Night after night, she came to tuck me in(掖好被子), even long after my childhood years. Following her longstanding custom, she'd lean down and push my long hair out of the way, then kiss my forehead.
I don't remember when it first started annoying me — her hands pushing my hair that way. But it did annoy me, for they felt work-worn and rough against my young skin. Finally, one night, I shouted at her: "Don't do that anymore — your hands are too rough!" She didn't say anything in reply. But never again did my mother close out my day with that familiar expression of her love. Lying awake long afterward, my words rang in my mind. But pride overwhelmed my conscience, and I didn't tell her I was sorry.
Time after time, with the passing years, my thoughts returned to that night. I missed my mother's hands, missed her goodnight kiss upon my forehead. Sometimes the incident seemed very close, sometimes far away. But always it appeared in the back of my mind.
Well, the years have passed, and I'm not a little girl any more. Mom is in her mid-seventies, and those hands I once thought to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family. She's been our doctor, reaching for medicine to calm a young girl's stomach or ease the pain of a boy's injured knee. She cooks the best fried chicken in the world…gets stains out of blue jeans like I never could…and still insists on dishing out ice cream at any hour of the day or night.
Through the years, my mother's hands have put in countless hours of toil, and most of hers were before automatic washers!
Now, my own children are grown and gone. Mom no longer has Dad, and on special occasions, I find myself drawn next door to spend the night with her. So it was that late on Thanksgiving Eve, as I drifted into sleep in the bedroom of my youth, a familiar hand hesitantly stole across my face to brush the hair from my forehead. Then a kiss, ever so gently, touched my brow.
In my memory, for the thousandth time, I recalled the night my surly young voice complained: “Don't do that any more —your hands are too rough!” Catching Mom's hand in hand, I blurted out how sorry I was for that night. I thought she'd remember, as I did. But Mom didn't know what I was talking about. She had forgotten —and forgiven —long ago.
That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her caring hands. And the guilt I had carried around for so long was nowhere to be found.Why was the author annoyed with her mother?
A.Her mother disturbed her rest by tucking her in. |
B.She felt uncomfortable with her mother’s non-smooth hands. |
C.Her mother leant down and kissed her forehead. |
D.She was not accustomed to her mother’s action. |
Which of the following best describes the author’s mother?
A.devoted and hardworking | B.caring and intelligent |
C.thoughtful but stubborn | D.optimistic but careless |
We can learn from the passage that __________.
A.The author lived separately from her mother |
B.The author’s father has passed away |
C.The author alone took care of her children |
D.The author’s mother never kissed her again since that night |
What’s the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?
A.To thank her mother’s help |
B.To express her regret |
C.To appreciate her mother’s love |
D.To call up memories of her childhood. |
Have you wondered why you have two eyes and why they are set close together on the front of your face? The reasons are simple and important to the way you see the rest of your world.
Your eyes are like two small cameras. A camera catches an image of an object and records it on film.Similarly,when you look at something,each eye takes in what it sees and sends this image to the back of the eyeball.Because your eyes are set close together,they view the world from about the same height but from slightly different angles. Working as a team, the eyes send the images to your brain, which puts them together into a single, centered image.
Seeing in stereo means seeing with two eyes working together,which is called stereoscopic sight.This allows you to view the world in three dimensions,or 3-D.Seeing depth helps you to judge the distance between you and the objects you see and to adjust to the changing angle at which you see something as you move closer to or farther away from it.If images are coming from only one eye, however,only two of these dimensions-height and width-can be perceived.A world seen with one eye is thus two-dimensional,as in a photograph.
Now consider why your two eyes are on the front of your face.Think of other animals with this same arrangement.They are all animals that hunt,like lions and wolves.Their eyes face directly in front of them.This provides a field of sight about 180 degrees wide,which is called binocular sight.On the other hand,animals that are hunted have eyes on the sides of the head,which provides nearly 360-degree field of sight.In order to stay alive,they need to see things coming from the sides and from behind.However,without stereoscopic sight,they have difficulty determining how far a danger is.
With sight both stereoscopic and binocular,humans share with animal hunters the ability to see from side to side and to accurately determine the distance.If you think it would be great to have another type of sight,perhaps with hundreds of tiny eyes like many insects do,think again! Each tiny insect eye sees only a tiny part.Besides,what if you needed glasses? Be glad for the eyesight that you have.According to the passage,an eye is like a camera because both
A.can record images |
B.can imagine objects |
C.provide centered images |
D.work at the same height |
Stereoscopic sight is a result of having
A.a three-hundred-sixty-degree field of sight |
B.hundreds of eyes,all seeing parts of an image |
C.two eyes close to one another that work together |
D.one eye on either side of the head,each seeing a different image |
The author implies that “seeing in stereo”
A.is similar to the way cameras work |
B.is an ability humans are fortunate to have |
C.would be better for a wider field of sight |
D.helps people to have better sight than animals |
Attempt a guess at the following question: In the English-speaking world, which country has the least affordable homes? You are wrong if you guessed the US, even with the housing bubble (气泡) and main sadness. Nor is it the UK, where prices have risen because demand is far from supply. According to a recent survey of 227 cities around the globe, you must go south of the equator (赤道) to Australia to find the priciest homes.
The report measured a city’s housing market along the following guidelines. An “affordable” home required three times or less of the average family’s income to purchase. At four times earnings, a home fell into the “unaffordable” category. And a “seriously unaffordable” home needed five times a family’s income. In Australia, homes in the least affordable city cost just about 9.5 times the average income. Sydney, Perth, and Melbourne were only a little under this figure.
Australian officials offered little comment, apart from a general statement on the dismal findings. These prices make the possibility that many Australians will one day own a home largely unbelievable. Land rationing (配给制) and excessive development charges have raised prices, and the problem will only be solved through urgent action by the Rudd government.
Some American cities were also included on the least affordable list, four of which were in California. America is still involved in a mortgage(抵押)crisis, though, affecting the affordability of homes. Yet a number of US cities garnered “affordable” status, namely Dallas and Kansas. Australia had no cities listed in the top fifty places with affordable homes.
The survey suggests that you can find affordable homes in most places, just not if you’re Australian and choose to live down under.To buy an affordable house, you should pay _____.
A.3 times or less of the average family’s income |
B.4 times or less of the average family’s income |
C.5 times or less of the average family’s income |
D.9.5 times or less of the average family’s income |
What caused the prices of houses to increase in Australia?
A.The rising family’s income. |
B.The demand over supply. |
C.The excessive development charges. |
D.The decrease of land. |
The underlined word “dismal” in Paragraph 3 may mean _____.
A.cheerful | B.satisfactory |
C.difficult | D.sad |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
A.Affordable Houses | B.A House is a Dream First |
C.Housing Bubble | D.Homes Too Expensive |
Do you know what really troubles me? For some reason, words with silent letters have always bothered me. For example, consider these words: know, design, island, school, wrist, naughty, and salmon. All of these words have at least one letter that is not typically pronounced, and these words are just a very small part of words with silent letters in them.
Some words are even worse, consider this word: colonel. Not only are some letters not pronounced, but letters that are not even there are pronounced.
Even foreign languages, especially French, are guilty of this needless complexity and confusion. I know there must be some main historical reasons why the words are spelled and pronounced the way they are, but that does not mean bad traditions must continue to survive. Especially if they are no longer logical.
Unfortunately, there is very little that anyone can do for it, because there’s no group of people who can change or have the right to change the English language for everyone. However, the only thing we can do is make changes in the way we talk and write in hopes that it catches on. For example, I pronounce the letter “l” in salmon on purpose to make people annoyed and to sound more different or complicated. I even pronounce colonel the correct or French way.
I can only hope these two minor changes to the English language make sense to you, and you will help to keep up these minor changes forever in your everyday life.Which of the following is the main reason for silent letters?
A.French language. | B.Historical reasons. |
C.Some linguists | D.Bad traditions. |
The underlined phrase “catches on” probably means “________”.
A.becomes popular | B.gets across |
C.follows the fashions | D.doesn’t fall behind |
Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
A.Troubles in everyday life |
B.Traps in English words |
C.Words with silent letters |
D.Necessary changes of languages |
HIGHFIELD COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL SCHOOL REPORT Form Teacher:G. Baker Pupil’s Name: Simon Watkins Term:Summer 2014 Form:Ⅳ B
FORM TEACHER’S REMARKS HEADMASTER |
According to the comments of the Physical Education teacher, Simon_______.
A.is too talkative in the class |
B.likes to work with his classmates |
C.doesn’t exercise his body at the right time |
D.becomes weak because he doesn’t exercise at all |
Which of Simon’s subjects will attract the headmaster’s attention in future?
A.Biology and Maths. |
B.History and French. |
C.English and Chemistry. |
D.Physics and Physical Education. |
Which of the following statements best describes Simon?
A.He has made great progress in language classes. |
B.His potential has been fully reflected in science classes. |
C.His grade in maths makes him a born scientist. |
D.He needs to improve his attitude on certain subjects. |
Based on the school report, which of the following statements is true?
A.Simon didn’t bother his teacher to revise French. |
B.Basically, Simon did a good job in science. |
C.Simon is a determined learner in English. |
D.Simon is able to pay attention to history for long. |
In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, California. They carefully chose a busy corner for their location. They had run their own businesses for years, first a theater, then a barbecue(烤肉) restaurant, then another drive-in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new idea: quick service, no waiters or waitresses, and no tips.
Their hamburgers sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fries and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity(一致性), for the brothers had developed a strict routine(程序) for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks sticking to their routine. Their new drive-in became surprisingly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundreds during the busy noontime. The self-service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc.
Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954, when he was selling milkshake-mixing machines. He quickly saw the special attraction of the brothers’ fast-food restaurants and bought the right to franchise(特许经营) other copies of their restaurants. The agreement included the right to duplicate(复制) the menu, the equipment, even their red and white buildings with the golden arches(拱门).
Today McDonald’s is really a household name. In 1976, McDonald’s had over $ l billion in total sales. Its first twenty-two years is one of the most surprising success stories in modern American business history.This passage mainly talks about _______.
A.the development of fast food services |
B.how McDonald’s became a billion-dollar business |
C.the business careers of Mac and Dick McDonald |
D.Ray Kroc’s business talent |
Mac and Dick managed all of the following businesses except _______.
A.a drive-in | B.a theater |
C.a cinema | D.a barbecue restaurant |
We may infer from this passage that _______.
A.Mac and Dick McDonald never became wealthy for they sold their idea to Kroc. |
B.the place the McDonalds chose was the only source of the great popularity of their drive-in |
C.forty years ago there were lots of fast-food restaurants |
D.Ray Kroc was a good businessman |
The passage suggests that _______.
A.creativity is an important element of business success |
B.Ray Kroc was the close partner of the McDonald brothers |
C.Mac and Dick McDonald became broken after they sold their ideas to Ray Kroc |
D.California is the best place to go into business |