In October, I told the eight-year-olds in my class about my plan. “I’d like all of you to do _______ jobs around the house to earn some money,” I said. “Then we’ll buy food for a Thanksgiving dinner for someone who might not have a nice dinner _______.”
Early in Thanksgiving week, the boys and girls arrived in the _______, clutching their hard-earned money. I watched them running up and down, busily doing their _______. At last we headed toward the checkout, pushing a cart filled with turkey and all the trimmings (配料). Then someone spotted a “necessity” that sent them racing.
“Flowers!”, Kristine cried. The group _______ toward the holiday plants．
Stuck in the middle was a pot of purple mums. “She’ll like this one.” the children _______, and put the purple plant into the cart.
We finally _______ in front of a small bungalow in the woods. A slightly-built woman with a weary face came to the door to _______ us.
My little group hurried to get the food. As each box was carried in, the old woman oohed and aahed (欢天喜地) — much to her visitors’_______. When Amy put the mums on the counter, the woman seemed surprised. She’s ____________ it was a bag of flour, I thought.
We returned to the car. We could see the kitchen ____________. The woman inside waved ____________, then turned and walked across the room, past the turkey, past the trimmings, straight to the ____________. She put her face in their petals (花瓣). When she raised her head，there was a ____________on her lips.
The children were quiet. In that one brief moment, they had seen for themselves the ____________ they possessed to make another’s life better.
1.A.hard B.extra C.spare D.unique
2.A.otherwise B.always C.occasionally D.however
3.A.house B.classroom C.street D.supermarket
4.A.shopping B.job C.business D.task
5.A.1ooked B.came C.rushed D.made
6.A.chose B.moved C.admired D.agreed
7.A.pulled up B.picked up C.sped up D.called on
8.A.1ead B.welcome C.accept D.answer
9.A.surprise B.disappointment C.relaxation D.pleasure
10.A.wishing B.discovering C.finding D.waiting
11.A.smoke B.window C.shelf D.glass
12.A.hello B.gratitude C.goodbye D.thanks
13.A.door B.flour C.flowers D.woods
14.A.smile B.tear C.color D.change
15.A.help B.power C.attitude D.youth
Things only people who have worked overseas can understand
If you have ever worked or lived overseas, I’m pretty sure you can understand the following things!
We do not automatically become fluent (流利的) in another language. A lot of people believe that changing your geographic location can improve your language learning skills quickly.1. Language application takes time and has a number of factors that play into a person’s level of fluency.
We feel extremely lonely at times. Yes, living abroad can be wonderful.2. Sometimes, we think that no one back at home understands our true feelings and life challenges, but a lot of other people travel long term and work abroad. Maybe they are not facing the same problems as you, but they know exactly how you feel.
We don’t really like our birthdays. Usually, your special day ends with the last phone call you get from home and then you can look through all your greetings on social media.3. You may throw a small party with some of your new friends, but it’s going to be nothing compared with the goodold feasts you used to have with your loved ones back at home.
4. Too often we simply can’t tell you if we will be coming home for holidays this season. Sometimes, our working/living permits require us to stay in the country for at least a year. Adding up the flight costs and additional travel expenses, traveling home becomes quite a challenge for us.
We will change.5. You become more mature, independent and openminded. Usually, you return home as a better person than the one you left as.
A. The truth is: it isn’t like that.
B. We may not plan to move back home.
C. We don’t know when we’ll come home next.
D. However, it can get extremely lonely on some days too.
E. Living abroad makes us value the little things a lot.
F. Living and working abroad shape your personality a lot.
G. After that, you just act as if it’s another ordinary day in your life yet.
I’ve never been the kind of person to say, “it’s the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.
For years now, I’ve been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a building. In the front room, there’s a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, marking the progress of my children’s growth. Every growth stage is marked in grey, with each child’s name and the date they were measured. Most people I know have been featured on a wall like this, or at least had a wall like it in their home.
Of all the objects and all the memories, it’s this one thing in a home that’s the hardest to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to discover their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. A new paint job wouldn’t normally be greeted by tears, but erasing that evidence of motherhood hurts more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to see.
Over the years, I’ve talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something about it.
They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer whose work is about capturing (捕捉) the beautiful things in life, from clear lakes and skies to diamonds and ballgowns. She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints (手印), and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those years of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, transforming them into a beautiful history of my family.
Three weeks later, my children’s wonderful gift made its way to me – a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.
1.The author used her friends’ example in Paragraph 3 to ________.
A. persuade her family to leave the wall as it was
B. stress the meaning of keeping good memories
C. explain why her house badly needed a new paint job
D. share her memory of motherhood with readers
2.According to the article, it was Jacquie Manning who ________.
A. helped the author paint her new house
B. came up with the idea of the photo gift
C. shot pictures to record the author’s growth stage
D. made a copy of the growth marks on the wall
3.We can infer from the article that the author ________.
A. was strongly against selling their home
B. was not happy with the gift from her family
C. kept marks for family members every year
D. put great love and care in raising her children
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. A Gift Made with Love B. Advice on Picking up Gifts for Parents
C. Paintings Count D. Effective Ways to Communicate with Children
Mike Maietta was eating lunch when he got a text message from his mom.
“Notre Dame,” it said. “Big envelope!”
Mike, a senior at a Californian high school, shouted with joy. The big envelope meant that the excellent university in Indiana had offered him a place in its Class of 2013. But the $51,300 annual fee is a big obstacle. So Mike and his parents are considering offers from several other colleges and are calculating the costs of tuition, housing and holiday trips home.
This year, money is the driving factor for a growing number of high school seniors, who have to decide what colleges to attend this fall. Less jobs and plunging house prices have changed family spending.
“We’re excited that Mike got into eight great schools,” said Mike’s father, an engineer at Microsoft. “But if you consider going to school out of state, you’ve got to think about all of the other costs: moving, flying back and forth for the holidays. You’re looking at about $3,000 a year, just for travel.”
As families weigh their choices, some are going back to financial aid offices hoping help packages can be increased.
Rachel Brown was happy to get a thick envelope from New York University (NYU). Although she has always wanted to live in Manhattan, she is seriously considering the University of California San Diego (UCSD), because of the high cost in New York.
“The tuition for NYU is twice as much as UCSD,” said Rachel, 17. “My mom doesn’t want me to have a big debt when I graduate, and I don’t want that either. I’d have to take out a loan of $15,000. I’ll check and see if there’s any way that NYU can offer me any financial aid.”
More than 7.6 million American students have filled out the Free Application for Students Aid, a 19.9 percent increase over last year.
This month the Federal Department of Education urged college financial aid officers to give more help to certain families. A record 30,428 students applied for 2,300 places at Stanford, partly because the university increased financial aid for families earning below $10,000.
1.Mike may give up Notre Dame because of ______.
A.travel fees B.financial concerns
C.poor exam results D.worries about living far away from home
2.The phrase “Big envelope” in paragraph 2 probably refers to “______”.
A.A text message B.A large gift package
C.An admission letter D.A scholarship letter
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.The number of American senior students applying for financial aid is increasing.
B.Rachel Brown has given up NYU because of its high tuition and big debts.
C.It is inevitably hard for college students to borrow money to cover costs.
D.An interest-free loan for students helps more students apply for Stanford.
4.The passage mainly focuses on ______.
A.the calculation of different costs including tuition
B.the extremely hard financial situation in America
C.the excitement of students’ being able to enter ideal colleges
D.the financial crisis of families over college entrance
You know the feeling — you have left your phone at home and feel anxious, as if you have lost your connection to the world. “Nomophobia” (无手机恐惧症) affects teenagers and adults alike. You can even do an online test to see if you have it. Last week, researchers from Hong Kong warned that nomophobia is infecting everyone. Their study found that people who use their phones to store, share and access personal memories suffer most. When users were asked to describe how they felt about their phones, words such as “hurt” (neck pain was often reported) and “alone” predicted higher levels of nomophobia.
“The findings of our study suggest that users regard smartphones as their extended selves and get attached to the devices,” said Dr. Kim Ki Joon. “People experience feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness when separated from their phones.” Meanwhile, an American study shows that smartphone separation can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
So can being without your phone really give you separation anxiety? Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, says it is what is on the phone that counts — the social networking that creates Fomo (fear of missing out)．
“We are talking about an Internetconnected device that allows people to deal with lots of aspects of their lives, ” says Griffiths. “You would have to surgically remove a phone from a teenager because their whole life is ingrained in this device.”
Griffiths thinks attachment theory, where we develop emotional dependency on the phone because it holds details of our lives, is a small part of nomophobia. For “screenagers”, it is Fomo that creates the most separation anxiety. If they can’t see what’s happening on Snapchat or Instagram, they become panicstricken about not knowing what’s going on socially. “But they adapt very quickly if you take them on holiday and there’s no Internet,” says Griffiths.
1.Which of the following may Dr. Kim Ki Joon agree with?
A.Phones have become part of some users.
B.We waste too much time on phones.
C.Addiction to phones makes memories suffer.
D.Phones and blood pressure are closely linked.
2.According to Griffiths, we get nomophobia because ________.
A.we are accustomed to having a phone on us
B.we worry we may miss out what our friends are doing
C.we need our phones to help us store information
D.we fear without phones we will run into a lot of trouble
3.Which of the following phrases has the closest meaning to the underlined phrase “ingrained in” in Para4?
A.approved of. B.opposed to.
C.relied on. D.determined by.
4.Where can you probably find the above passage?
A.In a research report. B.In a popular science magazine.
C.In a science textbook. D.In a fashion brochure.
Considering that Sundarbans National Park is situated in the tropics，September to March is the ideal time to come here．April，May and June are too hot while July and August often bring heavy season winds that limit travel and don’t make for a very pleasant sightseeing experience．You can really enjoy doing lots of charming things in the Sundarbans during September to March．
Take a river tour
Most tourists who explore the Sundarbans arrive in Khulna City first．From there，you can join a boat tour that travels south along the Ganges River through miles of preserved forest all the way to Kotka，where there is a beautiful beach along the Bay of Bengal．
Visit a bird habitat
This bird habitat is a nesting place for dozens of tropical birds found in the Sundarbans．The best way to observe these birds is climbing up the Sajnekhali Watchtower．If you’re lucky，you’11 also catch the famed Bengal Tiger making its rounds through the swampy jungle．
Visit the Mangrove(红树林)Interpretation Centre
If you wish to spend some time indoors out of the sweaty heat，go to the Mangrove Interpretation Centre．This place is very educational with many posters，maps and exhibits showing the wildlife and varieties of mangrove plants found within the park．You’ll also get to see crocodiles in a small pool．
Take a tour of local villages
Experience village life that has largely remained unchanged for centuries．In this vast tropical region，there are villages made up of various ethnic groups who rely on fishing，farming and working in the local through growing tourist industry for their livelihoods．The Sundarbans is a UNESCO world heritage site where you can visit villages and talk to locals，who will gladly share their culture with you．
1.Which month is suitable for a visit to Sundarbans National Park?
A.December． B.August．
C.June． D.May．
2.What can visitors do in the Mangrove Interpretation Centre?
A.See some plants and animals．
B.Put up posters about wildlife．
C.Feed crocodiles in a small river．
D.Observe birds by climbing up the trees．
3.What is the author’s main purpose in writing the text?
A.To advertise some natural animal habitats．
B.To advocate the protection of forests in Khulna City．
C.To introduce several charming villages in the vast tropical region．
D.To show visitors something attractive to do in the Sundarbans．
