My day began on a definitely sour note when I saw my six-year-old wrestling with a limb of my azalea（杜鹃花）bush. By the time I got outside, he’d broken it. “Can I take this to school today?” he asked. With a wave of my hand, I sent him off. I turned my back so he wouldn’t see the tears gathering in my eyes.
The washing machine had leaked on my brand-new linoleum. If only my husband had just taken the time to fix it the night before when I asked him instead of playing checkers with Jonathan.
It was days like this that made me want to quit. I just wanted to drive up to the mountains, hide in a cave, and never come out.
Somehow I spent most of the day washing and drying clothes and thinking how love had disappeared from my life. As I finished hanging up the last of my husband’s shirts, I looked at the clock. 2:30. I was late. Jonathan’s class let out at 2:15 and I hurriedly drove to the school.
I was out of breath by the time I knocked on the teacher’s door and peered through the glass. She rustled through the door and took me aside. “I want to talk to you about Jonathan,” she said.
I prepared myself for the worst. Nothing would have surprised me. “Did you know Jonathan brought flowers to school today?” she asked. I nodded, thinking about my favorite bush and trying to hide the hurt in my eyes. “Let me tell you about yesterday,” the teacher insisted. “See that little girl?” I watched the bright-eyed child laugh and point to a colorful picture taped to the wall. I nodded.
“Well, yesterday she was almost hysterical. Her mother and father are going through a nasty divorce. She told me she didn’t want to live, she wished she could die. I watched that little girl bury her face in her hands and say loud enough for the class to hear, ‘Nobody loves me.’ I did all I could to comfort her, but it only seemed to make matters worse.” “I thought you wanted to talk to me about Jonathan,” I said.
“I do,” she said, touching the sleeve of my blouse. “Today your son walked straight over to that child. I watched him hand her some pretty pink flowers and whisper, ‘I love you.’“
I felt my heart swell with pride for what my son had done. I smiled at the teacher. “Thank you,” I said, reaching for Jonathan’s hand, “you’ve made my day.”
Later that evening, I began pulling weeds from around my azalea bush. As my mind wandered back to the love Jonathan showed the little girl, a biblical verse came to me: “...these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” While my son had put love into practice, I had only felt anger.
I heard the familiar squeak of my husband’s brakes as he pulled into the drive. I snapped a small limb bristling with hot pink azaleas off the bush. I felt the seed of love that God planted in my family beginning to bloom once again in me. My husband’s eyes widened in surprise as I handed him the flowers. “I love you,” I said.
1.Why did the woman cry when seeing her son had broken the azalea bush?
A.Because she could not tolerate the harm to it.
B.Because it made her bad mood even worse.
C.Because her son did not ask her for permission.
D.Because she wanted to hand it to her husband.
2.The writer wanted to hide in the mountain cave probably for the reason of .
A.feeling fed up with her endless daily housework
B.her husband’s failing to fix the machine in time
C.boring daily routine with a feeling of lack of love
D.her hoping to seek happiness in a brand new place
3.We can infer from the passage that the writer expressed love to her husband in that .
A.she was inspired by her son that love was supposed to be felt and practiced
B.she felt guilty that she misunderstood her husband and wanted to apologize
C.she felt it necessary to have a complete family for the happiness of herself
D.she wanted to prove her love and expected the same words from her husband
It doesn’t kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the US burns carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent to the fuel use of a small country.
It’s cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you think you know about hand washing, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. Chances are good that how you clean up is not helping you stay healthy; it is helping to make the planet sick.
Amanda R. Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment in Tennessee, told National Geographic that hand washing is often “a case where people act in ways that they think are in their best interest, but they in fact have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions.”
Carrico said, “It’s certainly true that heat kills bacteria, but if you were going to use hot water to kill them it would have to be way too hot for you to tolerate.”
She explained that boiling water, 212°F (99.98°C), is sometimes used to kill germs — for example, to clean drinking water that might be polluted with germs. But “hot” water for hand washing is generally within 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C.) At the high end of that range, heat could kill some germs, but the sustained contact that would be required would scald the skin.
Carrico said that after a review of the scientific literature, her team found “no evidence that using hot water that a person could stand would have any benefit in killing bacteria.” Even water as cold as 40°F (4.4°C) appeared to reduce bacteria as well as hotter water, if hands were scrubbed, rinsed (冲洗) and dried properly.
In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an unfavorable effect on hygiene. “Warmer water can harm the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less resistant to bacteria,” said Carrico.
Using hot water to wash hands is therefore unnecessary, as well as wasteful, Carrico said, particularly when it comes to the environment. According to her research, people use warm or hot water 64 percent of the time when they wash their hands. Using that number, Carrico’s team calculated a significant impact on the planet.
“Although the choice of water temperature during a single hand wash may appear minor, when multiplied by the nearly 800 billion hand washes performed by Americans each year, this practice results in more than 6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually,” she said.
That’s roughly equal to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants, or 1,250, 000 passenger vehicles, over the course of a year. It’s higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is about equivalent to the emissions of Barbados. If all US citizens washed their hands in cooler water, it would be like eliminating the energy-related carbon emissions of 299,700 US homes, or the total annual emissions from the US zinc or lead industries.
The researchers found that close to 70 percent of respondents said they believe that using hot water is more effective than warm, room temperature, or cold water, despite a lack of evidence backing that up, said Carrico. Her study noted research that showed a “strong cognitive（认知的） connection” between water temperature and hygiene in both the United States and Western Europe,compared to other countries, like Japan, where hot water is associated more with comfort than with health.
The researchers published their results in the July 2013 issue of International Journal of Consumer Studies. They recommended washing with water that is at a “comfortable” temperature, which they noted may be warmer in cold months and cooler in hot ones.
1.What does the writer mainly focus on when writing this passage?
A.Whether hot water helps kill germs effectively in hand washing.
B.How hot water contributes to the serious worsening of our planet.
C.Why the consumption of hot water is unnecessary and wasteful.
D.What the advantages and disadvantages of using hot water are.
2.The underlined word scald in paragraph six probably means.
A.burn B.improve C.soften D.wrinkle
3.According to the passage, all the following share roughly the same CO2 emissions yearly EXCEPT.
A.two coal-fired power plants
B.US zinc or lead industries
C.1,250, 000 passenger vehicles
D.El Salvador or Armenia
4.Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
A.Boiling water at 212°F (99.98°C) works effectively in killing germs.
B.Warmer water can damage the protective layer of the outside skin.
C.There is much difference between cold water and hot water in reducing bacteria.
D.Americans have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions in hand washing.
5.Which of the following is the standard of a comfortable water temperature for washing hands?
A.Warmer in winter and cooler in summer.
B.Between 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C).
C.Below 104°F (40°C) or above 131°F (55°C).
D.Warm enough to kill germs and clean up.
6.If you want to read stories of this kind afterwards, which of the following magazines will you probably subscribe to?
A.Universal Science Fiction
B.Science & Discoveries
C.Environment & Protection
D.Exploration of America
Never before had a Kitchen so much of a History
It tells of Freedom, Success, and of the Architecture of big American cities. Because that is where it started: in the second half of the 19th century!
Welcome to a new Era of Kitchen Interior Design
Back then, a Generation of successful American Entrepreneurs dreamt of a new style of Architecture to express their personal wealth. This dream was realized by young architects such as Daniel Burnham and Stanford White. They all had studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. And they created a new style for Architecture and Interior Design, named after the famous French Art Institute: Beaux-Arts.
SieMatic BeauxArts Breaks and Creates
In fact, it was not a new style at all, but a composition of styles from different periods and cultures. Many world-famous structures such as the Chicago Art Institute and the Statue of Liberty account for it. But what does that have to do with your kitchen? Just as much as you want it to. Because in the same way that the anti-conventional architects back then took the freedom to combine elements from different historical eras, today, you too can break the conventional rules of style and create something new: your own personal composition of your kitchen. For that, SieMatic BeauxArts offers unique opportunities: A broad range of seemingly conflicting features that you combine to a harmonious design of your own. You can choose from menu of various forms, appealing colors, and precious materials, to create an environment that is much more than just a kitchen: a reflection of your personality.
1.Why did the BeauxArts style attract American entrepreneurs?
A.It helped display their money status.
B.It was created by famous architects.
C.It was named after a famous institute.
D.It represented the 19th century urban culture.
2.What is unique of SieMatic BeauxArts?
A.Its designs are anti-conventional.
B.Its designs come from famous structures.
C.Its customers can enjoy their own composition.
D.Its customers can choose from various new styles.
The little boy turned to the old woman next to him, ‘‘Granny, are you sure I don’t have enough money?’’ She nodded. The little boy was still _______ the doll (洋娃娃) in his hand.
I walked toward him, _______who he wished to give this doll to. “Sister. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring a doll to her.” I told him that maybe Santa Claus would do so. But he replied to me _______, “No, Santa Claus (圣诞老人) can’t bring it to her _______ she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she _______ there. My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, _______ I thought she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.’’
The little boy looked _______ at me, “I told Daddy to tell Mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall. I _______ she didn’t have to leave me, but Daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.” Then he looked _______ at the doll with sad eyes.
I quickly __________ for my wallet. “Let’s check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll!” “OK. I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to __________ without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and __________ some spare money. “Thank you God for giving me enough money!” He looked at me and __________, “I wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my Mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God __________too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”
__________I remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, mentioning a drunk man in a truck hit a car __________by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl __________ right away and the mother was __________in a critical state.
Two days __________this encounter (偶然相遇) with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young__________had passed away.
1.A.raising B.holding C.hiding D.tearing
2.A.considering B.understanding C.watching D.asking
3.A.proudly B.hurriedly C.sadly D.angrily
4.A.where B.what C.who D.when
5.A.comes B.finds C.goes D.leaves
6.A.so B.for C.but D.as
7.A.down B.on C.to D.up
8.A.think B.wish C.imagine D.find
9.A.then B.sadly C.again D.now
10.A.reached B.looked C.searched D.charged
11.A.myself B.him C.his D.them
12.A.still B.yet C.also D.even
13.A.nodded B.added C.laughed D.showed
14.A.to B.for C.in D.on
15.A.Now B.Therefore C.However D.Then
16.A.occupied B.controlled C.attacked D.owned
17.A.left B.died C.came D.killed
18.A.knocked B.treated C.left D.kept
19.A.after B.since C.until D.before
20.A.man B.girl C.boy D.woman
Last year the number of students who graduated with a driving license reached 200,000,a(n)______of 40,000 per year.
A.average B.number
C.amount D.quantity
After the earthquake, the first thing the local government did was to provide for the homeless families.
A.accommodation B.occupation
C.equipment D.furniture
