We walked in the hospital so quietly that the nurse at the desk didn't even lift her eyes from the book. Mum pointed at a big chair by the door and I knew she wanted me to sit down. While I watched mouth open in surprise, Mum took off her hat and coat and gave them to me to hold. She walked quietly to the small room by the lift and took out a wet mop. She pushed the mop past the desk and as the nurse looked up, Mum nodded and said, "Very dirty floors."
"Yes, I'm glad they've finally decided to clean them," the nurse answered. She looked at Mum strangely and said, "But aren't you working late?"
Mum just pushed harder, each swipe (拖一下) of the mop taking her farther and farther down the hall. I watched until she was out of sight and the nurse had turned back to writing in the big book.
After a long time Mum came back. Her eyes were shining. She quickly put the mop back and took my hand. As we turned to go out of the door, Mum bowed politely to the nurse and said, "Thank you."
Outside, Mum told me, "Dagmar is fine. No fever. "
"You saw her, Mum?"
"Of course. I told her about the hospital rules, and she will not expect us until tomorrow. Dad will stop worrying as well. It's a fine hospital. But such floors! A mop is no good. You need a brush."When she took a mop from the small room what Mum really wanted to do was______.
| A．to clean the floor |
| B．to please the nurse |
| C．to see a patient |
| D．to surprise the story-teller |
When the nurse talked to Mum she thought Mum was a______.
| A．nurse | B．visitor |
| C．patient | D．cleaner |
After reading the story what can we infer about the hospital?
| A．It is a children's hospital. |
| B．It has strict rules about visiting hours. |
| C．The conditions there aren't very good. |
| D．The nurses and doctors there don't work hard. |
From the text we know that Dagmar is most likely________.
| A．the story-teller's sister |
| B．Mum's friend |
| C．the story-teller's classmate |
| D．Dad's boss |
Which of the following words best describes Mum?
| A．strange | B．warm-hearted |
| C．clever | D．hard-working |
Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home, proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective – they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”
The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means ______.
| A．worked in practice | B．became popular |
| C．drew attention | D．had a positive effect |
No one should be forced to wear a uniform under any circumstance. Uniforms are controlling the human spirit and totally unnecessary in a democratic(民主的) society. Uniforms tell the world that the person who wears one has no value as an individual but only lives to function as a part of the whole. The individual in a uniform loses all self-worth.
There are those who say that wearing a uniform gives a person a sense of identification with a larger, more important concept. What could be more important than the individual himself? If an organization is so weak that it must rely on cloth and buttons to inspire its members, that organization has no right to continue its existence.
Others say that the practice of making persons wear uniforms, say in school, gets rid of all envy and competition in a matter of dress, such that a poor person who cannot afford good-quality clothing is not to be looked down upon by a wealthy person who wears expensive clothing. Those persons ignore the concepts as freedom of choice, motivation, and individuality. If all persons were to wear the same clothing, why would anyone struggle to be better? It is only a short step from forcing everyone to drive the same car, have the same type of food. When this happens, all motivation to improve one’s life is removed. Why would parents bother to work hard so that their children could have a better life than they had when they know that their children are going to be forced to have exactly the same life as they had?
Uniforms also hurt the economy(经济). Right now, billions of dollars are spent on the fashion industry yearly. Thousands of people are employed in designing, creating, and marketing different types of clothing. If everyone were forced to wear uniforms, artistic personnel would be unnecessary. Salesmen would be extra as well. Why bother to sell the only items that are available? The wearing of uniforms would destroy the fashion industry which in turn would have a wave effect on such industries as advertising and sales promotion. Without advertising, newspapers, magazines, and television would not be able to remain in business. Our entire information and entertainment industries would collapse.
The last word of the passage “collapse” probably means ________.
| A．fail | B．rise | C．disappear | D．struggle |
Nine years ago, after Leo had died, people said to me. "I never knew he was your stepfather." You see, I never called him that. At first, he was no one special in my life. Then he became my friend. In time, I felt he was also my father.
Leo married my mother when I was eleven. Two years later we moved into a house in a new suburban development, where we put down roots. At first our lawn was just a mud with wild grass, but Leo saw bright possibilities. "We'll plant trees there to give us shade as well as some flowers," he said. And just these little touches made our house different from all the others. More important, a real family was forming. Leo was becoming a full-time parent, and I was learning what it meant to have a father.
Weekday mornings when the weather was bad, Leo often drove me to school. Having a father drop you off may have been something my classmates took for granted, but I always thought it was wonderful. Saturday mornings, we went to the hardware shop, then stepped into the five-and-ten, buying a sports magazine or something else. Some people might think that doing shopping together is nothing special, but I, who had ever before spent my childhood watching other families do their everyday activities, experienced them now with extreme delight. Looking back, I realized that Leo gave me what I needed most—the experience of doing ordinary things together as a family.
Soon after we moved to the suburbs, one of our new neighbors introduced herself to me. She had already met my mother and Leo. "You know," she said, "you look just like your father." I knew she was just making conversation--but even so... "Thank you", I said. Why tell her anything different?
The phrase “put down roots”in the second paragraph means _______.
| A．farmed | B．planted | C．settled | D．worked |
Certainly, a well-rounded education is the foundation from which all of us spring forth. I am grateful to the many incredible teachers who have inspired me to do greater things, and have fired my enthusiasm for everlasting learning!
I have also been honored to have the most amazing teachers in all of my children's lives. These are extraordinary people who not only teach our children, but love them, challenge them, and provide an environment where a child learns how to learn.
But, sometimes I wonder if the outline of our educational plan is lacking something. I watched the movie Easy A with my older daughter. The main character's parents were loving, supportive, and built great confidence in their daughter and developed her ability to handle her own problems.
There was a scene where the mother was speaking to the younger child and he announced that he received an "A" on his spelling test. She replied, "That' s great, honey, but everything has spell check these days. " It was funny --- but TRUE ! I don't mean that we shouldn't teach our children how to spell, but maybe some of our time should be spent educating them about the dangers of posting things on Facebook.
Maybe we might want to spend time showing them how real life works - the credit card isn't free money - you will have to pay it back at sometime. Oh, and get this - they charge you for borrowing that money. Perhaps, we should spend some time on interpersonal relationships. I worry that our kids do not know how to relate to one another.
Choosing a career (职业) is a daunting task. My daughter is in her second year in college and has changed her major twice. It' s not that she didn't know what she wanted to do. What she "wanted to do" and the degree she chose did not match.
I have learned many college students do not know what they want to do because they haven' t seen what it looks like in the real world. Being a journalist in the real world looks very different from writing stories. Maybe if we spent some time exposing them to real life experience - maybe two or three courses m areas of interest in high school that give them a "feel" for what that particular field would look like, they might be better prepared. I do not know the solution, but it seems that it should at least be a topic of discussion.
The underlined word "daunting" in Paragraph 6 probably means_____
| A．discouraging | B．specific |
| C．rewarding | D．regular |
They tell us when to get up or when we’re running late for work and whether we are in danger of missing our favourite TV programme. But while our daily routines rely on clocks that tell us the time, science is discovering that our well-being is influenced by a very different kind of timepiece. Circadian rhythms---the human body’s own internal clock---have a powerful influence on our health and behaviour. They are programmed from birth and control functions ranging from temperature and blood pressure to sleep patterns.
In recent years researchers have also discovered that this built-in mechanism can influence everything from the way we react to medicines to how well we learn music.
The latest example, from experts at Harvard University in the US, shows that the human body clock can even dictate whether or not we are likely to tell the truth. Researchers found it was easier for people to fib（撒小谎） in the afternoon because, as they were tired, the self control that would normally prevent them from lying started to break down. Tiredness made it harder to resist the temptation to tell lies---especially if it meant they got a financial reward at the end.
“The body clock has a great effect on us all,” says Professor Jim Horne from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University. “Most people tend to feel good around late morning and then decline in the early afternoon. But the time most of us will feel our sharpest is between 6pm and 8pm. That’s because sleepiness tends to build up throughout the day. By early evening our body clock kicks in to wake us up. One reason may be to ensure we get home safely. When our ancestors were coming home after hunting all day their internal clocks kicked in to get them home in one piece.”
So what effects do circadian rhythms have and what’s the best time of day to take advantage of them?
The underlined word “They” in the first paragraph refers to .
| A．our clocks | B．scientists and experts |
| C．our daily routines | D．circadian rhythms |