One night, when I was eight , my mother gently asked me a question I would never forget. “Sweetie, my company wants to____me but needs me to work in Brazil. This is like your teacher telling that you’ve done____and allowing you to skip a grade(跳级), but you’ll have to____your friends. Would you say yes to your teacher?” She gave me a hug and asked me to think about it. I was puzzled. The question kept me____for the rest of the night I had said “yes” but for the first time, I realized the____decisions adults had to make.
For almost four years, my mother would call us from Brazil every day. Every evening I’d____wait for the phone to ring and then tell her every detail of my day. A phone call, however, could never replace her____and it was difficult not to feel lonely at times.
During my fourth-grade Christmas break, we flew to Rio to visit her. Looking at her large____apartment, I became____how lonely my mother must have been in Brazil herself. It was then____I started to appreciate the tough choices she had to make on____family and work.____difficult decisions, she used to tell me, you wouldn’t know whether you make the right choice, but you could always make the best out of the situation, with passion and a____attitude.
Back home , I____myself that what my mother could do, I could, too. If she____to live in Rio all by herself, I, too, could learn to be____. I learn how to take care of myself and set high but achievable____.
My mother is now back with us. But I will never forget what the____has really taught me. Sacrifices____in the end. The separation between us has proved to be____for me.
1.
A. attract B. promote C. surprise D. praise
2.
A. little B. much C. well D. wrong
3.
A. leave B. refuse C. contact D. forgive
4.
A. explaining B. sleeping C. wondering D. regretting
5.
A. poor B. timely C. final D. tough
6.
A. eagerly B. politely C. nervously D. curiously
7.
A. patience B. presence C. intelligence D. Influence
8.
A. Comfortable B. Expensive C. Empty D. Modern
9.
A. Interested in B. aware of C. doubtful D. satisfied with
10.
A. when B. where C. which D. that
11.
A. abandoning B. balancing C. comparing D. mixing
12.
A. Depending on B. supplied with C. Faced with D. Insisting on
13.
A. different B. friendly C. positive D. general
14.
A. criticized B. informed C. warned D. reminded
15.
A. managed B. offered C. attempted D. expected
16.
A. grateful B. energetic C. independent D. practical
17.
A. examples B. limits C. rules D. goals
18.
A. question B. experience C. history D. occasion
19.
A. pay off B. come back C. run out D. turn up
20.
A. blessing B. gathering C. failure D. pleasure
While you are traveling abroad, cultural mistakes are more serious than linguistic mistakes, which can lead to serious misunderstanding and even ill-feeling between individuals.1.
●Touching Someone
2. In Mediterranean countries, if you don’t touch someone’s arm when talking to them or if you don’t greet them with kisses or a warm hug, you’ll be considered cold. But backslap(拍背) someone who isn’t a family member or a good friend in Korea, and you'll make them uncomfortable. In Thailand, the head is considered sacred—never even pat a child on the head.
●Talking Over Dinner
In some countries, like China,Japan and some African nations, the food’s the thing, so don’t start chatting about your day's adventures while everyone else is digging into dinner.3. It’s not because your group is unfriendly, but because meal times are for eating, not talking.
● Removing Your Shoes or Not
Take off your shoes when arriving at the door of a London dinner party and the hostess will find you uncivilized, but fail to remove your shoes before entering a home in Asia, Hawaii, or the Pacific Islands and you'll be considered disrespectful. So, if you see a row of shoes at the door, start undoing your laces.4.
Once you are on the ground of a different country, remain highly sensitive to native behavior.5. And don’t feel offended if something seems offensive—like queue jumping. After all, this is a global village, and we are all very different.
A. Personal space varies as you travel the globe.
B. Asians consider removing shoes impolite at home.
C. Never be completely surprised by anything.
D. The linguistic mistake means that someone is not fully expressing his idea.
E. Look out for the following cultural mistakes and try to avoid them.
F. If not, keep the shoes on.
G. You'll be likely to meet with silence.
The British are known for their sense of humor. However, it is often difficult for foreigners to understand their jokes. The main point to remember is that the British often use understatement.
Understatement means saying less than you think or feel. For example, if someone gets very wet in a shower of rain, he might say, “It’s a little damp (潮湿的) outside.” Or, if someone is very impolite and shouts at another person, someone else might say, “She isn’t exactly friendly.” Understatement is often used in unpleasant situation or to make another person look silly. Understatement plays an important part in British humor.
Another key to understanding British humor is that the British like to make fun of themselves as well as others. They often laugh about the silly and unpleasant things that happen to our everyday life when someone accidentally falls over in the street. They also like to make jokes about people from different classes of society. They like to make jokes about their accents, the way they dress and the way they behave. What’s more, the British love to watch comedies (喜剧) about people who do not know how to behave in society. The comedies series Mr. Bean is a good example of this kind of humor.
Mr. Bean is the character created by British actor Rowan Atkinson in 1990. Mr. Bean doesn’t talk often, and instead he uses his body movement and facial expressions to make people laugh. Perhaps what makes Mr. Bean so funny is that he does things that adults in the real world cannot do. Mr. Bean is popular in many countries around the world because you do not have to speak English to understand the humor. Because of this, many people have become familiar with the British sense of humor.
1.Why is it difficult for foreigners to understand British jokes?
A. The British often enlarge the fact.
B. British jokes are connected with many different cultures.
C. British jokes are not as funny as jokes in other countries.
D. The British try to make out that something is less important than it is.
2.The author explains understatement by _______.
A. describing a process B. making comparisons
C. following time order D. using examples
3.Mr. Bean makes laugh by ______.
A. using his body movement and facial expressions
B. making jokes about others’ accent
C. copying how others behave
D. telling funny stories
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. British Humor in Comedy B. Humor in Different Cultures
C. Understanding British Humor D. Developing Your Sense of Humor
Internet time tied to teen depression(抑郁) symptoms
Spending time online is normal behaviour for teenagers. But too much Internet use by teens —or too little, for that matter —might be related to depression, a new study finds.
The findings, reported in the journal of Pediatrics, do not mean that the Internet is to blame. For one, teens in the study who spent no time online were also at increased risk of depression symptoms. Instead, the researchers say that both heavy Internet use, and non-use, could serve as signals that a teenager is having a hard time.
For the study, Dr Pierre-Andre Michaud and his colleagues at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, surveyed 7,200 individuals aged 16 to 20 about their Internet use.
Those who were online more than two hours per day were considered “heavy” Internet users,while those online anywhere from several times per week to two hours per day were considered “regular” users.
The teenagers also answered a number of health-related questions, including some standard questions about "depressive tendencies” that gauge(判定) how often a person feels sad or hopeless. Compared with regular Internet users, the study found, kids who were heavy users or non-users were more likely to be depressed or very depressed.
Among male teens, heavy users and non-users were both around one-third more likely to have a high depression score, compared to “regular” users. Among girls, heavy Internet users had an 86 percent greater chance of depression, while non-users had a 46 percent greater likelihood compared to regular users.
That was with factors like family income and any chronic health problems taken into account.
Since teenagers typically go online to contact with friends, the researchers speculate(推测) that those who are never online may be more socially isolated.
1.How long are those who are online per day considered “heavy” Internet users?
A. More than two hours. B. More than eight hours.
C. More than twelve hours. D. More than ten hours.
2.What’s the purpose of Dr Michaud and his colleagues’ study?
A. To know the actual number of teenagers online.
B. To know the actual time of teenagers online.
C. To know the influence of study online on teenagers.
D. To know the relationship between the Internet use and depression.
3.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “isolated” in the last paragraph?
A. Independent B. United
C. Separated. D. Capable.
4.According to the accounts of the sixth paragraph, what can we conclude?
A. Non-users of Internet aren’t likely to be depressed.
B. Among girls, heavy Internet users are more likely to suffer depression than regular users.
C. Heavy users will lead to death unless limited.
D. Non-users have more possibility to be depressed than heavy users.
"Dad," I say one day, "let's take a trip. Why don't you fly out and meet me?"
My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thoughts, his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall in Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
My father sees me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.
He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City.
"What's our first stop?" asks my father.
"What time is it?"
"Still don’t have a watch?"
Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite(花岗岩), his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of a little boy.
"Unbelievable," he says. "How was this done?"
A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son.
We stare up and I ask myself, Would I ever devote my life to anything?
No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father's voice. Now I hear them in my own.
The next day we've at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic.
"Did you ever travel with your dad?" I ask.
"Only once," he says. "I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other—but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave."
That last sentence—it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me.
In Glacier National Park, my father says, "I've never seen water so blue." I have, in several places of the world. I can keep traveling, I realize—and maybe a regular job won't be as dull as I feared.
Weeks after our trip, I call my father.
"The photos from the trip are wonderful," he says. "We've got to take another trip like that sometime."
I tell him I've decided to settle down, and I'm wearing a watch.
1.We can learn from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that the father______________ .
A. followed the fashion B. got bored with his job
C. was unhappy with the author’s lifestyle D. liked the author’s collection of stamps
2.What does the author realize at Mount Rushmore?
A. His father is interested in sculpture.
B. He should pursue a specific aim in life.
C. He should learn sculpture in the future.
D. His father is as innocent as a little boy.
3.From the underlined paragraph, we can see that the author .
A. wants his children to learn from their grandfather
B. comes to understand what parental love means
C. learns how to communicate with his father
D. hopes to give whatever he can to his father
4.What could be inferred about the author and his father from the end of the story?
A. The call solves their disagreements. B. The Swiss watch has drawn them closer.
C. They decide to learn photography together. D. They begin to change their attitudes to life.
假如你是李华，你接受了一项写作任务，要为英语校报写一篇人物介绍。请根据以下信息进行写作。
姓名：余光中
生平：1928年10月21日生于南京，2017年12月14日卒于台湾
毕业学校：1952年毕业于台湾大学
专业：外语
爱好：阅读和写作
身份：诗人﹑散文家和翻译家
成就以及代表作： 其诗文和译著共40多种，获得台湾地区文学界各种重要奖项；其代表作《乡愁》入选中小学课本。被称为文坛“璀璨五彩笔”。
提示词：
散文家 essayist；《乡愁》Homesickness; 璀璨五彩笔 ‘Bright Multicolored Pens’
注意：1.词数100左右；
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Editor，
It is my great honor to take on the task to write an article about a cultural celebrity._____________________
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Yours，
Li Hua
