Anyone who has children has likely heard "I'm bored!" too many times. When you're on a budget, it can be tough to think of ways to entertain the family that don't cost a lot of money. 1.
Head to the library, and not just check out books. Look at the library's community events calendar. Most libraries have everything from story times for children to game nights for teens. 2.
Camp in a national forest or build a sandcastle. A lot of the sites are free to use, though they do lack facilities. 3. If there's no beach nearby, do the same in the sandbox at a playground.
4. Most cities have at least one local community center.There, you can pick up a park and recreation schedule, with information on free events taking place throughout the year, such as hikes,holiday parties, art festivals, outdoor movies and concerts in the park.
Tour the fire station. Most fire fighters will give you and your kids a free tour,as long as you call and schedule ahead of time. 5. For safety reasons, fire stations do not generally accommodate children under the age of four.
Check out a state park. Stop by the ranger station and ask about free programmes for kids, such as nature walks and hands-on science classes. Some parks have junior ranger badges(徽章)children can earn by completing conservation related activities.
A. Visit the local community center.
B. Go to the beach and build a sandcastle.
C. The time when children visit is very important.
D. Spend more time finding much free information.
E. Kids can learn about fire safety and tour the facilities.
F. Many libraries also have enrichment classes offered free of charge.
G. Fortunately, there are many options available to you if you know where to look.
If you have never ever heard of pawpaw，you are not alone. Most Americans do not know of the fruit，although it is native to the United States. Once，however，it was one of the most popular fruits in North America. Happily，those who love the pawpaw are trying to return it to its former position in American foods.
The pawpaw is a kind of fruit that grows on trees found all over the eastern United States. It is similar in size to a typical mango. It has a dull green-colored skin，and a soft，almost creamy orange inside. Most people agree that the pawpaw tastes like a combination of bananas，apricots （杏）and mangos. Most people are very surprised by its sweet taste. The fruit has a very short harvest season，from two to three weeks in September and October.
The pawpaw has never been sold commercially. The fruit requires a very special environment-low，wet areas that sometimes flood. In addition，the fruit is good to eat for only two to three days after harvesting. This makes it hard to sell anywhere distant from the pawpaw trees.
Planters are again growing pawpaw trees and harvesting the fruit. In several states farmers have organized “pawpaw festivals” to reintroduce the food to people.
Farmers are trying to grow different kinds of paw paws that will be easier to ship and sell commercially. Donna and Jim Davis are pawpaw farmers in Westminster，Maryland. They told National Public Radio that they purchased their pawpaw trees in the 1990s and now sell the fruit at farmer markets and online.
So, who knows? Maybe the pawpaw will show up soon at a market near you.
1.What is the pawpaw's most outstanding nature?
A. It grows on trees all over the US.
B. Its sour taste is like an apricot.
C. It looks like a combination of bananas and mangos.
D. It is very rich in sugar.
2.Why is it difficult for the pawpaw to become a big business?
A. It has to be sold far from the pawpaw tree.
B. It is difficult to harvest in the low and wet areas.
C. It is hard to keep its freshness for long.
D. It needs expensive transportation to the market.
3.What do farmers do to deal with the disadvantage of paw paws?
A. They advertise on National Public Radio.
B. They plant improved pawpaw trees.
C. They organize pawpaw festivals.
D. They sell the fruit at farmer markets.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. A forgotten American fruit is becoming popular again.
B. Fruit of pawpaw plays an important part in America.
C. Most people have hardly eaten fresh paw paws.
D. A traditional fruit has changed people's diet.
Recently, a scientist did some experiments. He left a group of 4-year-olds in a room with a bell and a candy. If they rang the bell, he would come back and they could eat the candy. If, however, they didn’t ring the bell and waited for him to come back on his own, they could then have two candies.
In the videos of the experiments, he can see the children hiding their eyes, trying to exercise self-control so they can wait and get two candies. The results are different. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted 15 minutes.
The children who waited longer went on to get higher academic scores. They got into better colleges and had better adult success. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to have received worse teacher and parental evaluations (评价) 10 years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age 32.
The experiments are worth noting because people spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve education, and how to become rich. But when the result is not good, they will come back to ask “How do we get people to get the sort of self-control that leads to success?” This is to enter the world of human nature.
So these experiments, along with everyday experience, tell us that self-control is most important. Young people who can sit through sometimes boring classes to get a degree can work hard in order to learn a language well. They can avoid drugs and alcohol. For people without self-control skills, however, school is a series of failed and painful experience. No wonder they drop out and their later life is a group of foolish ideas, such as drug use, stealing and so on.
1.The scientist did some experiments to ________.
A. find good ways of training children to learn
B. show that children’s education is important
C. test children’s self-control and later success
D. test children’s intelligence of ringing the bell
2.What do the underlined words “broke down” probably mean?
A. failed to wait. B. kept waiting.
C. hid the candy. D. ate the candy.
3.How long did the scientist’s experiments last according to the text?
A. Just 15 minutes. B. Within 10 years.
C. Less than 14 years. D. About 28 years.
4.What will the children without self-control do at school according to the text?
A. They will improve their education.
B. They will suffer a lot from boring lessons.
C. They will become very rich and successful.
D. They will work hard to catch up with others.
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated (躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely — a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “creative voice”.
“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”
Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book talks about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school to graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book and a short-story collection.
1.What can we know about Cisneros in her childhood?
A.Her brothers disliked her.
B.She felt herself a nobody.
C.She was too shy to go to school.
D.She did not meet any good teachers.
2.The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to ________.
A.run away from her family B.develop her writing style
C.make a lot of friends D.search for a husband
3.According to Cisneros, what was the key factor in her success?
A.Her childhood experience.
B.Her training in the Workshop.
C.Her feeling of being different.
D.Her early years in college.
4.What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?
A.It enjoys great popularity among students.
B.It is a book of poetry written by Cisneros.
C.It wasn’t a success as it was written in Spanish.
D.It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.
Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral church in Paris, is the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages. For the French, it represents something immortal, ever-present and unchanging, like a mountain. Built over almost two centuries, the Notre-Dame is, as President Emmanuel Macron said, “where the French lived all their great moments”. Soldiers prayed here before leaving for the Crusades; Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned here; it survived the French Revolution, two World Wars and the Nazi occupation. It is where men bend their knees to profess love and thousands of tourists take photos every day.
A fire, whose cause was not identified yet, engulfed (吞没), on April 15th, the cathedral's upper structure. More than 400 firefighters took part in the 15-hour battle to control the blaze (火苗) that triggered sorrow over the globe. The extent of the damage is still unknown, but the fire destroyed much of the gothic cathedral’s wood-timbered roof and spire (塔尖). The cathedral will certainly be restored (the French government promises), but the sight of flames bringing down the spire moved the world in a manner far exceeding its religious significance.
French Culture Minister Franck Riester on Thursday said the government would draw all the consequences from the huge flames that destroyed the centuries-old Notre Dame Cathedral, adding measures to protect the national heritage were on the table. “Staff from the fire department, the culture ministry and the city town hall rushed to the Cathedral, when the fire started, to protect the main artworks that were inside. The artworks, which include relics such as the Christ's crown of thorns and French king Saint-Louis's 13th century tunic, were first moved to the city town hall and will now be transferred to the nearby Louvre Museum .” the minister told Le Parisian newspaper in an interview without giving details on the possible measures.
1.What can we learn about the Notre-Dame de Paris?
A.It is the most well-known cathedral. B.Most of the French think little of it.
C.It was built by Napoleon Bonaparte. D.It’s still in existence after two World Wars.
2.What is true about the Cathedral in the accident?
A.Only the spire was brought down by the flames.
B.It was completely burnt in the fire.
C.The gilded crown of thorns in it was gone forever.
D.The cause of the accident to the Cathedral was still unknown.
3.According to Franck Riester, what has already done by the government?
A.Rebuild the cathedral.
B.Rescue the artworks inside the cathedral.
C.Transfer the relics to the nearby Louvre Museum.
D.Release the cause of the fire to the public.
假设你是北京市某中学的学生李华，请根据以下提示，针对北京市遭沙尘暴袭击的情况，向某英语报社写一封信，呼吁大家植树造林，保护环境。
1. 过去家乡树木成林：如今人们毁林种地建房；
2. 气候变化，土地沙漠化；
3. 植树造林，人人有责。
注意：1. 词数100左右：开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
2. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已为你写好。
Dear Editor,
I’m a student at a middle school of Beijing.
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Yours,
Li Hua
