A girl complained to her father
about her hard life．She didn't know what she had to do and wanted to give up．She felt tired of fighting and fighting．One problem had been finished but another came over．
Her father，a cook，took her into the kitchen．He poured water into three pans and boiled(煮沸) them．After boiling，in the first pan was put some carrots，the second was put some eggs and the last was put with coffee．
The girl waited impatiently (不耐烦的)，confused by what her father did．About 20 minutes later，her father took out the carrots and put them in a bowl．He took the eggs and put them in a bowl．After that the coffee was poured into a cup．“My sweet heart，what do you see？” he asked．
“Carrots，eggs and coffee，” she replied．
Her father told her to close her eyes and asked her to touch the carrots．She did so and felt that the carrots were soft．After that he asked her to take the eggs and break them．After peeling (剥开) them，she got the eggs，cooked and hard．The last，the father let her smell the coffee． She asked，“What did you do this for，Father？” He explained that each had the same unlucky experience—the boiling water，but each had a different result． The strong and hard carrots had become soft and weak．The fragile eggs became hard after being cooked． The coffee was very special，they could change water．“Who are you？” asked her father．“When bad luck knocks at your door，what is your decision? Are you carrots，eggs or coffee？”
1.The girl’s father took her to the kitchen to .
A.ask her how to boil eggs B.show her how to make coffee
C.teach her how to be a cook D.tell her how to face difficulties
2.After about twenty minutes,the carrots became .
A.soft B.hard C.salty D. sweet
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.The girl’s father liked to eat some kinds of food.
B.Bad luck always knocks at strong people’s doors.
C .Boiled carrots, eggs and coffee had the same result.
D .People should make right decisions when in trouble.
Reading is the key to school success and，like any skill，it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. An excellent sportsman practices until he can play quickly, correctly and without thinking. Educators call it “automaticity(自动性)”.
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With practice, he stumbles less
and less, reading by the phrase. With automaticity, he doesn’t have to think about the meaning of words, so he can give all his attention to the meaning of the text.
It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found that automatic readers in the first grade not only read almost three times as fast as the others, but also got better results in exams.
According to Rossman, the key to automaticity is the amount(数量)of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 to 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will probably reach automaticity. It can happen if a child turns off TV just one night for reading at home.
You can test yourself by reading something new which is suitable for your level. If you read aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, you probably are an automatic reader. If you read brokenly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, you need more practice.
1.“ Reading is the key to school success” means that reading______.
A. helps school develop faster
B. is a key to a successful school
C. helps students go to a key school
D. can improve students’ learning results
2.Children with “automaticity” can read faster because they______.
A. know how to read the words
B. do not have to think while reading
C. read by themselves without any help
D. pay attention to the meaning of the text
3. The underlined word “stumble” in the passage means “______” in Chin
ese.
A. 结结巴巴地读 B. 全神贯注地读
C. 心不在焉地读 D. 声情并茂地读
4.The best title for the passage is “______”.
A . IQ is the Key
to the Automaticity
B.TV is Bad for Children’s Reading
C. Automaticity Depends on Practice
D. Automatic Readers Will Be Successful
1.Which of the following will help to improve your speech?
A. IELTS Listening.B. Car and Driver.
C. Quick & Easy Meals.D. Designing Effective Speech Interfaces.
2.Who will probably be interested in Quick & Easy Meals?
A. Car fans.B. English speakers.
C. Housewives. D. Businessmen.
3.How many of the four short passages are introductions of books?
A. One.B. Two.C. Three.D. Four.
The teacher stood before his class and was going to hand out the final exam papers. 
‘I know how you have worked to prepare for this test,’ he said. ‘And because I know you can do it well, I am willing to offer a B to those who prefer not 
to take the___.’
Many students thanked the teacher and left. The teacher looked at the remaining students and said, ‘Does anyone else want to get a ‘B’? This is your last Two more students decided to go.
Seven students remained. The teacher then handed out the papers. There were only three sentences on the paper: Congratulations! You have just been an ‘A’ in this class. Keep believing in .
I never had a teacher like that, but I think it is a test that any teacher could give. Students who are not in what they have learned are ‘B’ students at best (充其量).
The same is in our daily life. The ‘A’ students are those who believe in what they are doing because they have both successes and failures. They have learned life’s lessons, not only from normal education, from events in their lives, and have become people. You see, one should always believe in himself.
1.A. luckilyB. terriblyC. quietly D. hard
2.A. restB. bookC. testD. mark
3.A. chanceB. trouble C. testD. idea
4.A. givenB. sentC. discovered D. received
5.A. himselfB. yourselfC. themselves D. ourselves
6.A. confidentB. lucky C. seriousD. easy
7.A. unusualB. impossible C. trueD. good
8.A. broken offB. dreamed of C. learned fromD. cared about
9.A. andB. orC. butD. also
10.A. ruderB. braver C. worse D. better
---I am very tired these days because of studying for Maths.
---Why not music? It can make you .
A.listen to, to relax B.to listen to, relax C.listen to.relax D.to listen to,to relax
Last Sunday,when I got to the station,I I had left my ticket at home.
A.understood B.realized C.believed D.seemed
