“Mommy, I’m a funny bird,” Jack, my almost-4-year-old tells me. He moves his little fingers like wings.
“You are?” I say. I’m sitting across from him while he eats breakfast at our table. I smile; he says the greatest things. A week ago, however, when he had chocolate on his face and I licked (舔) my finger to wipe it off, he said, “Don’t put your dirty water on me.”
A week ago, I wouldn’t have been sitting here with him during breakfast. I wouldn’t have been up, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the kitchen, or answering emails. We always had dinner together at the table, but other meals got much less attention. I work from home, and my husband owns an advertising agency and often travels. We were so busy that we had to do the chores during breakfast or lunch.
Why was I not sitting down with my son? It could take Jack an hour to eat a meal, during which I could feel the tug (猛拉) of unanswered emails, a deadline, and the unswept floor each minute.
Then we went to visit friends for a weekend. They have two kids. They are busy, professional, and good parents. And at every meal -- not just dinner -- we all sat down at the table and ate. When we got home, my husband said, “Maybe we should be doing that.”
I took this as criticism. My husband works a lot, so mealtimes are mostly under my charge. The “we” he was talking about was me.
Then, I remembered myself that I’m a big girl, and took his comment the way it was meant. We both want what’s best for Jack. Yes, I thought. I’m home. I have to eat, too. My husband is Jack’s favorite, which delights and moves me, but I am Jack’s constant. Constants are there. Constants sit down.
So I’ve been sitting. And, surprise, I haven’t missed a deadline. The house has been clean. And Jack seems to like having me there. Two days ago, over lunch, he smiled and stared at me.
“What?” I asked, amused.
“Mommy, I love you so much and I can’t stop loving you.”
I could have missed that.
God, I could have missed that. Before visiting the friends, Jack _________.
| A．didn’t like chocolate |
| B．couldn’t eat by himself |
| C．was sometimes rude to his mom |
| D．preferred his mother to his father |
After visiting the friends, the author _________.
| A．was determined to learn to cook |
| B．asked her husband to have every meal with her |
| C．decided to have dinner together with her family |
| D．was advised by her husband to learn from the friends |
What does the underlined word “that” in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．The best time to visit friends. |
| B．Jack saying sweet words to his mom. |
| C．A deadline for answering emails. |
| D．Jack having lunch with his mom. |
The Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a palatial park on the central California coast and a National Historic Landmark．It was designed by architect Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst from 1919 until 1947．In 1957 , the Hearst Corporation donated the fortune to the state of California．Since that time it has been maintained as a state historic park where the estate and its considerable collection of art and antiques are open for public tours．Despite its location far from any urban center, the site attracts roughly one million visitors per year．
Guided Tours
There are several tours which highlight various parts of the castle and gardens．
●Tour One is recommended for first time visitors．It now includes the movie, Hearst Castle Building the Dream．
●Tour Two gives visitors a closer look at the main house's upper floors, Mr.Hearst's private suite, the libraries, and the kitchen．
●Tour Three looks at the Castle's North Wing, guest rooms and guest house Casa Del Monte．
●Tour Four features the impressive gardens and grounds, the largest guesthouse, the wine basement, and the Hidden Terrace．
●The evening tour is a special tour that allows visitors to experience the Castle at night as one of the Hearst's own visitors might have．
Ticket Prices
Hearst Castle accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express and Discover．Free day use parking is available for automobiles, motorcycles, tour buses and recreational vehicles．
| TOURS |
ADULT |
Ages 6 – 17 |
| Experience Tour |
$24 |
$12 |
| Tours 2, 3 or 4 |
$24 |
$12 |
| Evening tour |
$30 |
$15 |
* Children under 6 are free when accompanied by a paying adult．
Reservation Information
While tickets may be purchased at the Visitor Center upon arrival, tour reservations are strongly recommended and may be reserved online now or by calling 1 - 800 - 444 - 4445, see below for times．
| Reservation Call Center Hours |
||
| Dates |
Monday-Friday |
Saturday-Sunday |
| March-September |
8AM to 6PM |
8AM to 6PM |
| October-February |
9AM to 5PM |
9AM to 3PM |
Visit www．hearstcastle．org for more information．
56．Who does the Hearst Castle belong to at present?
A．William Randolph Hearst． B．Julia Morgan．
C．The state of California． D．The Hearst Corporation．
57．If you are quite interested in wine, which tour will you choose?
A．Tour One． B．Tour Two． C．Tour Three． D．Tour Four．
58．If a young couple take Tour One with their 5-year-old son, how much will they pay for the tickets?
A．36． B．60． C．48． D．75．
59．Which of the following is the available time to book tickets by phone?
A．At 8 AM on Monday in February． B．At 9 AM on Sunday in March．
C．At 7 PM on Friday in September． D．At 6 PM on Saturday in October．
Not all memories are sweet. Some people spend all their lives trying to forget bad experiences. Violence and traffic accidents can leave people with terrible physical and emotional scars. Often they relive (重新体验) these experiences in nightmares.
Now American researchers think they are close to developing a pill, which will help people forget bad memories. The pill is designed to be taken immediately after a frightening experience. They hope it might reduce, or possibly erase (抹去), the effect of painful memories.
In November, experts tested a drug on people in the US and France. The drug stops the body releasing chemicals that fix memories in the brain. So far the research has suggested that only the emotional effects of memories may be reduced, not that the memories are erased.
The research has caused a great deal of argument. Some think it is a bad idea, while others support it. Supporters say it could lead to pills that prevent or treat soldiers’ troubling memories after war.
They say that there are many people who suffer from terrible memories.“Some memories can ruin people’s lives. They come back to you when you don’t want to have them in a daydream or nightmare. They usually come with very painful emotions,”said Roger Pitman, a professor of psychiatry (精神病学) at Harvard Medical School.“This could relieve a lot of that suffering.”
But those who are against the research say that changing memories is very dangerous because memories give us our identity (特质). They also help us all avoid the mistakes of the past. “All of us can think of bad events in our lives that were horrible at the time but make us who we are. I'm not sure we'd want to wipe those memories out,” said Rebecca Dresser, a medical ethicist (伦理学家).
Some people fear that although the drug would first be used in only very serious cases, it would become more and more common. “People always have the ability to misuse science,”said Joseph LeDoux, a New York University memory researcher. “All we want to do is help people have better control of memories.”What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．People often suffer from bad memories. |
| B．American researchers are trying to develop a pill. |
| C．Forget bad memories, and be happy. |
| D．The research has caused a heated argument. |
The underlined word “it” in paragraph 4 refers to “_____”.
| A．the new drug | B．the research into the drug |
| C．the memory | D．the chemical in the drug |
Which of the following is not the opinion of the supporters?
| A．The pill can erase all the memories in the past. |
| B．Some memories can ruin people’s life. The pill can relieve emotional suffering. |
| C．The pill can also help many people who suffer from terrible memories. |
| D．The pill can prevent or treat troubling memories in soldiers after war. |
Which of the following is not the opinion of the opponents (反对者)?
| A．Our memories give us our identity. |
| B．The memories help humanity avoid mistakes of the past. |
| C．The drug should be used in only very serious cases. |
| D．People may not be sure whether they want to wipe the memories out. |
The coyote (丛林狼) , that clever animal of wide-open spaces, has come to the nation’s capital. In fact, coyotes have spread to every corner of the United States, changing their behaviors to fit new environments and causing researchers to deal with a troublesome new kind of creature：the city coyote.
The coyote originally lived in the middle of the continent. One of its most obvious characters is its smartness, which has made the animal a notorious (臭名昭著的) pest. Hunters trapped, shot and poisoned more than a million coyotes in the 1900s. It’s still one of America’s most-hunted animals. Yet the coyote has survived. How has the coyote shown this extraordinary ability? “I guess if you wanted to use one word, it’d be ‘plasticity’ , ” says Erie Gese, an expert at Utah State University. Coyotes can live alone, in pairs, or in large packs like wolves, hunt at night or during the day, occupy a small region or an area up to 40 square miles, and live on all sorts of food, from lizards (蜥蜴) and shoes, to ants and melons.
Unbelievably people helped coyotes increase when they killed most of the wolves in the United States. The spreading of coyotes into city areas, though, is recent. They travel at night, crossing sidewalks and bridges, running along roads and ducking into culverts (钻入洞) and underpasses. No one knows why coyotes are moving into cities, but experts explain that cleverer, more human-tolerant (不怕人的) coyotes are teaching urban survival skills to new generations.
Occasionally, coyotes might attack human beings. There have been about 160 attacks on people in recent years. Therefore, people have been consistently told not to feed coyotes or leave pet food unsecured. That, plus a large trapping program in the neighborhood, has cut down on the coyote population.The underlined word “plasticity” in Paragraph 2 refers to ________.
| A．the ability to fit the environment | B．notorious smartness |
| C．hunting ability | D．being human - tolerant |
The aim of the passage is to ________.
| A．tell people how to fight against coyotes |
| B．tell us why the coyote is the most hunted animal |
| C．supply the reason why the coyote is a kind of notorious pest |
| D．explain how the coyote has spread to and survived in cities |
According to the passage, coyotes ________.
| A．originally lived in the west of the continent |
| B．sleep during the day but look for food at night |
| C．are teaching survival skills to their younger generations |
| D．suffered a population decrease because people killed wolves |
According to the passage, to cut down on the coyote population, people are advised to ________.
| A．leave pet food secured | B．keep coyotes in small regions |
| C．force coyotes to live alone | D．avoid using trapping programs |
Play is the basic business of childhood, and in recent years research has shown the great importance of play in the development of a human being. From earliest infancy (婴儿), every child needs opportunity and right materials for play, and the main tools of play are toys. The main function of toys is to suggest, encourage and play. To succeed in this, they must be good toys, which children will play with often, and will come back again and again. Therefore, it is important to choose suitable toys for different stages of a child’s development.
In recent years research on infant development has shown that the standard a child is likely to reach, within the range of his inherited abilities, is largely determined in the first three years of his life. So a baby’s ability to benefit from the right play materials should not be underestimated. A baby who is encouraged, talked to and shown things and played with, has the best chance of growing up successfully.
In the next stage, from three to five years old, curiosity knows no bounds. Every type of suitable toys should be made available to the child, for trying out, experimenting and learning, for discovering his own particular ability: Bricks and jigsaws and construction toys; painting, scribbling and making things; sand and water play; toys for imaginative and pretending play—the first social games for learning to play and get on with others.
But at the third stage of play development—from five to seven or eight years old— the child is at school. But for a few more years play is still the best way of learning, at home or at school. It is easier to see which type of toys the child most enjoys.
Until the age of seven or eight, play and work mean much the same to a child. But once reading has been mastered, then books become the main source of learning. Toys are still interesting and valuable, which lead up to new hobbies, but their significance has changed — to a child of nine or ten years old, toys and games mean, as to adults, relaxation and fun.According to the first passage we know that as a child grows up, ______.
| A．he should be allowed to choose his own toys |
| B．he should be given the same toys |
| C．he should be given fewer and fewer toys |
| D．he should be given different toys |
According to the passage, the abilities a child has inherited from his parents ______.
| A．determine his character |
| B．will not change after the age of three |
| C．partly determined the standard he is likely to reach |
| D．to a large extent determine the choice of toys |
We learn from the passage that a child has boundless curiosity ______.
| A．when he is two | B．when he is around four |
| C．when he is six | D．when he is eight |
The passage is mainly about _______.
| A．the role of play in a child’s development |
| B．the importance of schooling |
| C．the importance of pre-school education |
| D．the choice of toys for youngster |
TYPING
This course is for those who want to learn to type, as well as those who want to improve their typing. The course is not common. You are tested in the first class and begin practicing at one of eight different skill levels. This allows you to learn at your own speed. Each program lasts 20 hours. Bring your own paper.
Course fee: $ 125 Materials: $25
Two hours each evening for two weeks. New classes begin every two weeks.
This course is taught by a number of qualified business education teachers who have successfully taught typing courses before.
UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS
This twelve-hour course is for people who do not know very much about computers, but who need to learn about them. You will learn what computers are, what they can and can’t do and how to use them.
Course fee: $75 Equipment fee: $ 10
Jan. 4, 7, 11, 14, 18, Wed. & Sat. 9—11:30 a.m.
Joseph Saunders is Professor of Computer Science at New Urban University. He has over twenty years of experience in the computer field.
STOP SMOKING
Do you want to stop smoking? Have you already tried to stop and failed? Now is the time to stop smoking using the latest methods. You can stop smoking, and this twelve-hour course will help you do it.
Course fee: $30
Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23 Mon. 2—5 p. m.
Dr John Good is a practicing psychologist who had helped hundreds of people stop smoking.If you choose the UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS course, you will have classes _______.
| A．from Monday to Sunday | B．from Monday to Friday |
| C．on Wednesday and Saturday | D．on Saturday and Sunday |
Mr. Black works every morning and evening, but he wants to take part in one of the three courses. The most probable course he will attend is ______.
| A．typing | B．understanding computers |
| C．stop smoking | D．any of the courses |
If you want to learn computer and at the same time you want to improve your typing, you will pay _______.
| A．$ 75 | B．$ 15 | C．$ 115 | D．$ 235 |
The typical difference of “Typing” from the other two is that ______.
| A．people with different skill levels may learn at different speeds |
| B．you will take a test after the course |
| C．you will pay the fee before practicing |
| D．you will pay less money |