In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting(借鉴) my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experience, grow and find their own voices.
1.What do we learn from the first paragraph?
A. A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays.
B. Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities.
C. Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time.
D. Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.
2.What did the author say about her own writing experience?
A. She was constantly under pressure to write more.
B. Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.
C. She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.
D. Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations.
3.Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?
A. She believed she possessed real talent for writing.
B. She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.
C. She wanted to share her stories with readers.
D. She had won a prize in the previous contest.
4.The underlined sentence probably means that the author was _______.
A. trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life.
B. trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished.
C. making sure that her daughter would win the contest.
D. helping her daughter develop real skills for writing.
书面表达
假定你是李华，准备参加学校举办的主题为“健康成长”的英语作文比赛。请按要求写一篇短文，主要内容包括：
1．乐观的人生态度；
2．努力学习；
3．参加体育锻炼。
注意： 1．词数100左右；
2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯：
3．开头已为你写好。
We all want to grow up happily and healthily, and for this goal we must do several things.
短文改错
短文中共有10处错误，错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词的下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
As summer vacation are coming soon, my classmates are trying very hardly to get train tickets to go home. But I have made up my minds to spend the vacation far from home for first time in my life. My parents have agreed to visiting me, and I will have a different vacation. When they came here, I will show them around my university and the city just as well. I have decided to buy them some nice gifts. It will be a big surprising for them. My parents have done a lot for me, but I think it is high time that I did anything special to express my thanks.
阅读下面材料，在标有1-10的空格处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Mrs. Lester kept on 1. （ask）her husband to take her to the ballet. Mr. Lester hates the ballet, but when his 2. (employ) invited him and his wife, he could not get out of it. As they drove to the theatre that evening, 3. fog got worse and worse. The traffic slowed down to a walking pace and almost stopped. When they 4. (eventual) got to the theatre, the ballet was over. Mrs. Lester could not work out how 5. had taken them so long to get there, even taking the fog into account. The theatre was within walking 【 小题6】 (distant) of their house.
A month later, Mrs. Lester found out 6. had happened. Mr. Lester told a friend of his that he 7. (take) a wrong turning on purpose. This friend told his wife, and the wife immediately went around to tell Mrs. Lester. The two women began to plan a revenge(报复). One day, when Mr. Lester was not in, they broke into his study, 8. he always locked. His hobby was collecting old coins. They were taking some coins out of the case when they heard a car pull up outside the house. Mr. Lester came in and opened the door of the study. There was no chance for the women to get away without 9. (see).
完形填空
I was a single parent of four small children, working at a low-paid job. Money was always tight, but we had a ________ over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and if not a lot, always ________ . Not knowing we were poor, my kids(孩子们) just thought I was ________ . I’ve always been glad about that.
It was Christmas time, and although there wasn’t ________ for a lot of gifts, we planned to celebrate with a family party. But the big ________ for the kids was the fun of Christmas ________ .
They planned weeks ahead of time, asking ________ what they wanted for Christmas. Fortunately, I had saved $120 for ________ to share by all five of us.
The big ________ arrived. I gave each kid a twenty-dollar bill and ________ them to look for gifts of about four dollars each. Then everyone scattered(散开). We had two hours to shop; then we would ________ back at the “Santa’s Workshop”.
Driving home, everyone was in high Christmas spirits, ________ my younger daughter, Ginger, who was unusually ________ . She had only one small, flat bag with a few candies — fifty-cent candies! I was so angry, but I didn’t say anything ________ we got home. I called her into my bedroom and closed the door, ________ to be angry again. This is what she told me.
“I was looking ________ thinking of what to buy, and I ________ to read the little cards on the ‘Giving Trees.’ One was for a little girl, four years old, and all she ________ for Christmas was a doll(玩具娃娃). So I took the card off the tree and ________ the doll for her. We have so much and she doesn’t have anything.”
I never felt so ________ as I did that day.
1.A. roof B. hat C. sky D. star
2.A. little B. less C. enough D. more
3.A. busy B. serious C. strict D. kind
4.A. effort B. room C. time D. money
5.A. improvement B. problem C. surprise D. excitement
6.A. shopping B. travelling C. parties D. greetings
7.A. the other B. each other C. one by one D. every other one
8.A. toys B. clothes C. presents D. bills
9.A. day B. chance C. cheque D. tree
10.A. forced B. reminded C. invited D. begged
11.A. draw B. stay C. move D. meet
12.A. including B. besides C. except D. regarding
13.A. quiet B. excited C. happy D. ashamed
14.A. since B. after C. while D. until
15.A. waiting B. ready C. hoping D. afraid
16.A. out B. over C. forward D. around
17.A. forgot B. stopped C. failed D. hated
18.A. wanted B. did C. got D. played
19.A. made B. searched C. bought D. fetched
20.A. angry B. rich C. patient D. bitter
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
If you do not use your arms or your legs for some time，they become weak；when you start using them again，they slowly become strong again．Everybody knows this, and nobody would think of questioning the fact. 1. When someone says that he has a good memory，he really means that he keeps his memory in practice by exercising it regularly, either consciously or unconsciously．When someone else says that his memory is poor，he really means that he does not give it enough opportunity to become strong． 2. One of them exercises his arms and legs by playing tennis, while the other sits in a chair or a motor car all day.
If a friend complains that his arms are weak, we know that it is his own fault. 3. , many of us think that his parents are to blame，or that he is just unlucky, and few of us realize that it is just as much his own fault as if it was his arms or legs that were weak．Not all of us can become extremely clever; but all of us can, if we have ordinary bodies and brains, improve our strength and our memory by the same means—practice.
Have you ever found that some people who cannot read or write usually have better memories than those who can? 4. Of course, because those who cannot read or write have to remember things；they cannot write them down in a little notebook．They have to remember dates，time and prices, names，songs and stories；so their memory is the whole time being exercised．
5. ，learn from the poor：practise remembering．
A. What do you think of it? B. Yet many people do not seem to know that memory works in the same way． C. But if he tells us that he has a poor memory D. So if you want a good memory E. When someone else says that he is poor in the health F. Why is this? G. The position is exactly the same as that of two people. |
