Dear Guys,
I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.
One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly (勉强地) agreed.
Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request.
However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, and threw it as hard as I could.
It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.
Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, and then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.
The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.
This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.
Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.
Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.
“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.
“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.
And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”
I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.
Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.
It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.
I surprised myself—and I’m sure you as well—by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery.
Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”
Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period were just enough blows for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”
And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.
Sincerely,
Jen Cordery
1.The writer agreed to throw the ball because ______.
A．she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries
B．she wanted to refresh her childhood memories
C．she could not refuse the polite request from the young man
D．she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight
2.Which of the following is closet in meaning to the underlined word “game”?
A．anxious B．brave C．afraid D．curious
3.Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?
A．To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back.
B．To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills.
C．To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were.
D．To express her dislike towards softball.
4.What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer ________.
A．inspired B．encouraged C．awkward D．depressed
5.What happened to the ball at last?
A．The writer managed to throw the ball back.
B．The boy got the ball back by himself.
C．The writer threw the ball away out of anger.
D．The boys got angry and left without the ball.
6.What’s the writer’s purpose in writing this open letter?
A．To express her regret over what she did the day before.
B．To announce that she would never play all games again.
C．To joke on her inability to throw the ball over the fence.
D．To criticize the young men for their cruelty to her dignity.
Are you a compulsive (强迫性的) spender, or do you hold on to your money as long as possible? Are you a bargain hunter? Would you rather use charge accounts than pay cash? Your answers to these questions will reflect your personality. According to psychologists, our individual money habits not only show our beliefs and values, but can also stem from past problems.
Experts in psychology believe that for many people, money is an important symbol of strength and influence. Husbands who complain about their wives’ spending habits may be afraid that they are losing power in their marriage. Wives, on the other hand, may waste huge amounts of money because they are angry at their husbands. In addition, many people consider money a symbol of love. They spend it on their family and friends to express love, or they buy themselves expensive presents because they need love.
People can be addicted to different things — for example, alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. They are compulsive in their addictions, i.e. they must satisfy these needs to feel comfortable. In the same way, according to psychologists, compulsive spenders must spend money. For people who buy on credit, furthermore, charge accounts are even more exciting than money: in other words, they feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasures in spending enormous amounts are actually greater than those they get from the things they buy.
There is even a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices, and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things that they don’t need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game: when they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for the things that they do and the real reason.
It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: they consider people’s needs for love, power, or influence, their basic values, their beliefs and opinions, etc. in their advertising and sales methods.
Psychologists often use a method called “behavior therapy(疗法)” to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money: they give them “assignments”. If a person buys something in every store that he enters, for instance, a therapist might teach him self-discipline in this way: on the first day of his therapy, he must go into a store, stay five minutes, and then leave. On the second day, he should stay for ten minutes and try something on. On the third day, he stays for fifteen minutes, asks the salesclerk a question, but does not buy anything. Soon he will learn that nothing bad will happen to him if he doesn’t buy anything, and he can solve the problem of his compulsive buying.
1.If you use charge accounts, ______.
A. you pay in cash
B. you pay with credit card
C. you pay less than you should
D. you pay more than you should
2.Compulsive bargain hunters buy things for all the following reasons except that ______.
A. the things they buy are cheap
B. they believe they can balance their budgets
C. they get psychological satisfaction
D. they really need the things they buy
3.Behavior therapy in this case aims at ______.
A. helping businessmen to increase their business
B. helping compulsive spenders to buy less
C. finding out how people will react if they are allowed to buy
D. finding out what people will do in front of a bargain
4.The underlined word “those” in Paragraph 3 refers to ______.
A. different things B. their addictions
C. their pleasures D. charge accounts
5.From the passage we can conclude that ______________.
A. how you spend money reflects if you are psychologically healthy
B. money is a necessity and will bring you happiness if you have much
C. compulsive buying problems can be solved by taking some medicine
D. all businessmen understand well the psychology of customers
Do you want to help others—but don’t know where to start? Do you feel that the challenges facing us are too big for one person? One advantage of supporting the American Red Cross is that each of our individual contributions is magnified(放大)when we all join together．Another advantage is that it's easy to start helping．You can start this every minute, by using your mobile to send a text message to make a $10 donation to one of our ongoing campaigns．
Donate to Help Victims of Natural Disasters: Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps people affected by disasters such as floods, earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes．
Please consider making a donation today to help the thousands of people who have been affected by these disasters．
Donate to Help Reduce Deaths from Measles(麻疹): Text PREVENT to 90999 to give $ 10 to the Red Cross and help us vaccinate（注射疫苗）children against measles．
Started in 2001．the Measles & Rubella Initiative—led by the American Red Cross， provides technical and financial support to governments and communities for mass vaccination campaigns around the world．The Initiative has supported the vaccination of more than 1 billion children helping to reduce measles deaths by 78％globally(compared to 2000)．
Please consider making a donation today to help us continue this campaign．To learn more visit www．Measlesrubellainitiative．org．
Important Information for Text Donors: You can make a $ 10 donation to the American Red Cross．Charges will appear on your wireless bill．All purchases must be authorized by account holder．You must be over 18 years old or have parental permission to participate．Text STOP to 90999 to STOP．Text HELP to 90999 for HELP．
1.The text mainly aims to tell us_____________．
A．how to keep our wireless bill safe when making donation
B．how to make a $10 donation by text message
C．when to become an authorized account holder
D．how to make individual contributions magnified
2.We should text_______to 90999 if we want to help victims of natural disasters．
A．STOP B．PREVENT C．HELP D．REDCROSS
3.What does “this campaign” in Paragraph 6 refer to?
A．Offering help to the disaster victims．
B．Supporting the American Red Cross．
C．Mass vaccination around the world．
D．Applying for charges on wireless bills．
4.1f a school boy wants to be a text donor, he should _____________.
A．get the permission of his parents
B．reach the marriage age
C．pay ＄10 to own an account
D．stop his daily purchases
One evening last summer, when I asked my 14 year old son, Ray, for help with dinner, his response shocked me．"What’s a colander(漏勺)?" he asked．
I could only blame myself．In the family, nobody else’s hands went in the sauce except my own．But that night, as I explained with a touch of panic that a colander is the thing with holes in it, I wondered what else I hadn’t prepared Ray for．
As parents, while we focus on our sons’ confidence and character, we perhaps don’t always consider that we are also raising someone’s future roommates, boyfriends, husbands, or fathers．I wanted to know that I’d raised a boy who would never ask the woman in his life, "What’s for dinner?" So I came up with a plan: I would offer Ray a private home economics course．I was delighted to find that he didn’t say no．For two hours, three days a week, Ray was all mine．One day, as his tomato sauce reduced on the stove, he washed and seasoned a chicken for roasting．Then he rolled out the piecrust (馅饼皮) and filled it with apples, all while listening to my explanation on the importance of preheating an oven．
I knew that he would rather have been shooting hoops in the driveway than learning to mend socks with his mother—he tried to beg not to have sewing lessons, even though I insisted that one day, someone would find the sight of him fixing his own shirt very attractive— but it couldn’t be denied that he was learning, and more than just housekeeping．"I appreciate what you do as a mom," he told me one day．Ray now understands the finer points of cooking, and more importantly, he realizes there’s nothing masculine (男子气概的) about being helpless．
Now, not only can he make his own dinner, but also he can make a big meal for his family．That’s what I call a man．I’m glad that I prepared so great a present for my future daughter in-law．
1.Why was the author shocked at her son’s response?
A．Because he was not well behaved．
B．Because he refused to help with dinner．
C．Because he didn’t know the common kitchen tools．
D．Because he was very curious about kitchen tools．
2.In the author’s opinion, some parents pay little attention to _______．
A．building up children’s confidence
B．telling kids what is right and wrong
C．preparing children for their future life
D．making children live a hard life
3.After learning to do housework, Ray _______．
A．fell in love with sewing
B．did other work in the house
C．began to be more hardworking
D．acknowledged his mother’s efforts
4.We can infer from the text that Ray _______．
A．made great progress in cooking．
B．always thought housework interesting．
C．preferred sewing to cooking．
D．was unwilling to learn cooking at first．
5.What would the author like to convey in the text?
A．Useful education for boys
B．The importance of housework
C．Boys should be involved in housework．
D. Cooking and sewing make boys masculine．
完形填空,阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I am anything but adventurous. So, when I actually ____ the courage to learn driving and, even more ____, passed the test, I fancied being a free spirit at last.
I mistakenly thought I would ____new roads and drive to the farthest horizons. But, trying new highways was next to ____ for me. The time I tried, I got hopelessly ____ and found myself going around in circles. When I eventually found the way home, I ___ this was the end of the adventurous life. I _____ the known routes. When a friend ____ me to make the most of weekend when the traffic was ____ to make new discoveries, I ___ at her with horror. Was I going to ____ a perfectly good weekend raising my blood pressure or was I going to spend it doing as little as possible? _____, I chose the latter option.
After some years of battling the Sharjah-Dubai ___ , I told myself it wasn’t worth ____ my peace of mind. Now I had the Metro, buses and ____ to choose from. Taking taxi was one of the best ____ I have made from a traffic point of view. There was an unbelievable sense of lightness _____ I jumped into a taxi, taken to my destination without being worried.
All one has to do is give directions. I am good at that. Giving directions, I mean. And I am very _____ when I issue these, with no effect on the part of the person driving. As soon as I sit inside, I start the description of the _____ to be taken in great detail so as to _____ the possibility of being taken for a ride.
1.A．covered B．delivered C．gathering D．removing
2.A．enthusiastically B．surprisingly C．importantly D．typically
3.A．discover B．get C．invent D．purchase
4.A．invisible B．useful C．practical D．impossible
5.A．lost B．amazed C．puzzled D．moved
6.A．refused B．hoped C．replied D. swore
7.A．added to B．stuck to C．got to D．referred to
8.A．suggested B．ordered C．advised D．persuaded
9.A．light B．heavy C．slow D．safe
10.A．glared B．stared C．glanced D．viewed
11.A．use B．spare C．waste D．devote
12.A．Of course B．In short C．In case D．Of all
13.A．system B．atmosphere C．society D．traffic
14.A．weighing B．disturbing C．conducting D. carrying
15.A．cars B．trains C．trucks D．cabs
16.A．dreams B．discoveries C．choices D．challenges
17.A．while B．when C．until D．before
18.A．considerate B．ignorant C．stubborn D．accurate
19.A．route B．map C．design D. course
20.A．increase B．extend C．reduce D．Expand
---I am going to travel to England. Would you consider telling me about your experiences there?
---__________.Let’s discuss it over drink.
A．That’s all right. B．By all means.
C．Go ahead. D．It just depends.
