The Sweetest Thing
When I was ten, I was crazy about candy. Whenever in our small-town ______ with my mom, I would run my fingers through my favorite candy on the shelf.
Once there, thinking about all things sweet, I noticed a man a few feet away pushing buttons on the ATM machine. Dressed in a suit, he seemed to be late for something, ______ waiting for his cash to appear. The machine made a noise, and he immediately ______ a pile of bills and headed out. Curiously, I walked over to the ATM, where I started pressing the buttons as if knowing the ______. Then I looked into the bottom of the machine. There I saw it: a beautiful, crisp $20 bill! ______ I wanted to believe my magic made the cash appear, I knew the man in the suit must have left it behind.
I held the money in my hand, staring at the number “20” and feeling ______ than I ever had. I thought about slipping the money into my pocket. No one would know, but it didn’t feel ______. I knew it didn’t belong to me. I had to find its owner and give it back! So I told my mom what had happened. “We’ll look for him.” she said kindly. We rushed out and found him stepping into his car in the parking lot! We ______ him and asked whether he had left money at the cash machine.
“Let me ______,” he said, pulling out his wallet and bills. “Twenty, forty, eighty…Oh! You’re right,” he said with surprise, “I’m ______ a $20 bill.”
“Here you go,” I said, smiling with pride, as if I was a(n) ______ who had solved a mystery. “Thank you so much,” he said, bending down and shaking my hand. My heart ______. Before saying goodbye, he asked my mom for my name and ______. “I want to send your daughter a thank-you card,” he said.
On my way home, my ______ was racing. Twenty dollars. What could I have done with it? I bet I could have bought a puppy or every single candy bar in town! But now ______ of that would happen. Yet I knew I had done the right thing.
A few weeks later, I got a box with a note. I ripped it open to find packages of candy.
“Dear Felice, Thank you very much for ______ my $20. You are a great girl, and I appreciate your ______. I hope you enjoy this candy. Best Wishes, Tom.” Tom included his business card. It turned out he was vice-president for the candy company. The candy tasted sweet, each ______ reminding me that what I had done mattered. Although my honesty wouldn’t always be ______ with candy, it would make a difference to someone. And that was the ______ part of all.
1.A.school B.church C.store D.bank
2.A.angrily B.excitedly C.hopefully D.anxiously
3.A.covered B.seized C.handed D.posted
4.A.machine B.assistant C.man D.password
5.A.Though B.Since C.Once D.Until
6.A.smarter B.stronger C.prettier D.richer
7.A.right B.good C.fair D.easy
8.A.caught B.approached C.guided D.searched
9.A.try B.think C.check D.guess
10.A.sparing B.seeking C.missing D.changing
11.A.engineer B.detective C.manager D.designer
12.A.hurt B.sank C.swelled D.jumped
13.A.address B.age C.habit D.birthday
14.A.car B.memory C.time D.mind
15.A.both B.none C.some D.either
16.A.returning B.remembering C.keeping D.lending
17.A.loyalty B.devotion C.honesty D.bravery
18.A.dollar B.bite C.product D.choice
19.A.marked B.replaced C.shared D.rewarded
20.A.sweetest B.hardest C.freshest D.heaviest
How to be a better reader
Reading is an extremely important skill.1. Here are some suggestions on how to be a better reader.
Know your reading purpose.2. The kind of reading you do in class or for your homework is different from how you read a novel for pleasure in the summer vacation. If you know your reading purposes， you can choose the best reading methods.
Use all the information in the book. Good textbooks are well-organized with title subtitles， introductions， summaries or conclusions. Many books also have pictures with captions(说明文字).3. Another aspect of good writing is that each paragraph has a topic sentence. If you concentrate on understanding the topic sentence this may help you to understand what comes next.
4. You can't really expect to understand a difficult book if you are trying to read in the same room with the television on and your little brother distracting(使某人分心) you. The same goes for reading on the bus on the way to school. You can't expect to read a textbook and listen to music at the same time either. Try to find a quiet and comfortable place with good light， and your dictionaries and other materials nearby.
Use your dictionary wisely. A common mistake of ESL students is to look up each unknown word in the texts they are given to read.5.It can even make understanding more difficult because by the time you reach the end of the paragraph you have forgotten what you read at the beginning! So use your dictionary wisely.
A. Choose the right time to read.
B. Choose a right place to read.
C. Look at all these first before starting to read.
D. But it takes a long time and can be very boring.
E. The wider your vocabulary is， the easier you will find your reading.
F. Reading is also an excellent way to improve your general English.
G. the way you read a book or a text depends largely on your reasons for reading it.
Imagine a cat that does not need someone to clean up after it keeps an older person company and help them remember to take their medicine. That is the shared dream of the toy maker Hasbro and scientists at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The researchers received a $3-million-dollar award from the National Science Foundation for a special project. They want to find ways to add artificial intelligence, or A.I., to Hasbro’s “Joy for All” robotic cat.
The cat has already been for sale for two years. Though priced over 1000 dollars, it sold quite well. It was meant to act as a “companion” for older people. Now the project is aimed at developing additional abilities for the cat. Researchers at Brown’s Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative are working to decide which activities older adults may need the most. They hope to make the cat perform a small number of activities very well. Such activities include
finding lost objects and reminding the person to take medicine or visit their doctor. They also want to keep the cost down to just a few hundred dollars.
It is an idea that has appealed to Jeanne Elliott. Her 93-year-old mother Mary Derr lives with her in South Kingstown. Derr has dementia (痴呆). The Joy for All cat that Elliott bought this year has become a true companion for Derr. The cat stays with Derr and keeps her calm while Eliot is at work. Elliott said a robotic cat that helps her mother to remember to take her medicine and be careful when she walks would be greater.
The researchers are trying to learn how the improved cats will complete helpful activities and how they will communicate. They say that they do not want a talking cat, however. Instead they are trying to design a cat that can move its head in a special way to successfully communicate its message. In the end, they hope to create an exchange between the human and the cat in which the human feels the cat needs them. By doing so, the researchers hope they can even help prevent feelings of loneliness and sadness among elderly people.
1.What’s the purpose of the project?
A. To relieve the pain of the elderly.
B. To promote the sales of a medicine.
C. To help make the robotic cat smarter.
D. To invent a robotic cat for the elderly.
2.Compared with the old model, the new robotic cat will be ________.
A. cheaper
B. smaller
C. more talkative
D. more expensive
3.What does Paragraph 3 intend to tell us?
A. The more functions of the cat, the better.
B. The cat gives much help to the elderly.
C. There is no cure for dementia at present.
D. Mary Derr would have died without the cat.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. A talking cat is quite popular among the elderly.
B. Feelings of sadness among the elderly are unavoidable.
C. Each family can afford such a cat in the future.
D. The feeling of being needed is vital to the elderly.
Many kids help out around the house with chores(家庭杂务) such as emptying the dishwasher， putting laundry away， and taking out the trash. In exchange， some kids get allowances(补贴) or other rewards such as extra computer time.
But some people do not think that kids should get rewards for doing chores. Susie Walton， a parenting educator and family coach， believes that by rewarding kids， parents are sending a message that work isn't worth doing unless you get something in return. “Running any kind of household is a team effort，” Susie said，“a home is a living space for everyone in the family. It's important for kids to see that we all have responsibilities in the house， and that families decide together how they want their home to look， and how they are going to keep it looking like everyone wants it to look.”
Other people believe that getting a cash allowance or other rewards motivates kids to do chores， and it also teaches them real world lessons about how we need to work to earn money. There are also new applications that give kids points and digital gifts that can be redeemed(兑取) either online or in the real world. With the Chore Monster app kids earn digital points by completing chores that they can turn in for real-life rewards such as extra Xbox time or a trip to the mall. “Our goal is to encourage kids to earn rewards” says Chris Bergman， founder of Chore Monster，“Kids need positive reinforcement(强化) to help motivate them.”
What do you think? Should kids be rewarded for doing chores? Or should kids help out around their homes without getting anything in return? Write a 200-word response. Send it to tfkasks4you@timeforkids.com. Your response may be published in a future issue of Time For Kids. Please include your grade and contact information of your parent or teacher if you want your response to be published. The deadline for responding is February 18.
1.How does the author start the passage?
A.By listing some evidence.
B.By presenting some facts.
C.By comparing different views.
D.By stating his own experiences.
2.Which statement is true according to Susie Walton?
A.Kids should be rewarded for doing chores.
B.Parents decide what kids can do for the family.
C.Kids have the responsibility to share housework.
D.Kids can get extra computer time for doing chores.
3.The purpose of writing the text is to .
A.invite readers to express their opinions
B.inform readers of two different opinions
C.call on readers to reflect on their behavior
D.present the author's viewpoint about parenting
I used to be crazy about the hunting season. The excitement of waiting for a prey(猎物)and the pride of showing off the kill fascinated me. However, everything changed after that cold morning.
Early on that day of the late fall, I set off alone for the woods, packing a gun, a bottle of hot coffee and three thick sandwiches. After finding the fresh deer’s tracks in the snow, I settled down behind a little bush.
I sat there for about an hour. It was then that I saw him. A deer, a big beautiful deer! There was no cover nearer to him than 30 yards. Surely I couldn’t miss! I waited for him to realize I was there. I waited for him to be shocked and run away. But he fooled me completely. He came towards me! He was curious, I suppose, or maybe he was stupid---how else can you explain it? Well, that deer walked right up to where I was sitting. Then he stopped and looked at me!
What happened next is hard to believe, but it’s true. And it all seemed quite natural. Just as when a friendly young deer comes near you, I reached up and scratched his head. And he liked to be scratched. In fact, he practically asked for more. Then, I fed him my sandwich! Yes, I know what a deer eats, but that deer ate my sandwich. Well, he finally went his way, down the hill and up the deer trail. Shoot him? Not me. You wouldn’t have either, not after that. I just watched him go.
When I was about half way back, I heard two shots, followed by a dull slam(撞击)a few seconds later. Those two shots usually mean a kill. I had forgotten there were other hunters that day.
Those hunters would never know they could have scratched his head.
1.Why didn’t the author kill the deer?
A.He preferred to shoot a shy deer. B.He was fooled by the tricky deer.
C.He was sympathetic for the deer. D.He was too shocked to shoot the deer.
2.What most probably happened to the deer in the end?
A.Other hunters shot the deer to death.
B.Other hunters scratched the deer’s head too.
C.The deer managed to escape from being shot.
D.The deer would become friends with the author.
3.What’s the best title of this text?
A.A Hunting in Late Fall. B.A Lovely Deer.
C.The Cruel Killing. D.The Last Hunting.
假定你是李华，计划邀请你的英国朋友David春节期间来你家做客，请你用英文给他写一封信，内容 包括：
1. 一道包饺子，跟你的家人共进晚餐；
2. 询问合适时间等。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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