So many of us hold on to little complaints that may have come from an argument, a misunderstanding, the way we were raised, or some other painful event. Stubbornly, we wait for someone else to reach out to us—believing this is the only way we can forgive or rekindle a friendship or family relationship.
A friend of mine, recently told me that she hadn’t spoken to her son in almost three years. She said that she and her son had had a disagreement about his wife and that she wouldn’t speak to him again unless he called first. When I suggested that she be the one to reach out, she said, “I can’t do that. He’s the one who should apologize.” After a little gentle encouragement, however, she did decide to be the first one to reach out. To her amazement, her son was grateful for her willingness to call and offered an apology of his own. As is usually the case when someone takes the chance and reaches out, everyone wins.
Whenever we hold on to our anger, we turn “small stuff（问题）” into really “big stuff” in our minds. We start to believe that our positions are more important than our happiness. They are not. If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy. The way to be happy is to let go, and reach out. Let other people be right. This doesn’t mean that you’re wrong. Everything will be fine. You’ll experience the peace of letting go, as well as the joy of letting others be right.
You’ll also notice that, as you reach out and let others be “right,” they will become less defensive and more loving toward you. They might even reach back. But, if for some reason they don’t, that’s okay too. You’ll have the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your part to create a more loving world, and certainly you’ll be more peaceful yourself.The underlined word “rekindle” in Paragraph 1 probably means “______”.
| A．recover | B．develop | C．accept | D．replace |
In the author’s opinion, we hold on to our anger often because we think ______.
| A．we can turn small issues into big ones |
| B．our positions are higher than others |
| C．our own opinions matter most |
| D．others will be less defensive |
The best thing to do after a quarrel is to_________.
| A．let go of our own rights |
| B．realize that you are wrong |
| C．expect others to give in |
| D．apologize to others first |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Be Peaceful | B．Reach Out and Give |
| C．Small and Big Stuff | D．Enjoy Your Friendship |
Are you a compulsive (强迫性的) spender, or do you hold on to your money as long as possible? Are you a bargain hunter? Would you rather use charge accounts than pay cash? Your answers to these questions will reflect your personality. According to psychologists, our individual money habits not only show our beliefs and values, but can also stem from past problems.
Experts in psychology believe that for many people, money is an important symbol of strength and influence. Husbands who complain about their wives’ spending habits may be afraid that they are losing power in their marriage. Wives, on the other hand, may waste huge amounts of money because they are angry at their husbands. In addition, many people consider money a symbol of love. They spend it on their family and friends to express love, or they buy themselves expensive presents because they need love.
People can be addicted to different things — for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. They are compulsive in their addictions, i.e. they must satisfy these needs to feel comfortable. In the same way, according to psychologists, compulsive spenders must spend money. For people who buy on credit, furthermore, charge accounts are even more exciting than money: in other words, they feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasures in spending enormous amounts are actually greater than those they get from the things they buy.
There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don’t need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game: when they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.
It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: they consider people’s needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, etc. in their advertising and sales methods.
Psychologists often use a method called “behavior therapy(疗法)” to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money: they give them “assignments”. If a person buys something in every store that he enters, for instance, a therapist might teach him self-discipline in this way: on the first day of his therapy, he must go into a store, stay five minutes, and then leave. On the second day, he should stay for ten minutes and try something on. On the third day, he stays for fifteen minutes, asks the salesclerk a question, but does not buy anything. Soon he will learn that nothing bad will happen to him if he doesn’t buy anything, and he can solve the problem of his compulsive buying.If you use charge accounts, ______.
| A．you pay in cash |
| B．you pay with credit card |
| C．you pay less than you should |
| D．you pay more than you should |
Compulsive bargain hunters buy things for all the following reasons except that ______.
| A．the things they buy are cheap |
| B．they believe they can balance their budgets |
| C．they get psychological satisfaction |
| D．they really need the things they buy |
Behavior therapy in this case aims at ______.
| A．helping businessmen to increase their business |
| B．helping compulsive spenders to buy less |
| C．finding out how people will react if they are allowed to buy |
| D．finding out what people will do in front of a bargain |
The underlined word “those” in Paragraph 3 refers to ______.
| A．different things | B．their addictions |
| C．their pleasures | D．charge accounts |
From the passage we can conclude that ______________.
| A．how you spend money reflects if you are psychologically healthy |
| B．money is a necessity and will bring you happiness if you have much |
| C．compulsive buying problems can be solved by taking some medicine |
| D．all businessmen understand well the psychology of customers |
Do you want to help others—but don’t know where to start? Do you feel that the challenges facing us are too big for one person? One advantage of supporting the American Red Cross is that each of our individual contributions is magnified(放大)when we all join together．Another advantage is that it's easy to start helping．You can start this every minute, by using your mobile to send a text message to make a $10 donation to one of our ongoing campaigns．
Donate to Help Victims of Natural Disasters: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps people affected by disasters such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes．
Please consider making a donation today to help the thousands of people who have been affected by these disasters．
Donate to Help Reduce Deaths from Measles(麻疹): Text PREVENT to 90999 to give $ 10 to the Red Cross and help us vaccinate（注射疫苗）children against measles．
Started in 2001．the Measles & Rubella Initiative—led by the American Red Cross， provides technical and financial support to governments and communities for mass vaccination campaigns around the world．The Initiative has supported the vaccination of more than 1 billion children helping to reduce measles deaths by 78％globally(compared to 2000)．
Please consider making a donation today to help us continue this campaign．To learn more visit www．Measlesrubellainitiative．org．
Important Information for Text Donors: You can make a $ 10 donation to the American Red Cross．Charges will appear on your wireless bill．All purchases must be authorized by account holder．You must be over 18 years old or have parental permission to participate．Text STOP to 90999 to STOP．Text HELP to 90999 for HELP．The text mainly aims to tell us_____________．
| A．how to keep our wireless bill safe when making donation |
| B．how to make a $10 donation by text message |
| C．when to become an authorized account holder |
| D．how to make individual contributions magnified |
We should text_______to 90999 if we want to help victims of natural disasters．
| A．STOP | B．PREVENT | C．HELP | D．REDCROSS |
What does “this campaign” in Paragraph 6 refer to?
| A．Offering help to the disaster victims． |
| B．Supporting the American Red Cross． |
| C．Mass vaccination around the world． |
| D．Applying for charges on wireless bills． |
1f a school boy wants to be a text donor, he should _____________.
| A．get the permission of his parents |
| B．reach the marriage age |
| C．pay ＄10 to own an account |
| D．stop his daily purchases |
One evening last summer, when I asked my 14 year old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response shocked me．"What’s a colander(漏勺)?" he asked．
I could only blame myself．In the family, nobody else’s hands went in the sauce except my own．But that night, as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for．
As parents, while we focus on our sons’ confidence and character, we perhaps don’t always consider that we are also raising someone’s future roommates, boyfriends, husbands, or fathers．I wanted to know that I’d raised a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, "What’s for dinner?" So I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course．I was delighted to find that he didn’t say no．For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine．One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for roasting．Then he rolled out the piecrust (馅饼皮) and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven．
I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops in the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother—he tried to beg not to have sewing lessons, even though I insisted that one day, someone would find the sight of him fixing his own shirt very attractive— but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping．"I appreciate what you do as a mom," he told me one day．Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more importantly, he realizes there’s nothing masculine (男子气概的) about being helpless．
Now, not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family．That’s what I call a man．I’m glad that I prepared so great a present for my future daughter in-law．Why was the author shocked at her son’s response?
| A．Because he was not well behaved． |
| B．Because he refused to help with dinner． |
| C．Because he didn’t know the common kitchen tools． |
| D．Because he was very curious about kitchen tools． |
In the author’s opinion, some parents pay little attention to _______．
| A．building up children’s confidence |
| B．telling kids what is right and wrong |
| C．preparing children for their future life |
| D．making children live a hard life |
After learning to do housework, Ray _______．
| A．fell in love with sewing |
| B．did other work in the house |
| C．began to be more hardworking |
| D．acknowledged his mother’s efforts |
We can infer from the text that Ray _______．
| A．made great progress in cooking． |
| B．always thought housework interesting． |
| C．preferred sewing to cooking． |
| D．was unwilling to learn cooking at first． |
What would the author like to convey in the text?
| A．Useful education for boys |
| B．The importance of housework |
| C．Boys should be involved in housework． |
| D．Cooking and sewing make boys masculine． |
The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Some bring a few of their favorite things. Others come alone with nothing but determination. One thing that every immigrant brings with them is their culture.
American immigration began in 1607 with the colony (殖民地) of Jamestown. In 1620, another group of people left England to build a settlement in America. They wanted to go to a place where they could practice their religion freely. Then many more people left their homes in Europe to build a better life in America. Many also came to America from Africa. By 1770, more than two million people had moved to America. Later on, more people came to the United States than ever before.
In cities all over America, you can see different cultures that formed this country. Many things that you may think of as being “American” are actually from a foreign culture. Some of the best examples of this are the foods people eat. Pizza and spaghetti are foods that all Americans know and love. But both of them are from Italy. Baseball is an all-American sport. But the hot dogs that people eat during the game are a type of food that was brought to America by German immigrants.
Over time, pizza and hot dogs have become a part of what is considered to be American food. In the same way, different groups of people have come together to define what an American is. An American can be a person of any background. An American can be of any faith. An American can be of any skin color. They can speak English clearly. They can speak English with an accent. Each new immigrant adds something new to American culture. It will keep changing as more people come to this country.Paragraph 2 is mainly about _____.
| A．the history of American immigration |
| B．why people chose to move to America |
| C．the rapid growth of the population of America |
| D．what immigrants have brought to America |
Several foods are mentioned in the text to show _____.
| A．they have a long history in America |
| B．they are very popular with Americans |
| C．America is a country full of tasty foods |
| D．America is made up of different cultures |
The author probably agrees that American culture is _____.
| A．simple | B．strange |
| C．diverse | D．advanced |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Immigrants and their American dreams |
| B．America: a melting pot of cultures |
| C．America: a land of opportunity |
| D．Life in the US: culture shock |
VOLUNTEER HELP WANTED, WORKING WITH NEW EVENTS TEAM
Gants Hill, London
We are looking for a few volunteers to work with us in the creation of a new events group which is needing help to expand and may lead to part-time or full-time work. Hours are flexible, and successful candidates will be working on social media and liaising (联络) phone calls with organizations and groups. Candidates must speak excellent fluent English.
VOLUNTEER EVENTS ADMINISTRATION
Westminster, London
We would like an enthusiastic and outgoing administration volunteer for our Events Team at our London Head Office. This opportunity would suit a well-organized person with an eye for detail and good computer skills. You will support our Events by sending thank-you letters, answering the telephone, and assisting with all aspects of event organization for 2 days a week.
LOVE MUSIC? WANT EVENTS EXPERIENCE?
Notting Hill, London
Oxfam Notting Hill Takeover are looking for volunteers for our music festival on 19th October 2013. The festival takes place in 5 places in Notting Hill. This charity event will be showcasing over 30 bands and DJs and playing all forms of music. We need a team of volunteers to assist us on the day in order to make sure everybody has a good time. If you want to be a part of a great event to help us raise money for Oxfam then please come along to our open recruitment session (招聘会).
VOLUNTEERS WANTED!
Hillingdon, London
Royal Voluntary Service is a national charity which delivers services through volunteers to help older people remain active and independent in their communities. We are growing our new Dementia Support Service in Hillingdon and need help from you! You will be required to have good communication skills.If you want to work with the new events team, you should _____.
| A．be confident |
| B．work full-time |
| C．speak English very well |
| D．have enough experience |
In the Royal Voluntary Service, volunteers can _____.
| A．communicate with older people |
| B．enjoy all forms of music |
| C．answer the telephone |
| D．work part-time only |
All of the four ads were written to _____.
| A．look for some volunteers |
| B．provide some job opportunities |
| C．introduce some new information |
| D．complain about volunteers’ poor service |