My teenage son Karl became withdrawn(孤僻) after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. In this way he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked. One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and asked God for help. "Please God, I can't do anything more for my son. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm giving the whole thing up to you." I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. "I want to talk to you about Karl's absences." Before he could say another word, I choked up (哽咽) and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. "I love my son, but I just don't know what to do. I've tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It's out of my hands." For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, "Thank you for your time", and hung up. Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he was even on the list of the best students at school. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, "Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?" I nodded. "That was me. I thought I'd play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That's when I knew I had to make you proud."According to the first report card, Karl __________.
| A．often went to school late |
| B．failed in all the exams |
| C．did a good job at school |
| D．didn't do well at school |
When the mother said "It's out of my hands." to the headmaster, she meant that she________.
| A．didn't know what to do about her son |
| B．would drive her son away from the house |
| C．had no money to support the family |
| D．she would have to hang up |
Who was it that telephoned Karl's mother that day?
| A．The headmaster. | B．The school adviser. |
| C．Karl himself. | D．The passage doesn't tell us. |
From the passage we can learn that _________.
| A．children in single-parent families always have mental problems |
| B．mother's love plays an important role in teenagers' life |
| C．parents should give their children as much help as possible |
| D．school education still works well without support from parents |
We produce 500 billion of plastic bags in a year worldwide and they are thrown away polluting oceans, killing wildlife and getting dumped in landfills where they take up to 1000 years to decompose. Researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for a solution.
The 16-year old Canadian high school student, Daniel Burd, from Waterloo Collegiate Institute,
has discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade(分解) in as few as 3 months, a finding that won him first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair, a $10 000 prize, a $20 000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue.
Burd's strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms (微生物). If those microorganisms could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.
With this goal in mind, he ground plastic bags into a powder and concocted(调制) a solution of household chemicals, yeast(酵母) and tap water to encourage microbes growth. Then he added the plastic powder and let the microbes work their magic for 3 months. Finally, he tested the resulting bacterial culture on plastic bags, exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control. Sure enough, the plastic exposed to the live bacteria was 17% lighter than the control after six weeks.
The inputs are cheap: maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide.
“Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have piles of plastic bags falling on top of me. One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags. The answer: not much. So I decided to do something myself.” said Daniel Burd.Daniel Burd won first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair because________.
| A．he found a new kind of microorganism |
| B．he contributed much to environmental protection |
| C．he found a way to degrade plastics in shorter time |
| D．he could encourage microbes growth in an easier way |
Daniel Burd exposed one plastic sample to dead bacteria to ________.
| A．make the live bacteria work better |
| B．test how effective his method was |
| C．know which bacteria worked faster |
| D．control the temperature in the process |
Maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because ________.
| A．plastics can get hot easily |
| B．microbes can produce heat themselves |
| C．much carbon dioxide is produced |
| D．the temperature can be controlled |
Daniel Burd got his idea from ________.
| A．his school textbook | B．the failure of researchers |
| C．his everyday work | D．the practice of other people |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family,and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And,in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time,time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success,you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost.It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent,but thinking that way does you no good,and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
| A．the reasons for success | B．the meaning of success |
| C．the standards of success | D．the importance of success |
In Paragraph 2, the underlined word “that “refers to ______.
| A．being good at something | B．setting a practical goal |
| C．putting in more time | D．succeeding in life |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Having a goal is vital to success. |
| B．Being good is different from being great. |
| C．One cannot succeed without time and practice. |
| D．Luck,talent and family help to achieve success. |
A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”However, that’s not really true.Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves--the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be, because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This“ self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down.Be aware, though, that as much as 77%of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves.We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back ,The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying“ Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without us thinking about the effects they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses to others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words possess power because of their lasting effect. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem and motivate others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things.Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.The author argues in the first paragraph that __________.
| A．words will never hurt us at all |
| B．words have lasting effects on us |
| C．inspiring words give us confidence. |
| D．negative words may let us down |
Why should not we feel embarrassed when it comes to talking to ourselves?
| A．Talking to ourselves is believed to be good for our health. |
| B．Almost everybody has the habit of talking to oneself. |
| C．Talking to ourselves helps us to solve all the problems. |
| D．It is harmful to have “self-talk” when we are alone. |
The underlined phrase “give ourselves a pat on the back” in Paragraph three means “ _________”.
| A．blame ourselves | B．punish ourselves |
| C．talk to ourselves | D．praise ourselves |
Which of the following statements would the author agree to?
| A．Unkind words are unlikely to be forgotten. |
| B．Positive words may destroy all the good relations. |
| C．It is better to think twice before talking to others. |
| D．Kind words are sure to cause unfavorable response. |
Why should we talk in a friendly way when returning an item to a store?
| A．Because kind words destroy true relationships. |
| B．Because the clerk in a store is hard to deal with. |
| C．Because critical language may hurt your feelings. |
| D．Because friendly words cause positive responses. |
Some young Cambodians are learning a new sport---skateboarding. The country’s first skateboard park is located on the grounds of local charity group at the edge of Phnom Penh, the capital.
Sports like Khmer boxing and soccer are wildly popular in Cambodia. But Chea, who has been skating for 6 months, says skateboarding has already become the favorite sport.
The skateboarders are learning tricks like launching a jump or flying through the air on their narrow wooden boards.
A non-governmental organization called Skateistan Cambodia organizes weekly programs at the park. Skateistan started its work in Afghanistan years ago. Rory Burke is working with the group which expanded to Cambodia last year.
Rory Burke points out, “Yeah, it’s definitely not a typical Cambodian pastime .and I think the idea of ‘why skateboarding’ exists because it’s not been done before here. We want to use skateboarding as something saying, ‘ Hey, this is something new and different.’ And that kind of itself becomes a little bit of hook. People see it and they think and they say, ‘wow, what is that?’ and they want to get involved.”
Skateistan partners with local groups work with young people . The park is on the grounds of the group known as PSE, where children attend school and learn a trade. There are almost one hundred twenty participants. They all from troubled lives.
Seventeen-year-old Sang Rotha is a student at PSE. “Sometimes I don’t do well in subjects like math,” he says, “ I feel bad when I find it hard to keep up with my lessons. So that is why I skateboard to improve my bad feelings.”
He says he began skateboarding more than a year ago. Before he started training, it seemed very easy. But it was very difficult to learn tricks, and he got hurt a lot from falling off.
Rory Burke says learning to deal with the difficulties is part of the lesson for these young skateboarders..According to the passage, PSE is a group_____.
| A．that works with Cambodian students |
| B．for young Cambodians to learn a trade |
| C．for young Cambodians in troubled lives |
| D．for young Cambodian taking skateboarding |
.What is said about skateboarding in the passage?
| A．It is easy for young Cambodians to learn. |
| B．It is a good sport to help regain good feelings |
| C．It originated in Afghanistan years ago. |
| D．It is as popular as Khmer boxing in Cambodia. |
.The underlined pars “a little bit of hook” in paragraph 5 probably means_____.
| A．something strange |
| B．something new |
| C．something different |
| D．something attractive |
. It can be inferred from the passage that skateboarding is becoming_____.
| A．a sport liked by most young Cambodians |
| B．an increasingly popular sport in Cambodia |
| C．a sport used to better young Cambodians’ life |
| D．a good way to train young Cambodians’ learning skills |
Scholarship Application Tips in 2014 for college students
·Before you apply
1. Work hard to get good grades. Don’t sweat about one bad grade, but always strive(力求)to do your best.
2. Get involved, and stay involved, in extracurricular(课外的)activities. Sports, clubs, drama, bands and orchestras－these often count toward a student’s overall scholarship application evaluation. The same goes for paid (or unpaid) work experience.
3. Begin your scholarship research early－by your sophomore(大学二年级)or junior year of high school, if possible. Make special note of application deadlines, as they can vary from late summer to late spring.
4. Apply for as many scholarships as you are eligible(符合条件的)for－several smaller scholarships can add up to a lot of money.
·During the application process
1. Read the supplementary materials that come with scholarship application forms to better understand the program’s focus (community service, subject interest). Try to answer the questions with the focus area in mind.
2. Answer questions as they are asked. Don’t go off the topic.
3. If there is a financial component to the application, make sure you get accurate and complete information from all appropriate sources to ensure your eligibility.
4. Take your time. Write down everything you can think of for each question, then set the application aside for a day so you can look everything over again before you send it off.
5. Don’t wait until the last minute to complete your application, especially if you are applying online. Computer systems can get clogged(阻塞的)with the large volume of applicants hoping to submit their qualifications during the last few days and hours before a deadline.
6. If a third party has to complete part of your application, such as providing a letter of recommendation, make sure you ask them early on and remind them as often as necessary to ensure they provide you with the necessary materials.
7. Last but not least, review your application with your parents to make sure you haven’t left out any important details.
Good luck to the students applying for the 2014 scholarship programs!Before you apply for a scholarship, it’s best to .
| A．pay more attention to grades than to extracurricular activities |
| B．focus on only one scholarship application |
| C．get as much work experience as possible |
| D．begin your preparation as early as possible |
When answering questions on the application form, you should.
| A．focus on the subject you are interested in |
| B．answer to the point |
| C．list your advantages |
| D．prove your abilities |
The author suggests that applicants should.
| A．submit the application in the few days |
| B．double-check their application with their parents |
| C．complete and submit the application in one day |
| D．avoid submitting the application online |