Every year, I tell my sons what I'd like for Mother's Day: a letter. Something written from the heart and offered freely rather than bought from a store and wrapped neatly. I don't always get my wish, nor do I always take the time to write to my own mother.
This year, my boys will be in two different states on Mother's Day. My mom and dad will be away together, and I'11 be driving home from a writer's workshop in Massachusetts. Thinking of the fact that many friends have already lost their mothers and that a few have lost children, I am deeply grateful that what separates us, for now at least, is merely distance. It won't always be so, and there is no way to prepare for that fact other than to appreciate the moment that is. My sons know that they can please me on Sunday with a phone call or an e-mail, and that is enough as I love their words. The very best gift they can possibly give me is their own happiness, the very fact of their busy. full and well-lived lives.
Still, knowing that my years of staying with my sons are over, I do Feel doleful. The truth is, I miss being the center of the universe to two little boys. And this holiday can be a bit painful.
I wonder if my own mother ever felt nostalgic ('VTIH WJ) for the passing of my childhood. I wonder if she realizes that she is still at the center of my universe and always has been. I don't often pause to think about it. but of course she is the one who has been right there, at my side from the moment I drew my very first breath. How to ever fully appreciate the woman whose presence and 1ove and example have shaped me into the adult I am? How to describe even a small part of the sharing. sacrificing. and support she has given me over the years?The author mainly wants to tell us through the first paragraph that _____.
| A．she hopes to get her son's letters very much |
| B．her sons don't often write to her on Mother's Day |
| C．Mother's Day is the very date that she longs for most |
| D．she is very sorry not to write to her mother often |
The author is deeply grateful for the present life because ____.
| A．her sons don't live far away from her home |
| B．her parents and children are still alive |
| C．her parents are coming to her house to spend Mother's Day |
| D．her sons can please her on Sunday with a phone call |
According to the author ______
| A．young people nowadays tend to ignore their parents |
| B．parents should not give their children too much freedom |
| C．children's happiness and success are the biggest comfort to parents |
| D．parents are not the center of their children's universe when children grow up |
What does the underlined word "doleful" in paragraph 3 mean?
| A．sad | B．excited | C．guilty | D．proud |
What will the author probably tell about after the last paragraph?
| A．She'll tell the reader about her mother's present situation. |
| B．She'll recall how her mother educated and cared for her. |
| C．She'll describe the reunion of her family on Mother's Day. |
| D．She'll tell the reader about her mother's achievements in her career. |
Childhood is a happy time, right? Not necessarily. Consider these facts.
Depression(抑郁症) may occur in as many as 1 in 33 children.
Once a child has an episode(一段情节) of depression, he or she has a 50 percent chance of experiencing another episode in the next 5 years.
Suicide(自杀) is the 6th leading cause of death for 5–to–15-year-olds.
If your child experiences 5 or more of these signs or symptoms(症状) for at least 2 weeks, he or she may be experiencing depression or another mental illness.
| Feeling——Does your child demonstrate: Sadness Emptiness Hopelessness Guilt Worthlessness Lack of enjoyment in everyday pleasures |
Thinking ——Is your child having trouble: Concentrating Making decisions Completing schoolwork Maintaining grades Maintaining friendships |
| Physical problems—Does your child complain of : Headaches Stomachaches Lack of energy Sleeping problems ( too much or too little) Weight or appetite changes ( gain or loss) |
Suicide risk--Does your child talk or think about: Suicide Death Other morbid （生病的）subjects |
| Behavior problems ——Is your child: Irritable Not wanting to go to school Wanting to be alone most of the time Having difficulty getting along with others Cutting classes or skipping school Dropping out of sports, hobbies or other activities Drinking alcohol or using drugs. |
Sometimes, a child who causes problems at school or at home may actually be depressed, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. If you think your child may be depressed, it’s important to have your child treated. Discuss your child’s problems with his or her doctor. The doctor may suggest a referral to a children’s psychologist(心理医生)or psychiatrist（精神病医生）.
Treatment may include individual and family therapy(治疗), along with an antidepressant medication (抗抑郁药)This article is particularly written for ____.
| A．parents | B．teachers | C．children | D．psychologists |
Which statement describes a child who may have physical problems?
| A．The child is always in high mood. |
| B．The child always feels tired but sleeps only four hours a day. |
| C．The child hates to study. |
| D．The child can not concentrate on one thing for a long period. |
When your child always talks about death or other morbid subjects, he or she___
| A．may has trouble in thinking | B．may have suicide risk |
| C．may have behavior problems | D．may have physical problems |
What should we do when we find our kids experiencing depression?
| A．Ask for leave to accompany them at home. |
| B．Ask them to take antidepressant immediately. |
| C．Go to see the doctor. |
| D．Ask them to have a good rest. |
For a clearer picture of what the student knows, most teachers use another kind of examination in addition to objective tests. They use “essay” tests, which require students to write long answers to broad, general questions such as the following: “Mention several ways in which Benjamin Franklin has influenced thinking of people in his own country and in other parts of the world.”
One advantage of the essay test is that it reduces the element of luck. The student cannot get a high score just by making a lucky guess. Another advantage is that it shows the examiner more cares about the student’s ability to put facts together into a meaningful whole. It should show how deeply he has thought about the subject. Sometimes, though, essay tests have disadvantages, too. Some students are able to write rather good answers without really knowing much about the subject, while other students who actually know the material have trouble expressing their ideas in the essay form.
Besides, in an essay test the student’s score may depend upon the examiner’s feelings at the time of reading the answer. If he is feeling tired or bored, the student may receive a lower score than he should. Another examiner reading the same answer might give it a much higher mark. Because of this, the objective test gives each student a fairer chance, and of course it is easier and quicker to score.
Whether an objective test or an essay test is used, problems arise. When some objective questions are used along with some essay questions, however, a fairly clear picture of the student’s knowledge can usually be gotten.What may have been discussed in the previous paragraphs?
| A．The essay test. | B．How teachers test their students. |
| C．How students write their essays. | D．The objective test. |
The essay test is preferred because ______.
| A．it shows more about the student’s understanding of the subject |
| B．it tests the student’s knowledge of the material as well as his expression of ideas |
| C．it gives each student a fairer chance |
| D．its scoring may be influenced by the examiner’s feelings |
The underlined word “this” refers to the fact that ______.
| A．students may receive a lower score in an essay test |
| B．another examiner usually gives the answer a higher mark |
| C．different examiners may give the same essay different scores |
| D．the objective test gives each student a fairer chance |
According to the passage, which of the following statements about the objective test is NOT true?
| A．It is more objective than the essay test in terms of scoring. |
| B．It allows the student to guess the correct answer without really knowing the material. |
| C．It shows the student’s ability to think about difficult problems. |
| D．It is easy and quick to score. |
Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong signal (信号). Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a relationship.
Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree. For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any job. In many European countries -- like the UK or France -- people find it easier to build up a lasting working relationship at restaurants or caf6s rather than at the office.
Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more quickly.
People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化环境) will offer a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other. In some countries, eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to _______.
| A．develop closer relations | B．share the same culture |
| C．get to know each other | D．keep each other company |
The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that _________.
| A．the English prefer to make long speeches |
| B．too many words are of no use |
| C．people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature |
| D．even talk and silence can be culturally different |
According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?
| A．By sharing different ways of life. | B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By recognizing different values. | D．By speaking each other' s languages. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Multicultural Environment. | B．Cross-Cultural Differences. |
| C．How to Understand Each Other. | D．How to Build Up a Relationship. |
Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication in a business, or even open people’s mind to another culture or race.
People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them. For example, most American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times. They regard storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own.
“ Most local stories are based on a larger theme,” American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, “ Cinderella(灰姑娘), or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost every culture of the world.”
Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages of the stories. She works with prisoner too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives. If they don’t like the story they are living, they can rewrite the story. Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers. “For every advance in business,” she says, “ there is a greater need for communication.” Storytelling can have a great effect on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says.
Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday life of the people there. The benefits of storytelling are found everywhere, she says.
“I learned how people used stories to spread their culture,” she says, “ What I do is to focus on the value of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs. We are all storytellers. We all have a story to tell. We tell everybody’s story.”What do we learn about American storyteller from Paragraph 2?
| A．They share the same way of storytelling. |
| B．They prefer to tell the stories from other cultures. |
| C．They learn their stories from the American natives. |
| D．They find storytelling useful for both children and adults. |
The underlined sentence (Paragraph 4) suggests that prisoners can _____.
| A．start a new life | B．settle down in another place |
| C．direct films | D．become good actors |
Pugh has practised storytelling with _____ groups of people.
| A．2 | B．3 | C．4 | D．5 |
What is the main idea of the text?
| A．Storytelling can influence the way people think. |
| B．Storytelling is vital to the growth of business. |
| C．Storytelling is the best way to educate children in school. |
| D．Storytelling helps people understand themselves and others. |
High school dropouts（辍学者）earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study dispels a common belief why they quit. It’s much more basic than flunking out（不及格）.
Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy，and perhaps not too bright．So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.
“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school.” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic（美籍西班牙的）student will receive a diploma（证书），and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So， if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again，John Bridgeland："The most dependable finding was that they were bored.” “They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their career aspirations.”
The study found that most teens who do drop out wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US，only one state，New Mexico，has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions, another researcher，says raising the compulsory（义务的）attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school．
“As these dropouts look back，they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out and it through to the end, is probably helpful measure.”
New Hampshire may be the next state to raise its school attendance age to 18. But critics say that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point－the need for reform. It's been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and relevant, and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that actually means something. Most high school students drop out of' school because＿＿．
| A．they have failing grades | B．they take no interest in classes |
| C．they are discriminated against | D．they are lazy and not intelligent |
Acceding to the passage，which state has a law requiring school attendance until they graduate?
| A．New Hampshire | B．Utah | C．New Mexico | D．The District of Columbia |
The underlined words “stick it out” probably means“＿＿”．
| A．complete schooling | B．solve the problem |
| C．love having classes | D．believe in themselves |
From the passage，we can infer the following EXCEPT that＿．
| A．the grades of most dropouts at school were acceptable |
| B．about 500, 000 high school dropouts are black and Spanish |
| C．classes don't appeal to dropouts |
| D．on average dropouts cannot get good jobs |