April Fool’s Day and Easter Sunday rarely coincide. Since 1900, Easter has fallen on April Fools’ Day for only five times--1923,1934, 1945, 1956 and 2018. Obviously, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play Easter-themed pranks on your children. Here are some suggestions.
A treasure hunt with a twist
A fantastic Easter Sunday tradition is to do a treasure hunt where the Easter Bunny has left eggs around your house. Each egg has a small written clue or riddle (谜语)directing the children to where they can find the next one. But when April Fools' Day and Easter Sunday coincide, why not leave some carrots in their place, instead of hiding chocolate eggs ?On the third or fourth clue, you can make it appear as if the Faster Bunny has left a note apologizing for eating all the chocolate but saying they hope you enjoy this left-behind lunch.
An Easter basket with a difference
Prepare an Easter basket for the children, and either wrap it up or cover it up so that the contents can’t be seen. Have a card from the Easter Bunny next to it which they can open first, with a message that the Easter Bunny wants them to have an extra special Easter and so has prepared a special gift for them. But rather than chocolate or sweets, what you've put in the basket is incredibly dull stuff that kids will be completely unimpressed by---new toothpaste, some socks or a packet of batteries.
A sticky situation
“You' ll need to prepare this in advance. Buy some of the plastic eggs that contain toys. Unwrap them, open them and then carefully glue them shut and re-wrap them. You don't have to be too tidy---your children are going to be thinking about getting to the toy and are not going to be suspicious. Sit back and enjoy them trying and failing to open the eggs.
The invisible Easter egg hunt
This is an excellent plan if you have a garden. Tell the children there is an Faster egg hunt in the garden and lead them there.Close the back door. Let your children spend ages searching fruitlessly for Easter eggs that you haven't actually hidden. After you have enjoyed a rare ten minutes of peace and quiet indoors, while they get increasingly confused and frustrated, go into the garden claiming to have found a note from the Easter Bunny. The note reads "April Fool."
1.The target readers of this passage are ________
A.Schoolchildren B.head teachers in schools
C.children who have younger siblings D.parents of young children
2.Which of the pranks is most likely to require a large outdoor space?
A.A treasure hunt with a twist B.An Easter basket with a difference
C.A sticky situation D.The invisible Easter egg hunt
3.Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?
A.A treasure hunt for carrots is an Easter tradition
B.April Fools Day and Easter Sunday coincide every 11 years
C.Children are usually disappointed at gifts like socks and batteries
D.All of the four recommended pranks require extensive preparations
There is more to saying "sorry”, __________ a study led by researchers at Ohio State University found that effective apologies---ones that were accepted by the __________ and allowed both parties to move on with no hostility (敌意)---have six elements. They are expressing regret, explaining what went wrong, acknowledging responsibility, declaring repentance (悔悟) , offering to __________ the situation, and requesting forgiveness. The more of those components, the more likely the apology is seen as __________. Of course, not all errors are created equal. Therefore, you might need to adjust your apology __________ the circumstances. Here are a few tips:
Sincerity trumps(胜过) timing
A little cool-off time could help. Sometimes an immediate apology is _________ .But if the other party is angry at your wrongdoing. If may be more effective to wait because their anger may prevent them from being __________ to an apology. __________ , waiting can benefit you, too, The best time to apologize is when one feels ready to sincerely apologize..
Explain: don't excuse
Admitting being wrong is __________ and can make people worried that they’re bad people. They often water down their apology with excuses which __________ the responsibility part of the apology to save face.
Excuses may include examples like"I’m very sorry, but in my defense, you started it. " This is a non-apology. It uses the form of an apology but follows it up by __________ responsibility to the offended person, implying he or she is too sensitive.
Let your body do the talking
Experts agree that __________ apologies beat phoned-in, e-mailed and handwritten ones. Facial expressions, posture and the tone of voice are all important __________ that convey sincerity when you express repentance. Anyone can type" feel ashamed, " but if you say it __________ , it's obvious whether or not you mean it.
A phone call is second best. You’ll convey emotions with your voice and get instant feedback. E-mailed apologies aren’t ideal. They lack emotional signals. A victim can exploit written apologies and do harm to the apologizer. Being a victim does not __________ transform one into a good person.
1.A.For instance B.In other word C.In fact D.Of course
2.A.offended B.defended C.needed D.accused
3.A.explain B.reset C.solve D.fix
4.A.reliable B.credible C.valuable D.insincere
5.A.judging by B.speaking of C.considering D.depending on
6.A.called for B.taken up C.looked into D.sought for
7.A.reluctant B.willing C.additive D.receptive
8.A.Hence B.Moreover C.However D.Thereby
9.A.tolerable B.worthless C.painful D.delightful
10.A.build up B.play down C.add to D.back up
11.A.shifting B.offering C.giving D.conveying
12.A.sincere B.instant C.false D.face-face
13.A.features B.weapons C.channels D.expressions
14.A.vividly B.slowly C.live D.clearly
15.A.consequently B.significantly C.necessarily D.dramatically
Direction: After reading the passage below. Fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct
Increasingly, various phrases have been taking over a good old-fashioned "thank you" or "you’re welcome" in daily conversations in the United States. While 1. (dine)at a restaurant, when a waiter comes by to ask Americans 2. .they would like more water or bread, do you notice that they often say " I'm good,” rather than "no, thank you?” When someone thanks them for holding the door open, "no problem "is almost the same response as "you're welcome”.
Are Americans becoming ruder, 3. (abandon) traditional polite phrases, or are the words they use now just updated versions of the same emotion?
According to Lisa Gache, co-founder of Beverly Hills Manners, the decline of these magic words in our everyday conversation has to do with the preference 4. all things casual in our society today. Casual conversation, casual dress and casual behavior are present in all areas of life.
And apparently Americans agree with her. A survey 5. (conduct)by Rasmussen Reports revealed that 76 percent of those surveyed thought that Americans were becoming "ruder and 6. (civil).”
But is using phrases like "no problem"or “you bet"or " enjoy” really rude? Does more casual
phrasing erase the original emotion of gratitude? Doesn’t "no, thank you" sometimes sound a little too formal, perhaps even a little too harsh(刺耳的), 7. it begins with a “no”?
Emily Post Senning, 8. great-grandmother set the standard on manners with the book Etiquette, thought that while the principles of respect and consideration are "universal and timeless, " actual manners change over time and between cultures, 9. do the words used to express gratitude and appreciation.
It's probably not a bad idea 10. (remember)to say "please" and "thank you,” but don’t beat yourself up thinking you're a horrible person if you say "have a good one" instead of "have a nice day.”
Direction: After reading the passage below. Fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct
My parents moved from New Jersey to Germany when I was a child. After a few weeks of playing with neighbors of the same age. I was speaking fluent German. That' s probably not an option if you want to learn a language 1. your next international trip. However, there are some new ways to learn key words and phrases before your departure.
2. playground immersion(沉浸), the best way to learn a language used to be in a classroom. Today, there are many more options. With the help of technology, you can easily get a linguistic edge, and perhaps even a cultural one, too.
The last few years 3. (see) a lot of language-learning software hitting the market .These programs, many of 4. have popular mobile apps, help beginners learn language basics.
Take Memrise for example. This language-learning platform uses flashcards(教学卡片) as memory aids. Memrise offers instruction in 25 languages, and its basic level is free, 5. some advanced features available at $4.99 per month.
There are so many language apps, all claiming to be the best, 6. there are even sites to help you sort if out. You can find detailed reports on these programs on Compare Language Apps: 7. independent testing site run by Professor Roumen Vesselinov at Queens College in New York.
I’ve had access to most of these apps over the years. However, I found that they were 8. too complicated or too time-consuming to help me learn a language before an international trip. Perhaps my experience of acquiring a language early in life and then trying to acquire 9. in a classroom(three years of French, which didn’t really stick)also contributed to my skepticism (怀疑).
The language experts I spoke with say you shouldn’t allow the promises of a course or an app 10. (convince)you that learning a language is easy. Experts agree that there is no substitute for "on-the-ground" experience practicing a new language with native speakers.
假定你是李华，你们学校的英国交换生Jeff准备参加“外国人讲中国成语(idiom)故事”比赛，他发邮件请你给予辅导。你回复邮件，内容包括：
1. 答应帮助；
2. 提出建议；
3. 询问辅导时间与地点。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Jeff,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文， 请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加: 在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除: 把多余的词用斜线( \ )划掉。
修改: 在错的词下划一横线， 并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意: 1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处， 多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Last year, Zhang Pingyu paid visit to London. Worried about the time available, Zhang Pingyu had made a list of the site she wanted to see. It was the Tower which she visited first. Fancy! This solid stone, square tower had been remained standing for one thousand years. Many new buildings had expanded around it. Therefore, it was still part of a royal palace and prison combined. There followed St Paul’s Cathedral built after the terrible fire of London in 1666. It looked splendidly when first built. Westminster Abbey, too, was very interesting. Then just as he came out of the abbey, Pingyu heard the famous sound of the clock Big Ben, ring out the hour.
The next day Pingyu was leaving London to Windsor Castle. “Perhaps I will see the Queen？” she wondered as she fall asleep.
