Remind children that bad things don’t last. It may sound simple, but the message is extremely important. “Children often don’t have the experience to know that when something bad happens---they lose an important game or their best friend lets them down---it’s not the end of the world,” explains Nancy Leffert, a senior research scientist with the Research Institute, an American adolescents(青少年) and children’s research group. “They think their bad feelings will last for ever, or that one failure will ruin everything.”
Unfortunately, that kind of thinking discourages motivation(动机). “If a child believes that the cause of her upset is lasting, or that nothing she does will make a difference, it decreases her ability to keep on trying.” says Dorothy Rich, president of the MegaSkills Education Center of the Home and School Institute, based in Washington. Any time you can help your child see that a situation is not lasting, that a result can be changed, or that one opinion does not reflect reality, you give her reason to hope.
Case in point: “When my daughter Kathy was eight, art was one of her favorite subjects,” says Beth, a mother of two. “Then she got an art teacher who gave a great deal of praise to one student and barely noticed the rest. Kathy was ready to give up until I explained to her, “Never stop doing your best just because one person doesn’t give you praise.” Beth had to repeat the advice often, and finally her daughter got the message. “Kathy is 12 now, and art is still one of her strongest subjects.”
1.According to the passage we know many children__________.
A. know how to face a failure
B. try their best to avoid a situation of failure
C. don’t want to stay in bad feelings for ever
D. tend to take a failure as the end of the world
2.Which of the following is RIGHT about Nancy Leffert?
A. She is concerned about children’s attitudes towards failure.
B. She is the president of the Education Center.
C. She strongly believes that bad things won’t last long.
D. She is the director of the Research Institute.
3.Which of the following can a parent say to his children to show that one’s opinion does not reflect reality?
A. “If you call your friend and apologize, he won’t stay mad at you.”
B. “Go ahead. Don’t care what other people think.”
C. “You have lost today, but you can try again tomorrow.”
D. “That may be what your teacher thinks, but I see it differently.”
4.The best title of the passage is__________.
A. Help Children Promote Problem Solving Ability
B. Tell Children Not to Let Failure Ruin Them
C. Set Reasonable Hopes for Your Children
D. Teach Your Children to Be Happy
She was born to wealth and power in a time when money and politics were left to the men. Later, as The Washington Post’s publisher, Katharine Graham became one of America’s most powerful women.
Despite a privileged background, Katharine had to deal, while growing up, with the high demands her mother placed on her children. Katharine’s love of journalism, which she shared with her father, led to her career after college at The Washington Post, the newspaper her father bought in 1933.At the Post, Katharine met Phil Graham, a young, charming lawyer who became her husband. When, in 1945, Katharine’s father chose Phil over her to take over his struggling paper, Katharine didn’t object and stayed at home as a wife and mother of four.
While Phil’s successful efforts to restore the Post to fame made the Grahams popular members of the Washington social scene, Katharine privately suffered great pain from her husband’s increasingly harmful behavior caused by severe depression. When Phil committed suicide, the 46-year-old Katharine found herself thrown into a new job, that of newspaper publisher. But determined to save the family paper for her children, Katharine rose to the challenge of running the Post, attending meetings in every department, working endlessly to prove herself to her critics, and becoming the toast of Washington.
In 1971, Katharine ordered the Post to print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret documents revealing the truth about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. What’s more, her courageous decision and support for her journalists prepared the Post to break the most important political story in modern history: Watergate(水门事件), one of the greatest scandals(丑闻)in American political history. Katharine managed to keep control over the most disorganized situation when it was reported, all the time insisting the news stories be accurate and fair. Watergate made the Washington Post an internationally known Paper and Katharine was considered as the most powerful woman in America.
1. Katharine Graham was born in a time when __________.
A. women were not permitted to achieve their goals
B. women were not given the chance to receive education
C. women did not have equal opportunities as men in some ways
D. women could not enter any field despite their privileged backgrounds
2. When her husband was chosen to take charge of the newspaper, Katharine Graham ______.
A. was strongly against the idea
B. was not happy to be rejected
C. didn’t believe her husband would do a good job
D. was willing to take her share of responsibility
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Katharine Graham was free to do whatever she liked in her early life.
B. When Katharine Graham first took over the Post, her critics doubted her ability.
C. Katharine Graham was successful in her career but suffered severe depression.
D. It was Katharine Graham’s husband who made the greatest contributions to the Post.
4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Ups and downs of The Washington Post
B. Katharine Graham's family life and career
C. Katharine Graham: from housewife to successful publisher
D. Katharine Graham: a woman who controlled American journalism
Exhibition: Little Angels
Date: January 10 -- September 13, 2010
Time: 10:00 am -- 5:00 pm
This exhibition shows more than 25 paintings by the Mount brothers, exploring the ways in which the artists use images of children in their work and why these images are still popular today.
Museum admission: $9 Adults / $7.00 Seniors / $4.00 Students / Free for children under age six
Where: The Long Island Museum 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook, NY 631-751-0066
Summer Docs Series
Date: June 25, 2010
Time: 8:00 pm
For the first time since its founding in 1993, The Hamptons International Film Festival, working with Guild Hall, will expand its programme to host a summer documentary (纪录片) show with three films that focus on various cultural and social themes.
Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin will serve as host for all three films, beginning with The Cove, an environmental documentary about the dolphin capture (捕猎海豚) trade on Friday, June 25th at 8:00 pm.
The other films will be screened on July 31st and August 25th.
Where: Guild Hall 158 Main Street, East Hampton, NY 631-324-0806
Admission: $20 / $18 Guild Hall members
Not Your Typical Solar Energy Class
Date: June 18, 2010
Time: 7:30 pm -- 9:30 pm
Sunshine is free and so is this “Not your typical solar energy class”. Learn how solar electric and solar hot water can cut your bills. Free admission, plus free food and drink, and free “green” gifts.
Where: The Velux Building 2905 Veteran’s Memorial Hwy, Ronkonkoma, NY 516-809-7182
Stony Brook vs. Brown
Date: September 19, 2010
Time: 6:00 pm
* High School Night
* Tickets are free for all Stony Brook students with a Stony Brook ID. Wear red and support your Stony Brookers! Tickets can be bought at our website.
* Game time may change.
Where: LaValle Stadium at Stony Brook University Nichols Rd, Stony Brook, NY 631-632-9556
1.The title of the exhibition Little Angels probably refers to ______.
A. visitors B. children C. the Mount brothers D. talented artists
2.What can we know about the film The Cove from the passage?
A. Alec Baldwin is the leading actor in this film.
B. It is the first film shown at Guild Hall since 1993.
C. People can watch it two months earlier than the last one of the three films
D. The Hamptons International Film Festival starts with it.
3. The “Not your typical solar energy class” will _______.
A. give visitors free presents
B. be held in NY 631-324-0806
C. provide food and drink at a low price
D. tell you how to cut bills when shopping
4.The last part is probably an advertisement for ______.
A. a web game B. a sports meeting C. a music concert D. a sports game
In the US and Britain, the slogan around colleges was “Save water. Shower with a friend.” Now, Wuhan University has come up with another system for the campus bathhouse. It charges students for the amount of time in a shower. Before entering the bathhouse, students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower with cash or their student ID card. The clock starts ticking the minute the tape is turned on. It pauses when a button is pressed for soap. An integrated circuit(IC) card reader at each tap shows the time. No money, no water. The benefits of the new system can be seen with the old system, which charged 1 yuan for each person regardless of time in the shower. The university used about 320 tones of water daily under the old system, but only 160 tons now.
Many students use the new system but opinions on it are divided. Some students say it is bad because bathing had become a sort of race. Many people using it for the first time are not sure how long they need to shower. Some might be embarrassed if their time is up and they’re still covered in soap. They have to ask the bathhouse worker to help them buy extra time.
“It’s a flaw in the system that you can not buy extra time on the ID card,” said Ren, a freshman in Wuhan University. The university is also considering some students’ suggestions that they be allowed to pay after they’ve finished the shower. Not surprisingly, some are complaining about losing the hour shower. But many students say the move helps them develop a water-saving sense.
Without the time limits, most students tended to shower for 30 to an hour in the bathhouse. Some even used the hot water to wash their clothes. “In my experience, 10-20 minutes is enough,” said Dai Zhihua, a third-year student who usually takes 8 minutes. A similar system has been installed in other universities. Shanghai Normal University introduced it at its Fengxiang Campus in September. The bathing fee there is 0.2 yuan per minute. One male student responded by setting a record with a two-minute shower.
1.According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A. Having finished bathing, the student has to pay for it.
B. The clock times all through while the student is bathing except when the bather paused for soap.
C. If money runs out, there will be no water.
D. Students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower.
2. The underlined word “flaw” (Paragraph3) most probably means______.
A. perfection B. advantage C. pity D. fault
3.Since the new system has performed, ______ of water can be saved.
A. a quarter B. one third C. one half D. two thirds
4.It can be inferred from the passage that______.
A. the new operation can solve the water crisis.
B. The new operation can raise students’ environmental awareness.
C. a similar operation has been set in other universities.
D. The university has saved a lot of water by using the new system.
China news, Beijing, July 29 --- Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property developers and ordinary Chinese. To many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8,000 yuan per square meter, while in China, it is even higher than in the United States. This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate market, the International Finance News reported.
Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after converted to Renminbi, is about 8,000 yuan per square meter, the houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8,000 yuan per square meter. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, houses are sold at a price even higher than those in the US.
The high housing sales price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in US?
At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate(控制) the real estate market by raising tax on property industry. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses through various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high housing prices can be lowered.
1.What is the average housing price per square meter in China?
A. 8000 yuan. B. 10000 yuan. C. 7000 yuan. D. Not mentioned.
2.Which of the following does NOT support the idea that the average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States?
A. Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities.
B. American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people.
C. The population who need houses in China is larger than in the United States.
D. The houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses.
3.How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high housing prices?
A. One. B. Two. C. Three. D. Four.
4.What is the main idea of this passage?
A. The housing price in China is so high that the government should do something useful to prevent it.
B. There are some bubbles in Chinese real estate market.
C. The average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States.
D. Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public.
In 1956 Phoenix, Arizona, was a city with boundless blue skies. One day as I walked around the house with my sister Kathy’s new parakeet (小鹦鹉)on my finger, I wanted to show Perky 36 the sky looked like. Maybe he could make a little bird 37 out there. I took him into the backyard, and then, to my 38 , Perky flew off. The enormous(巨大的), blue sky swallowed up my sister’s blue 39 and suddenly he had gone, clipped wings and all.
Kathy managed to 40 me. With fake optimism(乐观), she even tried to reassure(安慰)me that Perky would find a new 41 . But I was far too clever to 42 that such a thing was possible.
Forty years later, I watched my own 43 growing. We shared their activities, spending soccer Saturdays in folding chairs with the 44 of the kids’ friends, the Kissells. The two families went camping around Arizona together. We became the 45 of friends. One evening, the game was to tell Great Pet stories. One person claimed(宣称)to 46 the oldest living goldfish. Someone else had a psychic dog. 47 Barry, the father of the other family, took the floor and 48 that the Greatest Pet of All Time was his blue parakeet, Sweetie Pie.
"The best thing 49 Sweetie Pie," he said, "was the 50 we got him. One day, when I was about eight, out of the clear, blue sky, a little blue parakeet just 51 down and landed on my finger."
When I was finally able to 52 , we examined the amazing evidence(证据). The dates, the locations and the pictures of the bird all 53 . It seems our two families had been 54 long before we ever met. Forty years later, I ran to my sister and said, "You were 55 ! Perky lived!"
1. A. what B. how C. which D. where
2.A. food B. nest C. friend D. family
3.A. joy B. horror C. disappointment D. satisfaction
4. A. pleasure B. sadness C. treasure D. sense
5.A. forgive B. comfort C. help D. delight
6.A. parent B. home C. master D. life
7.A. imagine B. suppose C. doubt D. believe
8. A. birds B. happiness C. worries D. children
9.A. parents B. birds C. interests D. games
10.A. first B. best C. last D. happiest
11. A. catch B. find C. buy D. have
12.A. Suddenly B. Fortunately C. Then D. However
13.A. announced B. said C. told D. hoped
14. A. in B. about C. of D. on
15. A. day B. place C. way D. story
16. A. floated B. slipped C. settled D. went
17. A. think B. speak C. interrupt D. explain
18.A. came up B. turned up C. turned out D. matched up
19. A. known B. fastened C. connected D. introduced
20.A. right B. wrong C. silly D. mad