Today we spent the morning going through...

If something that you’re doing doesn’t challenge you, then it doesn’t change you. We all need some normal stress in our lives, after all.1. So challenge the following limits:

1. Figure out what you're scared of and do it continuously.

If you're a salesman, and you're scared of talking to people personally or over the phone now, instead of being scared and thinking you'll fail, spend at least five minutes a day to pick up the phone and make a call. 2. But don't stop on the first try! Eventually, you can look at fear in the eye and say, “Go on. I'm not scared!”

2. 3.

Make sure this hobby is not linked to your career; you have to relax and relieve your stress while performing this. Some examples might be cooking, sewing, painting and so on. Apart from helping you challenge yourself, taking a class for your hobby may also give you extra income.

3. Set aside at least nine minutes a day for physical exercise.

4. A simple 9-minute run around your neighborhood can do wonders for yourself. Exercise can not only help you maintain your regular weight, but also make you feel better about yourself.

4. Travel and allow yourself to be interested in new people.

Don't just limit yourself to your fellow travelers----try to connect with the service staff. You never know what kind of people they're going to be. Get out of your house or go online right now to book your class. 5.

A. You should do it continuously.

B. Someone may hang up on you.

C. You don't need to go to the gym.

D. Running in the gym may be a better choice.

E. Start to travel now and learn to challenge yourself.

F. Take a class for a hobby you've been wanting to develop.

G. You can never see any improvement if you stick to your comfort zone.

    A report released this month found that grouping children by ability is on the rise again—teaching students in groups of similar ability has improved achievements for fast and slow learners alike—and who wouldn’t want bright kids to be able to move ahead?

But for most kids, labels (标签) applied early in life tend to stick, even if they are wrong.

Sorting school children by ability has long been controversial. In some countries, especially in Asia, school-wide tracking (分流) remains normal. Children are tested and placed in different schools that direct them toward professional or vocational careers. Movement between the tracks is rare.

School-wide tracking decreased in US schools in the 1960s and 1970s. It never died out, though. Sorting students into separate tracks for math at about junior high school age continues to be common, and other forms of tracking persist as well.

Unlike tracking, which means sorting students into separate classrooms, ability grouping happens within classrooms. When done according to the latest research, it has proven to promote achievements. Ability grouping is changeable and temporary. Within classrooms, students might be divided into different learning groups dealing with materials of different levels. Any students who master concepts can move upward between groups, and the student groups might look different from subject to subject and unit to unit. For instance, a student who stands out in language arts might be at an average or slower level in math. A student who flies through multiplication tables might need extra help with fractions. Students who lag in reading can be pulled out of the classroom in small groups for practice with a tutor until their reading improves.

Research shows ability grouping within classes has more positive benefits than tracking. However, that must be weighed against the challenges involved. In many regular classrooms, the differences between student ability levels are very big. That presents challenges for teachers and low-performing students to constantly compare themselves with students who seem to fly through school with ease.

The rigid ability groups and tracking of the past are still with us in many schools. Likely, labels are applied with more caution than in the bad old days when some teachers gave reading groups not-so-secret code names like “Bluebirds”, “Robins”, “Crows” and “Buzzards”. But kids still know.

1.Why is grouping children by ability becoming popular again?

A. Because most teachers do not like slower learners.

B. Because grouping children should be done early in life.

C. Because it is academically beneficial to different learners.

D. Because fast learners can move ahead without teachers’ help.

2.By saying “Movement between the tracks is rare.” in paragraph 3, the writer really means            .

A. tracking children is normal in Asia

B. school-wide tracking has decreased in US

C. professional and vocational careers are unrelated

D. sorted students can hardly change schools

3.The examples in paragraph 5 are used mainly to illustrate            .

A. a good language learner promises to be good at math

B. a student might join different groups for different courses

C. ability grouping benefits gifted students more than slow ones

D. ability grouping presents no challenge for those slow students

4.What might be the challenge in regular classrooms for teachers?

A. Students’ different levels. B. Students’ low performance.

C. Constant self-comparison. D. Application of not-so-secret code.

    There is an old Chinese proverb that states “One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade,” and this is how it should be with mothers and daughters. The relationship between a mother and a daughter is sometimes confusing. The relationship can be similar to friendship. However, the mother and daughter relationship has unique characteristics that distinguish it from a friendship. These characteristics include a hierarchy (等级) of responsibilities and unconditional love, which preclude mothers and daughters from being best friends.

Marina, 27 years old, said, “I love spending time with my mom, but I wouldn’t consider her my best friend. Best friends don’t pay for your wedding. Best friends don’t remind you how they carried you in their body and gave you life! Best friend: don’t tell you how wise they are because they have been alive at least 20 years longer than you.” This doesn’t mean that the mother and daughter relationship can’t be very close and satisfying.

While some adult relationships are still troubled, many find them to be extremely rewarding. This generation of mothers and adult daughters has a lot in common, which increases the likelihood of shared companionship. Mothers and daughters have always shared the common experience of being homemakers, responsible for maintaining and passing on family values and traditions. Today contemporary mothers and daughters also share the experience of the workforce and technology, which may bring them even closer together.

Best friends may or may not continue to be best friends, but for better or worse, the mother and daughter relationship is permanent, even if for some unfortunate reason they aren’t speaking. The mother and child relationship is closer than any other. There is not an equal relationship. Daughters should not feel responsible for their mother’s emotional well-being. It isn’t that they don’t care deeply about their mothers. It’s just that they shouldn’t be burdened with their mother’s well-being.

The mother and daughter relationship is a relationship that is not replaceable by any other. Mothers never stop being mothers, which includes frequently wanting to protect their daughters and often feeling responsible for their happiness. Mothers always “trump (胜过)” friends.

1.What does the underlined word “preclude” in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A. Differ. B. Prevent.

C. Benefit. D. Change.

2.What do we know from the text?

A. The mother and daughter relationship can be replaced by a best friend.

B. A mother’s love brings her and her daughter a close friendship.

C. The mother and daughter relationship goes beyond best friends’ friendship.

D. Marina has a troubled relationship with her mother.

3.How does the author mainly prove his statements?

A. By listing data. B. By giving explanations.

C. By quoting sayings. D. By making comparisons.

4.What is the best title for the text?

A. How to Be a Good Mother and Daughter?

B. Who Is a Mother’s Best Friend?

C. Mothers or Friends?

D. Can a Mother Be a Daughter’s Best Friend?

    Mark Rothko, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, was born in Daugavpils, Latvia in 1903. His father immigrated to the United States, fearing that his son would be drafted (招募) into the Czarist army. Mark stayed in Russia with his mother and elder sister; they joined the family later, arriving in the winter of 1913, after a 12-day voyage.

Mark moved to New York in the autumn of 1923 and found employment in the garment trade and took up residence on the Upper West Side. It was while he was visiting someone at the Art Students League that he saw students sketching a nude model. According to him, this was the start of his life as an artist. He was twenty years old and had taken some art lessons at school, so his initial experience was far from an immediate calling.

In 1936, Mark Rothko began writing a book, which he never completed about the similarities in the children’s art and the work of modern painters. The work of modernists, which was influenced by primitive (原始的) art, according to him, could be compared to that of children in that “Child art transforms itself into primitivism (原始主义), which is only the child producing a mimicry (模仿) of himself.” However, in this same work, he said that “The fact that one usually begins with drawing is already academic. We start with the colors.”

It was not long before his multiform developed into the style he is remembered for; in 1949 Rothko exhibited these new works at the Betty Parsons Gallery. For critic Harold Rosenberg, the paintings were a revelation. After painting his first multiform, Rothko withdrew himself to his home in East Hampton on Long Island. The discovery of his definitive form came at a period of great grief; his mother Kate died in October 1948 and it was at some point during that winter that Rothko chanced upon the striking symmetrical (对称的) rectangular blocks of two to three opposing or contrasting, yet complementary colors (对称). As part of this new uniformity of artistic vision, his paintings and drawings no longer had individual titles: from this point on they were simply untitled, numbered or dated. However, to assist in distinguishing one work from another, dealers would sometimes add the primary colors to the name.

1.Mark Rothko’s family have experienced all of the following except            .

A. a separation from his father B. the call up of the army

C. a temporary stay in Russia D. a 12-day voyage to the United States

2.What made Mark Rothko want to be an artist?

A. His move to the Upper West Side.

B. His visit to the Art Students League.

C. His sight of the students’ drawing.

D. His lessons took in art school.

3.Mark Rothko thought modern art share some similarities with child art because            .

A. they are both considered childish and academic

B. they are both ways of expressing primitivism

C. they are both a copy of the painters themselves

D. they ate both striking blocks and colors

4.Which of the following statements is true about Mark Rothko’s style?

A. It was inspired by Rosenberg.

B. It resulted from moving to Long Island.

C. It resulted from his grief.

D. It evolved (develop gradually) in 1948.

    A notice at IKEA Shanghai has been shared widely among netizens on Chinese social media. It states that the stores cafeteria now requires customers to order food before sitting down in cafeteria seats. The policy is in response to an elderly blind dating group that occupies seats for a long time, consuming only their own food brought from home. Do you support IKEA’s new regulation? China Daily readers share their opinions with us.

Lee Xin (China)

The elderly are harmless. They are lonely and are probably hoping to find some company again. If anything, the store should at least sympathize with these old people.

Mbursian (US)

This is more for socializing than for romance. I really don’t think a home furnishing store is a good dating place for seniors.

IKEA could also post a reasonable time limit per visit during peak hours. Or instead of tables and chairs, they could use those standing tables and get rid of the chairs altogether. At least IKEA’s cafeteria isn’t occupied by the dancing grannies and their portable PA systems (音响).

SEARU (Australia)

Romance is the most important thing while eating is not that important! So a noble man always leaves more space for seniors’ love affairs!

Mr. Qiu (Shanghai, China 65 years old)

We have been to fast food outlets like McDonalds, but there are barely any peers there. We feel like aliens surrounded by youngsters. If there is another place in Shanghai where elderly people can gather, we are more than ready to pay twice as much and travel further.

TedM (UK)

Romance can arise in many places, even IKEA. However, this debate arose as a result of many people taking advantage of IKEA’s generous drink offers and going there to meet and stay with friends without buying anything. IKEA is a shop; it exists to provide a service for a reasonable profit. It is not a public park.

Michel (New Zealand)

To everyone romanticizing this, please also consider that the store has an image to uphold while protecting the interests of other paying customers. It is ugly to take up seats for such long durations while you make others wait.

1.How many people are in support of this new regulation?

A. 2. B. 3.

C. 4. D. 5.

2.What is the major cause of this new regulation?

A. Senior blind dates influencing their business.

B. IKEA has zero tolerance for romantic behavior.

C. The strong reaction of netizens on social media.

D. Old people eating their own food to save money.

3.People who are against the new regulation will probably agree that            .

A. seniors’ love affairs can contribute to the store’s image

B. IKEA is the only place where seniors can find their peers

C. the society is being too judgmental and lacks understanding

D. IKEA should not reserve a special area for the old people to date