单词拼写（共8小题；每小题1分，满分8分）
1.Sang Lan knew that the secret to happiness is to have a_____________（感激） for the good things in life.
2.My most v_________（清晰的） and happiest memories are those of school days.
3.My American friends are not ____________（熟悉） with that particular festival.
4.The UN assists thousands of v________（难民） of wars and disasters every year.
5.After graduation, many students are willing to r__________（偏远的） places in the west of China to work.
6.This text tells us about the e____________（演变） of video and sound devices.
7.Nowadays, most old people have medical i_____________（保险） in China, so they can see a doctor easily.
8.A ___________（典型的） mobile phone call is nearly always given greater importance than a face-to-face conversation.
Culture shock isn’t a clinical term or medical condition. It’s simply a common way to describe the confusing and nervous feelings a person have after leaving a familiar culture to live in a new and different culture.
It’s natural to have difficulty adjusting to a new culture. People from other cultures may have grown up with values and beliefs that differ from yours. Because of these differences，the things they talk about，the ways they express themselves and the importance of various ideas may be very different from what you are used to. But the good news is that culture shock is temporary.
What causes culture shock?
To understand culture shock，it helps to understand what culture is. You may know that genes determine a big part of how you look and act. What you might not know is that your environment has a big effect on your appearance and behavior as well.
Your environment isn’t just the air you breathe and the food you eat，though；a big part of your environment is culture. Culture is made up of the common things that members of a community learn from family，friends，media，literature，and even strangers. These are the things that influence how you look，act，and communicate. Often，you don’t even know you are learning these things because they become secondnature to you－for instance，the way you shake hands with someone，the kind of things you find funny，or how you view religions.
The differences between cultures can make it very difficult to adjust to the new surroundings. When you go to a new place，such as a new country or even a new city，you often enter a culture that is different from the one you left. Sometimes your culture and the new culture are similar. Sometimes，they can be very different. What might be perfectly normal in one culture－for example，spending hours eating a meal with your family－might be unusual in a culture that values a more fastpaced lifestyle.
|
Culture 1.____________ |
|
|
Definition |
?Culture shock is a kind of 2.__________people have when living in a new and different culture. ?Culture shock results from the difficulty people have in adjusting themselves to new surroundings. ?Culture shock is 3.____________. |
|
4._____ |
?5.____________largely determine your appearance and behavior. ?Culture，an important part of 6.__________，has an influence on the way people look，act and communicate. ?The differences between cultures contribute to the difficulty in getting used to new surroundings，as something 7.____________in one culture seems unusual in another. |
Feeling blue about world? “Cheer up.” Says science writer Matt Ridley．”The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature．”
Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he’s carefully weighed the evidence; optimistic, because that evidence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good．And this is what he’s set out to prove from a unique point of view in his most recent book．The Rational Optimist．He views mankind as grand enterprise that on the whole, has done little but progress for 100,000 years．He backs his finding with hard facts gathered through years of research．
Here’s how he explains his views．
1) Shopping fuels invention
It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone．Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better ears, and of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us．This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we’ll be．
2）Brilliant advances
One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs -food, clothing, fuel and shelter- have grown a lot cheaper．Take one example．In 1800 a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work．In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for．In 1950 it was eight seconds．Today it’s half second．
3）Let’s not kill ourselves for climate change
Mitigating（减轻）climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself．A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel（化石燃料）electricity is forbidden by well - meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change．If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose - bleed by putting a tourniquet（止血带）around our necks．
1.What is the theme of Ridley’s most recent book?
A．Weakness of human nature．
B．Concern about climate change．
C．Importance of practical thinking．
D．Optimism about human progress．
2.How does Ridley look at shopping?
A．It encourages the creation of things．
B．It results in shortage of goods．
C．It demands more fossil fuels．
D．It causes a poverty problem．
3.The candle and lamp example is used to show that ．
A．oil lamps give off more light than candles
B．shortening working time brings about a happier life．
C．advanced technology helps to produce better candles．
D．increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods．
American Girl
It's packed with the things that matter most to girls: party plans, games, crafts and girl-to-girl advice.
American Girl is an appealing, age-appropriate teen magazine that allows young girls to be themselves.
The magazine features fun contests, puzzles, giggles, and more! Stories, creative games, cool contests and great sports tips for girls aged 7-11 are available in each issue of American Girl magazine.
Issues per year: 6 Cover price: $ 27.95 Sale price: $22.95
Ladybug
Beautiful, colorful, and delightful to read, each issue is filled with charming read-aloud stories, games for memory and skill building, songs, poems, and activities for beginning readers. Parents can visit our online Parents Companion that recommends additional activities, crafts, and books.
Issues per year: 9 Cover price: $44.50 Sale price: $33.95
Cicada
A monthly magazine for teenagers and young adults aged 14 and up. It offers high-quality fiction and poetry dealing with the issue of growing up, leaving the joys and pains of childhood behind, and becoming an adult. Cicada magazine also encourages its teen readers to submit their own writing for publication. It’s so inspiring and humorous that you will not be able to put it down.
Issues per year: 6 Cover price: $51.00 Sale price: $33.95
Sorts Illustrated for Kids
It covers sports kids like. Featuring interviews with sports heroes, entertaining comics, breathtaking action photos, tips from the pros (职业运动员), news items of recent notes, games, puzzles, cartoons, fiction, advice from athletes, etc. Sports Illustrated for Kids is a magazine for children aged 8 and up.
Issues per year: 12 Cover price: $47.88 Sale price: $ 24.95
1.Which of the four magazines is the most suitable for a 4-year-old child?
A．American Girl. B．Ladybug. C．Cicada. D．Sports Illustrated for Kids.
2.American Girl is a magazine different from the others because_______.
A．it features fun stories and great sports tips
B．it’s written specially for girls
C．it offers high-quality fiction and poetry
D．it comes out six times per year
3.If you order a magazine with interviews with sports heroes for one year, how much can you save?
A．$5.00 B．$10.55 C．$17.05 D．$22.93
Play is the basic business of childhood, and in recent years more and more research has shown the great importance of play in the development of a human being. From earliest infancy （婴儿）, every child needs opportunity and the right material for play, and the main tools of play are toys. The main function of toys is to suggest, encourage and assist play. To succeed in this, they must be good toys, which children will play with often and will come back to again and again. Therefore, it is important to choose suitable toys for different stages of a child’s development.
In recent years research on infant development has shown that the standard a child is likely to reach, within the range of his inherited(遗传的) abilities, is largely determined in the first three years of his life. So a baby's ability to benefit from the right play materials should not be underestimated. A baby who is encouraged, talked to and shown things and played with, has the best chance of growing up successfully.
The next stage, from three to five years old, curiosity knows no bounds. Every type of suitable toy should be made available to the child, for trying out, experimenting and learning, for discovering his own particular ability. Bricks and jigsaws and construction toys; painting, scribbling(乱涂) and making things; sand and water play; toys for imaginative and pretending play; the first social games for learning to play and get on with others．
By the third stage of play development—from five to seven or eight years old— the child is at school. But for a few more years play is still the best way of learning, at home or at school. It is easier to see which type of toys the child most enjoys.
Until the age of seven or eight, play and work mean much the same to a child. But once reading has been mastered, then books and school become the main source of learning. Toys are still interesting and valuable, which lead up to new hobbies, but their significance has changed —to a child of nine or ten years old, toys and games mean, as to adults, relaxation and fun.
1.The writer wants us to understand that a child_______.
A．cannot grow up without toys B．matures（使成熟） through play
C．uses toys as friends D．has to be taught how to play
2.According to the passage, the abilities a child has inherited from his parents ________.
A．determine his character
B．will not change after the age of three
C．partly determine the standard he is likely to reach
D．to a large extent determine the choice of toys
3.The passage tells us that children are the most curious when they are about______.
A．two years old B．one year old C．six years old D．four years old
4.The article is about_______.
A．the importance of play
B．the importance of books
C．the relationship between play and work
D．children’s speech development
阅读下面的短文，然后以约30个词概括短文的要点。
Everyone has an experience they would rather forget. Some are embarrassing, some are moving, and some teach us a lesson. Here is a story of mine.
Last Sunday I went fishing. After setting up my fishing rod（钓鱼竿） with bait（鱼饵）, I sat down on the bank of the lake. But two hours later, I didn’t catch any fish. I got very angry and began to pack up my stuff, preparing to go back home.
Just then, I saw an old man sitting near me. To my surprise, his basket was full of fish, so I went over to him, wanting to know why. “Excuse me, but how long have you sat here?” I asked. “About four hours,” he answered. “Four hours?” I could not believe my ears. “Yes. It’s very important to be patient,” the old man said. “Don’t consider fishing a tiring sport. Just enjoy it.” Suddenly, I understand what he said. I must learn to be patient. Then I sat there and waited for fish patiently. I felt a fish touch the bait, but I didn’t move and waited for the right moment to reel it in（卷收钓鱼线）. At last, I caught it. This made me very happy. In the following six hours, I caught over 10 fish.
On my way home, I thought what had happened on the bank. I gradually realized that the secret of success was patience.
