Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not, I feel unsure of myself and take out a part from my PBA (personal bank account). I love how singer Judy Garland put it, “Always be a first-class version (版本) of yourself, instead of a second-class version of somebody else.”
Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have. Try being honest, and notice how well it makes you feel. Remember, you can’t do wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example of that: In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well. I was really good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off.
At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt all of us. After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that anymore, because I wasn’t really helping them. They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t helping me.
It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests, lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit (储蓄) into your PBA and will build strength.
1.The black words “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the first paragraph means “______”.
A. to be honest
B. to be unreal
C. to become clear
D. to come from an imagined world
2.Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?
A. Be your true self rather than follow others.
B. Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class.
C. Make efforts to be the first instead of the second.
D. Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent.
3.What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story?
A. Honesty can be of great help.
B. A bad thing can be turned into a good one.
C. Helping others cheat can do good to nobody.
D. One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds.
4.In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express ______.
A. one must be brave to be honest
B. it’s difficult to be honest when others are not
C. one should be honest when making a deposit
D. honesty in one’s actions can help him in the future
New rules and behaviour standards for middle school students came out in March Middle School is going to use a new way to decide who the top students are. The best students won't only have high marks. They will also be kids who don't dye（染）their hair, smoke or drink. The following are some of the new rules.
Tell the truth. Have you ever copied someone else's work on an exam? Don't do it again! That's not something an honest student should do. If you have played computer games for two hours in your room, don't tell your parents you have done homework.
Do more at school. Good students love animals and care for other people. April is Bird-Loving Month in China. Is your school doing anything to celebrate? You should join! That way, you can learn more about animals and how to protect them. When more people work together, it makes it more fun for everyone.
Have you ever quarreled with your teammates when your basketball team lost? Only working together can make your team stronger. Be friendly to the people you are with. Try to think of others, not only yourself.
Be open to new ideas. Have you ever thought that people could live on the moon? Maybe you'll discover Earth II someday. Don't look down on new ideas. Everyone's ideas are important. You should welcome them, because new ideas make life better for everyone.
Protect yourself. Has someone ever taken money from one of your classmates? Don't let it happen to you. If you have to go home late, you should let your parents know.
Use the Internet carefully. The Internet can be very useful for your studies. But some things on the Internet aren't for kids, so try to look at Web pages that are good for you. You can use the Web for fun or homework. Can't you find any good Web sites for children? Here are some:
http://kids.eastday.com.
http://www.chinakids.net.com
http://www.cycnet.com
1.The school new rules will help kids by telling them ______.
A. how they can study well
B. what they should do at school
C. what is right and what is wrong
D. how they can protect themselves
2.According to the passage, which of the following is not true?
A. Keep some animals to protect them.
B. Tell the truth, even when you are wrong.
C. Take care of yourself when you are out.
D. Use the Internet, but keep away from bad things.
3.Good Web sites for children can ______.
A. be a waste of time
B. make life easier
C. do homework for them
D. help them with their studies
There were two McDonald’s – Mac and Dick – and they were brothers. In 1948 they owned a restaurant in California. They liked working in the restaurant, but they got tired of the customers(顾客) ordering so many different things to eat.
“If we gave customers a smaller menu(菜单), we could make some of the food before they came, and they wouldn’t have to wait so long for their meals,” said one of the brothers. The other brother agreed and said, “If we made the customers come to the counter(柜台), we wouldn’t need any waiters and waitresses(女服务员). We could also use plastic plates so there wouldn’t be any washing-up.”
These were such good ideas that the McDonald’s brothers used them, and the customers were very pleased. They got their meals very quickly – in less than a minute – and they paid only 15 cents(分) for hamburgers and 10 cents for fries(油炸食品). The first McDonald’s restaurant had no seats for customers to sit on. This meant that people had to take their food away, and that no one had to clean up any tables after them.
Then a man called Ray Kroc came to the brothers and asked to buy their business. They agreed to sell it to him for $27 million. After that, people paid Ray Kroc to open their own restaurants using the McDonald’s name and menu. Before long, there were McDonald’s restaurants all over the United States, and nowadays, they are all over the world – even in China and Russia. The most successful McDonald’s business is in Hong Kong of China. The Hong Kong McDonald’s sells more hamburgers every day than any other McDonald’s anywhere else in the world.
McDonald’s restaurants are so successful because children love going to them. They like the food, and they like the toys and games they can get at McDonald’s.
【小题】The McDonald brothers offered customers fewer kinds of foods so that _____.
A． they didn’t need waiters or waitresses
B． they could use plastic plates
C． customers could get their meals quickly
D．customers would pay less.
【小题】Customers“paid only 15 cents for hamburgers”means the hamburgers were___.
A. expensive B. new
C. cheap D. worth a lot less
【小题】The first McDonald’s customers took their food away because_____.
A． They wanted to eat it quickly
B． they did not want a large menu
C． There were no seats in the restaurant
D． they wanted to eat at home
【小题】Nowadays, the owners of McDonald’s restaurants pay for ____.
A． the McDonald’s name and menu
B． children to play games
C． people to take the food away
D． customers to eat quickly
【小题】This story mainly tells us ____.
A． a restaurant in California in 1948.
B． how Ray Kroc made money for the McDonald brothers.
C． where McDonald’s restaurants are in the world.
D． how the McDonald’s business started and grew.
Imagine you’re at a party full of strangers. You’re nervous. Who are these people? How do you start a conversation? Luckily, you’ve got a thing that sends out energy at small chips（芯片） in everyone’s name tag（标签）.The chips send back name, job, hobbies－whatever. Making new friends becomes simple.
This hasn’t quite happened in real life. But the world is already experiencing a new age of using RFID technology.
An RFID tag with a small chip can be fixed in a product, under your pet’s skin（皮肤）, even under your own skin. Some RFID tags have no energy source because they do not need it. The energy comes from a scanning device（扫描装置）, which sends out energy and starts up the tag immediately.
Such a tag carries information to that object, and the information can be renewed. Already, RFID technology is used for recognizing（识别） each car or truck on the road and it might appear in your passport. Doctors may put a small chip under the skin to get a patient’s medical records. At a nightclub in Paris or in New York the same chip might get you to pay for the bill with the wave of an arm.
Take a step back: 10 or 12 years ago, you would have heard about the coming age of computing. One example always seemed to surface: Your refrigerator would know when you needed to buy more milk. The idea was that computer chips could be put everywhere and send information in a smart network that would make life simpler.
RFID tags are a small part of this situation. “The world is going to be a connected set of personal small devices.” predicts Dr. J. Reich. But some people are nervous about the possibilities of such technology. It goes too far tracking（跟踪）school kids through RFID tags, they say.
When Marconi invented radio, he thought it would be used for ship-to-shore communication, not for pop music. Who knows how RFID and other technologies will be used in the future. Here’s a wild guess: Not for buying milk.
1.The article is intended to______.
A. warn people of the possible risks in adopting RFID technology
B. explain the benefits brought about by RFID technology
C. convince people of the uses of RFID technology
D. predict the applications of RFID technology
2.We know from the passage that with the help of RFID tags, people_____.
A. will have no trouble getting data about others
B. will have more energy for conversation
C. will have more time to make friends
D. won’t feel shy at parties any longer
3.Passive RFID tags chiefly consist of____.
A. scanning devices B. radio waves
C. batteries D. chips
4.Why are some people worried about RFID technology?
A. Because children will be tracked by strangers.
B. Because market competition will become fiercer.
C. Because their private lives will be greatly affected.
D. Because customers will be forced to buy more products.
In modern society there is a lot of disagreement about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is good for social progress. Others say that competition is bad. It sets one person against another. And it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who believe that their self-worth depended on how well they did at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death matters. In their single-minded dream of success, the development of many other human qualities（品质） is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire（渴望） to succeed, others take a different attitude. In a culture which values only the winners, they are strongly against competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who are under competitive pressures（压力） from their parents or society. They are always told to be the top ones, but they think it’s really hard. When I teach these young people, I often find them in a desire to fail. They seem to search for failure（失败） by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try. If I had tried and lost, that would mean a lot. ”
Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief. They think one’s self-respect depends on how well one does compared with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this fear begins to dissolve (消除) can we discover a new meaning in competition.
1.Why do some people welcome competition according to the passage?
A. It pushes society forward.
B. It improves one’s abilities.
C. It develops human qualities.
D. It builds up friendly relationship.
2.The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
A. those who try their best to win
B. those who value competition most highly
C. those who depend on others most for success
D. those who are against competition most strongly
3.Which of the following may the writer agree to?
A. Every effort should be paid back.
B. Competition should be encouraged
C. Winning should be a life-and-death matter.
D. Fear of failure should be taken away in competition.
4.What does this passage mainly talk about?
A. Competition helps to set up self-respect.
B. Competition is bad for social development.
C. Ideas about competition are different among people.
D. Failures are necessary experiences in competition.
When did you last see a polar(极地的)bear? On a trip to a zoo, perhaps? If you had attended a winter activity in New York a few years ago, you would have seen a whole polar bear club. These “Polar Bears” are people who meet frequently in winter to swim in freezing cold water. That day, air temperature was 3℃, and the water temperature was a bit higher. The members of the Polar Bear Club at Coney Island , New York are usually about the age of 60. Members must satisfy two requirements. First, they must get along well with everyone else in the group, this is very important because there are so many different kinds of people in the club. Polar Bears must also agree to swim outdoors at least twice a month from November through February.
Doctors do not agree about the medical effects of cold-water swimming. Some are worried about the dangers of a condition in which the body’s temperature drops so low that finally the heart stops. Other doctors, however, point out that there is more danger of a heart attack during summer swimming because the difference between the air temperature and water temperature is much greater in summer than in winter.
The Polar Bears themselves are satisfied with the benefits(or advantages) of cold-water swimming. They say that their favorite form of exercise is very good for the circulatory system(循环系统) because it forces the blood to move fast to keep the body warm. Cold-water swimmers usually turn bright red after a few minutes in the water. A person who turns blue probably has a very poor circulatory system and should not try cold-water swimming.
The main benefits(or advantages) of cold-water swimming are probably mental（精神的）. The Polar Bears love to swim year-round; they find it fun and relaxing. As one 70-year-old woman says,“When I go into the water, I pour my troubles into the ocean and let them float away(漂走).”
1.The members of the Polar Bear Club must meet the following requirements except that __________.
A. they must reach the age of 60
B. they should be easy to make friends with
C. they must swim outdoors at least 8 times in the four cold months
D. they must agree to swim outdoors from November through February
2.Doctors __________.
A. encourage people to take part in cold-water swimming actively
B. point out the possible danger of blood illness during cold-water swimming
C. believe swimming is helpful both in winter and in summer
D. have different ideas about the medical effects of cold-water swimming
3.According to the passage, some doctors believe it is true that __________.
A. you are healthy if cold-water swimming turns your skin color blue
B. cold-water swimming causes more heart attacks in summer than in winter
C. cold-water swimming can make the body temperature dangerously high
D. Polar Bears are bears swimming in freezing water
4.The Polar Bears like to swim all the year round, for __________.
A. they can remain young
B. it is an easy way to keep the body warm in winter
C. they find it enjoyable and interesting
D. they might meet fewer troubles in life
5.The passage is mainly about __________.
A. a group of cold-water swimming lovers
B. the polar bears' life
C. doctors' ideas about cold-water swimming
D. the requirements of the Polar Bear Club
