Until recently daydreaming was viewed as a waste of time or it__1._ (consider) an unhealthy escape from real life and its duties. But now some people are taking a fresh look at daydreaming. Some think it may be a very _2._(health) thing to do. Some researchers are finding that daydreaming may be important to mental health. Daydreaming, they tell us, _3.__ a good means of relaxation. But its benefits go_4.__ this. A number of psychologists have conducted experiments and have reached some__5.__(surprise) conclusion.
Dr. Joan T. Freyberg has concluded that daydreaming contributes growth. It also improves _6.__(concentrate), attention span, and the ability to get along with others. Industrialist Henry J.Kaiser believed that much of his success was due __7.__the positive use of daydreaming. Florence Nightingale dreamed of becoming a nurse. The young Thomas Edison pictured_8._as an inventor.
For these notable achievers, it appears that their daydreams came__9.__. Dr Harry Emerson Fosdick offered this advice: “Hold a picture of yourself…in your mind’s eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself__10._(vivid) as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible.
I was on a bus one March evening. The driver didn’t to start the bus soon because it was not yet . A middle-aged woman got on. Tired and sad, she told her story , not to anyone in particular. On her way to the station, half of her was stolen. The other half was hidden under her blouse, so she still had some left. A few minutes later, she stopped crying, but still looked .
When all the seats were taken, the driver started the engine. The conductor began to collect fares(车费). When she came to an old man in worn-out clothes, he that he had spent all his money when he had accidentally got on a wrong bus and now he was trying to go home. On hearing this, she ordered the old man to the bus. The old man was almost in tears as he her to let him take the bus home. The driver took the conductor’s side and repeated the conductor’s .
The woman was watching the incident. the driver and the conductor raised their voices at the old man, she interfered(干预).
“Stop him! Can’t you see he’s only trying to get home?”
“He doesn’t have any money! ” the driver .
“Well, that’s no to throw him off the bus,” she insisted.
Then she reached inside her blouse, look out her money, and handed it to the conductor. “Here’s his fare and mine. Just stop giving him a time.”
All heads turned to the woman. “It’s only money,” she shrugged.
She rode the rest of the way home a happy smile, with the money she’d lost earlier .
On the road of life, the help of strangers can our loads and lift our spirits. How much sweeter the will be when we make it a little smoother for others!
1.A. try B. care C. decide D. intend
2.A. empty B. full C. crowded D. ready
3.A. tearfully B. seriously C. carefully D. calmly
4.A. fare B. possession C. money D. wealth
5.A. strangely B. happily C. secretly D. fortunately
6.A. unsatisfied B. weak C. unhappy D. excited
7.A. explained B. declared C. admitted D. found
8.A. get off B. start C. get on D. stop
9.A. begged B. scolded C. praised D. thanked
10.A. request B. action C. suggestion D. command
11.A. Unless B. Although C. Until D. When
12.A. attacking B. bothering C. beating D. wronging
13.A. warned B. whispered C. shouted D. repeated
14.A. problem B. need C. matter D. reason
15.A. spending B. collected C. remaining D. borrowed
16.A. busy B. cold C. hard D. fearful
17.A. giving B. wearing C. taking D. forcing
18.A. forgotten B. used C. earned D. returned
19.A. move B. increase C. lighten D. carry
20.A. world B. journey C. smile D. friendship
Millions of people all over the world use the word OK. In fact, some people say the word is used more often than any other word in the world. OK means all right or acceptable. It expresses agreement or approval.
1. Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw(乔克托语). The Choctaw word “okeh” means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century.
But many people doubt this. Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word “OK” in reports published in the 1960s. He said the word began being used in the 1830s. 2. Some foreign-born people wrote “all correct” as “o-l-l-k-o-r-r-e-c-t”, and used the letters OK. Other people say a railroad worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first letters of his name--O and K--on each object people gave him to send on the train.
3. The organization supported Martin Van Buren for president in 1840. They called their group the OK club. The letters were taken from the name of the town where Martin was born--Old Kinderhook, New York.
Then there is the expression A-OK. It is a space-age expression. It was used in 1961 during the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. He was the first American to be launched into space. His flight ended when his spacecraft landed in the ocean, as planned. Shepard reported, “Everything is A-OK.” 4. One story says it was first used during the early days of the telephone to tell an operator that a message had been received.
There are also funny ways to say okay. 5. These expressions were first used in the 1930s. Today, a character on the American television series “The Simpsons” says it another way. He says okely-doke.
A. Some people say okey-dokey or okey-doke.
B. Still others say a political organization invented the word.
C. Therefore, it has become popular in that area from then on.
D. But many experts don’t agree on what the expression means.
E. Still, language experts do not agree about where the word came from.
F. It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the word “all correct”.
G. However, some experts say the expression did not begin with the space age.
It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货）, saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity（人性）as a whole. And it has influenced（影响）us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.
1.Why was the bike so important to the couple?
A. The man’s job was bike racing.
B. It was their only possession.
C. It was a nice Kona 18 speed.
D. They used it for work and daily life.
2.We can infer from the text that ____________.
A. the couple worked 60 hours a week.
B. people were busy before Christmas
C. the stranger brought over the bike
D. life was hard for the young family.
3.How did people get to know the couple’s problem?
A. From radio broadcasts. B. From a newspaper.
C. From TV news. D. From a stranger.
A couple had two little boys aged 8 and 10 who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that if any trouble occurred in their town their sons were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in the town had been successful in educating children so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed but asked to see them individually. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.
The clergyman, a huge man with a booming(嗡嗡) voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him strictly, "Where is God?"
The boy's mouth dropped open but he made no answer, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even stricter tone "Where is God?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted" Where is God?"
The boy screamed and escaped from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his elder brother found him in the closet, he asked "What happened?"
The younger brother replied out of breath, "We are in big trouble this time. God is missing--and they think we did it."
1.What were the two boys like?
A. They always made trouble. B. They were brave.
C. They were easygoing. D. They were honest.
2.What did their parents plan to do?
A. They gave up their children.
B. They liked their children very much.
C. They wanted the clergyman to persuade their children.
D. They helped their children to make trouble.
3.What do you suppose the boy felt when he was asked by the clergyman?
A. Happy. B. Sad.
C. Afraid. D. Surprised.
4.What do you think the underlined word "slamming" in Paragraph 5 means?
A. Open. B. Shut. C. Knock. D. Pull.
America is growing older. Fifty years ago, only 4 out of every 100 people in the United States were 65 or older. Today, 10 out of every 100 Americans are over 65. The aging of the population will affect American society in many ways--education, medicine, and business. Quietly, the graying(老龄化) of America has made us a very different society--one in which people have a quite different idea of what kind of behavior is suitable at various ages.
A person’s age no longer tells you anything about his/her social position, marriage or health. There’s no longer a particular year in which one goes to school or goes to work or gets married or starts a family. The social clock that kept us on time and told us when to go to school, get a job, or stop working isn’t as strong as it used to be. It doesn’t surprise us to hear of a 29-year-old university president or a 35-year-old grandmother, or a 70-year-old man who has become a father for the first time. Public ideas are changing.
Many people say, "I am much younger than my mother-or my father-was at my age." No one says "Act your age" anymore. We’ve stopped looking with surprise at older people who act in youthful ways.
1.It can be learned from the text that the aging of the population in America ______.
A. has made people feel younger
B. has changed people’s social position
C. has changed people’s understanding of age
D. has slowed down the country’s social development
2.The underlined word ‘one’ refers to _______.
A. a society B. America
C. a place D. population
3."Act your age" means people should _______.
A. be active when they are old
B. do the right thing at the right age
C. show respect to their parents young or old
D. take more physical exercises suitable to their age
4.If a 25-year-old man become general manager of a big firm, the writer of the text would most probably consider it _______.
A. normal B. wonderful
C. unbelievable D. unreasonable
