The murmur of the audience had just faded into expectant silence. This was one of the most important days in little five-year-old Patricia McKee’s life: the Kernot School Concert. She stood behind the curtain with her schoolmates. Yet she was not afraid because everyone had been practicing for weeks and knew their parts by heart.
Being in a remote country town, Patricia knew that everyone would turn out for the big occasion－everyone! Yet, it was this awareness that added a sense of sadness to her excitement. There were two people who couldn’t be in that audience that night－her mum and dad.
Patricia’s mother and father ran the local general store, which was open for business 24 hours. So it was simply accepted that Mum and Dad could never attend community activities. It had been this way with her sister, so why should it be any different for her?
Still, Patricia couldn’t help wishing that her mum and dad could be there to see her on such a special day, so she decided to bring up the subject with her mother. Sadly, she had to face the facts. At such a young age, Patricia couldn’t really understand the deep pain in her mother’s response: “I’ll try to be there, sweetheart, but you know how hard it is for us to get away from the store.”
Yet as the curtain slowly opened on the stage of the Kernot Hall, little Patricia McKee got the surprise of her life. There, sitting four rows the front was her mother with a big smile on her face!
This powerful image remains one of Patricia’s most treasured memories. “Words cannot express the pure joy we both experienced at that moment. I was really walking on air,” said Patricia, now a parent herself. Her parents have passed away, but what a wonderful legacy（遗产）they’ve left us: when someone really needs you, be there for them.Why did Patricia have a feeling of sadness？
| A．She had no chance to watch the concert. |
| B．She performed unsuccessfully at the concert. |
| C．Her parents had gone to a remote country town. |
| D．Her parents were unlikely to attend the concert. |
What do we know about Patricia’s parents？
| A．They loved Patricia more than her sister. |
| B．They had little interest in social activities. |
| C．They had to mind the store day and night. |
| D．They paid no attention to Patricia’s school life. |
According to Paragraph 4, while giving the response, Patricia’s mother probably felt_________.
| A．calm | B．sorry | C．angry | D．nervous |
What does the underlined phrase “walking on air” in the last paragraph probably mean?
| A．Surprised. | B．Troubled. |
| C．Very happy. | D．Very comfortable. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．A smiling face in the crowd. |
| B．An extremely busy mother. |
| C．A big occasion in school. |
| D．A secret wish. |
Do you always understand the directions on a bottle of medicine? Do you know what is meant by "Take only as directed"? Read the following directions and see if you understand them.
"To reduce pain, take two tablets(药片)with water, followed by one tablet every eight hours, as required. For night-time and early morning relief take two tablets at bedtime. Do not take more than six tablets in twenty-four hours.
For children six to twelve years old, give half the amount. For children under six years old, ask for your doctor's advice.
Reduce the amount if you suffer from restlessness or sleeplessness after taking the medicine.How many tablets at most can a person over 12 have in 24 hours?
| A．Eight | B．Six | C．Four | D．Three |
How many tablets should a nine-year-old child normally take in 24 hours?
| A．Half a tablet. | B．One tablet. |
| C．Two tablets . | D．Four tablets. |
What is the advice for one who cannot sleep well after taking the medicine?
| A．Stop taking the medicine at bedtime. |
| B．Take less than the normal amount. |
| C．Take more than the normal amount. |
| D．Continue to take the normal amount. |
It can be inferred from the directions that this medicine .
| A．helps you to fall asleep quickly |
| B．should not be taken by children under six |
| C．cannot be taken if one feels sleepy |
| D．may be dangerous to small children |
Parents often believe that they have a good relationship with their teenagers. But last summer, Joanna and Henry noticed a change in their older son: suddenly he seemed to be talking far more to his friends than to his parents. “The door to his room is always shut.” Joanna noted.
Tina and Mark noticed similar changes in their 14-year-old daughter. “She used to cuddle up (蜷伏)with me on the sofa and talk,” said Mark. “Now we joke that she does this only when she wants something. Sometimes she wants to be treated like a little girl and sometimes like a young lady. The problem is figuring out which time is which.”
Before age 11, children like to tell their parents what’s on their minds. “In fact, parents are first on the list.” said Michael Riera, author of Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers. “This completely changes during the teen years.” Riera explained. “They talk to their friends first, then maybe their teachers, and their parents last.”
Parents who know what’s going on in their teenagers’ lives are in the best position to help them. To break down the wall of silence, parents should create chances to understand what their children want to say, and try to find ways to talk and write to them. And they must give their children a mental break, for children also need freedom, though young. Another thing parents should remember is that to be a friend, not a manager, with their children is a better way to know them. “The door to his room is always shut” suggests that the son.
| A．keeps himself away from his parents |
| B．doesn’t want to be disturbed |
| C．is always busy with his studies |
| D．begins to dislike his parents |
What troubles Tina and Mark most is that.
| A．their daughter isn’t as lovely as before |
| B．they don’t know what to say to their daughter |
| C．they can’t read their daughter’s mind exactly |
| D．their daughter talks with them only when she needs help |
Which of the following best explains “the wall of silence” in the last paragraph?
| A．Teenagers do not talk much with their parents. |
| B．Teenagers do not want to understand their parents. |
| C．Teenagers talk a lot with their friends. |
| D．Teenagers talk little about their own lives. |
．What can be learned from the passage?
| A．Parents are unhappy with their growing children. |
| B．Parents have suitable ways to talk with their teenagers. |
| C．Parents should try to understand their teenagers. |
| D．Parents should be patients with their silent teenagers. |
A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages.They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat reoms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become Compulsive
behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessive behavior has affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computers and gradually their social and school life is
affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don't concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades, and success at schools. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their soeial life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society,
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate themselves from the society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends Who they have never met in their life.Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real life friends they have known all their fife. lt is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect the whole world. The passage is about
| A．the cause of weboholism | B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism | D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined word"obsessive" in the second paragraph most probably means
| A．attractive | B．addictive | C．professional | D．potential |
We can learn from the passage that.
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers |
| B．teeangers can hardly balance real and virtual life |
| C．people are addicted to games on the lnternet |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will have a negative influence on our future. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
The author's attitude towards weboholism is that of being
| A．objective | B．positive | C．opposed | D．acceptable |
Dear Michelle:
Why can't my daughter manage her life better? She is 17 and an honor student, but she seems to be wasting her life away with a boyfriend who is holding her back.
He consumes every waking, minute of her precious time and smooth-talks her as well.
His goal is to get her to agree to go to the college of his choice, not her choice, and because his grades are lower, his choice will be limited.
I feel like I want to rescue her, but she pushes me away and shuts me out. She has only brought us pride and joy; and now this! Help!
A worried mother
Dear Mother of a 17-year-old Girl:
Hmmmmm. What's the matter with kids today? Remember that song from "Bye Bye
Birdie"?
Well if you do not, let me fill you in about teenagers and their life-management skills.Do not expect too much too soon because at the ripe age of 17, life-management is not within their reach, not should it be.
Life experience creates both the conditions and the skills for management, and if management went before experiene, there would be tittle of it.
Your daughter is an honor student for good reasons. She is smart, studies with
intelligence and you have given her good Values.
When the time comes for her to apply for college, and she visit the ones that were specifically desigened for student the top of their grade, she will most likely break away from her boyfriend's influenee.
It is rare for an honor student to change the path of their academic career for puppy love. That being said, them might be some adoldscent wisdom in her behavior after all.
Perhaps she is choosing to worry you, her parents, for unconscious reasons. Being such a good girl and being a steady source of joy might have become a bit too much for her.
Let your daughter have her own private moment of 11th grade rebellion. She deserves a break from perfection.
MichelleFrom the mother's letter we can learn that her daughter
| A．is being fooled by the boy | B．has fallen behind in her studies |
| C．doesn't talk much with her mother | D．has chosen which college to attend |
According to Michelle; 17-year-teenagers.
| A．are too young to manage their life |
| B．are old enough to live their own life |
| C．should have managemnent before experience |
| D．have reached the age of an adult |
The underlined word"puppy-love"refer to
| A．false love | B．foolish love | C．pure love | D．adolescent love |
Michelle seems to believe that the daughter will finally
| A．come up with the right decision |
| B．follow her boyfriend's advice |
| C．worry her parents for unconscious reasons |
| D．influence her boyfriend's behavior |
The best title for the passage would be
| A．College of kids' own choice |
| B．How can I help my girl? |
| C．How to manage teenagers' life? |
| D．A 17-year-old girl and her mother |
Electric ears are dirty.In fact, not only are they dirty, they might even be more dirty than their gasoline-powered cousins.
People in California love to talk about "zero-emissions vehicles", but people in California seem to be clueless about where electricity comes from. Power plants mostly use fire to make it. Aside from the new folks who have their roofs covered with solar cells, we get our electricity from generators. Generators are fueled by something---usually coal, oil,but also by heat generated in nuclear power plants. There are a few wind farms and geothermal plants as well, but by far we get electricity mainly by burning something.
In other words, those "zero-emissions" cars are likely coal-burning cars. It's just because the coal is burned somewhere else that it looks clean. It is not. It's as if the California Greens are. covering their eyes---"If I can't see it, it's not happening." Gasoline is an incredibly efficient way to power a vehicle; a gallon of gas has a lot of energy in it.But when you take that gas (or another fuel) and first use it to make electricity, you waste a nice part of that energy, mostly in the form of wasted heat---at the generator, through the transmission lines, etc.
A gallon of gas may propel your car 25 miles. But the electricity you get from that gallon of gas won't get you nearly as far---so electric cars bum more fuel than gas-powered ones. If our electricity came mostly from nukes; or geothermal,or hydro, or solar, or wind,then an electric car truly would be clean. But for political, technical,and economic reasons,we don't use much of those energy sources.
In addition,electric cars' batteries which are poisonous for a long time will eventually end up in a landfill.And finally, When cars are the polluters, the pollution is spread across all the roads. When it's a power plant, though, all the junk is in one place. Nature is very good at cleaning up when things are too concentrated, but it takes a lot longer when all the garbage is in one spot. What does "clueless" mean in paragraph 2?
| A．People are seeing the California Greens everywhere. |
| B．People in California love to talk about zero-emissions vehicles. |
| C．People in California love to have their roofs covered with solar cells. |
| D．People there have no idea that so far electricity mainly comes from burning |
coal, oil,etc. What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Electric cars are not clean at all |
| B．Electric cars are better than gasoline-powered ones. |
| C．People cast doubts on electric cars' batteries. |
| D．Gasoline is an efficient way to powera vehicle. |
The electricity we get from a gallon of gas may make our ear run
| A．not less than 25 miles | B．more than 25 miles |
| C．no more than 25 miles | D．not more than 25 miles |
According to the passage, electric cars.
| A．do not burn fuel and more environmentally-friendly |
| B．are toxic because it is difficult for nature to clean it up when their batteries are buried in one spot. |
| C．are very good at cleaning up when things are not too concentrated |
| D．are poisonous for a long time and will eventually end up in a landfill |
It can be inferred from the passage that
| A．being green is good and should be encouraged in communication |
| B．electric cars are not clean in that we get electricity mainly by burning something |
| C．zero-emissions vehicles should be chosen to protect our environment |
| D．electric cars are now the dominant vehicle compared with gasoline-powered |
cousins