One day when I was about nine years old, I ran into my mother’s bedroom and opened the dresser（化妆台）. Then in the top drawer was a small_________jewelry box. I was fascinated by its treasures. Then I saw there was something_________under a piece of cloth._________the cloth, I found a little white chip of china(瓷器). Why did my mother keep such a_________thing? Shining slightly in the light, it_______no answers.
Some months later, I was setting the dinner table when my neighbor Marge knocked at the door. Coming in and_______the table, Marge said, “Oh, you are expecting company. I'll_______another time."
“No, come on in,” Mum replied. “We are not_______anyone."
“But isn’t that your good china?” Marge asked. “I’d_______trust kids to handle my good dishes!”
Mum laughed. “Tonight’s my family’s favorite meal. If you set your best table for a(n)________meal with guests, why not for your own________? A few broken plates are a small________to pay for the joy we get. ” Then she added, “__________，every chip and crack has a story to tell.”
Mum went to the cupboard and took down a plate. She said, “Seeing this________on the edge(边缘) here? It happened when I was 17.”
Her voice__________. “One day my brother invited a young man to dinner and sat him next to me. I was so__________that when I took the plate, it__________and knocked against the fork. As the young man was leaving, he__________a piece of broken china in my hand without saying a word.”
I couldn’t forget about that plate with the________chip. I went up to take out the little wooden jewelry box again. I examined the chip__________. The chip which my mother had saved with care belonged to the plate she broke on the day she met my father.
1.A. silver B. gold C. china D. wooden
2.A. hidden B. unpaid C. removed D. fixed
3.A. Covering B. Tearing C. Seeking D. Lifting
4.A. broken B. genuine C. beautiful D. valuable
5.A. found B. invented C. offered D. selected
6.A. glaring at B. glancing at C. looking on D. spying on
7.A. go by B. pass by C. stop by D. stand by
8.A. inviting B. expecting C. consulting D. celebrating
9.A. always B. sometimes C. never D. regularly
10.A. common B. strange C. unbelievable D. special
11.A. family B. relative C. neighbor D. ancestor
12.A. value B. fault C. bet D. price
13.A. However B. Though C. Besides D. Otherwise
14.A. break B. scene C. spot D. design
15.A. hardened B. softened C. sharpened D. weakened
16.A. nervous B. anxious C. surprised D. pleased
17.A. jumped B. escaped C. slipped D. left
18.A. threw B. laid C. examined D. picked
19.A. replaced B. penniless C. remaining D. missing
20.A. secretly B. carefully C. gratefully D. proudly
What Is Emotional Eating?
Emotional eating is when people use food as a way to deal with feelings instead of satisfying hunger.1.Have you ever finished a whole bag of chips out of boredom or downed cookie after cookie while preparing for a big test? But when done a lot — especially without realizing it — emotional eating can affect weight, health, and overall well-being.
Not many of us make the connection between eating and our feelings.
2.One of the biggest myths about emotional eating is that it’s caused by negative feelings. Yes, people often turn to food when they’re stressed out, lonely, sad, anxious, or bored. But emotional eating can be linked to positive feelings too, like the romance of sharing dessert on Valentine’s Day or the celebration of a holiday feast. Sometimes emotional eating is tied to major life events, like a death or a divorce. 3.
Emotional eating patterns can be learned: A child who is given candy after a big achievement may grow up using candy as a reward for a job well done. 4.It’s not easy to “unlearn” patterns of emotional eating. But it is possible. And it starts with an awareness of what’s going on.
We’re all emotional eaters to a degree. But for some people emotional eating can be a real problem, causing serious weight gain or other problems. The trouble with emotional eating is that once the pleasure of eating is gone, the feelings that cause it remain. 5.That’s why it helps to know the difference between physical hunger and emotional hunger.
Next time you reach for a snack, wait and think about which type of hunger is driving it.
A. Believe it or not, we’ve all been there.
B. If a crying boy gets some cookies, he may link cookies with comfort.
C. One study found that people who eat food like pizza become happy afterwards.
D. And you often may feel worse about eating the amount or type of food you like.
E. Understanding what drives emotional eating can help people take steps to change it.
F. Boys seem to prefer hot, homemade comfort meals, while girls go for chocolate and ice cream.
G. More often, though, it’s the countless little daily stresses that cause someone to seek comfort in food.
Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, ＂The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.＂
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the ＂real＂ and not the virtual(虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty-five countries.
1.Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph?
A. To explain what they are.
B. To introduce BookCrossing.
C. To stress the importance of reading.
D. To encourage readers to share their ideas.
2.What does the underlined word ＂it＂ in Paragraph 2refer to?
A. The book. B. An adventure.
C. A public place. D. The identification number.
3.What will a BookCrosser do with a book after reading it?
A. Meet other readers to discuss it.
B. Keep it safe in his bookcase.
C. Pass it on to another reader.
D. Mail it back to its owner.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Online Reading: A Virtual Tour
B. Electronic Books: A new Trend
C. A Book Group Brings Tradition Back
D. A Website Links People through Books
Getting less sleep has become a bad habit for most American kids. According to a new survey(调查) by the National Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to bed at 10 pm or later on school nights, even though they have to get up early. Last year the Foundation reported that nearly 60% of 7- to 12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day, and 15% said they had fallen asleep at school.
How much sleep you need depends a lot on your age. Babies need a lot of rest: most of them sleep about 18 hours a day! Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age children, ten hours is ideal(理想的). But the new National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of 10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or eight hours. And guess what almost half of the surveyed kids said they do before bedtime? Watch TV.
“More children are going to bed with TVs on, and there are more opportunities(机会) to stay awake, with more homework, the Internet and the phone,” says Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University Medical School. She says these activities at bedtime can get kids all excited and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep. Other experts say part of the problem is chemical. Changing levels of body chemicals called hormones not only make teenagers’ bodies develop adult characteristics, but also make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 pm.
Because sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some school districts have decided to start high school classes later than they used to. Three years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota, changed the start time from 7:25 am to 8:30 am. Students, parents and teachers are pleased with the results.
1.What is the new National Sleep Foundation survey on?
A. American kids’ sleeping habits. B. Teenagers’ sleep-related diseases.
C. Activities to prevent sleeplessness. D. Learning problems and lack of sleep.
2.How many hours of sleep do 11-year-olds need every day?
A. 7 hours. B. 8 hours.
C. 10 hours. D. 18 hours.
3.Why do teenagers go to sleep late according to Carskadon?
A. They are affected by certain body chemicals.
B. They tend to do things that excite them.
C. They follow their parents’ examples.
D. They don’t need to go to school early.
It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth(收费站). “I'm paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”
It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random(随意的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.
Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse(仓库) wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn't know where it came from or what it really meant.
Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.
“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies(想象) include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”
The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!
1.Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?
A. She knew the car drivers well.
B. She wanted to show kindness.
C. She hoped to please others.
D. She had seven tickets.
2.Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she .
A. thought it was beautifully written
B. wanted to know what it really meant
C. decided to write it on a warehouse wall
D. wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom
3.Which of the following statements is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence above?
A. Kindness and violence can change the world.
B. Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior.
C. Kindness and violence can shape one’s character.
D. Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. People should practice random kindness to those in need.
B. People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others.
C. People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet.
D. People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver.
You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community(社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)
When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator(参议员) and ,in 1981, the first woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rasa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1.What is Jane Addams well-known for in history?
A. Her social work. B. Her lack of proper training in law.
C. Her efforts to win a prize. D. Her community background.
2.What is the reason for O’Connor’s being turned down by the law firm?
A. Her lack of proper training in law. B. Her little work experience in court.
C. Women’s being looked down upon. D. The poor financial conditions.
3.Who made a great contribution to the civil-rights movement in the US?
A. Jane Addams. B. Rachel Carson. C. Sandra Day O’Connor. D. Rosa Parks
4.What can we infer about the women mentioned in the text?
A. They are highly educated. B. They are truly creative.
C. They are pioneers. D. They are peace-lovers.
