阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
A 35-year-old Australian mother makes around $58, 000 a year by hugging total strangers.
Jessica O' Neill started her unusual job six months ago. “As human beings, one thing we often ignore in our daily lives 1.(be) physical touch. Without it, we can fall into depression(抑郁)and other mental health 2.(problem). To meet this need, I’ve become a professional hugging therapist(理疗师).”said Jessica.
Jessica thinks her hugs can help those 3.(suffer) from loneliness, depression or low self-confidence. “When I hug my customers, I could see their tension and 4.(anxious) disappear. Then I could get to their heart and do what I can 5.(cure) them.” Jessica said. “Everyone has the desire to connect with someone. I believe my hug helps 6.(I) and my customers connect on a spiritual level.” Jessica says the majority of her customers are male, but she has 7.surprising number of female customers as well.
8.many people think she must be crazy to do such work, Jessica is9.(confidence) that she’s made the right choice. “In today’s digital age, many people are lonelier than ever before. Hugging therapy can have an apparent effect 10.their mental health,” said Jessica.
A woman operated a daycare for children. As she ______ the children in her car one day, a fire truck rushed by. The kids were ______ to see a Dalamatian (大麦町犬)on the front seat. They began a conversation about the______ of the dog. One child said they used the dog to keep the ______ back. Another said the Dalmatian was just for good luck. But young Jamie brought the ______ to an end when he said, “They use the dog to find the hydrant(消防栓)!”
He ______us that we all have useful______. Some of our skills are clear. Some are ______. But all of us can contribute, and usually in more ways than we ______.
There was a good example: the football player William Floyd, who injured his knee halfway through his 1995 season with the San Francisco Forty-Niners. The gifted ______ could no longer do the thing he believed he did best until his knee recovered. But he ______ not to stay at home. Nor did he allow ______ feelings about his worthlessness to the team to control his thinking. ______, he stood on the sidelines at every workout ______he could encourage his teammates with enthusiasm and optimism. He still wanted to ______— if not on the field, then off it. For the rest of the season he ______his team, both at practices and during every game. At the end of the year, his ______made him the player “who best exemplifies(例证) inspirational and courageous play.”
William Floyd ______ developed one of his greatest gifts—an ability to encourage others. This life skill may yet prove to be more ______ than even his athletic ability.
You, too, are gifted at something. ______it, develop it and do something beautiful with it.
1.A.transported B.discovered C.recognized D.threatened
2.A.disappointed B.excited C.satisfied D.frightened
3.A.habits B.owners C.characters D.duties
4.A.dogs B.trucks C.crowds D.firefighters
5.A.lesson B.argument C.explanation D.conference
6.A.promises B.tells C.reminds D.warns
7.A.experience B.information C.resources D.abilities
8.A.hidden B.limited C.perfect D.useless
9.A.realize B.repeat C.refuse D.remember
10.A.artist B.athlete C.journalist D.writer
11.A.chose B.began C.agreed D.pretended
12.A.deep B.negative C.warm D.different
13.A.Besides B.Thus C.Instead D.However
14.A.as though B.even if C.so that D.in case
15.A.insist B.challenge C.change D.contribute
16.A.encouraged B.managed C.protected D.instructed
17.A.fans B.teammates C.competitors D.relatives
18.A.patiently B.normally C.rapidly D.fully
19.A.rare B.professional C.useful D.complex
20.A.Accept B.Check C.Design D.Discover
Today’s families are busy. Mom and Dad are both working, the kids are busy with a variety of activities, and there is little time to enjoy being a family. What can you do to build some family unity(和睦)？How can you prevent those you love from not knowing each other?1. It takes time and patience but it is certainly possible!
2. If it’s not possible to have them every night, make sure that you eat together as a family at the dinner table at least twice a week. If you need to cut something out of your schedule to achieve this, then do it.
Make a rule that all members of the family are treated with respect. 3. Speaking disrespectfully with others in the family should be forbidden.
Talk to your kids, and really listen. Busy parents are often sorry for not listening to their kids.4. During your family dinners and game nights, let everyone talk and make the others listen.
Forgive when necessary. 5. If someone has done something wrong, get it out in the open, and then forgive that person. Teach your children how to do this with each other.
A.Have family dinners.
B.Plan a family night now and then.
C.Keep physical contact with your family members.
D.Nothing breaks up family unity faster than a grudge(怨恨).
E.Start by modeling this as a parent, and then apply the rule to your children.
F.With creativity and effort, you can build a closely united family although you are busy.
G.When children know their thoughts or opinions are valued, they will feel closer to their family members.
There are many gardening tips. Some suggest playing music for your house plants, having conversations with them, or even giving them a gentle touch now and then. Most of these practices are probably more for the benefit of the gardener than the garden, and generally harmless enough but except the last one. Your plants really dislike it when you touch them.
A new study out of the La Trobe Institute for Agriculture and Food has found that most plants are extremely sensitive to touch, and even a light touch can significantly stunt(阻碍) their growth. “The lightest touch from a human, animal, insect, or even plants touching each other in the wind, can cause a huge gene response in the plant,” Jim Whelan, who led the new study, said. “Within 30 minutes of being touched, 10% of the plant’s genome(基因组) is changed. This involves a huge expenditure(消耗) of energy which is taken away from plant growth. If the touching is repeated, then plant growth is reduced by up to 30%.”
Whelan and his team are still trying to find out why plants respond, at the genetic level, so strongly. They do have some theories, however. We know that when an insect lands on a plant, genes are activated(激活) preparing the plant to defend itself against being eaten ,” said Dr. Yan Wang, co-author of the study.
Until more research is done, it’s just a guess at this point. Still, the findings might already lead to new methods for how agriculturalists deal with their crops, to best promote healthier growth.
It’s worth noticing that while the study found that plants often respond to just a single touch in negative ways, it’s really repeated touching that causes lasting stunted growth. That’s because the plants are looking for patterns in the touching, to tell harmful touch from random touch. So it doesn’t matter if you accidently brush up against a bush during a walk through the woods.
1.How is the passage mainly developed?
A.By comparing
B.By giving examples
C.By listing numbers
D.By showing results of studies
2.Why can touching stunt a plant growing according to the study?
A.It leads to the plant’s energy expenditure.
B.It makes the plant sensitive to threats.
C.It causes a genetic disorder in the plant.
D.It prevents the plant absorbing nutrients.
3.What’s the importance of the study by Whelan and his team?
A.It gives us more useful gardening tips.
B.It helps find ways to ensure plants’ healthy growth.
C.It contributes to the further study on genes.
D.It uses data to warn people not to touch plants.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A.Something is done to help plants grow.
B.Plants’ genome can be changed easily.
C.Plants don’t really like to be touched.
D.What we do every day may destroy plants.
Typically, a person sitting in the driver's seat of a car opens the door with the hand closest to it. It makes sense since doors are designed to be opened that way. Pull the handle(把手) and immediately the door is open. But if you happen to do that at the wrong time, you may create an obstacle(阻碍) for a passing cyclist without knowing it. Then the cyclist will be sent falling off the bike, and the car door is likely to be damaged by the fast-moving bicycle.
The car door design and long-time habits have made the process instinctual but clearly the solution is for the person getting out of the vehicle to check for traffic. Luckily, there's a simple way to solve the problem: the Dutch reach. In other words, instead of using your left hand, reach for the door latch(门锁) with your right hand. This will force you to turn your body and look into your side view mirror to see whether any car or bike is coming.
''It's just what Dutch people do,'' said Fred Wegman, the former managing director of the National Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands. ''All the Dutch are taught it. It's part of regular driver education.''
The technique dates back about 50 or 60 years, and it was very popular between the 1960s and the 1980s. But it didn't really become known as the Dutch reach until American physician named Michael Charney started the Dutch Reach Project in 2016 in an effort to popularize the practice in the United States. According to The Times, he was motivated by the death of a 27-year-old who rode into an open car door and died just five blocks from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Charney's efforts may be paying off. Both Massachusetts and Illinois now include the Dutch reach in their drivers’ manuals(手册).
1.What is the first paragraph intended to show?
A.The poor design of the car door and handle.
B.A common conflict between cars and bicycles.
C.A main cause of traffic accidents related to cyclists.
D.Possible risks connected with opening the car door.
2.What does the underlined word ''instinctual'' in Paragraph 2 mean?
A.Difficult B.Possible
C.Natural D.Dangerous
3.How does the Dutch reach help to reduce traffic accidents?
A.By making the person open the car door more easily.
B.By forcing the person to check for approaching traffic.
C.By reminding the person of the traffic lights frequently.
D.By helping the person see the side view mirror more clearly.
4.What made Charney introduce the Dutch reach into America?
A.Its popularity among Dutch people.
B.Its appearance in drivers’ manuals.
C.A project started in the year 2016.
D.The death caused by a traffic accident.
It was my first year of teaching. I was young and inexperienced, and had class after class of twenty kids just waiting for me to make a mistake.
After a particularly long night of grading papers and thinking about how many weeks I'd left until I could breathe, I had one of those mornings when I began to question my job choice. I'd become a teacher to help kids. Instead, I felt like I couldn't even help myself anymore. It was just Mother's Day, and as I sat at my desk surrounded by lesson plans, I wondered how I'd ever have enough energy to have children of my own.
That was when I heard a knock at my door. One of my students came in — the cool basketball-playing country boy who had accidentally broken my favorite snow globe so that I couldn't display nice things in my classroom. He handed me a large flower that probably came from his family's farm. He'd stuck a bird feather in it.
''I got you a Mother's Day gift,'' he said in a low voice. Most middle school and high school teachers don't receive presents. Christmas and Teacher Appreciation Day had already come and gone without any gifts. I was so shocked that I just stared.
Made nervous by my silence, he said, ''You know…since you're like a mother to us, I thought you should get a present, too.''
I smiled and told him he was the sweetest person in the entire world, and that I just loved it. Based on his smile, I knew I'd done enough work of making him feel quite proud of himself. What made that twelve-year-old bring me a homemade present? I'll never know. Once he left the room, I locked the door. And I cried. That moment helped me get through the rest of the school years.
1.What did the author think of her job as a teacher at the beginning?
A.Interesting. B.Tiring.
C.Rewarding. D.Demanding.
2.How did the boy feel when he gave his teacher the present?
A.Excited. B.Shocked.
C.Unwilling. D.Shy.
3.How did the author react when she was given the flower?
A.She was moved to tears.
B.She didn't accept the present.
C.She was too surprised to say anything.
D.She stared at the boy in puzzlement.
4.Which of the following encourages the author to continue teaching?
A.The sincere love from students.
B.Her positive attitude to life.
C.Her strong interest in teaching.
D.The achievements in her work.
