My parents passed away ten years ago and I miss them terribly. But I know they are with me every day in what they taught me and in the ______ they gave me. Every morning my father’s message to me was: Remember that ______ you walk out of this door, you carry responsibility, the good name of this family, the hopes and dreams of your mom and dad. My mother often urged me to ______ the high standards she set for me.
When I was in high school, I played in a rock band with friends in my class. We were devoted and practiced constantly. We moved past the guys - in - a - garage stage and ______ to be pretty good, doing getting - paid gigs (演奏会) most weekends, which made me ______. At that time, though part of me was ______ up in that band, another part of me was the oldest son in the Clark family,______ of my origin and a dedicated student busy applying to colleges. Without even telling my parents, I applied to Harvard. I didn’t think I had much chance of getting in,______ I wanted to try. So I was riding around being Mr Cool Rock Musician half of the time, and the other half I was focused on family and ______ goals. I was running on parallel ______.
When the group won a city wide Battle of the Bands, things heated up. My band mates had stars in their eyes - we might be able to make it big. However, I began to feel ______. I realized I was on quite different tracks: I ______ was becoming two people,______ identities back and forth depending on who I was with. I had to make an option. As I considered my ______, my parents’ words were right there, helping me to see that my dreams weren’t about signing a record deal, letting my hair grow, and living in a tour bus. So I ______ out. My bandmasters were ______. They thought I was crazy to withdraw ______ the peak of real success. But however successful that band got, I knew it wasn’t in line with my ______, with my feeling of what I was ______ to do, with who I was - it simply wasn’t me.
In that instant and in many others throughout my life, my parent’s advice has helped me recenter and ______. I could remember who I was - the hopes and dreams I carried.
1.A. property B. advice C. guide D. aid
2.A. when B. before C. while D. since
3.A. come up with B. stand up to C. live up to D. keep pace with
4.A. got B. failed C. hoped D. attempted
5.A. lost B. disappointed C. confused D. thrilled
6.A. wrapped B. centered C. spent D. offered
7.A. scared B. proud C. guilty D. ashamed
8.A. if B. unless C. until D. yet
9.A. economic B. political C. academic D. literary
10.A. tracks B. ways C. processes D. directions
11.A. confident B. optimistic C. cheerful D. uncomfortable
12.A. exactly B. actually C. eventually D. fortunately
13.A. switching B. acting C. discovering D. seeking
14.A. conditions B. choices C. competence D. health
15.A. gave B. looked C. called D. dropped
16.A. disturbed B. cool C. shocked D. tolerant
17.A. in B. to C. by D. at
18.A. goals B. interests C. personality D. consideration
19.A. meant B. demanded C. forced D. aimed
20.A. recall B. refocus C. rebuild D. reunite
I had an experience once which taught me something about the ways people made a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I officiated (主持) at two funerals for two elderly women.1.. At the first home, the son of the deceased (已故) woman said, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son said, “If only I had not insisted her going to Florida, she would be alive today.2.. It is my fault.”
When things don’t turn out as we would like them to, we tend to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course, for example, keeping mother at home, would have turned out better.3.
There seem to be two elements involved in our readiness to feel guilty. The first lies in our belief that the world makes sense—there is a reason for everything that happens.
The second is the thought that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen.4.. A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and calls the rest of the world to its tasks.5.. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely abandon that childish thought that our wishes cause things to happen.
A. That long airplane ride was more than she could take.
B. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
C. Life and dead is an unsolved mystery.
D. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
E. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him.
F. Both died a natural death.
G. They believe that they are responsible for what has happened.
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents “point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents” complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is - politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg - the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority - someone who actually knows something - and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
1.Why does the author compare the parent - teen war to a border conflict?
A. both can continue for generations.
B. Both are about where to draw the line.
C. Neither has any clear winner.
D. Neither can be put to an end.
2.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.
B. The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict.
C. The teens cause their parents of misleading them.
D. The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents.
3.Parents and teens want to be right because they want to .
A. give orders to the other
B. know more than the other
C. gain respect from the other
D. get the other to behave properly
Susan was born as the ninth child in a Catholic family. She suffered from learning disabilities ever since her birth because of her mother’s poor health.
School was difficult for Susan and she was bullied because of her different behaviors. Her siblings, who were much older, had life experiences that were unknown to their little sister. From the time of her birth, Susan was a screamer. The only really safe place that she would use as a repeat was her bedroom. There she would hang posters of her musical idols on the wall and sing popular music into a hairbrush that she pretended was a microphone.
One by one the siblings moved away from home and then Susan’s father died. This left her alone with an aging mother and a cat. The siblings accused her mother of not expecting more out of Susan. She had seen many professionals and remembered hearing the word “borderline” but didn’t know what it meant. She tried volunteer work. Her best state of mind, however, was found when she was singing and so she would regularly join others in karaoke or pubs where she could show her skills and receive appreciation from the crowd.
When Susan announced at Christmas that she was planning to compete in the Britain’s Got Talent contest, her siblings tried to discourage her. It was a wonder that she was even able to do the audition considering the troubles she faced just physically getting to the right place.
“The Woman I Was Born to Be” is a beautiful story written in the simple but humorous voice of the author, Susan Boyle. She tells her story from birth to the present in an interesting and educational manner. The writing is supplemented by photos from her albums.
I love this book! In fact, I read the whole thing in one day!
There is something in the stories that not only teaches the reader but also inspires us to reach for our dreams — no matter how impossible they may seem to be!
1.This passage should be .
A. a news report B. a biography
C. an introduction D. a book review
2.According to the passage, which was NOT true?
A. Susan tried doing a lot of volunteer work.
B. Susan’s mother expected too much out of her.
C. Susan’s siblings tried to stop her from competing in the Britain’s Got Talent contest.
D. Susan’s performances were well received by the customers in pubs.
3.What does the author think of Susan Boyle?
A. Pitiful and selfless. B. Shy and passive.
C. Determined and inspiring. D. Great and generous.
Everybody hates it, but everybody does it. A recent report said that 40%of Americans hate tipping. In America alone, tipping is a $ 16 billion-a-year industry. Consumers acting politely ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service. Tips should not exist. So why do they? The common opinion in the past was that tips both rewarded the efforts of good service and reduced uncomfortable feelings of inequality. And also, tipping makes for closer relations. It went without saying that the better the service, the bigger the tip.
But according to a new research from Cornell University, tips no longer serve any useful function. The paper analyzes numbers they got from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants. The connection between larger tips and better service was very weak. Only a tiny part of the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service.
Tipping is better explained, by culture than by the money people spend. In America, the custom came into being a long time ago. It is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In New York restaurants, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean dissatisfaction from the customers. Hairdressers can expect to get l5%-20%, and the man who delivers your fast food $ 2. In Europe, tipping is less common. In many restaurants the amount of tip is decided by a standard service charge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all. Only a few have really taken to tipping. According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell papers’ author, countries in which people are more social or outgoing tend to tip more. Tipping may reduce anxiety about being served by strangers. And Mr. Lynn says, “In America, where people are expressive and eager to mix up with others, tipping is about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance to show off.”
1.This passage is mainly about .
A. different kinds of tipping in different countries
B. the relationship between tipping and custom
C. the origin and present meaning of tipping
D. most American people hate tipping
2.Which of the following best explains the underlined phrase “caught on”?
A. become popular.
B. been hated.
C. been stopped.
D. been permitted
3.Among the following situations, in your opinion, who is likely to tip most?
A. A Frenchman just quarreled with the barber who did his hair badly in New York.
B. An American just had a wonderful dinner in a well known restaurant in New York.
C. A Japanese businessman asked for a pizza delivery from a Pizza Hut in New York.
D. A Chinese student enjoyed his meal in a famous fast food restaurant in New York.
4.We can infer from this passage that .
A. tipping is no longer a good way to satisfy some customers themselves
B. tipping is especially popular in New York
C. tipping in America can make service better now
D. tipping has something to do with people’s character
You may have never heard of Lanthanum, Cerium or Neodymium, but these elements (元素) and others known as “rare earth” play a major role in modern technology. They can actually be found in many places on the earth, but not in quantities that can be mined. Only a few countries — China, America, India, Australia, Brazil and Malaysia have any that can be mined enough to be traded.
Even though some of these elements such as Cerium are as abundant as Copper, they are not found in concentrated amounts on the earth’s surface. They are often mixed together with other metals, which makes extraction (提取) of these elements an expensive and an environmentally messy process. It was due to this reason that the term “rare earth” was invented.
Rare earth metals are used widely in our life. Rechargeable car batteries, computers, iPhones, DVD players, computer monitors, televisions, lighting, lasers, glass polishing, and superconductors all use quantities of rare earth metals. Also, with the advancement in “green” technology like solar panels, these shiny materials are becoming more important than ever. An average electric car uses 10 pounds of Lanthanum for its rechargeable battery!
America has large deposits (存储量) of rare earths and has one of the first mines. It was openedin Southern California in 1940. The element “Europium” was the first metal to be separated in quantity for use in color televisions. However, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, as China started producing these elements in Inner Mongolia, the mines in America and elsewhere could not keep pace. The mine in Mountain Pass, California also failed environmental regulations and shut down in 2002.
Now, recognizing the importance of having more than one supplier of this important resource, other rare earth owning countries like India and Australia are either dusting off their rare earth mines or speeding up their production. It is believed that the debate over rare earths will become louder in the coming months and years.
1.What can we learn about rare earths?
A. They are actually as abundant as Copper.
B. They can be mined easily as other metals.
C. They can only be found in a few countries.
D. They are not really as rare as they are named.
2.Compared with China, America .
A. paid more attention to Europium
B. has larger deposits of rare earths
C. started producing rare earths earlier
D. has more rare earth mines
3.It can be inferred from the text that rare earths .
A. are now in great demand
B. can now be used in few fields
C. are harmful to the environment
D. will soon be replaced by other metals
