When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Doctor Gibbs. He didn't look like any doctor I'd ever known. He never shouted at us for playing in his yard, but was always very kind.
When Doctor Gibbs wasn't saving lives, he was planting trees. He had some interesting theories about planting trees. He believed in the principle: "No pains, no gains". He hardly watered his new trees, which greatly went against conventional (守旧的) wisdom. Once I asked why and he told me that watering plants spoiled them because it made them grow weaker. He said you had to make things hard for the trees so that only the strongest could survive. He talked about how watering trees made them develop shallow roots and how trees, if they were not watered, would grow deep roots in search of water. So, instead of watering his trees every morning, he'd beat them with a rolled-up newspaper. I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree's attention.
Doctor Gibbs died a couple of years after I left home. Every now and then, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I'd watched him plant some twenty five years ago. They were all tall and strong.
I planted a couple of trees myself a few years ago. Two years of attending these trees meant they grew up weak. Whenever a cold wind blew, their branches trembled. Adversity seemed to benefit Doctor Gibb's trees in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I often hope that their lives will be easy. But lately I've been thinking that it's time to change my idea. I know my children are going to meet with hard times. There's always a cold wind blowing somewhere. What we need to do is to hope for deep roots, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won't be torn apart.
1.With the trees planted, Doctor Gibbs often __________.
A.kept watering them every day B.paid very little attention to them
C.beat them to make them grow tall D.talked to them to get their attention
2.What does the underlined word “Adversity” in the 4th paragraph probably mean?
A.A happy moment. B.An important position.
C.A difficult situation. D.A dirty environment.
3.What does the author wish for his sons?
A.Meet people like Dr Gibbs in the future.
B.Have an easy, happy and comfortable life.
C.Have good luck, meeting no hardship at all.
D.Be able to stand the rain and wind in their lives.
4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A.Growing Roots B.Doctor Gibbs’ Trees
C.Watering Trees D.Helping My Sons
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
Getting up early has been regarded as a good habit since ancient times. Many years ago, people thought that if we went to bed early and got up early, we would be energetic the whole day. So, getting up early is of great importance to us all.
In fact, morning is the best time of a day. In the morning, the air is the freshest and people are usually in the best condition. Many of us may have the experiences that we memorize some things more quickly and correctly in the morning than at any other time of the day. And it is certain that we find it easier to understand what we learn in the morning. If we get up early and do some morning exercise or only take a short walk in the morning, without doubt we can build up our bodies and become much healthier. Also we will have enough time to make a plan and get ready for our work or study of the day if we get up early. For example, if everyone in the family gets up early, wives will have enough time to prepare the breakfast for the whole family; children will have enough time to catch the school bus, and husbands will never forget to change their dirty shirt. Everything will be in order. However, if we get up late, we’ll probably have to do everything in a hurry.
Let us remember getting up early is a good habit and try our best to keep it. Late risers may find it difficult to form the habit of getting up early. They have to make an effort to do so. If we stick to getting up early every day, we will certainly benefit a lot from it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
根据所给汉字或首字母在空缺处填上适当的单词，使句子完整，语法正确，每空一词。
1.Human fingerprints are u__________, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity(身份).
2.The teacher grew angry when he noticed that the student was w________ the answer to his desk-mate.
3.The students all breathed a sigh of r__________ learning that the exam was put off because of the heavy snow.
4.Colour-blind people often find it hard to d____________ between blue and green.
5.With my tenth birthday a_________ , I couldn’t help imagining what kind of present my parents would give me.
6.WeChat is like China’s own ________ (版本) of Facebook, where people can post pictures, their life stories and communicate with others.
7.The Silk Road Economic Belt, a land-based route between China and Europe, links many __________ (文明).
8.The forest where we used to have picnics was completely _________(摧毁) by the fire caused by a cigarette end.
9.Many overseas summer programs are actually ___________(商业化的) and expensive activities, not as culture-centered as promoted.
10.His interest in English _____________(逐渐地) increased with the help of his knowledgeable teacher.
Tips for Cooking on a Tight Schedule
From my experience, there are three main reasons why people don't cook more often：ability, money, and time. 1.Money is a topic I'll save for another day. So today I want to give you some wisdom about how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen. Here are three tips for great cooking on a tight schedule：
1. Think ahead. The moments when I think cooking is a pain are when I'm already hungry and there's nothing ready to eat. So think ahead of the coming week. When will you have time to cook? Do you have the right materials already? 2.
2. Make your time worth it. When you do find time to cook a meal, make the most of it and save yourself time later on. Are you making one loaf of bread? 3. It takes around the same amount of time to make more of something. So save yourself the effort for a future meal.
3. 4.This may surprise you, but one of the best tools for making cooking worth your time is experimentation. It gives you the chance to hit upon new ideas and recipes that can work well with your appetite and schedule. The more you learn and the more you try, the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.
Hopefully that gives you a good start. 5.And don't let a busy schedule discourage you from making some great changes in the way you eat and live!
A.Try new things.
B.Ability is easily improved.
C.Make three or four instead.
D.Understand your food better.
E.Cooking is a burden for many people.
F.Let cooking and living simply be a joy rather than a burden.
G.A little time planning ahead can save a lot of work later on.
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random (随机地) from the population, it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the other hand we take two identical (完全相同的) twins they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.
1.Which of these sentences best describes the writer's point in Para. 1?
A.To some extent, intelligence is given at birth.
B.Intelligence is developed by the environment.
C.Some people are born clever and others born stupid.
D.Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment.
2.It is suggested in this passage that _________.
A.unrelated people are not likely to have different intelligence
B.close relations usually have similar intelligence
C.the closer the blood relationship between people, the more different they are likely to be in intelligence
D.people who live in close contact with each other are not likely to have similar degrees of intelligence
3.In Para. 1, the word "surroundings" means ________.
A.intelligence B.life
C.environments D.housing
4.The best title for this article would be________.
A.On Intelligence
B.What Intelligence Means
C.We are Born with Intelligence
D.Environment Plays a Part in Developing Intelligence
There are many useful suggestions and pieces of advice that can help one to improve English. Here are some useful suggestions and new tips to increase one’s English language vocabulary.
Learning English vocabulary is about much more than just learning the right words. A broad grasp of vocabulary in the English language is based on understanding important expressions.
Learning a word will not help very much if you quickly forget it. Research shows that it takes from 10 to 20 repetitions to really make a word part of your vocabulary. Since most words are learned from how they are used in context, the more words one is shown, the better vocabulary one will have. Keep a piece of paper close to you. When you read, pay more attention to the word you do not know, write the word down and try to figure out its meaning from the context. Then look up the word in a dictionary.
Remember that if you do not use English words that you have just learned in conversation or writing, you will forget them very quickly. So the best way to learn new words effectively is just by trying to use them in conversation and writing. Remember also that practice is the key to fluent spoken English.
Building vocabulary is a life-long task. Remember, “In the beginning was the word.” Your future could depend on how rich your vocabulary is. It will also determine the quality of your communication.
1.We can learn from the passage that learning English vocabulary .
A.is just about learning the right words
B.is about remembering more and more words
C.doesn’t require one to learn expressions
D.requires one to understand important expressions
2.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A.It doesn’t take long to build one’s vocabulary
B.If you remember a word, you are still able to forget it if you don’t use it.
C.To master a word, you need to repeat it 10-20 times.
D.Practice is very important in fluent spoken English.
3.The best way to learn new words is .
A.reading them loudly over and over again
B.writing them down over and over again
C.trying to use them while speaking and writing
D.always looking them up in the dictionary
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A.How to have a good conversation in English
B.How to enrich your English vocabulary
C.Why context is important in learning English
D.How to improve the quality of communication
