It’s a tradition that dates back to the 1930s’ and it’s designed to give all children in Finland, no matter what background they’re from, an equal start in life.
The maternity(母性) package — a gift from the government — is available to all expectant mothers. It contains bodysuits, a sleeping bag, outdoor gear, bathing products for the baby as well as nappies, bedding and a small mattress.
With the mattress at the bottom, the box becomes a baby’s first bed. Many children, from all social backgrounds, have their first naps within the safety of the box’s four cardboard walls.
The tradition dates back to 1938. At first, the scheme was only available to families on low incomes, but that changed in 1949. In the 1930s Finland was a poor country and the infant death rate was high — 65 out of 1,000 babies died. But the figure decreased rapidly in the decades that followed. Over 75 years, the box has been an established part of the Finnish rite(仪式) of a passage to motherhood, uniting generations of women.
Reija Klemetti, a 49-year-old woman from Helsinki, remembers going to the post office to receive a box for one of her children. “My partner Milla and I were living in London when we had our first child, Jasper, so we weren’t eligible (有资格) for a free box. But Milla’s parents didn’t want us to miss out, so they bought one and put it in the post office. We couldn’t wait to open the box. There were all the clothes I had expected, with the addition of a snowsuit for Finland's cold winter.”
“We now live in Helsinki and have just had our second child, Annika. She did get a free box, from the Finnish government. This felt to me like evidence that someone cared — someone wanted our baby to have a good start in life,” Reija Klemetti said.In Finland the maternity package is probably seen as a symbol of_____.
| A．wealth |
| B．equality |
| C．pride |
| D．fame |
The fourth paragraph implies that_____.
| A．the rich refused to use the boxes |
| B．there were not enough boxes at first |
| C．the boxes were given to poor families only |
| D．the boxes helped cut down the death rate of babies |
Why couldn’t Reija Klemetti get a free box when her first child was born?
| A．They were not citizens of Finland. |
| B．They lived outside Finland. |
| C．They didn't apply for the box. |
| D．They had got one from their neighbors. |
How did Reija Klemetti feel when she received the box from the post office?
| A．Worried. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Puzzled. | D．Excited. |
What did Reija Klemetti want to tell us in the last paragraph？
| A．A free box came at last. |
| B．She was longing for a free box for her child. |
| C．She returned to Finland to get a free box. |
| D．The free box gave her a feeling of warmth. |
Do you know that a fast reader can get the ideas better than a slow reader can? Of course, you save time by reading fast, but this is not the main reason for fast reading. The main reason is that you understand better what you are reading when you read fast.
As your eyes move along the line of print, they make fixations (固定) or pauses. It is important that you see several words at a fixation. It is also important that your eyes leave a group of words quickly and move on to another group. The number of letters or words that you see at a fixation is called your eye span. Pay more attention to improving your rate of reading. With practice you can learn to read faster than you usually read.
The way in which you read always depends on what you are reading and for what purpose. You should know the different ways of reading so that you can apply whatever method that is necessary. Here are four ways of reading:
(1) Skimming is an important kind of reading. This method can be used when you wish to review something that you have forgotten. You can skim to get the main points.
(2) Rapid first reading and then rereading certain parts carefully is important. You may use this type of reading to study a science lesson or a history lesson.
(3) You need to do careful reading and rereading sometimes. This type of reading is necessary for making an intensive (精深的) study of your school subjects, solving Maths problems or reading directions.
(4) Rapid reading is used when reading stories for enjoyment. you may also do rapid reading when reviewing material that you already know well.The main reason for reading fast is that you can _______what you are fast reading.
| A．get the ideas | B．save time | C．understand better | D．learn well |
The way of reading always depends on _______.
| A．the method that you like | B．your reading material |
| C．your reading purpose | D．both B and C |
The underlined word "skimming" in the fourth paragraph means _______.
| A．reading very fast | B．looking carefully |
| C．reading only the main points | D．reading some parts of the material |
Careful reading is an important kind of reading _________.
| A．when you read a story for enjoyment |
| B．when you go over a lesson that you have already known well |
| C．when you read the directions before using a camera which is expensive |
| D．when you wish to find a lost place that you have read |
Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店). Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance. Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits. Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past. But playing doctor can also be a deadly game.
Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers – most of them aren’t nearly skeptical enough of what they find. A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites. They shouldn’t. Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study. Of the 169 websites the researchers rated, only 16 scored as “high quality”. Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet.
The problem is most people don’t know the safe way to surf the Web. “They use a search engine like Google, get 18 trillion choices and start clicking. But that’s risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it’d hard to know if what you’re reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr. Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute. According to the text, an increasing number of American _____.
| A．are suffering from mental disorders |
| B．turn to Internet pharmacies for help |
| C．like to play deadly games with doctors |
| D．are skeptical about surfing medical websites |
Some Americans stay away from doctors because they _____.
| A．find medical devices easy to operate |
| B．prefer to be diagnosed online by doctors |
| C．are afraid to face the truth of their health |
| D．are afraid to misuse their health insurance |
According to the study of Brown Medical School, ______.
| A．more than 6 million Americans distrust doctors |
| B．only 1/10 of medical websites aim to make a profit |
| C．about 1/10 of the websites surveyed are of high quality |
| D．72% of health websites offer incomplete and faulty facts |
Which of the following is the author’s main argument?
| A．It’s cheap to self-treat your own illness. |
| B．It’s embarrassing to discuss your bad habits. |
| C．It’s reasonable to put up a medical website. |
| D．It’s dangerous to be your own doctor. |
FILM DESCRIPTIONS
Back to the Future
With the help of a local inventor’s time machine, Marty travels back to the 1950s. There his 80s hipness stands out, and he inadvertently interferes with the fledgling romance of his parents-to-be. Can Marty keep them together? He’d better, or his own future will fade away. Featuring: Christopher Lloyd, Michael J.Fox. A universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 55 min.
Beethoven’s 2nd
In this sequel to the popular Beethoven, our canine hero falls for Missy, who soon has puppies. Missy’s greedy owner, Regina, who sees only money in the little purebreds, separates mom and pups from Beethoven. His owners rescue the puppies, but Regina still has Missy. Featuring: Charles Grodin, Bonnie Hunt. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 26 min.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Despite the popularity of his treats, candy maker Willy Wonka shuts himself inside his factory. But then Willy holds a contest, offering five lucky children the chance to see his company. Poor but pleasant Charlie Bucket finds a ticket, as do four less-deserving children. Featuring:
Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore. A Warner Bros. Release, 1 hr. 56 min.
Cinderella Man
Based on actual events, this film follows the life of Jim Braddock, a boxer in New York City during the Great Depression. After a series of losses, Braddock is forced into retirement. But he never gives up his boxing dream, and neither does his manager. Featuring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger. A Universal Pictures release, 2 hr. 14 min.
Liar Liar
Lawyer Fletcher Reede has never told the truth in his life. Then his son makes a birthday wish that his dad would stop lying for 24 hours. Suddenly, Fletcher’s mouth spouts everything he thinks. His compulsion brings disaster to courtroom, where he must defend a client whose case was built on lies. Featuring: Jim Carrey, Justin Cooper. A Universal Pictures release, 1 hr. 25 min. Which of the following is probably the name of a dog?
| A．Marty. | B．Missy. | C．Fletcher. | D．Charlie |
Willy Wonka is _______.
| A．a boxer who suffers a series of losses |
| B．a lawyer who has never told the truth |
| C．a man who runs a chocolate factory |
| D．a man who invents a time machine |
Which film is about the life of a real person?
| A．Beethoven’s 2nd | B．Charlie and the Chocolate Factory |
| C．Cinderella Man | D．Liar Liar |
November not only marks the publication of Toni Morrison’s eagerly anticipated(期待) eighth novel, Love, but it is also the tenth anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Literature. Morrison is the first black woman to receive a Nobel, and so honored before her in literature are only two black men:Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist, in 1986; and Derek Walcott, the Caribbean-born poet, in 1992. But Morrison is also the first and only American-born Nobel prizewinner for literature since 1962, the year novelist John steinbeck received the award.
Like Song of Solomon, Love is a multigenerational story, revealing the personal and communal legacy() of an outstanding black family. As Morrison scholars will tell you, Love is the third volume of a literary master’s trilogy(三部曲)investigating the many complexities of love. This trilogy began with Beloved(1988), which deals with a black mother’s love under slavery and in freedom. Jazzy(1993), the second volume, tells a story of romantic love in 1920s Harlem. This latest novel looks back from the 1970s to the 1940s and 50s.
The emotional center of Love is Bill Cosey, the former owner and host of the shabby Cosey’s Hotel and Resort in Silk, North Carolina, described in the novel as “the best and best-known vacation sport for colored folk on the East Coast.” We get to know Cosey through the memories of five women who survive and love him: his granddaughter, his widow, two former employees, and a homeless young girl.
The latest novel, Love, had been described in the promotional material from her publisher as “Morrison’s most accessible work since Song of Solomon.” This comparison to her third novel, published in 1977, was an effective selling point. What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Toni Morrison’s latest novels |
| B．Toni Morrison and her trilogy |
| C．Toni Morrison and her novel Love |
| D．Toni Morrison, the Nobel prizewinner |
What can we learn about John Steinbeck?
| A．He was a black writer. |
| B．He was born in America. |
| C．He received the Nobel Prize after Morrison |
| D．He was the first American novelist to win a Nobel |
The similarity between Love and Song of Solomon is that they both _____.
| A．belong to the same trilogy together with Beloved |
| B．concern families of more than one generation |
| C．deal with life of blacks under slavery |
| D．investigate life in 1920s Harlem |
The novel Love mainly describes ______.
| A．the best-known vacation spot for blacks |
| B．the life of an outstanding black family under slavery |
| C．the miserable experience of the five women in Harlem |
| D．the memories of five women about Bill Cosey |
Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis Cricket—anything with a round ball, I was useless, “he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits(成就).Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.
Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many peiole dismissed his dream as fantasy. “John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ‘You are completely crazy,’”Saunders says.
In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter(遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.
This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.The turning point in Saunders’life came when _____
| A．he started to play ball games |
| B．he got a mountain bike at age 15 |
| C．he ran his first marathon at age 18 |
| D．he started to receive Ridgway’s training |
We can learn from the text that Ridgway _______.
| A．dismissed Saunders’ dream as fantasy |
| B．built up his body together with Saunders |
| C．hired Saunders for his cold-water experience |
| D．won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic |
What do we know about Saunders?
| A．He once worked at a school in Scotland. |
| B．He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole. |
| C．He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid. |
| D．He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole. |
The underlined word “Intrigued” in the third paragraph probably means_____.
| A． Excited | B．Convinced | C．Delighted | D．Fascinated |
It can be inferred tat Saunders’ journey to the North Pole ______.
| A．was accompanied by his old playmates |
| B．set a record in the North Pole expedition |
| C．was supported by other Arctic explorers |
| D．made him well-known in the 1960s |