CHICAGO ---- For working parents and heavily scheduled school kids, family mealtime is out of fashion. But supermarkets are trying to attract families back to the dinner table.
There is a cost if family members have meals apart: research shows that teenagers who don’t eat with their parents face a greater risk of drug and alcohol problems.
“The more often kids have dinner with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs,” said Joseph Califano Jr., head of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, which did the research.
Stores are familiar with the idea and will start telling shoppers about the findings and encouraging them to share meals together at home, instead of separately or at restaurants.
The food marketing Institute will give $25,000 to the center and help stores promote the center’s Family Day in September.
Many stores have grab-and-go dinners and recipe cards. Some have kiosks where people can taste a main dish, then pick out side dishes.
“Our members have worked hard to try to have easily prepared food either ready to eat or ready to take home,” said Tim Hammonds, the institute’s president and chief executive.
Los Angeles-based Contessa Premium Foods makes frozen delicious meals, which a family can heat in 10 minutes to 12 minutes. “That’s nearly as fast as a TV dinner,” said president and chief executive John Z. Blazevich, “but is healthier and makes people feel like they actually cooked.”
“The preparation is the hardest part, so we try to combine a variety of tastes and flavours from around the world and make it fast and easy,” he said.
“Eating at home helps keep meals healthy and teaches kids how to eat right. If we can get people back to having family dinners, parents back to being engaged with their kids, it will have a surprising impact,” he said.The reasons why family mealtime is out of fashion are the following EXCEPT __________.
| A．the parents are busy with work |
| B．the children have a little spare time |
| C．the children are not fond of family meal |
| D．it will take much time to cook and eat at home |
The underlined word “cost” in paragraph 2 can be explained as ___________.
| A．gains | B．a sum of money |
| C．advantage | D．something you lose |
According to the passage, stores are trying to attract families back to the dinner table by the following ways EXCEPT ________.
| A．telling the parents the disadvantages of having dinner separately. |
| B．offering various prepared food to make family cooking fast and easy. |
| C．taking part in Family Day activities in September. |
| D．helping housewives prepare their meals at home. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The efforts that are being made to get people back to having family dinners |
| B．The benefits of having family dinners together. |
| C．The changes in American family dinners. |
| D．A research done by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Family Mealtime is out of Fashion |
| B．Family Day is Promoted in September |
| C．Parents should Cook Meals for Kids |
| D．Supermarkets Urges Families to Dinner Table |
The Touchstone
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read little, bought it for very little money.
The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"! The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.
The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. The days continued over a long period if time.
One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are cautious, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.
1．The man bought the book because______.
A．he wanted to read it B．it was very interesting
C．there was a secret in the book D．he wanted to find the touchstone
2．We can learn from the passage that the touchstone is______.
A．pure B．cold C．magic D．big
3．Why did the man throw the pebbles into the sea?
A．Because he didn’t want to get the same pebbles.
B．Because he didn’t want others to pick them up.
C．Because he didn’t like their ordinary looks.
D．Because he didn’t like the cold feelings.
4．What does the author want to tell us in the passage?
A．We about orate opportunities in our life.
B．We should seek for opportunities in the world.
C．We may seize opportunities when we are watchful
D．We may discover opportunities when forming habits.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Eight – year – old Jesse Abrogate was playing in the sea late one evening in July 2001 when a 7 – foot bull shark attacked him and tore off his arm. Jesse’s uncle jumped into the sea and dragged the boy to shore. The boy was not breathing. His aunt gave him mouth – to – mouth resuscitation (人工呼吸) while his uncle rang the emergency services. Pretty soon, a helicopter arrived and flew the boy to hospital. It was a much quicker journey than the journey by road.
Jesse’s uncle, Vance Folsenzier, ran back into to the sea and found the shark that had attacked his nephew. He picked the shark up and threw it onto the beach. A coastguard shot the fish four times and although this did not kill it, the shark’s jaws relaxed so that they could open them, and reach down into its stomach, and pull out the boy’s arm.
At the Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Dr Ian Rogers spent eleven hours reattaching Jesse’s arm. “It was a complicated operation,” he said, “but we were lucky. If the arm hadn’t been recovered in time, we wouldn’t have been able to do the operation at all. What I mean is that if they hadn’t found the shark, well then we wouldn’t have had a chance.’
According to local park ranger Jack Tomosvic, shark attacks are not that common. “Jesse was just unlucky,” he says, “evening is the shark’s feeding time. And Jesse was in area without lifeguards. This would never have happened if he had been in area where swimming is allowed.’
When reporters asked Jesse’s uncle how he had had the courage to fight a shark, he replied, “I was mad and you do some strange things when you’re mad.”
1．What was the boy doing when the accident happened?
A．Feeding a hungry shark. B．Jumping into the rough sea.
C．Dragging a boy to the shore. D．Swimming in a dangerous area.
2．In which way did the boy’s uncle help with the operation?
A．By finding his lost arm. B．By shooting the fish.
C．By flying him to hospital. D．By blowing into his mouth.
3．How was his uncle in time of danger?
A．Careful. B．Brave. C．Optimistic. D．Patient.
Anyone who cares about what schools and colleges teach and how their students learn will be interested in the memoir（回忆录）of Ralph W. Tyler, who is one of the most famous men in American education.
Born in Chicago in 1902, brought up and schooled in Nebraska, the 19-year-old college graduate Ralph Tyler became hooked on teaching while teaching as a science teacher in South Dakota and changed his major from medicine to education.
Graduate work at the University of Chicago found him connected with honorable educators Charles Judd and W. W. Charters, whose ideas of teaching and testing had an effect on his later work. In 1927, he became a teacher of Ohio State University where he further developed a new method of testing.
Tyler became well-known nationality in 1938, when he carried his work with the Eight-Year Study from Ohio State University to the University of Chicago at the invitation of Robert Hutchins.
Tyler was the first director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, a position he held for fourteen years. There, he firmly believed that researchers should be free to seek an independent（独立的）spirit in their work.
Although Tyler officially retired in 1967, he never actually retired. He served on a long list of educational organizations in the United States and abroad. Even in his 80s he traveled across the country to advise teachers and management people on how to set objectives（目标）that develop the best teaching and learning within their schools.
1. Who are most probably interested in Ralph W. Tyler’s memoir?
A. Top managers. B. Language learners.
C. Serious educators. D. Science organizations.
2. The words “hooked on teaching” underlined in Paragraph 2 probably mean ________.
A. attracted to teaching B. tired of teaching
C. satisfied with teaching D. unhappy about teaching
3. Where did Tyler work as the leader of a research center for over 10 years?
A. The University of Chicago. B. Stanford University.
C. Ohio State University. D. Nebraska University.
Do’s and Don’ts in Whale(鲸) Watching
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has developed guidelines for whale watching in Johnstone Strait, where killer whales are found on a daily basis each summer. It is strongly recommended that vessel(船只) operators follow these guidelines for all kinds of whales.
· Approach whales from the side, not from the front or the back.
· Approach no closer than 100 metres, then stop the boat but keep the engine on.
· Keep noise levels down — no horns, whistles or racing of engines.
· Start your boat only after the whales are more than 100 metres from your vessel.
· Leave the area slowly, gradually moving faster when you are more than 300 metres from the whales.
· Approach and leave slowly, avoiding sudden changes in speed or direction.
· Avoid disturbing groups of resting whales.
· Keep at low speeds and remain in the same direction if traveling side by side with whales.
· When whales are traveling close to shore, avoid crowding them near the shore or coming between the whales and the shore.
· Limit the time spent with any group of whales to less than 30 minutes at a time when within 100 to 200 metres of whales.
· If there is more than one vessel at the same observation spot, be sure to avoid any boat position that would result in surrounding the whales.
· Work together by communicating with other vessels, and make sure that all operators are aware of the whale watching guidelines.
1. For whom is this text written?
A. Tour guides. B. Whale watchers.
C. Vessel operators. D. Government officials.
2. When leaving the observation areas, the vessel should ______.
A. move close to the beach B. increase speed gradually
C. keep its engine running slowly D. remain at the back of the whales
3. When going side by side with whales, the vessel should ______.
A. keep moving in the same direction
B. surround the whales with other boats
C. travel closer and closer to the shore
D. take a good viewing position
4. What is the shortest safe distance from the whales?
A. 400 metres. B. 300 metres. C. 200 metres. D. 100 metres.
We have met the enemy, and he is ours. We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest, suddenly turns up in children in the American Midwest, it’s hard not to wonder if the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections (感染) we think of as human infections started in other animals, ” says Stephen Morse, director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are, we’re also bringing them closer to us. Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country. A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets, and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea. “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them,” says Isaksen.
“Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing,” says Peter Schantz. Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases. A new bug (病毒) may be kind at first. But some strains (变异体) may become harmful. Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease. But it is not impossible to pass the disease from person to person.
1．We learn from Paragraph 1 that the pet sold at the shop may
A．come from Columbia
B．prevent us from being infected
C．enjoy being with children
D．suffer from monkey-pox
2．Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?
A．They attack human beings
B．We need to study native animals
C．They can’t live out of the rain forest
D．We do not know much about them yet
3．What does the phrase “the wake-up call” in paragraph 3 most probably mean?
A．a new disease
B．a clear warning
C．a dangerous animal
D．a morning call
4．The text suggests that in the future we____________.
A. may have to fight against more new diseases
B. may easily get infected by diseases from dogs
C. should not be allowed to have pets
D. should stop buying pests from Africa