Earlier this month, blogger Lisa Henderson announced that she and her husband John had decided not to have Christmas. The family, who lives in Utah, will still put up decorations, but presents from Santa are a no-go this year.
“John and I feel like we are fighting a very hard uphill battle with our kids when it comes to their rights,” Henderson wrote on her blog. “It is one of the biggest struggles as a parent these days in middle class America. Our kids have been acting so ungrateful lately. ... John said, “We shouldn’t just celebrate Christmas. And, so that’s what we did.”
Instead, the Hendersons are putting the money they would have spent on gifts toward service projects in order to teach their three sons the “pleasure of giving.” The children will still receive gifts from grandparents and other family members, but this year, she said, their letters to Santa will be asking him to find someone who needs presents more than they do.
In an interview with ABC News, 11-year-old Caleb Henderson admitted that he and his brothers had been behaving badly. “We would hit each other. We were fighting and crying,” he admitted, and Lisa said that when she broke the news to her sons, they cried pretty hard.
But so far, Henderson told Fox News last week, the family is having a sudden turning this into a different kind of gift. They have already held a clothing drive and sent boxes of clothes and candy to a village in the Philippines that was hit hard last year by Typhoon Haiyan.
“The children were excited and kept wanting to give more and more,” she reported on her blog.
Many readers responded positively to Henderson’s post. Some sharing their own stories of limiting Christmas in order to teach their children to be charitable(仁慈的) or grateful. “As parents you’re giving your kids something so much more special than a bunch of gifts on Christmas,” one wrote.
But Henderson received negative follow-ups as well on her blog. Responding to critics, she updated her blog with a statement that reads, in part:
I just wanted to explain a couple of things. First, my kids are in no way hurt for things.... They have reacted by making gifts for each other and packing them into each other’s stockings stealthily(偷偷地). They are learning exactly what we wanted them to learn, because they are not moving around feeling sorry for themselves. They are thinking of others.
The second thing I wanted to explain is why I wrote this post. Some people seem to think I wrote this for attention. Ummm, the attention you get from posts like this is not good and actually extremely difficult to deal with.... The reason I wrote this post is I want to empower parents to feel like it’s okay to take a stand. ... I wanted to share what we are doing, so any parents that feel they are struggling with the same issues in their home can see what others are doing and get ideas for their family. My intention is to help support other parents and to raise amazing kids.
1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by_______.
A. when Lisa told the kids they didn’t spend Christmas, they felt extremely sad
B. all the kids let out an excited cry when Santa sent them Christmas presents
C. the moment Lisa said the Philippines was hit by typhoon, they burst into tears
D. when their grandparents didn’t send them gifts, the kids couldn’t help crying.
2.From the last two paragraphs we can conclude that_______.
A. the writer strongly called on people to care for the unfortunate
B. educating kids needs regular communication and great patience
C. the writer wants to share his experiences of raising amazing kids
D. parents should praise children for their kindness to other people
3.Which of the following can be the best title?
A. Why These Parents Decided Not To Celebrate Christmas.
B. How Americans usually Spend A Traditional Christmas.
C. A Hard Battle between Kids And Parents At Christmas.
D. What American People Do To Have A Nice Christmas
When the dog named Judy spotted the first sheep in her life, she did what comes naturally. The four-year-old dog set off racing after the sheep across several fields and, being a city animal, lost both her sheep and her sense of direction. Then she ran along the edge of cliff( 悬崖) and fell 100 feet, bouncing off a rock into the sea.
Her owner Mike Holden panicked and called the coastguard of Cornwall, who turned up in seconds. Six volunteers slid down the cliff with the help of a rope but gave up all hope of finding her alive after a 90-minute search.
Three days later, a hurricane(飓风) hit the coast near Cornwall. Mr. Holden returned home from his holiday upset and convinced his pet was dead. He comforted himself with the thought she had died in the most beautiful part of the country.
For the next two weeks, the Holdens were heartbroken. Then, one day, the phone rang and Steve Tregear, the coastguard of Cornwall, asked Holder if he would like his dog back.
A birdwatcher, armed with a telescope, found the pet sitting hopelessly on a rock. While he sounded the alarm, a student from Leeds climbed down the cliff to collect Judy.
The dog had been knocked unconscious(失去知觉的)at first but had survived by drinking water from a fresh scream at the base of the cliff. She may have fed on the body of a sheep which had also fallen over the edge. “The dog was very thin and hungry,” Steve Tregear said , “
It was a very lucky dog. She survived because of a plentiful supply of fresh water,” he added.
It was, as Mr. Holden admitted, “a minor miracle(奇迹)”.
1.The dog Judy fell down the cliff when she was ________.
A. rescuing her owner B. caught in a hurricane
C. blocked by a rock D. running after a sheep
2.Who spotted Judy after the accident?
A. A student from Leeds B. A birdwatcher
C. Six volunteers D. The coastguard of Cornwall
3.What can we infer from the text?
A. People like to travel with their pets.
B. Judy was taken to the fields for hunting.
C. Holden cared little where Judy was buried.
D. Luck plays an important role in Judy's survival.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Miracle of the Coastguard. B. Coming Back from the Dead.
C. Dangers in the Wild D. Surviving a Hurricane.
About 21,000 young people in 17 American states do not attend classes in school buildings. Instead, they receive their elementary(初等的) and high school education by working at home on computers. The center for Education Reform says the United States has 67 public "cyberschools" and that is about twice as many as two years ago.
The money for students to attend a cyberschool comes from the governments of the states where they live. Some educators say cyberschools receive money that should support traditional public schools. They also say it is difficult to know if students are learning well.
Other educators praise this new form of education for letting students work at their own speed. These people say cyberschools help students who were unhappy or unsuccessful in traditional schools. They say learning at home by computer ends long bus rides for children who live far from school.
Whatever the judgment of cyberschools, they are getting more and more popular. For example, a new cyberschool called Commonwealth Connections Academy will take in students this fall. It will serve children in the state of Pennsylvania from ages five through thirteen.
Children get free equipment for their online education. This includes a computer, a printer, books and technical services. Parents and students talk with teachers by telephone or by sending emails through their computers when necessary.
Students at cyberschools usually do not know one another. But 56 such students finished studies at Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School recently met for the first time. They were guests of honor at their graduation.
1.What do we know from the text about students of a cyberschool?
A. They have to take long bus rides to school.
B. They study at home rather than in classrooms.
C. They receive money from traditional public schools.
D. They do well in traditional school programs.
2.What is a problem with cyberschools?
A. Their equipment costs a lot of money.
B. They get little support from the state government.
C. The students find it hard to make friends.
D. It is hard to know students' progress in learning.
3.Cyberschools are getting popular because _________.
A. they are less expensive for students
B. their graduates are more successful in society
C. their students can work at their own speed
D. they serve students in a wider age range
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
Several years ago, I was living in New York and working for an airline, so I never got back home for Christmas. My Christmas was happy too with some other colleagues around. But in my heart I was sad because I couldn’t stay with my family. Sometimes my colleagues would say our Christmas was filled with tears. But this Christmas was different. I was lucky. I had the whole day off, which meant I could stay with my family on Christmas Eve.
When Christmas morning came, I awoke to a small hand rubbing my face. “Dad, Merry Christmas!” was all my younger son had time to say. He seemed to be racing against time. I knew he was hunting for gifts with his brother eagerly. I got downstairs just to see the two little boys’ faces as they looked at the pocket rockets Santa Claus had left them. I realized that the real Christmas was for the children who had deep belief in the amazing power of Santa Claus. At first, their fingers went almost shyly over their toys. When their inspection had been completed, the two boys ensured that the gifts were really delivered by Santa Claus and they dragged everything into the center of the living room.
Delight flooded the room. As their mother began giving out gifts, I smiled to myself, wondering how my unexpected gifts this year would be received. With so many Christmas spent outside, I had prepared so many gifts for my children and together with my wife I hid them in several secret places. But the children were excellent detectives and they found all of them. They were happily opening packages constantly thanking considerate Santa Claus for his kindness and ability to know their desires. But I had not received a single one. I knew they had forgotten my existence with my absence from their Christmas these years.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的字数应为150左右；
2. 应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语都为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
I had to admit that my disappointment was growing steadily._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）在1995年宣传每年的4月23日为“世界读书日”（World Book Day）。假设你是你们学校的学生会主席，请你写一篇讲稿，向全校同学简要介绍“世界读书日”并呼吁同学们多读书。内容包括：
简述“世界读书日”（发起时间及目的）；
讲述读书的益处；
呼吁同学们多读书，读好书。
注意：
1．词数80左右；
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
My dear fellows,
The Students’ Union
Many people travel during the holiday season but do not make sure that their houses and homes1.(protect). Crime goes up2.(rapid) during the winter and summer holiday seasons. Here are some things that you should keep in mind when you go on a holiday.
Always give3.(strange) the feeling that you are at home. Have the snow4.(clean) off your stairs or out of your driveway during the winter season. You might ask someone to park5.car in your driveway.
Tell your newspaper deliverer that you are not at home.6.(have) a pile of newspapers and other mail on your doorsteps tells people that you are not at home, so you could also have a neighbor7.a relative get your mail every day.
Fix a timer in some of your rooms8.turn lights on and9.during different time of the day. Some TVs also come with a timer that you could set to be turned on during certain time. Fix motion(运动) sensitive lights outside your house 10.(keep) thieves away when you are not at home. Safety is what really counts.
