There are some stories behind English words.
You've spent a lot of time studying how to use English in a proper way. But have you ever wondered why English speakers say some of the things they say? For example, why do they say "an easy task" is "a piece of cake"? Why do the two letters "OK" means "all right"?
Many English words and phrases have stories behind them. Sometimes these stories can help us look back into old western history. Let's take a look at a few of the original * common English words and phrases: OK
"OK" was an American who lived in the 19th century. His name was "Old Kinderhook". In one year he was trying to take the place of the leader of his town. His supporters went around the town shouting " OK \ OK \" The supporters thought their future leader was " all right". The expression caught on, and now if something is "all right" , people like to say "OK|"
Boss*
Is your boss nice to you? If not, just be glad you weren't living in the old times. Back to that time, bosses could do anything bad to their men and could even beat* them! That explains why the word "boss" comes from an old German word meaning "to beat".
A piece of cake
A famous American writer named Ogden Nash lived in the 1930s. Many readers enjoyed his poems and wrote them down in their notebooks. In one of his poems, Nash wrote, " Her picture's in the papers now, and life's a piece of cake. " His readers found these words interesting and quickly wrote them down. They thought that if one picture in a newspaper could make you famous, wouldn't life be easy?
For nearly 70 years, "a piece of cake" has meant any task or activity that is easy.
Some of English words can tell us stories about_________.
| A．how people learned English |
| B．how English speakers create the words |
| C．how people spoke English |
| D．how people taught others to speak English |
The word "boss" in old German means "_________".
| A．to work | B．to help |
| C．to beat | D．to kill |
"OK" comes from "_________".
| A．Old King | B．Old Kindman |
| C．Old Kinderhook | D．Old Mcdonald |
In this passage "a piece of cake" means "_________".
| A．an easy task or activity |
| B．a difficult task or activity |
| C．a simple newspaper to read |
| D．a famous picture in a newspaper |
Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man.
The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed. Paper provided an important way to communicate with knowledge.
Paper was first made in China about 2000 years ago. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. Paper was not made in southern Europe until about the year 1100. After that, the forestry country of Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the United States became the most important in paper-making. Today Finland makes the best paper in the world. And it has the biggest paper industry in the world.
When we think of paper, we think of newspapers, books, letters, envelopes, and writing paper. So paper plays an important role in our lives.
Paper is very good for keeping you warm, Houses are often insulated（隔热）with paper. You have perhaps seen homeless men sleep on a large number of newspapers. They are insulating themselves from the cold. In Finland, in winter it is sometimes 40 degrees below zero. The farmers wear paper boots in the snow. Nothing could be warmer.The invention of paper meant .
| A．more books could be printed |
| B．more people could be educated |
| C．paper is one of the most important products |
| D．paper was invented by man |
Paper was made in southern Europe.
| A．before 1100 | B．after 1400 |
| C．after 1100 | D．before 1400 |
makes the best paper.
| A．Finland | B．Canada | C．The US | D．Sweden |
What’s the meaning of the sentence “Nothing could be warmer.”?
| A．Books are warmer. | B．Newspapers are warmer. |
| C．Houses are the warmest. | D．Paper is the warmest. |
The main idea of this passage is .
| A．The invention of paper | B．the best paper |
| C．The uses of paper | D．the paper making |
| This cutting Food Box has 31 pieces, including 8 pieces of wooden food, a cutting board and two wooden knives. It lets kids cook on their own and hear real cutting sounds. The toy is for children 3 years to 6 years. It helps a lot. Here are some activities. Ask the child to tell the name of each food and whether it is a fruit or vegetable. Place the food in a row to ask the child to count the number of food. Ask the child to place the watermelon on the cutting board to cut it into four pieces.  We care about your comments（评论）. Please call us! 800-284-3948. If you buy it before May, you can save up to 50%. |
Dear parents, Please make sure the following, in order to prevent your children from carrying heavy school bags: Make sure that your child follows the timetable strictly. The latest timetable is always available on the school website www.sksbs.edu.my. Encourage your child to use the school lockers. Ensure that your child carries the bag properly. Put on both bag straps, and do not carry on one shoulder only.  Always buy light bags. |
pieces of wooden food, a cutting board and two wooden knives are in the Cutting Food Box.
| A．Eight | B．Eleven |
| C．Twenty-three | D．Thirty-one |
The Cutting Food Box helps kids .
| A．learn how to eat food |
| B．learn the names of some food |
| C．learn how to place food |
| D．learn how to draw pictures of food |
To avoid heavy bags, students should NOT .
| A．follow the timetable |
| B．use school lockers |
| C．carry their bag on one shoulder |
| D．buy light bags |
Parents can find the latest timetable .
| A．by calling 800-284-3948 | B．on the school website |
| C．from their classmates | D．on the school notice board |
might be most interested in the information above.
| A．School students | B．School teachers |
| C．Young reporters | D．Young parents |
One morning, a blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, “I am blind. Please help me.”
There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone walked by could see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way.” What he had written was, “Today is a beautiful day, but I can’t see it.”
Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.
The first sign simply said the boy was blind, while the second sign told people they were lucky that they were not blind. There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story. The first is: Treasure what you have. Someone else has less. Try your best to help those who need your help. The second is: Be creative. Think differently. There is always a better way.Did the boy need help?
What did the man write on the sign?
What happened after the man wrote something on the sign?
Why did the man come back that afternoon?
How did people probably feel when they saw the second sign?
Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting. But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One of this year’s studies found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 to 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much.
Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again. Today’s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts(专家) also think handwriting should not be taught by itself. Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.
Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency(流畅) — writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school.
But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about one fourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs.
But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is seldom done in primary school, especially in the early years. American children traditionally first learn to print, and then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board(大学委员会). More than 75 percent of students choose to print their essay(article) on the test rather than write in cursive.From Paragraph 1 we can learn .
| A．teaching handwriting is a basic requirement in the teaching job |
| B．most teachers prefer to teach handwriting |
| C．teachers spend little time in teaching handwriting |
| D．a keyboard has taken the place of the handwriting |
Which of the following is WRONG for traditional handwriting in the USA?
| A．Handwriting includes two skills. |
| B．To write in cursive is taught first. |
| C．The letters are repeated many times. |
| D．The students are taught by practicing a long period. |
The underlined word “legibility” in Paragraph 3 means .
| A．easy to read | B．easy to write |
| C．unexpected | D．unreadable |
The best title for the passage is .
| A．How to Improve Handwriting in School |
| B．Right or Wrong: the Death of Handwriting |
| C．Handwriting Involves Two Skills |
| D．Handwriting Lessons Are on the Way Out |
Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten(幼儿园), and certainly I wished her success. I was saying something that is not true. What I actually wish for her is failure. I believe in the importance of failure.
Success is boring. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or do something correctly the first time, which can often be a problem for the future. First-time success is usually a fluke(侥幸). First-time failure, in fact, is the natural order of things.
Failure means how we learn. I have been told of an African phrase(短语) describing a good cook as “she who has broken many bowls”. If you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen and have broken a lot of bowls, probably you know a lot about cooking. I once had a dinner with a group of cooks, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much their failures gave them.
My younger daughter is a dancer. She spent three years getting ready for an act. She did it successfully for years. There was no reason for her to change the act—but she did anyway. She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was bored; and if she was bored, she couldn’t play well. So she changed the act. She risked failure in order to feed her heart.
My granddaughter is a perfectionist. But I will also, I hope, remind her of what she learned, and how she can do whatever it is better next time. I probably won’t tell her that failure is a good thing, because that’s not a lesson you can learn when you’re five. I hope I can tell her, though, that it’s not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning.What did the writer really wish for her granddaughter in the kindergarten?
| A．Success. | B．Failure. | C．Kindness. | D．Care. |
The third paragraph mainly tells us .
| A．what “a good cook” means | B．a cook should often cook |
| C．a cook must break many bowls | D．failure means how we learn |
Why did the younger daughter change the act?
| A．Because she didn’t do well in it. |
| B．Because she was asked to change it. |
| C．Because she wanted to feed her heart. |
| D．Because she wanted to try a failure. |
What does the writer hope to tell the granddaughter?
| A．Failure is a good thing. |
| B．She can’t fail any more. |
| C．Failure is not the end of the world. |
| D．Success is the end of the world. |