One of the latest trends（趋势） in American Childcare is Chinese au pairs. Au Pair in Stamford, Conn, for example, has got increasing numbers of request for Chinese au pairs from aero to around 4, 000 since 2004. And that’s true all across the country.
“I thought it would be useful for him to learn Chinese at an early age” Joseph Stocke, the managing director of a company, says of his 2-year old son. “I would at least like to give him the chance to use the language in the future, ” After only six months of being cared by 25-year-old woman from China, the boy can already understand basic Chinese daily expressions, his dad says.
Li Drake, a Chinese native raising two children in Minnesota with an American husband, had another reason for looking for an au pair from China. She didn’t want her children to miss out on their roots. ” Because I am Chinese, my husband and I wanted the children to keep exposed to(接触) the language and culture. ” she says.
“Staying with a native speaker is better for children than simply sitting in a classroom, ” says Suzanne Flynn, a professor in language education of Children. ”But parents must understand that just one year with au pair is unlikely to produce wonders. Complete mastery demands continued learning until the age of 10 or 12. ”
The popularity if au pairs from China has been strengthened by the increasing numbers of American parents who want their children who want their children to learn Chinese. It is expected that American demand for au pairs will continue to rise in the next few years.What does the term” au pair” in the text mean?
| A．A mother raising her children on her own |
| B．A child learning a foreign language at home |
| C．A professor in language education of children |
| D．A young foreign woman taking care of children. |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．Learning Chinese is becoming popular In America |
| B．Educated woman do better in looking after children |
| C．Chinese au pairs need to improve their English Skills. |
| D．Children can learn a foreign language well in six months. |
More and more pupils are giving teachers presents, but the practice only creates insecurity in parents and staff.
I’ve certainly noticed some pupils being feverishly overgenerous of late. Last year, I received not one bottle of wine but four for helping a disaffected pupil through his GCSEs. By and large, my colleagues report the gifts differing along gender lines. Gentlemen get ties, mugs, booze and, if they’re really lucky, tickets to football matches. The ladies are often presented with flowers, jewels, chocolates and so on.
When my son was at private school, I noticed there was a real competitiveness between the students about giving presents to teachers, with expensive baskets from fancy stores and huge bouquets being handed out on the last days of term. Since my wife and I only let my son give thank-you cards, it was clear we were not “classy”. Now he is at an inner-city primary, we’ve noticed that this kind of nonsense seems to have more or less disappeared. For one thing, there isn’t that kind of money floating around – but there isn’t that kind of competitive culture either.
Personally, I think gifts to teachers should be banned beyond the thank-you card: they cause many more problems than they solve, creating insecurity in both parents and staff. Perhaps the recession and the lack of money in people’s pockets might be a good excuse for the government to issue some guidelines to schools that gifts shouldn’t be accepted by teachers.
The gifts that I really value are the cards which say a genuine thank you. I still keep them in a file at home.What can the author most probably be?
| A．A teacher. | B．A school nurse. |
| C．A researcher. | D．A gift shop owner. |
The underlined word “nonsense” in Paragraph 3 refers to the fact that ________.
| A．the son only gives thank-you cards to teachers |
| B．the author and his wife are not classy |
| C．the son goes to an inner-city primary |
| D．the students give gifts to teachers |
To solve the problem, the author thinks it’s a good way to ________.
| A．forbid the students to give any gifts to teachers |
| B．create insecurity by giving thank-you cards |
| C．make people have less money in pockets |
| D．issue some guidelines by the government |
Which of the following can be the best title?
| A．Don’t Forget to Give Gifts to Your Teachers |
| B．Presents Won’t Make Pupils Teachers’ Pets |
| C．Learn the Competitive Culture of Gifts |
| D．Refuse Presents from Your Students |
Last summer, as part of my high school graduation project, I volunteered at Saunders House nursing home.
I choose this experience because it was something that I had never done before and I wanted to lend a helping hand. When I first came up with the idea of volunteering at a nursing home, I wanted to help out with activities and meet with some of the residents (住客).
At first it was challenging because I was extremely shy; however after getting to know the residents a little better, I started to feel more comfortable around them. My goal in volunteering was to bring a smile to the residents by doing different activities from word games to playing chess. I feel as if I had accomplished that goal.
At the nursing home, I did a lot of different activities with the residents ranging from Jeopardy, to Wheel of Fortune. One of my favorites was a word game where I would write a ten letter word on the board and the residents would try to come up with as many smaller words as possible. I could tell that it was one of their favorite games because they always seemed to be so enthusiastic when they played. I also transported residents to and from their rooms when they needed help; and whenever it was a nice day out, I would take them outside to get some fresh air and relax. On Saturday mornings, I would deliver the newspaper to the residents and on Sundays, I assisted with morning church services.
The most unforgettable part of this experience was when I had one on one conversations with the residents; it was incredible how many great stories they had to tell. One of the first residents was Mr. Charles Bowman who is one hundred and three years old!The author volunteered at the nursing home because ________.
| A．she was willing to help |
| B．the residents needed her |
| C．she was good with the old |
| D．the old people challenged her |
What helped the author get over the challenge?
| A．The determination to do the voluntary work. |
| B．Communicating with the residents. |
| C．The residents’ smiling faces. |
| D．The sense of achievements. |
The author felt it ________ to do the activities with the residents.
| A．enjoyable | B．upset |
| C．uncomfortable | D．challenging |
The author wrote the passage in order to ________.
| A．persuade readers to care more about the old |
| B．encourage readers to do voluntary work |
| C．describe a social problem |
| D．share an experience |
People would keep reproducing. Countries would probably pass ‘no reproduction’ laws to keep population balanced, but obviously not everyone would observe. The world’s population would grow very quickly at that. Animals and plants would die out, because humans needed the food.
There would be no room for more people in the world. Scientists would most likely try to create living ‘communities’ underwater, on the moon, and in space stations. The state of starvation and lack of space would be difficult to deal with. Natural selection would happen with humans, which is when certain types of animals or plants are selected for, or selected against. For instance, rich humans and strong, tough humans would be more likely to live, because the rich could afford to buy the limited food, and the tough humans could kill people for their food, and steal the food. This possibility relates directly to the assumption that humans would not die of diseases and such, but must be killed or run out of the necessities for living.
If you mean that no one could ever die, even if they were shot, burned, starved and eaten, then that would never ever happen; it’s a fantasy. However, if that were the case, then at some point, if there were not more areas to live than the land that humans live on now, then we would end up so packed that it would be virtually impossible to move, and humans would be forced to be on top of other people. It would be ridiculously crowded.
Although, if humans lived forever, then I assume that we would all be extremely smart, and would have figured out solutions to the living situations, like on another planet, on the moon, under water, etc. What can we infer from the underlined part in Paragraph 1?
| A．More food would be produced for humans |
| B．More room would be found for the growing population. |
| C．New babies would come into this world without an end. |
| D．Humans would continue to develop their intelligence. |
How is Paragraph 2 mainly developed?
| A．By making comparisons. | B．By making conclusions. |
| C．By giving advice. | D．By giving examples. |
What does the author mean by “it’s a fantasy” in paragraph 3?
| A．It will surely happen. |
| B．It will probably become a fact. |
| C．It is a story that is based on facts. |
| D．It is a belief based on imagination. |
What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To analyze the possibility that animals and plants die out. |
| B．To explain why scientists will create living areas for humans. |
| C．To argue that no human being is likely to live forever. |
| D．To convince people that it is possible for humans to live on other planets. |
1. Mean old ladies
There is always a reason why an old lady gives you a serious look – you are being too loud, dressed improperly or not crossing the street in the right place. Sometimes it can be lovely, but if you are already having a bad day, a mean old lady can drive you mad.
What to do about it:
I’ve come to realize that when people start conflicts, it is actually an expression of their inner state expressed in an outside way. You, your personality, your looks or your actions have nothing to do with it. It is not personal, so why take it personally?
2. That person, who cuts in front of everybody in line
This is something that gets me angry. Even if I am not in a hurry, I still feel bad for the other people in line who are being treated unjustly. Are you more patient than I am or do you feel annoying too?
What to do about it:
If we have negative thoughts then we are wasting our energy on negativity. Situations like this could be a great opportunity to learn to control our first negative responses and practice understanding. After all, the person may just have a quick question or maybe there is an emergency.
3. Friends that tell you “I told you so”
It is one thing to admit that you made a mistake and another to hear it from a friend. Friends should be there to support you and cheer you up when you are feeling down, not make themselves feel better at your expense, right?
What to do about it:
It helps to remember that when people say “I told you so”, they may mean, “Please listen to my advice to avoid future mistakes.” If this is not the help you need – voice it out, without getting defensive. According to the author, what can you do when meeting with a mean old lady?
| A．Take it personally. |
| B．Take it seriously. |
| C．Don’t apologize to her. |
| D．Don’t get upset. |
When seeing someone cutting in line, we’d better ________.
| A．stop him immediately |
| B．treat it with a good state of mind |
| C．pretend not to see it |
| D．teach him a good lesson |
The third tip intends to advise you ________.
| A．not to keep silent at a friend’s improper suggestion |
| B．to tell your friend if they have misunderstood you |
| C．not to talk to your friend if they feel better at your expense |
| D．to apologize to your friend when you’ve done something wrong |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．What to do when meeting with these people? |
| B．How to ask your friends for help when in trouble? |
| C．How to give advice to your friends when asked to? |
| D．What to say when faced with different situations? |
Page last updated at 04:08, Friday, Nov. 22, 2013
US jumbo jet leaves tiny airport
ABoeing 747 Dreamlifter cargo (货物) plane has safely taken off from a tiny airport in Kansas after it landed there by mistake.
The huge cargo jet had been heading for McConnell air force base in Wichita, but instead touched down at nearby Colonel James Jabara airport.
No one was injured and no property damage occurred when the plane landed.
There had been questions as to whether the aircraft would be able to depart from the much shorter runway at Jabara.
The Dreamlifter normally needs a runway of 2,780m (9,119ft) to get into the air at maximum weight;
Jabara’s runway is only 1,860m long.
A tug (牵引车) was sent to the airport to turn around the huge cargo plane.
Brad Christopher of the Wichita Airport Authority told the Associated Press news agency that the company operating the aircraft had assured(使确信) us they've run all the engineering calculation and performance and the aircraft is very safe for a normal departure at its present weight and conditions here.
The Dreamlifter, which landed at Jabara on Wednesday evening, is a modified 747-400 passenger aeroplane, which can carry more cargo than any aeroplane in the world, according to Boeing.
The aerospace company uses its fleet of four Dreamlifters to transport large assembled components(组装零件) of its 787 Dreamliner from suppliers around the world to the final location in Washington State.From the passage we can learn that the Dreamlifter landed at Jabara airport ________.
| A．on Nov. 19, 2013 | B．on Nov. 20, 2013 |
| C．on Nov. 21, 2013 | D．on Nov. 22, 2013 |
What does the underlined word “jumbo” mean?
| A．Wonderful. | B．Crashed. | C．Small. | D．Huge. |
We can infer from the passage that the Dreamlifter landed at Jabara with ________.
| A．as much cargo as it could carry |
| B．more cargo than it could carry |
| C．less cargo than it could carry |
| D．heavier cargo than it could carry |
What’s the main idea of the news?
| A．A Boeing 747 Dreamlifter is stuck in a tiny air force base. |
| B．A US huge cargo plane has left a tiny airport after a wrong landing. |
| C．A modified 747-400 passenger aeroplane landed at Jabara by mistake. |
| D．A tug was sent to the Jabara airport to help a stuck Boeing 747 Dreamlifter take off. |