
| D．They lack enough confidence. |
According to the passage, how are conversation skills easier to be build?
| A．By asking students to tell their own opinions. |
| B．By practicing arranged roles and opinions. |
| C．By keeping speaking in English. |
| D．By having debates at first. |
The underlined word eliminating can be best replaced by ______ .
| A．setting up | B．making room for |
| C．struggling for | D．getting rid of |
One of the benefits that the students can obtain from the role-play approach is that ______ .
| A．they focus more on the English language itself |
| B．they pay more attention to the factual content |
| C．they show more affection for their mother tongue |
| D．they gain more opportunity to express their own opinions |
It was a cold winter. The day my husband fell to his death, it started to snow, just like any November day. His body, when I found it, was lightly covered with snow. It snowed almost every day for the next four months, while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up. One morning, I shuffled downstairs and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling(铲) my walk. I dropped to my knees, crawled through the living room. And back up stairs so those good people would not see me. I was embarrassed. My first thought was, how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair let alone shovel someone’s walk.
Before John’s death, I felt proud that I rarely asked for favors. I identified myself by my competence and independence. So who was I if I was no longer capable and busy? How could I respect myself if I just sat on the couch every day and watched the snow fall?
Learning to receive the love and support from others wasn’t easy. Friends cooked for me and I cried because I couldn’t even help them set the table. Finally, my friend Kathy said, “Mary, cooking for you isn’t a burden for me; it makes me feel good to be able to do something for you.”
Over and over, I heard similar words from the people who supported me during those dark days. One wise man told me, “You aren’t doing nothing because being fully open to your sorrow may be the hardest work you will ever do.”
I am not the person I once was, but in many ways I have changed for the better. I’ve been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom coming form facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole. I believe there is strength, for sure, in accepting a dark period of our life. Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．The writer’s friend was unwilling to cook for her. |
| B．The writer had been busy with her life before |
| C．The writer recovered from her sorrow quickly with his friend’s help. |
| D．The day her husband died, it was snowing heavily. |
We can describe the writer before her husband died as the following EXCEPT __
| A．hard-working | B．independent |
| C．smart | D．capable |
We can infer from the passage that ____________.
| A．the writer found her husband immediately he fell off the roof |
| B．the writer became strong-willed immediately after John's death |
| C．the people around the writer were friendly and supported her |
| D．before John’s death, the writer never asked others for help |
The writer wrote the passage to______
| A．share her sad story with us |
| B．express her guilty conscience to the people who helped her |
| C．show her thanks to the people who love and support her |
| D．tell us the changes she has made because of her husband’s death |
Next time you hear a funny joke you’d better not laugh too hard. According to a paper published by the British Medical Journal, laughter isn’t always the best medicine. Sometimes it can even be harmful. Professor Robin Ferner from the University of Birmingham, one of the authors of the study, found that bad things could happen to people who laughed too much. He says: “We found people with heartbeat problems which had stopped their heart, we found people who had fainted, and we found people who’d dislocated their jaws or burst their lungs.”
It seems that laughing can be no laughing matter. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Professor Ferner says there are benefits to laughing when you want to lose weight, for example. Yes, that’s right: laugh and be slimmer! Professor Ferner explains that: “You use energy when you laugh, you move your diaphragm (横膈膜), you expand your lungs, and both those things can be helpful.”
According to the research, laughing for a quarter of an hour can burn up to 40 calories, and if you laughed all day you’d use up about 2,000 calories, which is what most people consume in a day. But don’t do that or you might end up with a painful jaw. Ouch! Or you might find people looking at you in a funny way.
But I don’t want to finish this article leaving you feeling desperate. Laughter comes naturally for most of us. Babies begin to laugh at around 3-6 months. So give in to your sense of humour and keep smiling. Life is short anyway.Laughing too much may cause the following harmful results EXCEPT_________.
| A．heart stop | B．diaphragm movement |
| C．lung burst | D．jaw dislocation |
The underlined phrase “doom and gloom” in Paragraph 2 probably means_______.
| A．hopeless | B．funny | C．painful | D．nervous |
What is the author’s attitude towards laughing in the last paragraph?
| A．Uninterested. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Worried. | D．Favorable |
San Francisco, unofficially regarded as one of the homeless capitals of the US, counts nearly 6,500 homeless people, with 4,300 living on the street.
Among the many problems that the homeless face is little or no access to showers. San Francisco only has about 16 to 20 shower stations to accommodate them. But Doniece Sandoval has made it her task to change that. “Homelessness is something you can’t really miss,” the 51-year-old woman said. She started Lava Mae, a sort of showers on wheels, a new project that aims to turn old city buses into shower stations for the homeless.
“One day I passed a woman in the street and she was very dirty and basically crying, and I heard her say that she would never be clean. But I was wondering what her opportunities were to actually get clean,” Sandoval said.
Sandoval was inspired to start Lava Mae. The project has already been welcomed with open arms in the city. The Transportation Agency has donated one bus for the cause and is willing to donate three more if the project succeeds. Sandoval hopes the first bus will be able to hit the road in May this year. The Public Commission has also agreed to let the buses plug into fire hydrants(消防龙头)around the city if Lava Mae pays for the water.
One of Lava Mae’s biggest supporters is Bevan Dufty, the director of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement under the mayor of San Francisco. “For people who are unhoused, access to showers is very difficult. Shower buses are something that could potentially be deployed (部署)in response to an emergency, so it is relevant to all San Franciscans," Dufty said. “Doniece has done an incredible job as a citizen who cares about helping the poor. We are very excited to see Lava Mae become real soon. ”
Each bus will have two shower stations and Sandoval expects that by 2015, they’ll be able to provide 2000 showers a week. What problem does San Francisco face according to the text?
A. The city has the most homeless people in the USA.
B. There are no shower stations for the homeless in the city.
C. It’s hard for homeless people in the city to take showers.
D. Few citizens in the city care about the homeless.What does the underlined word ''them” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．City problems. | B．Shower stations. |
| C．Old buses. | D．The homeless. |
. Which of the following best describes Doniece Sandoval?
| A．Brave and independent. | B．Caring and responsible. |
| C．Honest and determined. | D．Friendly and humorous. |
What can we learn from Dufty’s words?
| A．All San Franciscans are excited to use Lava Mae. |
| B．Emergencies in San Francisco will be prevented by Lava Mae. |
| C．Dufty thinks highly of Doniece's way of helping the poor. |
| D．The mayor of San Francisco will support Doniece financially. |
What can be a suitable title for the text?
| A．A Newly Invented Way of Shower |
| B．Showers on Wheels for the Homeless |
| C．The Health Problem of the Homeless |
| D．Lave Mae---a new name for old city buses |
Welcome to Gold Coast Wax Museum
The Gold Wax(蜡像) Museum is one of the Cold Coast's longest running attractions. It's a collection of famous figures. It's Australia's largest museum of its kind, featuring more than 110 life-size wax figures copies of British and Australian History.
The Wax Museum is visited by many thousands of people each year who are shocked at the amazing realism of the life-size figures in authentic costumes. This is your invitation to wander through at your leisure and meet many important and famous people's figures on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Come face to face with such celebrities as Michael Jackson, President Obama, past President John F. Kennedy, King Hussein, members of the Royal Family, and many others whose lives have all left an indelible (擦不掉的) mark on our world. Information cards are located alongside each figure.
The Gold Coast Wax Museum contains figures which have been made by leading local and overseas sculptors to international standards, equal in quality to the world's best, as seen in Europe, the United Kingdom, and U. S. A. The detail in the figures is amazing -and includes hair applied one strand at a time, requiring many working hours for one hand, and the eyes are so real that they seem to follow the viewer around.
Price
Child (1-3yrs) free
Child (4-12yrs) $ 22. 00
Adult $ 29. 00
Family (2 Adults + I Child) $68.00
Opening hours
Open 7 days a week, 10 a. m. to l0 p. m.
Closed at Christmas Day (25 Dec.) and Anzac Day (25 Apr.)
Location
Ferny Ave, Surfers Paradise ( Gold Coast ) QLD
How to get there
You can choose any of the Gold Coast airport transfers, car rentals, shuttles and private transfers to/from your hotel. Many coach operators also offer Gold Coast transfers to surrounding attractions, beaches, and the more distant destinations, throughout the day.
What to bring
Bring your sense of adventure and your camera and see something exciting and quite unique.
For further information, please click here to see more about the Gold Coast Wax Museum. If you visit the Gold Coast Wax Museum, you can
| A．see many members of the Royal Family in person in the Museum |
| B．enjoy some world-class vivid max-works in the Museum |
| C．meet many leading local and international sculptors in the Museum |
| D．come at any time of the year except at Christmas Day |
If a couple and their l0-year-old son visit the Gold Coast Wax Museum, they may pay_____．
| A．$87 | B．$80 | C．$68 | D．$58 |
You will most probably find this passage ______.
| A．in a guidebook | B．in a magazine |
| C．in a text book | D．on a webpage |