My grandmother was from a town in Michigan. Summer after summer, I enjoyed staying with my grandparents as a young child. I was from the city and loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone, their kids, their pets, their ancestors. The bond with them continued to grow as I grew and they got older. Grandma was always using her hands for something exciting. She would make little sandwiches and we’d have tea parties. She’d make beautiful quilts for each one. I remember the small thimble(顶针) she would use while doing her needle work.
A few years ago, when Grandma left this earth, I bid farewell to a loving grandmother. How quickly our lives can change. We had just had tea together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday.
On one particular birthday, when I was feeling a little low, something happened to make me feel like she was sharing that special day with me. I was arranging some colorful pillows that she had made, and suddenly I felt something inside one pillow. It was small and hard. I moved the object to a seam(接缝) that I carefully opened, and to my delight out came a tiny silver thimble! How happy I was to find something that had been a part of her. I carefully laid the thimble alongside the others I’ve collected over the years, where I could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal(启示)to me. What a precious memory of a very special lady who somehow, I knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her thimble inside my pillow.
I made some tea, using my best china, as Grandma always did, and enjoyed my tea and Grandma’s thimble. What a wonderful birthday that was! The author wrote this passage to .
| A．show how she missed her grandma |
| B．express a desire to lead a simple life |
| C．call on people to care for the old |
| D．look back upon her happy childhood |
The author liked staying with her grandparents because .
| A．she knew almost everyone there |
| B．she liked the simple and friendly town life there |
| C．she could have tea parties and eat sandwiches |
| D．she could learn to sew quilts |
How did the author feel when she found the silver thimble?
| A．Sad. | B．Proud. | C．Lucky. | D．Cheerful. |
It can be inferred from the passage that the silver thimble .
| A．was the item the author had been trying to find |
| B．was the most treasured possession of Grandma |
| C．was very precious to the author |
| D．was a birthday gift Grandma had given the author |
A dog can’t speak words, but it can “talk”. It has feelings just as you do. At times it may feel angry or afraid. Watch a dog closely. You can see what it is trying to tell you. When you are afraid, you may look down shyly. A fearful dog looks away from you. It may run away too. When you are angry with people, you stare at them and press your lips together. An angry dog also stares. Sometimes the hair along its back stands up.
Do you feel guilty when you have done something you shouldn’t? Dogs can feel guilty, too. At times when I come home, my dog gives me a guilty look. Then I know he’s done something wrong.
Dogs need love and attention. Some dogs are very unhappy when they are left alone for a long time. Some dogs even snap(撕咬) if they don’t get enough attention.
You may have a dog or you may know a dog. Treat it well if you want to have fun with it. Play with it. Take it on walks. Don’t order it round too much. Try not to punish it one time and not the next for doing the same thing. Always remember, a dog has needs and feelings just as you do. Talk to a dog, it’ll talk to you, too.If a dog snaps at things, it is because it may ______.
| A．feel lonely | B．feel shy |
| C．be fearful | D．be disappointed |
You can tell that a dog has done something bad when _________.
| A．its hair stands up | B．it runs away from you |
| C．it has a guilty expression | D．its lips are pressed together |
Which of the following things does the writer advise you to do towards your dog?
| A．Never punish the dog | B．Never leave the dog alone |
| C．Train the dog to take orders from you | D．Train it the way you want to be treated. |
Suppose you punish your dog for tearing up a shoe, what should you do the next time it does so?
| A．Talk to him | B．Punish it again |
| C．Pay no attention to it | D．Take it out for a walk |
The word “guilty” in the second paragraph most probably means _______.
| A．happy | B．excited | C．frightened | D．sorry |
An old woman went suddenly blind. She promised a doctor a lot of money if he could make her see again. “If you fail”, she said, “ you will get nothing,” The doctor agreed with her.The doctor soon discovered what was wrong with her, but he decided not to cure her right away. Instead, each time he visited, he secretly took some of her things. When he had taken everything that he wanted, he cured her blindness and sent her a large bill. Now when the old woman could see again she noticed that all her things had gone and she refused to pay the bill. So the doctor took her before a judge.
“What the doctor says is true.” she said to the judge. “But I say I’m not cured, because I still
can’t see any of the things in my house.”
The old woman won her case and the doctor went away unhappily without getting his pay.The doctor didn’t cure the old woman right away because __________.
A. He didn’t know how to cure her B. He wanted to get a lot of money
C. He wanted to take the woman’s things D The woman refused to pay him The woman was _______ .
| A．clever | B．greedy | C．cruel | D．dishonest |
The doctor was ________.
| A．honest | B．a cheat | C．a kind man | D．ready to help others |
The word “case” in the last paragraph means ______.
| A．a single example | B．a particular situation |
| C．a question to be decided in a court of law | D．box |
Which sentence is right according to the passage?
| A．The judge didn’t believe the old woman |
| B．The doctor cured the woman’s blindness in a short time. |
| C．The woman got back all her things taken by the doctor. |
| D．The doctor failed to get his pay . |
Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another. Some societies, such as America and Australia, for example, are mobile and very open. People here change jobs and move houses quite often. As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly. So it’s normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal.
On the other hand, there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long–term relationships are more important. A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business. But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society.
To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first. On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don’t want to answer.
Cross-cultural differences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them. All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place. This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with.
Some societies have “universalist” cultures. These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way. “Particularist” societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’s unwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person. So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person.
This difference can cause problems. A traveler from a particularist society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalist culture. The Indian traveler has too much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family. He expects that the check–in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him. The check–in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers. But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem.Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americans and Australians ______.
| A．like traveling better |
| B．easy to communicate with |
| C．difficult to make real friends |
| D．have a long–term relationship with their neighbors |
People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those ______.
| A．who will tell them everything of their own |
| B．who want to do business with them |
| C．they know quite well |
| D．who are good at talking |
Which of the following is true about “particularist societies”?
| A．There is no rule for people to obey. |
| B．People obey the society’s rules completely. |
| C．No one obeys the society’s rules though they have. |
| D．The society’s rules can be changed with different persons or situations. |
The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different ______.
| A．interests | B．habits and customs | C．cultures | D．ways of life |
If you think English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the earlier people learn a second language, the greater the effect is.
A team led by Dr. Andrea Mechelli, from University College London(UCL), took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals(通两种语言的人)”, who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference was.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills.
“Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible,” he said, “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of 2 and 34. Reading, writing and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the earlier they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists. What does the underlined part “grey matter” (in Paragraph 2) refer to?
| A．Grey hair. | B．Material of the brain. |
| C．Intelligence. | D．Difficult situations. |
The experience of learning a second language can ________.
| A．change one’s brain completely | B．improve one’s maths skills |
| C．make one smarter than others | D．increase the ability to learn |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．the researchers from UCL did another study in Italy |
| B．a similar study was done on native Italian speakers who learn English as a second language |
| C．the research done on the Italians showed a totally different result |
| D．it will be easier for one to travel around the world by learning a second language |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Learning a second language can help improve your brain power. |
| B．You should learn a second language that is not your native language. |
| C．If you want to learn a second language, you should do it at a certain age. |
| D．The research done by the researchers from UCL is very successful. |
Ifhas anyone noticed how, with the passage of time, one’s relationship with one’s grown-up daughters and sons becomes changed? I’ve been aware of this for some time but I’m not quite sure how to deal with it.
Take the kitchen sink for example.
Following a family get-together at my place, I walked into the kitchen to find Kate, my daughter, carefully cleaning the sink.
“Don’t do that; what are you doing that for?” I said, unhappy about the hidden criticism.
“Mum,” she said, “you really ought to put your glasses on when you clean the sink. Behind the tap here was black!”
But it’s not just things like kitchen sinks. Another time Kate arrived to pick me up to lunch. She looked at me and then asked, “Mum, why do you use brown eyebrow pencil when your hair is grey?”
A sudden memory of her, aged 14, going to her first mixed party flooded back. She had come in to say goodbye. For a moment I thought she’d been an accident. Both eyes were black. I remember suggesting that perhaps a little less eye make-up might be more effective.
Now I told her, “My hair used to be brown.”
“It looks absurd.(荒唐)”
“Mrs. Menzies had dark eyebrows with grey hair.”
“Yes, but you’re not Mrs. Menzies, are you?” she said triumphantly, as if that proved her point.
But a recent event made me realize that something really must be done.
She had returned home for a few weeks before getting married. One evening I went out on a dinner date. By the time my companion left me at the front door, it was about 2am. As I stepped in, an angry figure in a white nightgown（睡衣）stopped me.
“Well, what time of night is this to be coming home?” she shouted. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!”
Shades of the past come back to disturb me. But what should I do about all this? Nothing, probably. Maybe, after all, it’s only a stage young people are going through.The daughter thought her mother didn’t clean the kitchen sink well because of her .
| A．laziness | B．carelessness | C．unhappiness | D．poor-quality glasses |
From the passage we know the daughter .
| A．didn’t want to help with the sink |
| B．didn’t like brown eyebrow pencils |
| C．had an accident when she went to her first party |
| D．shouted at her mum because she came home late |
How does the mother feel after all these have happened?
| A．Shocked. | B．Proud. | C．Envious.（嫉妒） | D．Confused. |
The author writes the stories to prove that ________.
| A．their relationship became stronger |
| B．their roles changed as time passed |
| C．her daughter very much cared about her |
| D．her daughter got upset as she grew up |