My online friend Steve 1.(frequent) comments on how fathers are often not included in the conversation when 2.Comes to parenting. When someone posts an article about how moms spend a large amount of time 3.(help) with homework each night, he will comment that it isn’t just moms 4. are right there with their sleeves 5.(roll) up; fathers are doing all the same things that moms do. However, they 6.(award) none of the credit for their performance.
Of course he is right. Steve and millions 7. Other dads are there with their kids every day. They are there making a special hairstyle for Crazy Hair Day. They read bedtime stories to their kids. They volunteer at the preschool. They make sandwiches cut into funny 8.(shape).
So for Steve and those dads who do the dirty work of parenting and love it as well as those who can’t to see little faces each morning, we wish you 9.Happy Father’s Day. You are awesome. Your little kid and your wife are 10.(fortune) to have you. Enjoy your time on this special day!
Our family’s first hosting experience began in January of 2015 with our Italian daughter Victoria. We had so much fun with her that we could not___________to experience a new, different country, so we__________to host another World Heritage Exchange Student.
As soon as we saw Merna’s information, we knew she was_________,a YES Scholarship student, and Egyptian. We began to fall in love with our Egyptain__________right away. We Skyped, and emailed for five months________she arrived in the US. When she__________got off the plane, it was as if we were finally a(n)________family again.
My husband and I grew up believing that other cultures_______us, and hosting a foreign Exchange Student just seems so_________for us. We felt it would be a__________experience for our children to grow up seeing other cultures and learning to love others as a(n)_________. Our small children are enjoying the experience vastly, learning a new language________, and realizing that the other side of the world is not all that________our country.
Merna is small, loving, helpful, charming, caring and a real__________to our lives. She has ________us all so much. We cannot__________our lives without our Italian and Egyptain daughters. We do plan to travel to________countries because of them, and we will be sending our children as exchange students to live with our new_________families.
I want to thank World Heritage for_________a chance for our family to grow from four children to six children all in one year. We are all excited at this experience of a lifetime and will forever________it.
1.A. help B. choose C. wait D. intend
2.A. applied B. afforded C. managed D. remembered
3.A. brilliant B. ambitious C. cute D. loyal
4.A. friend B. student C. daughter D. relative
5.A. once B. after C. since D. before
6.A. even B. already C. just D. ever
7.A. big B. foreign C. free D. whole
8.A. appeal to B. stick to C. belong to D. take to
9.A. common B. natural C. apparent D. simple
10.A. normal B. personal C. promising D. rewarding
11.A. companion B. reminder C. equal D. individual
12.A. little by little B. few by few C. one by one D. side by side
13.A. amongst B. unlike C. opposite D. about
14.A. guest B. heroine C. believer D. blessing
15.A. offered B. warned C. taught D. left
16.A. live B. enjoy C. imagine D. continue
17.A. other B. another C. all D. both
18.A. extended B. increased C. formed D. loved
19.A. having B. providing C. getting D. allowing
20.A. conduct B. appreciate C. desire D. adore
If you’re in your 20s or even 30s, you might feel a lot of uncertainty all the time. You may be not sure what your life purpose is.1.This is normal.
We all want to have a certain life purpose. We all want to feel we’re on the right path. We all want to perfect our habits, our routines, or our productivity. We all want to feel more certain, and perfect in what we’re doing.
There is a struggle between the comfort of certainty and perfection and the fear of uncertainty and being suboptimal(不最理想的).
Let me let you in on a secret: no one is free from this struggle. Look at the most successful people you can think of —Bill Gates, Obama, Taylor Swift. 2.Do you think they have certainty and a feeling of reaching perfection? Not a chance. There is not one of us alive, not me or anyone else, who ever feels certainty about their purpose or path. If they do, they’re fooling themselves. 3.
No one ever feels they’ve found the perfect productivity routine, the perfect version of themselves. 4.
We all feel uncertainty, all day, and we all struggle with it. Some people have grown more comfortable with it than others, but in general no one likes uncertainty.
5.That’s perfectly OK, perfectly normal. Don’t run from it. Instead, stay with this uncomfortable, unappealing uncertainty. It’s here in you, a part of this moment, a part of you but not the whole of you.
A.Because it doesn’t exist.
B.Do you think they have it all figured out?
C.This uncertainty you’re feeling is unpleasant.
D.But if they’re honest, they don’t feel that certainty.
E.See if you can tell what you’re being uncertain about.
F.So focus on what you actually have right in front of you.
G.You may be uncertain about what path you should take in life.
The World Health Organization says the widespread use of sugar in food products and drinks is a major concern in many areas. So WHO officials are calling on governments to require taxes on sugary drinks in an effort to limit their usage and popularity. The officials believe the taxes also would reduce the risk of health problems resulting from obesity.
Obesity is a condition in which the body stores large, unhealthy amounts of fat. Obese individuals are considered overweight. A new report says that in 2014 more than one-third of the adults in the world were overweight, and 500 million were considered obese. The United Nations agency estimates that in 2015, 42 million children under age 5 were either overweight or obese. It says that number represents an increase of about 11 million during the past 15 years. Almost half of these boys and girls live in Asia and one-fourth in Africa.
The U.N. agency blames unhealthy diets for a rise in diabetes cases. There are 422 million cases of the disease worldwide. WHO says 1.5 million people die from it every year. It says the use of sugar in food products, like sugary drinks, is a major reason for the increase in rates of obesity and diabetes.
Temo Waqanivalu is with the agency’s Department for the Prevention on Non-Communicable Diseases. He told VOA hat taxing sugary drinks would reduce consumption and save lives. Waganivalu noted that Mexico enacted a 10 percent tax on sugary drinks in 2014. He said by the end of the year, there was a 6 percent drop in the consumption of such drinks. Among poor people, the number of people who consumed sugary drinks dropped by 17 percent.
The WHO says people should limit the amount of sugar they consume. It says they should keep their sugar intake to below 10 percent of their total energy needs, and reduce it to less than 5 percent for improved health.
1.Why are taxes on sugary drinks required?
A. To limit their use and popularity.
B. To readjust the economic structure.
C. To warn people to change their life style.
D. To ensure the market’s diverse development.
2.What do the figures in the second paragraph suggest?
A. Adult obesity is ignored at present.
B. Obesity is a severe worldwide problem.
C. Obesity can block economic development.
D. Obesity is most serious in developed countries.
3.What does the underlined word “enacted” mean in the passage?
A. Abolish B. Pass
C. Promise D. Reduce
4.What does the example of Mexico prove?
A. Tax policies are unfair to the poor.
B. Sugary drinks are a threat to health.
C. The poor consume more sugary drinks.
D. Taxing sugary drinks makes a difference.
Although Paris is often considered the city of romance, close to a million adults who call it home are single. Many single people say that France’s capital is one of the most difficult places to meet people. The complaints of this lonely group have inspired a new phenomenon known as “supermarket dating”. At Galerie Lafayette Gourmet, singles can shop for more than just the items on their grocery list. They can look for someone who has blue eyes，brown hair, and is 1.8 meters tall, or whatever may be on their romantic shopping list.
At this Paris location, single people of all ages can schedule their shopping for Thursday nights between 6:30 and 9:00 p.m. When they walk through the door, they pick up a purple basket to advise that they are looking for love. They try to arrive early because the baskets disappear quickly, and then they have to wait in line for their turn to wander the store aisles. With purple baskets in hand, shoppers can consider their romantic options while they pick out their groceries. When they are ready to pay, they can go to the checkout line for singles who want to chat.
Most of the people who look for love in the supermarket are skeptical of Internet dating. They know that it is easy to embellish (美化) one’s appearance or to lie about one’s age over the Internet. The supermarket, on the other hand, is considered a safe and casual environment in which to meet a potential match. In addition, what one finds in another’s grocery basket can say a thing or two about that person’s character or intentions. Buying pet food can be a man’s way of showing a potential match that he has a sensitive side. Women who fill their baskets with low-fat food show their healthy style of living. These days it’s possible to find much more than food at a grocery store.
1.What do many single people in Pairs complain about?
A. The difficulty in finding a match.
B. The idea of supermarket dating.
C. The items on their grocery list.
D. The inconvenience in shopping.
2.Which of the following can be inferred but is not clearly stated in the second paragraph?
A. The dating supermarket is located in Paris.
B. The dating supermarket is open only on Thursday evenings.
C. Only single people can shop in the supermarket.
D. The dating supermarket has very good business.
3.How do love shoppers meet one another?
A. They schedule their meeting in advance.
B. They go through a special checkout.
C. They pick out their groceries with great care.
D. They dial the phone numbers on their shopping items.
4.Why do the people prefer the supermarket dating to Internet dating?
A. The supermarket dating is more convenient.
B. The supermarket dating is more fun.
C. The supermarket dating is more trustworthy.
D. The supermarket dating is more economical.
I hate Black Friday sales. It’s often a gathering of people who are here for many different reasons. Some are looking for a deal on that one item for their loved one, or perhaps themselves. Their intentions are completely unrelated to the festive time of the year.
It was several years ago when my wife asked me to meet her at the local department store on Black Friday morning. They had advertised a child’s bike that she wanted to purchase for our son. We stood with a very large crowd, waiting for the manager to blow the whistle. After a while the whistle blew, it was like throwing a bucket of small fish into a tank of sharks. I suddenly felt my wife’s hope was slim. I told her that if we obtained a bike, fine, but if we did not, I was OK with that too.
As the pile of bikes began to gradually decrease in size, I saw my polite opportunity to wrap my hands around the comer of one of the boxes. I lifted it up and suddenly felt some mild resistance. I looked up see one of the largest gentlemen I had ever seen in my life. Frightening was not the word to describe his presence. He wore lots of belts of metal studded leather around both arms and even his neck. Tattoos (纹身) were an obvious passion of his.
I started to give up the box but he gently pushed it back in my direction and back into my hands. He then directed it into my shopping cart. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “Merry Christmas.” My wife and I went to the checkout, paid for the bike and went home. All the way home I was thinking that this moment was by far the best gift I had ever received for Christmas. The kindness of a stranger broke all preconceived notions (预想) I may have had of stereotypes and prejudices.
1.How did the author feel when going into the store?
A. The crowd was like small fish. B. They might not get the bike.
C. He was excited to do the shopping. D. The whistle was blown too late.
2.What happened when the author was buying the bike?
A. He was scared by a man’s look at first. B. A gentleman bought the bike for him.
C. A stranger helped him lift the box. D. He gave up the bike he first touched.
3.What can we learn from the author’s experience?
A. Look before you leap. B. Custom is a second nature.
C. Doing is better than saying. D. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
4.What may be the best title for the passage?
A. Black Friday Sales B. My son’s best bike
C. The best Christmas gift D. A strange gentleman
