During my school days, I was one of those shy and distant kids who would just sit in a comer for an entire day. For me, my books were my ______ world. Even during breaks, I used to just sit in a corner of the ______ and see others play games. It was not as if I wasn’t interested in ______ others or making new friends, but I always felt lacking in energy when ______ my peers. I always had an opinion that my advances towards new ______ would be limited. And I just didn’t want to ______ a rejection.
Once during my English class, my teacher shared a(n)______ with us. It was about King Bruce and a spider. It revolved around a lost battle and talked about how King Bruce, despite losing the battle,______ in the end. He was ______ by a little spider. The little ______ of the spider and the way it was taking rejections impressed me a lot. I was so surprised that I myself started ______ the movements of spiders at home. Once, a spider took around an hour to reach the top of a wall and I ______ knocked it down. To my ______, within seconds it started making its ______ up again.
For me, this ______ was a game changer. I realized that rejections are ______ a failure. The world may mistreat me,______ I can stand up and start working again. There would be time when people would like and ______ me. At present, I ______ mixing with people, learning new things and making new friends. I think, there are just no such ______ as rejections or failures as everything can change at any moment.
1.A. real B. new C. next D. only
2.A. office B. station C. playground D. street
3.A. visiting B. watching C. helping D. joining
4.A. related to B. compared with C. separated from D turned to
5.A. friendships B. courses C. teachers D. programs
6.A. avoid B. suffer C. cause D. fear
7.A. story B. task C. experience D. song
8.A. failed B. won C. left D. refused
9.A. confused B. hurt C. persuaded D. inspired
10.A. improvements B. changes C. movements D. advantages
11.A. adjusting B. observing C. showing D. guiding
12.A. cruelly B. angrily C. luckily D. bravely
13.A. delight B. surprise C. amusement D. disappointment
14.A. progress B. way C. web D. mistake
15.A. incident B. research C. trouble D. adventure
16.A. often B. sometimes C. never D. ever
17.A. so B. though C. or D. but
18.A. train B. meet C. appreciate D. remember
19.A. enjoy B. suggest C. imagine D. risk
20.A. approaches B. values C. things D. solutions
Every boy and every girl expects their parents to give them more pocket money. 1. One main purpose is to let kids learn how to manage their own money. The amount of money that parents give to their children to spend as they wish differs from family to family. Timing is another consideration. Some children get weekly pocket money.2.
First of all, children are expected to make a choice between spending and saving. Then parents should make the children understand what is expected to pay for with the money. At first, some young children may spend all of the money soon after they receive it.3. By doing so, these children will learn that spending must be done with a budget.
In order to encourage their children to do some housework, some parents give pocket money if the children help around the home.4. They believe helping at home is a normal part of family life.
Pocket money can give children a chance to experience the three things they can do with the money.5. They can spend it by buying things they want. They can save it for future use. Saving helps children understand that costly goals require sacrifice. Saving can also open the door to future saving and investing for children.
A. Others get monthly pocket money.
B. They can spend it by giving it to a good cause.
C. Why do their parents just give them a certain amount?
D. Some children are not good at managing their pocket money.
E. Learning how to get money is very important for every child.
F. Some experts think it not wise to pay the children for doing that.
G. Parents are usually advised not to offer more money until the right time.
Conventional wisdom says that hardship can make us old before our time. In fact, a new study suggests that violence not only leaves long-term scars on children’s bodies, but also changes their DNA, causing changes that are equal to seven to ten years of premature aging.
Scientists measured this by studying the ends of children’s chromosomes (染色体), called telomeres (端粒), says Idan Shalev, lead author of a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Telomeres are special DNA sequences (序列) which prevent the DNA in chromosomes from separating. They get shorter each time a cell divides, until a cell cannot divide any more and dies.
Several factors have been found to shorten telomeres, including smoking, radiation and psychological stresses such as being treated badly when young and taking care of a chronically ill person.
In this study, researchers examined whether exposure to violence could make children’s telomeres shorten faster than normal. They interviewed the mothers of 236 children at ages 5, 7 and 10, asking whether the youngsters had been exposed to domestic violence between the mother and her partner; physical maltreatment by an adult; or bullying. Researchers measured the children’s telomeres-in cells obtained by wiping the insides of their cheeks-at ages 5 and 10.
Telomeres shortened faster in kids exposed to two or more types of violence, says Shalev. Unless that pattern changes, the study suggests, these kids could be expected to develop diseases of aging, such as heart attacks or memory loss, seven to 10 years earlier than their peers.
Shalev says there is hope for these kids. His study found that, in rare cases, telomeres can lengthen. Better nutrition, exercise and stress reduction three things that may be able to lengthen telomeres, he says.
The study confirms a small but growing number of studies suggesting that early childhood a adversity imprints itself in our chromosomes, says Charles Nelson, a professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.
1.The new study found that .
A. hardship can change a child’s memory
B. violence can speed up a child’s aging
C. violence leaves scars on a child’s mind
D. hardship has an effect on a child’s mind
2.What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. Telomeres. B. Children.
C. Chromosomes. D. DNA sequences.
3.What can be inferred from the text?
A. Violence can cause quick cell death in children’s body.
B. Telomeres can help prevent chromosomes from separating.
C. Children who have shorter telomeres have heart attacks later.
D. Being treated badly will make a child’s telomeres shorten faster.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Violence and Telomeres
B. The Function of Telomeres
C. Violence Makes Children Aging
D. DNA Influences Children’s Growth
A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.
The system, called Driver Alert, aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness. Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.
Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband (腕带). The device, worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey. After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel (方向盘). A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.
Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time. Usually, a watchful driver would use about 400 milliseconds to respond, but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds, it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.
In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds, showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest. If the driver’s response continues to slow down, the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warns that the driver must stop as soon as possible.
The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing. If these tests, scheduled for six months’ time, are successful, the makers will bring the product to market within about a year.
1.Driver Alert is a device that can .
A. keep drivers asleep
B. change drivers’ response accuracy
C. reduce the possibility of accidents
D. protect drivers when accidents happen
2.What does the underlined word “fatigue” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Illness. B. Tiredness.
C. Carelessness. D. Impoliteness.
3.How does Driver Alert work?
A. By being used as a nonstop alarm all the time.
B. By squeezing the steering wheel on the way,
C. By reminding or warning drivers if necessary.
D. By being worn on drivers’ hands every moment.
4.What do we know about Driver Alert?
A. It must be fixed on the driver’s cars.
B. It aims to prevent drivers from sleeping.
C. It has gone through testing at laboratories.
D. It isn’t available to drivers at the moment
Joy Mangano was 33 and divorced. She had three kids under age 7, and was hardly keeping up payments on her small two-bedroom home by working extra hours as a waitress. “There were times when I would lie in bed and think. I don’t know how I’m going to pay that bill,” Mangano says.
But she had a special ability for seeing the obvious thing. She knew how hard it was to mop the floor. “I was tired of bending down, putting my hands in dirty water, wringing (拧) out a mop,” Mangano says. “So, There’s gotta be a better way.”
How about a “self-wringing” mop? She designed a special tool you could twist in two directions at once, and still keep your hands clean and dry. She set out to sell it, first a few at flea markets.
Then Mangano met with the media. But would couch potatoes (电视迷) buy a mop? The experts on shopping TV were less than certain. They gave it a try, and it failed. Mangano was sure it would sell if they’d let her do the on-camera display. She said, “Get me on that stage, and I will sell this mop because it’s a great item.”
So QVC, a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping, took chance on her. “I got onstage and the phones went crazy. We sold every mop in minutes.”
Today she’s president of Ingenious Designs, a multimillion-dollar company, and one of the stars of HSN, the Home Shopping Network. Talking about the household invention, Mangano says, “It is as natural for me as it is for a parent to talk about their child.”
1.What is the first paragraph mainly about?
A. Mangano’s small home.
B. Mangano’s work experience.
C. Mangano’s unhappy marriage.
D. Mangano’s hard living conditions.
2.Mangano sold the mop successfully with the help of .
A. HSN B. QVC
C. couch potatoes D. experts on shopping TV
3.What does Mangano think of her invention?
A. Special. B. Normal.
C. Dissatisfied. D. Unbelievable.
4.What can we learn from the text?
A. HSN is a business organization that sells goods on the Internet.
B. The experts on shopping TV were confident about Mangano’s mop.
C. Mangano got the idea of self-wringing mop from her own experience.
D. Mangano once had to work seven days a week to support her family.
Mini Book Excerpts (节选)
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski (Random House, $ 27)
Mystery
“You’re a smart boy. Benny’s death was no accident, and you’re the only one who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it?” The boy was staring stubbornly at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Annika, “Did you... You recognized the man in the car, didn’t you?”
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers. “Maybe,” he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund (Atria Books, $ 25.99)
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class. Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give, and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don’t want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books, $ 15)
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times’s “amusement cycling” is the most fun you can have in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half to that within a day’s drive in most cities?
Happy And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle (Ecco, $ 14.99)
1.What did Salinger do for his town?
A. He built a car park. B. He tried to protect its land.
C. He wrote some good novels. D. He rescued many townspeople.
2.The book You Are Free is mainly about .
A. smart children B. happy daughters
C. different women D. suffering mothers
3.Which book should readers choose, if they want to know something about Fun Times?
A. Red Wolf.
B. You Are Free.
C. J.D. Salinger: A Life.
D. Happy And Other Bad Thoughts.
