I was in desperate need of a break. The “witching hour” was upon us once again, dinner was burning on the stove, and fights were _________ between my two children. The crying was never- ending and I was _________ the end of my rope. But I was holding down the fort until way after bedtime.
I _________ a friend who has four children the same ages as mine, and she was in a similar_________. Our husbands were _________ the same meeting that night. I could hear the screaming in the _________, interrupted by Jen’s shouting. She kept _________ the phone to pick up the baby because he was crying. It seemed as if we were all suffering _________. Couldn’t there be a way for us to break up the sameness? _________!
The first play date was at Jen’s house the following Wednesday at 4:00 pm. My daughter________ into the basement playroom with the other children. Jen and I sat just __________ some adult company.
We ordered a pizza and salad, and all of the children actually ate their dinner. My kids aren’t big salad fans, but if other kids are eating it, __________ it’s cool. The entire large pizza was eaten up rapidly. Jen and I did the __________ together. When we were done, we invited them back and they all danced to a music DVD __________ it was time to go. My kids went __________ to bed when we got home. I felt rejuvenated(恢复活力的). The e-mail from Jen the next morning __________ her similar feelings. We were on to something and it had to __________.
The following Wednesday play date was at my house, and it was __________ the same. The kids had a great time __________. Watching kids play together without fighting is a truly great thing. Wednesday night gives me a chance to sit and really __________ my children as little people.
1.A. breaking up B. breaking out C. fading away D. dying down
2.A. on B. in C. at D. by
3.A. met B. called C. invited D. visited
4.A. situation B. condition C. consideration D. stage
5.A. attending B. holding C. participate D. join
6.A. environment B. atmosphere C. consequence D. background
7.A. throwing B. holding C. dropping D. talking
8.A. differently B. regularly C. equally D. slightly
9.A. Surprisingly B. Absolutely C. Perhaps D. Maybe
10.A. hid B. fell C. disappeared D. dragged
11.A. appreciating B. expecting C. imaging D. enjoying
12.A. apparently B. surprisingly C. similarly D. oppositely
13.A. cleaning B. washing C. cooking D. dancing
14.A. when B. unless C. until D. after
15.A. slowly B. actively C. unwillingly D. right
16.A. announced B. explained C. confirmed D. brought
17.A. improve B. start C. stop D. continue
18.A. usually B. exactly C. generally D. accurately
19.
A. making themselves up B. wearing themselves out
C. setting themselves apart D. giving themselves away
20.A. understand B. notice C. observe D. realize
Every one complains. Even if you argue that you are the happiest person in the world, you still complain sometimes. Sometimes you complain: without even realizing ill, but rarely is it ever helpful.1.Here are some tips to stop complaint and give up the negative thoughts:
2.
When you find yourself thinking or saying a negative comment about something or someone, stop and force yourself to say something positive instead. Seek the help of a cheerful friend to change you when you complain and help you to see the positive in the situation.
Make a list of things we are grateful for.
We often complain about the things we don't have without noticing those things we already have. Be grateful for what we have in our life because we are lucky simply for being ourselves. 3.
Learn to adapt to the changes.
There are many things we can't change.4.Always find the positive side of each situation, regardless of however difficult the situation is, with parents' and friends' support, we can survive any life changes.
Allow yourself to express your feelings every once in a while.
Constantly ignored negative thoughts could add up if you are really going through a hard time, don't be afraid to share your feelings with close friends or family members or see a therapist.
Find what makes you happy.
5. Maybe it is time to make the hard decision to move on to another job or career. Uncover what your biggest complaints are about and see if you can change the situation to make you happy. Stop complaining, focus on the positive, and be kind always!
A. Change the way you think
B. Make positive people friends
C. The best and only thing we can do is to accept them
D. Are you constantly complaining about your present job?
E. Sometimes this list can be easy, full of hobbies you enjoy
F. So how can you manage to force yourselves to end complaining?
G. Set down things we are thankful for and we'll see that we don't have any reason to complain.
You are enrolled in a full – time school called “life”. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
Why are you here? What is your purpose? Humans have sought to discover the meaning of life for a very long time. What we and our ancestors have overlooked, however, is that there is no one answer. The meaning of life is different for every individual.
Each person has his or her own purpose and distinct path, unique and separate from anyone else’s. As you travel your life path, you will be presented with numerous lessons that you will need to learn in order to fulfill that purpose. The lessons you are presented with are specific to you; learning these lessons is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and connection of your own life.
As you travel through your lifetime, you may encounter challenging lessons that others don’t have to face, while other spends years struggling with challenges that you don’t need to deal with. You may never know why you are blessed with a wonderful marriage, while your friends suffer through bitter arguments and painful divorces, just as you cannot be sure why you struggle financially while your peers enjoy abundance. The only thing you can count on for certain is that you will be presented with all the lessons that you specifically need to learn; whether you choose to learn them or not is entirely up to you.
The challenge here, therefore, is to align (与……保持一致) yourself with your own unique path by learning individual lessons. This is one of the most difficult challenges you will be faced with in your lifetime, as sometimes your path will be completely different from others’. But, remember, don’t compare your path to the people around you and focus on the difference between their lessons and yours. You need to remember that you will only be faced with lessons that you are capable of learning and are specific to your own growth.
Our sense of fairness is the expectation of equality – the assumption that all things are equal and justice will always prevail. Life is not, in fact, fair, and you may indeed have a more difficult life path than others around you, deserved or not. Everyone’s circumstances are unique, and everyone needs to handle his or her own circumstances differently. If you want to move toward calm, you will be required to move out of the complaining phase of “it’s not fair”. Focusing on the unfairness of circumstances keeps you comparing yourself with others rather than appreciating your own special uniqueness. You miss out on learning your individual lessons by distracting yourself with feelings of bitterness and anger.
1.According to the passage, how can the meaning of your life be realized?
A. Having the same opinions as others.
B. Taking the distinct path from others.
C. Learning the lessons presented to you.
D. Doing the different things from others.
2.What can we conclude from the passage ?
A. everyone has his own track to follow
B. the same things usually happen to the peers
C. a painful divorce must lie in financial problems
D. a wealthy man must have a wonderful marriage
3.In your lifetime, the lessons you are faced with_________.
A. are beyond your power B. keep you from growth
C. limit your development D. help you with your success
4.Which of the following is TRUE?
A. All things are equal and justice will always prevail.(流行)
B. You should learn to appreciate your specific uniqueness.
C. One has to fix his mind on unfairness of circumstances.
D. You have to complain “it’s not fair” whenever possible.
There are two types of people in this world: those who regularly wash their office coffee cup. And those who only take it off their desk to cover up the coffee mark at the bottom with a fresh pour, driving away their shame with the reasoning that the heat must kill the bacteria or spine thing.
Depending on which type of person you are, this will be either mildly annoying or more-than-mildly exciting. As Heidi Mitchell wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal column, it’s fine to never wash your cup, as long as you’re not sharing it with anybody else.
There are two warnings to that statement, infectious-disease expert Jeffrey Strake, a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, told Mitchell; One, it only applies if you’re not sharing the cup with anybody else. And two , if you leave cream or sugar in your cup over the weekend, that can certainly cause mold(霉) to grow – in which case, wash it out.
Otherwise, though, there’s not really much to worry about. “If I went and cultured the average unwashed coffee cup, of course I would find bacteria.” Starke said. “But remember the vast majority came from the person who used the cup.” Even if you drink from it while sick, it’s pretty hard to re-infect yourself with the same cup; most viruses don’t live long outside the body, which means that just letting your cup live in its own dirt may be a safer bet than the alternative; cleaning it with the disgusting sponge(海绵) in the office kitchen “The sponge in the break room probably has the highest bacteria count of anything in the office.” Starke said if the idea of not washing horrifies you , just stick the sponge in the microwave before using. Otherwise, though, reel free to continue your lazy ways without guilt.
1.What does the passage intend to tell us?
A. It is harmful to drink coffee with sugar.
B. It’s okay not to wash your coffee cup regularly.
C. The hot water contributes to the bacteria growing.
D. Drinking from unwashed coffee cups causes diseases easily.
2.What do we know from Stark’s words?
A. The coffee cup in the office must be put in the microwave to clean.
B. It’s easy to get infected if you often use the same unwashed cup.
C. The coffee cup shouldn’t be shared in the office.
D. It’s good way to grow bacteria in an unwashed cup.
3.What does the underlined part “your lazy ways” refer to ?
A. Leaving your coffee cup unwashed. B. Sticking the sponge in the microwave
C. Using Paper cups only in the office D. Cleaning your coffee cup with sponge.
4.Where does the passage probably come from?
A. A travel brochure. B. A science magazine.
C. An official statement. D. An entertainment program.
A thief who dropped a winning lottery ticket at the scene of his crime has been given a
lesson in honesty. His victim, who picked up the ticket, then claimed the $25,000 prize, managed to trace him, and handed over the cash. The robbery happened when maths professor VinicioSabbatucci, 58, was changing a tire on an Italian motorway. Another motorist, who stopped “to
help”, stole a suitcase from his car and drove off. The professor found the dropped ticket and put it in his pocket before driving home to Ascoli in eastern Italy.
Next day, he saw the lottery results on TV and, taking out the ticket, realized it was a winner.He claimed the 60 million lire(里拉)prize. Then he began a battle with his conscience. Finally, he
decided he could not keep the money despite having been robbed. He advertised in newspapers
and on the radio, saying, “I’m trying to find the man who robbed me. I have 60 million lire for him—a lottery win. Please meet me. Anonymity(匿名)guaranteed.”
Professor Sabbatucci received hundreds of calls from people hoping to trick him into
handing them the cash. But there was one voice he recognized and he arranged to meet the man
In a park.The robber, a 35‐year-old unemployed father of two, gave back the suitcase and burst
into tears. He could not believe what was happening. “Why didn’t you keep the money?” he
asked. The professor replied, “I couldn’t because it’s not mine.” Then he walked off, spurning the thief’s offer of a reward.
1.The sentence “Then he began a battle with his conscience.” in Paragraph 2 implies all of the
following except that _________.
A. he thought for a moment of avenging himself on the robber
B. he hesitated about keeping the money for some time
C. he knew what he should do as soon as he saw the lottery results
D. he came to realize that honesty is more important than money
2.Why did hundreds of people phone Professor Sabbaturcci ?
A. wanted to make fun of him B. hoped to get the money
C. knew who the robber was D. lost the lottery ticket
3.How did the robber feel when the victim wanted to find him?
A. Excited B. Frightened C. Ashamed D. Incredible
4.If the story appears in a newspaper,what might be the best title ?
A. A Thief’s Lucky Day B. A Popular Maths Professor
C. A Magic Lottery D. A Reward of Honesty
This brief book is aimed at high school students, but speaks to anyone learning at any stage of life.
Its formal, serious style closely matches its content, a school-masterly book on schooling. The author, W. H. Armstrong, starts with the basics: reading and writing. In his opinion, reading doesn’t just mean recognizing each word on the page; it means taking in the information, digesting it and incorporating it into oneself just as one digests a sandwich and makes it a part of him. The goal is to bring the information back to life, not just to treat it as dead facts on paper from dead trees. Reading and writing cannot be completely separated from each other; in fact, the aim of reading is to express the information you have got from the text. I’ve seen it again and again ：Someone who can’t express an idea after reading a text is just as ineffective as someone who hasn’t read it at all.
Only a third of the book remains after that discussion, which Armstrong devotes to specific tips for studying languages, math, science and history. He generally handles these topics thoroughly and equally, except for some weakness in the science and math sections and a bit too much passion(激情）regarding history to his students, that was a hundred times more than my history teachers ever got across. To my disappointment, in this part of the book he ignores the arts. As a matter of fact, they demand all the concentration and study that math and science do, though the study differs slightly in kind. Although it’s commonly believed that the arts can only be naturally acquired, actually, learning the arts is no more natural than learning French or mathematics.
My other comment is that the text aged. The first edition apparently dates to the 1960s—none of the references(参考文献)seem newer than the late 1950s. As a result, the discussion misses the entire computer age.
These are small points, though, and don’t affect the main discussion. I recommend it to any student and any teacher, including the self-taught student.
1.According to Armstrong, what is the goal of reading?
A. gain knowledge and expand one’s view
B. express ideas based on what one has read
C. understand the meaning between the lines
D. gets information and keeps it alive in memory
2.The author of the passage insists that learning the arts_________.
A. is as natural as learning a language B. demands real passion C. is less natural than learning maths
D. requires great efforts
3.What can this passage be classified as?A. an advertisement B. a book review C. a feature story D. a news report
