“OK,” I said to my daughter as she bent over her afternoon bowl of rice. “What’s going on with you and your friend J.? ” J. is the leader of a group of third-graders at her camp—a position Lucy herself occupied the previous summer. Now she’s the one on the outs. and every day at snack time, she tells me all about it, while I offer the unhelpful advice all summer long.
“She’s fond of giving orders, “Lucy complained. “She’s turning everyone against me. She’s mean. And she’s fat.” “Excuse me,” I said, struggling for calm. “What did you just say?” “She’s fat.” Lucy mumbled (含糊地说). “We’re going upstairs,” I said, my voice cold. “We’re going to discuss this.” And up we went. I’d spent the nine years since her birth getting ready for this day, the day we’d have the conversation about this horrible word. I knew exactly what to say to the girl on the receiving end of the teasing, but in all of my imaginings, it never once occurred to me that my daughter would be the one who used the F word—Fat.
My daughter sat on her bed, and I sat beside her. “How would you feel if someone made fun of you for something that wasn’t your fault?” I began. “She could stop eating so much,” Lucy mumbled, mouthing the simple advice a thousand doctors have given overweight women for years.
“It’s not always that easy,” I said. “Everyone’s different in terms of how they treat food.” Lucy looked at me, waiting for me to go on. I opened my mouth, then closed it. Should I tell her that, in teasing a woman’s weight, she’s joined the long tradition of critics? Should I tell her I didn’t cry when someone posted my picture and commented, “I’m sorry, but aren’t authors who write books marketed to young women supposed to be pretty?”
Does she need to know, now, that life isn’t fair? I feel her eyes on me, waiting for an answer I don’t have. Words are my tools. Stories are my job. It’s possible she’ll remember what I say forever, and I have no idea what to say.
So I tell her the only thing I can come up with that is absolutely true. I say to my daughter, “I love you, and there is nothing you could ever do to make me not love you. But I’m disappointed in you right now. There are plenty of reasons for not liking someone. What she looks like isn’t one of them.”
Lucy nods, tears on her cheeks. “I won’t say that again,” she tells me, and I pull her close, pressing my nose against her hair. As we sit there together, I pray for her to be smart and strong. I pray for her to find friends, work she loves, a partner who loves her. And still, always, I pray that she will never struggle as I’ve struggled, that weight will never be her cross to bear. She may not be able to use the word in our home, but I can use in my head. I pray that she will never get fat.Why does the author want to discuss with Lucy?
| A．Because she wants to offer some other helpful advice. |
| B．Because she is really shocked at Lucy’s rudeness. |
| C．Because she has prepared the conversation for nine years. |
| D．Because she decides to tell Lucy a similar story of her own. |
What does the author want to tell her daughter?
| A．It is not easy to take the doctors’ advice to eat less. |
| B．People shouldn’t complain because life is unfair. |
| C．People shouldn’t be blamed for their appearance. |
| D．She herself was once laughed at for her appearance. |
It can be inferred from the passage that_______.
| A．the author earns a living by writing stories. |
| B．the author is a fat but good-looking woman. |
| C．the author will stop loving her daughter for what she said. |
| D．the author’s daughter agreed with her from the very beginning. |
The author’s attitude towards her daughter can be best described as _______.
| A．satisfied and friendly | B．indifferent but patient |
| C．loving but strict | D．unsatisfied and angry |
John Blanchard was studying the crowd making their way through the station. He was looking for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.
When reading a book in a Florida library a year before, John became interested not in the contents of the book, but in the notes penciled in the margin. The handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and beautiful mind. He discovered the former owner’s name in the front of the book: Miss Hollis Maynell.
He located her address and wrote a letter introducing himself. The next day he was shipped overseas to serve in the army. During the next year, they grew to know each other through the mail and their friendship developed. John requested a photograph, but she refused, saying if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return home, their first meeting was suggested — 7:00 p.m. at the Grand Central Station in New York.
She wrote, “You’ll recognize me by the red rose I wear on my coat.” So now John was in the station to meet the girl with a rose.
As a pretty and slim girl in green came over, John noticed her blue eyes like flowers in spring. He walked directly towards her, entirely forgetting she was not wearing a rose. As John came closer to her, he saw another woman with a red rose stood nearby. Well past 40, this woman had graying hair done under a worn hat. Seeing the girl in green walk quickly away, John felt as if he were split in two. He desired to follow that girl, but longed for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and supported him.
The woman looked gentle and sensible. John went to her, saying, “I’m Captain John Blanchard. You must be Miss Maynell. I am glad to meet you here. May I take you to dinner?”
She replied with a smile, “I don’t know what this is about. But the lady in green who just went by, begged me to wear this rose on my coat. She said if you asked me out to dinner, I’d tell you she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”What do we know about the woman with a rose?
| A．She was Miss Maynell’s close friend. |
| B．She was a waitress in the big restaurant. |
| C．She was probably a passerby. |
| D．She was paid to meet John at the Station. |
Which would be the best title of the text?
| A．An Interesting Book | B．A Woman With a Rose |
| C．A Brave Soldier | D．A Love Test |
Hi, everybody!
Welcome to our newly-opened Richards Cinema Bookstore!
Now let me introduce to you some of the new film books in our store.
Are you Chinese film fans? OK, here comes the latest 25 New Takes about Chinese films. It is a collection of 25 fresh readings of different Chinese films from the 1930s to the present. In recent years, Chinese films are very popular in the States, such as Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Hero, and Flowers of Shanghai.
Do you like French films? Well, here is The French Cinema Book. It covers French films from the 1890s to the beginning of the 21st century. It is written for all lovers of French cinema: students and teachers, specialists and fans, and so on.
Maybe you are Indian film fans and star-chasers. Then here is Encyclopedia(百科全书) of Indian Cinema. The book is complete introduction to all the best Indian films. It also offers a full list of names of the famous and successful film stars in the past ten years. You know, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world after our Hollywood.
If you like British films, we have The British Cinema Book. It is a good review of British cinema. This book contains a good many nice pictures.
In our bookstore, you can also find books about Mexican, Japanese, Australian, German and Italian films.
Well, please help yourselves to some coffee or tea, and have a good time here! The speaker of the passage is most probably ______.
| A．the author of 25 New Takes |
| B．a tourist in the cinema bookstore |
| C．the manager of the cinema bookstore |
| D．a reader of Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema |
The purpose of the speaker is ______.
| A．to satisfy the customers’ various tastes |
| B．to keep the authors in the cinema bookstore |
| C．to offer the tourists chances to meet the film stars |
| D．to turn the readers into film producers |
As any homemaker who has tried to keep order at the dinner table knows, there is far more to a family meal than food. Sociologist Michael Lewis has been studying 50 families to find out just how much more.
Lewis and his co-workers carried out their study by videotaping(录像)the families while they ate ordinary meals in their own homes. They found that parents with small families talk actively with each other and their children. But as the number of children gets larger, conversation gives way to the parents’ efforts to control the loud noise they make. That can have an important effect on the children. “In general the more question-asking the parents do, the higher the children’s IQ scores,” Lewis says. “And the more children there are, the less question-asking there is.”
The study also provides an explanation for why middle children often seem to have a harder time in life than their siblings(兄弟姐妹). Lewis found that in families with three or four children, dinner conversation is likely to center on the oldest child, who has the most to talk about, and the youngest, who needs the most attention. “Middle children are invisible,” says Lewis. “When you see someone get up from the table and walk around during dinner, chances are it’s the middle child.” There is, however, one thing that stops all conversation and prevents anyone from having attention: “When the TV is on,” Lewis says, “dinner is a non-event.”The writer’s purpose in writing the text is to ______.
| A．show the relationship between parents and children |
| B．report on the findings of a study |
| C．teach parents ways to keep order at the dinner table |
| D．give information about family problems |
Parents with large families ask fewer questions at dinner because ______.
| A．they are busy serving food to their children |
| B．they have to pay more attention to younger children |
| C．they are busy keeping order at the dinner table |
| D．they are tired out having prepared food for the whole family |
Lewis’ research provides an answer to the question ______.
| A．why middle children seem to have more difficulties in life |
| B．why TV is important in family life |
| C．why parents should keep good order |
| D．why children in small families seem to be quieter |
Which of the following statements would the writer agree to?
| A．It is important to have the right food for children. |
| B．It is a good idea to have the TV on during dinner. |
| C．Elder children should help the younger ones at dinner |
| D．Parents should talk to each of their children frequently. |
He’s an old cobbler(修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven’t time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street; he’ll fix them for you right away.”
But I’d had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman(手艺人). “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” — without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap(鞋带), you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn’t give in, and he smiled. He looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work.”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption(消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.Which of the following is true about the old cobbler?
| A．He was equipped with the best repairing tools. |
| B．He was proud of his skills. |
| C．He was the only cobbler in the Marais. |
| D．He was a native Parisian. |
The underlined sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend.” shows that ______.
| A．it was difficult to communicate with this man |
| B．the man was very strange |
| C．nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him |
| D．the man was too old |
According to the author, many people work just to ______.
| A．make money | B．realize their abilities |
| C．gain happiness | D．gain respect |
This story wants to tell us that ______.
| A．craftsmen make a lot of money |
| B．craftsmen need self-respect |
| C．whatever you do, do it well |
| D．people are born equal |
Life-long learning is the concept that “It’s never too soon or too late for learning.” — a philosophy that has taken root in a larger number of different organizations. Life-long learning is an attitude — learners believe that one can and should be open to new ideas, decisions, skills or behaviors. Life-long learning throws the well-known rule “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” out of the door. Life-long learning provides the general public with learning opportunities at all ages and in different ways: at work, at home and through leisure activities, not just through formal channels such as school and higher education.
Life-long education is often achieved through distance learning or e-learning, continuing education, home schooling, etc. It also includes training programs for those who want to improve their qualifications, bring their skills up to date or retrain for a new line of work. In later life, especially in retirement, continued learning takes various forms, crossing traditional academic limits.
One of the reasons why life-long education has become so important is the rapid progress of modern science and technology. Although the period of primary, secondary and university education is increased, the knowledge and skills gained there are usually not sufficient for a professional career spanning(跨越) three or four decades.The philosophy of life-long learning goes against the concept that “ ______”.
| A．It’s never too late to learn. |
| B．Whoever cares to learn will always find a teacher. |
| C．A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. |
| D．You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. |
What is the main idea behind life-long education?
| A．To force people to keep in learning new skills throughout their working life. |
| B．To provide teachers with extra income. |
| C．To allow people to have chances to receive education throughout their life. |
| D．To prevent students from learning at school. |
The underlined word “sufficient” in the last paragraph can be replaced by “______”.
| A．popular | B．well-educated |
| C．well-informed | D．enough |
It can be inferred that ______.
| A．life-long education is the requirement of fast development of education |
| B．the increased period of school education is a supplement（补充） to life-long learning |
| C．the education system is failing to keep pace with rapid technology development |
| D．life-long education is intended for retired workers at home |