The Atlantic Ocean is one of the oceans that separate the Old World from the New. For centuries it kept the Americans from being discovered by the people of Europe.
It is more than 4,000 miles (6,400 km) wide where Columbus crossed it. Even at its narrowest it is about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) wide. 1. .
Two things make the Atlantic Ocean rather unusual. For so large an ocean it has very few islands. 2. .
One of the longest mountain ranges of the world rises from the floor of the Atlantic. 3. . The tops of a few of the mountains reach up above the sea and make islands. The Azores are the tops of peaks in the mid-Atlantic mountain range.
Ocean currents are sometimes called “rivers in the sea”. One of these “rivers” in the Atlantic is called the Gulf Stream. It is a current（流） of warm water. Another is the Labrador Current --- cold water coming down from the Arctic. 4. .
Today the Atlantic is a great highway. It is not, however, always a smooth and safe one. Storms sweep across it and pile up great waves. Icebergs float down from the far north across the paths of ships.
5. . Columbus sailed for more than two months to cross it. A fast modern steamship can make the trip in less than four days. Airplanes fly from New York to London in only eight hours and from South America to Africa in four!
A We now have such fast ways of traveling that this big ocean seems to have grown smaller
B This narrowest place is between the bulge（鼓起） of South America and the bulge of Africa
C Also, it is the world’s saltiest ocean
D This big Atlantic Ocean is not easy and sometimes dangerous to cross
E This mountain range runs north and south down the middle of the ocean
F Ocean currents affect the climates of the land near which they flow
G The Atlantic furnishes much food for the people on its shores
Kids Fishing Photo Contest
Welcome to catch the excitement of your child on film while fishing and enter his or her picture in the yearly Kids Fishing Photo Contest! The contest is sponsored（主办，赞助） by Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) in celebration of National Fishing Week!
The winning pictures are those that best catch the theme （主题）“kids enjoying fishing”. Winners will receive different fishing-related prizes. Winning pictures will also be posted on the VDGIF website and may be used in all kinds of VDGIF publications. There is no need to be a professional photographer. Any photo will do.
Contest Rules
l Children in the photographs must fall into one of the following age groups when the picture is taken: 1---5, 6---10.
l Photos must not be more than 1 year old.
l Photos must be taken in Virginia.
l Children in a boat must be wearing a life jacket.
l Only one photo submission（提交） per child.
l Submit photo on photograph quality paper, no CD’s accepted.
l Photos must not be bigger than “4*6” size.
l Please stick a piece of paper to the back of the photo including: name, age, address, phone number and location where the photograph was taken.
l Photos must be postmarked on or before June 19, 2011.
l Judging will take place in July and winners will be posted on the VDGIF website.
l Prizes will be sent directly to the winning children.
l This contest isn’t open to immediate family of VDGIF employees and sponsors. Immediate family members refer to children, relatives or others living in the same household with a VDGIF employee or sponsor.
To Enter:
Send your photo, with the child’s name, age, phone number and address to:
2011 Kids Fishing Photo Contest
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
P.O. Box 11104
Richmond, VA 23230 – 1104
1.The purpose of the contest is to ______.
A encourage people to take more pictures
B help people realize the importance of fishing
C celebrate a national fishing-related activity
D encourage people to go fishing with kids
2.Which of the following photos can enter the contest?
A A photo which was taken in Boston in 2009.
B A large photo which was postmarked on July 11, 2011.
C A photo which was taken in Virginia on Sept. 23, 2010.
D A photo on which there is a 12-year-old girl.
3.What can be known about the prize of the contest?
A Winners will get a great deal of money.
B Winners will be allowed to travel in Virginia for free.
C Winners’ works will be seen on any website.
D Winners’ works may appear on the covers of VDGIF publications.
4.According to the contest rules, ______.
A the result of the contest will be unknown before July, 2011
B all Americans have the right to take part in the contest
C photos can be sent to the sponsors in the form of email
D the Smiths with only one child can enter the contest with two photos
Sons who have fond childhood memories of their fathers are more likely to be emotionally stable（稳定的） in the face of day-to-day stresses, according to psychologists（心理学家） who studied hundreds of adults of all ages.
“As our study shows, fathers do play a unique（独特的） and important role in the mental health of their children much later in life,” Psychology professor Melanie Mallers of California State University said.
For this study, 912 adult men and women between the ages of 25 and 74 completed short daily telephone interviews about that day’s experiences over an eight-day period. The interviews focused on the participants’ psychological and emotional distress (i.e., whether they were nervous, sad, etc.) and if they had experienced any stressful events that day.
The participants were also required to answer questions such as, “How would you rate your relationship with your mother during the years when you were growing up?” and “How much time and attention did your mother give you when you needed it?” The same questions were asked about fathers.
People who reported they had a good mother-child relationship reported three percent less psychological distress（忧虑） compared to those who reported a poor relationship, according to Mallers.
Men who reported having a good relationship with their father during childhood were more likely to be less emotional when reacting to stressful events in their current daily lives than those who had a poor relationship, according to her findings.
Also, the quality of mother and father relationships was significantly associated（有关） with how many stressful events the participants faced on a daily basis. In other words, if they had a poor childhood relationship with both parents, they reported more stressful incidents over the eight-day study when compared to those who had a good relationship with their parents.
Mallers theorized why healthy or unhealthy relationships may have an effect on how people handle stress as adults. “Perhaps having caring parents equips children with the experiences and skills necessary to more successfully navigate（导航） their relationships with other people throughout childhood and into adulthood.” She said.
1.What can we know about the recent study from the passage?
A It was led by Melanie Mallers.
B 912 adults who were over twenty-five joined in it.
C It lasted as long as eight days.
D It was funded just by California State University.
2.Which of the following may the participants be asked about in telephone interviews?
A Their physical condition. B Their parenting（育儿） skills.
C Their emotional distress and stressful events.
D Their childhood relationships with teachers.
3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A Many people with good parent-child relationships still can’t keep emotionally stable in stressful incidents.
B Men with a good mother-child relationship were more likely to be emotionally stable when reacting to stressful events.
C Women were better at getting along with their parents than men when they were young.
D People with good childhood relationships with parents suffered（遭受） fewer stressful incidents.
4.What can be concluded from the findings of the study?
A Childhood memories of parents have a lasting effect on one’s ability to handle stress.
B Adults with good childhood relationships with parents will live happily and successfully.
C The mother-child relationship is more important than the father-child relationship.
D The quality of parent-child relationships determines（决定） how people handle stress as adults.
I read a letter of a mother of a gifted child to an expert with gifted children stating that her son was always complaining that he doesn’t like his teacher for she talks in baby language and she lets them sing baby songs. Having an insufficient（不足够的） understanding of being different from their normally developing classmates, gifted children may find themselves wanting to learn more than being boxed with other kids of their age. They want to quench（解渴） their thirst for knowledge. However, in the process, they tend to develop negative（负面的） thoughts about school and teachers. Thus, they tend to exhibit behavioral problems.
Behavioral problems of gifted children could be mainly correlated（相关的） to their asynchronous（不同步的） development. This development means that the child has uneven（不均衡的） development in their mind, body and emotions. To explain further, a gifted child may live in different ages at once. He may show high intellectual（智力的） capabilities at some point but the time his emotions rule, he would go back to his true age going through tantrums（脾气发作） and endless sobbing（哭泣）. He maybe find it happy playing with kids his age but the next day, he would be bored with that and he would find conversing with older kids to be more challenging.
Because of high intellectual level, a gifted child often acts differently in his own classroom. He has the thinking of being above from the rest of his classmates when it comes to grades, academic awards and school recognitions. In classroom discussions, the child may be very cooperative（合作的） having advanced knowledge in the lessons but it is mostly that he will suffer from boredom as he is not challenged by the lessons and he would feel no improvement with them.
1.Which of the following best explains the asynchronous development?
A A child has good development both in mind and body.
B A child cannot get along well with his classmates.
C A child is intellectually developed but not equal with emotionally.
D A child doesn’t feel happy with his school and teachers.
2.What is most likely to be talked about in the paragraph following the passage?
A How a gifted child gets along with his classmates.
B How to get a gifted child involved（被卷入） in a classroom discussion.
C What can arouse（激发） a gifted child’s interest.
D How a teacher should handle a gifted child in class.
3.We can infer from the passage that ______.
A we needn’t pay special attention to gifted children
B a gifted child is well above others in every way
C it’s best to teach a gifted child separately
D teaching a gifted child can be challenging
After Mom died, I began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was frail（衰弱） and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed（挤榨的） orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading, “Drink your juice.” Such a gesture（表示）, I knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, I remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom “Why doesn’t Dad love me?” Mom frowned（皱眉）, “Who said he doesn’t love you?” “Well, he never tells me,” I complained. He never tells me either,” she said, smiling. “But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That’s how your father tells us he loves us.”
I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. I still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap（小片） metal business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. Dad handfed scrap steel into a device（装置） that chopped （切）it as cleanly as a butcher（屠夫） chops a rack of ribs（肋骨）. The machine looked like a giant pair of scissors（剪刀）, with blades（刃） thicker than my father’s body. If he didn’t feed those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. “Why don’t you hire someone to do that for you?” Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed（搓） his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment（涂剂）. “Why don’t you hire a cook?” Dad asked , giving her one of his rare smiles.
Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me, I walked over, hugged him and said, “I love you, Dad.” From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave them.
1.What would be the best title for the passage?
A I just couldn’t understand my father B My father never loved me
C Silent fatherly love D My hard-working father
2.The author’s father always prepared a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice for him because ______.
A that was the author’s favorite B he was sure the author would be thirsty
C the author was always complaining D that was a gesture of love
3.The author’s father didn’t hire a helper because ______.
A his job was too dangerous B his job required high skills
C he wanted to save money D he was not good at communicating with others
4.We may infer from the passage that ______.
A the author’s father lacked a sense of humor
B the author quite understood his father as time went on
C the author’s father didn’t love him very much
D the author’s father was too strict with him
We are going on a long train journey. Out of the windows, we can see cars running on nearby highways, children waving at a crossing, cattle grazing（吃草） on a distant hillside, smoke pouring from factories, village houses and city skylines.
But 36 in our minds is the final destination（目的地）. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will 37 into the station. Bands will be playing and flags 38 . Once we get there, so many wonderful dreams will 39 and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a(n) 40 jigsaw（拼图） puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles（过道）, damning（诅咒） the minutes for waiting, waiting for the station.
“When we reach the 41 , that will be it!” We cry “When I am 18.” “When I 42 a new 450SL Mercedes Benz!” “When I put the 43 kid through college.” “When I have 44 off the debts!” “When I get a promotion（提升）.” “When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live 45 ever after!”
46 , we come to realize that there is no such station as we arrive at once and for all. The 47 joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It 48 leaves us behind.
“Cherish（珍视） the moment” is a good 49 . It is the burdens（负担） of today that drive us to keep on 50 . And it is the regrets over yesterday that motivate（激发） us to overcome the 51 and look forward to the future.
So 52 pacing the aisles and counting the miles. 53 , climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot（赤脚） more 54 , swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived 55 we go along. The station will come soon enough.
1.A hidden B faint C deep D buried
2.A pull B get C approach D arrive
3. A floating B waving C raising D shaking
4.A come up B come around C come out D come true
5.A divided B separated C completed D united
6.A station B age C target D point
7.A borrow B buy C order D rent
8.A first B best C last D eldest
9.A cut B left C taken D paid
10.A happily B fully C anxiously D freely
11.A Believe it or not B Sooner or later C Once again D All at once
12.A simple B basic C true D final
13.A eventually（最后） B accidentally C instantly D constantly
14.A motto（箴言） B sentence C concept D slogan（标语）
15.A pushing B trying C working D sticking
16.A effort B mistake C challenge D fault
17.A consider B stop C go on D plan on
18.A Besides B Thus C However D Instead
19.A often B gently C quickly D slowly
20.A if B unless C as D once
