People are very social animals. We need to talk with and do things with other people. We often understand ourselves better when we discuss our ideas and activities with other people. We need to make meaningful connections with friends and family. These connections help us forget our failures and worries. We can focus (集中) on things that are important: the people we care about.
Your community is the area near your home. It’s where you work, play and go to school. It is the neighborhood where your family makes connections with other people. It’s the places you feel like you belong (属于) to.
Communities grow and change over time. Families move from one city to another because of work or family situations. Older people often move to smaller homes or vacation areas after their children have grown up. Their children move out to start families of their own. New families move in when others leave.
Basic services, such as police, fire, post office, health and public schools are in almost every community. Businesses provide services to the community, too. Stores sell things that people need. Restaurants sell prepared food. Offices provide lots kinds of skilled work.
The job of the city government is to listen to the people of the community and help them connect. Some people may move on, but the community remains.
1.Are people very social animals?
2.What can these connections help us forget?
3.Why do older people move to smaller homes or vacation areas?
4.What does the passage tell us?
When I was about 13, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings (缺点). Sometimes she said I was lazy. Sometimes she said I wasn’t a good student. 1. . I tried to put up with (忍受) her as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. 2. .
My father listened to me quietly, and then he asked, “Are the things she said true or not? Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”
I returned to my room and I did as my father told me. To my surprise, I found that about half the things were true. 3. . He refused to take the list. “That’s just for you,” he said. “When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be helpful to you. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you think is right.”
Many years have passed. 4. . In our life we often meet with some trouble and we often go to someone and ask for advice. For some advice you will treasure (珍惜) all your life!
A. I brought the list back to my father
B. The situation often appears in my mind
C. My mum didn’t like me
D. I ran to my father
E. Sometimes she said I talked too much
The high school diploma (文凭) is losing its value quickly, as a growing number of students graduate (毕业) from school without the math and reading skills that colleges and companies require, according to a new report.
The high school graduation exams that most states (州) require students to pass before they graduate remain far too easy. Most of the exams generally test eighth-or ninth-grade level work.
Today, even high school graduates who are going to have blue-collar (蓝领) jobs need to study the math, research and writing courses. But in high school, only students who are going to college are now required to take these courses.
“If you want a good job with a good pay, it’s a high-skill job,” said Michael Cohen, a leading member of the America Diploma Project.
The project suggests that all graduates master a wide range (范围) of skills. “A high school diploma should mean something to a company and university,” said Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, who is Achieve’s co-chairman.
In Taft’s state, about 30% students who go directly to college from high school have to take remedial classes of English or math, he said. It’s easy to see that the present high-school graduating standards are not preparing students for college education.
And with high-skilled jobs increasingly headed overseas to places like India and Ireland, states need to act, he said.
To prove why math and reading skills matter, the report includes real-life examples of problems students meet in college and that workers must solve each day on the job. ?
Some states are taking actions to upgrade the high school diploma. In Texas, all high school students, starting with the 2008 graduating class, will have to take the college-prep curriculum (大学预备课程) - unless a parent agrees to an easier course load. Other states are planning similar moves.
The report includes examples of reading and math skills that high-school students should have. Project leaders say they hope parents will use those examples to judge (评定) the coursework at their kids’ high schools.
1.Why is the high school diploma losing its value quickly?
A．Because the number of high school students is growing fast.
B．Because high school students fail to reach the standards.
C．Because the graduation tests are easier than it should be.
D．Because difficult courses are not required in high schools.
2.Remedial classes in Paragraph 6 mean classes____.
A．for good learners to study quickly and better
B．for slower learners weak in the subject
C．for learners to be taught one by one
D．for learners to reach a higher standard
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A．Colleges require higher math and reading skills than companies.
B．It is easier for companies to find high-skilled workers in India.
C．Math and reading skills help little for workers to solve daily problems.
D．Parents ask high schools to offer college-prep curriculum in Texas.
4.What can be the best title for the passage?
A．High School Diploma Means Little
B．Give Students More High-skill Jobs
C．Math and Reading Skills Really Matter
D．Judge Coursework at High Schools
Dolores Huerta has worked hard most of her life to help other people. She has helped change things so that farm workers can have a better life.
Dolores grew up in California. She was a good student and liked school. After she finished high school, she went to college and studied to be a teacher. After she became a teacher, Dolores noticed that many of her students were not getting enough food to eat. Some of them wore very old clothes. Dolores wondered how she could help them.
Dolores decided to stop teaching so that she could spend more time helping the farm workers and their families. One thing she wanted to do was to get more pay for farm workers so they could buy their children the things they needed.
Dolores knew that many farm workers moved often from one place to another to help pick different kinds of fruits and vegetables. She began talking and writing about these workers. Even people who lived far from California read what Dolores wrote.
Getting higher pay for the farm workers was not easy. Dolores worked hard to make sure that farm workers got good pay for their work. She knew that nothing would change unless people made new laws to help the workers. Through all her hard work, new laws were made that gave farm workers good pay.
Dolores Huerta has worked for more than 30 years in many different ways to make life better for working people. She has shown how much one person can change things.
1.Dolores became a ____ after she left college.
A．farmer B．teacher C．worker D．lawyer
2.Dolores gave up her first job because ____.
A．she found it was too boring for her B．the work condition was too bad
C．she wanted to do more for others D．she got little pay for her work
3. How did Dolores help farm workers?
A．She gave them food and clothes. B．She helped them teach their children.
C．She helped them got more pay. D．She made new laws for them.
This is part of a book’s table of contents.
Chapter One: North America
The Fox and the Raccoon ..... 1
Song of the Mountains ......... 4
Little Feather Meets Bear ..... 7
Chapter Two: South America
Kuma and the Big River......... 10
The Smallest Monkey ............ 12
Three Tree Frogs ................... 15
Chapter Three: Africa
Marumbi Saves the Day....... 18
The Jumping Fish ................ 22
Father Lion and His Son ...... 25
1.Chapter One is about ____.
A．North America B．South America C．Africa D．Asia
2.If you want to read The Smallest Monkey, you can turn to page ____.
A．4 B．7 C．12 D．25
3.If you are reading page 22, which story are you reading?
A．Song of the Mountains. B．Kuma and the Big River.
C．Three Tree Frogs. D．The Jumping Fish.
My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.
Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n) 1 from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.
The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many 2 were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this 3 , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.
I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to 4 the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I 5 my biggest weakness: public speaking.
After I finished, I met with the chairman and 6 what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very 7 . He suggested that I should come again the next week.
I 8 a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I 9 I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.
For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.
I learned that everything is 10 if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.
1. A．letter B．call C．card D．email
2. A．topics B．regrets C．thoughts D．words
3. A．man B．group C．stage D．chance
4. A．read B．spell C．see D．recite
5. A．had B．forgot C．realized D．improved
6. A．asked B．checked C．explained D．wondered
7. A．useful B．successful C．difficult D．common
8. A．wrote B．prepared C．gave D．finished
9. A．knew B．felt C．believed D．hoped
10. A．easy B．great C．helpful D．possible
