Studies show that you may be lied to every day anywhere from 10 to 200 times. We say, “Nice song.” “Honey, you don’t look fat in that, no.” But another study showed that strangers lied three times within the first 10 minutes of meeting each other. We lie more to strangers than we lie to coworkers. Men lie eight times more about themselves than they do about other people. Women lie more to protect other people. If you’re married, you’re going to lie to your wife/ husband in one out of every 10 communications. If you’re unmarried, that number drops to three. But look, if at some point you got lied to, it’s because you agreed to get lied to. Truth about lying: lying’s a cooperative act. Not all lies are harmful. Sometimes we’re willing to get lied to for social dignity(尊严), maybe to keep a private secret.
Lying is complex. It exists in our daily and business lives. We’re deeply disturbed by the truth. We explain it, sometimes for very good reasons, other times just because we don’t understand the gaps between ideals and realities in our lives. We’re against lying, but secretly we’re for it in ways that our society has practiced for centuries and centuries. It’s as old as breathing. It’s part of our culture and history. Think the stories from Dante, Shakespeare, the Bible, News of the World.
Lying has great value to the evolution of human beings. Researchers have long known that the more intelligent the species, the more likely it is to lie. We humans like to become leaders. It starts really early. How early? Well, babies will pretend to cry, pause, wait to see who’s coming and then go right back to crying. One-year-olds learn hiding truth. Five-year-olds lie outright and try to control through flattery (奉承). Nine-year-olds, masters of covering up.
So what do we do about lies? Well, there are steps we can take to guide our way through the bushes. Trained lie spotters (检测员) get to the truth 90% of the time. The rest of us, we’re only 54% right. There are clever liars and stupid liars, but there’re no real creative liars. While lying, we all make the same mistakes, and we all use the same techniques.
1.The passage tells us in the first paragraph that lying is very __________.
A. harmful B. easy
C. interesting D. common
2.Lying is complex because __________.
A. people are for it as well as against it B. it is the whole part of great culture
C. ancient stories are full of lies D. it is practiced by clever ones
3.According to the passage, a lie works when __________.
A. the liar’s words are sweet enough B. someone gives the liar cooperation
C. we are willing to lie for good reasons D. it is given to a complete stranger
4.What might the writer talk about in the following passage?
A. How to become clever liars. B. How to avoid stupid lies.
C. How to tell truth from lies. D. How to get through the bushes.
When we think about happiness, we usually think of something surprising and unexpected, a top great delight.
For a child, happiness has a magic quality. I remember playing police and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at tops of pleasure is easily seen, such as winning a race or getting a new bike.
For teenagers, or people under 20, the idea of happiness changes. Suddenly it’s conditional on such things as excitement, love, and popularity. I can still feel the pain of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. I also recall the great happiness of being invited at another event to dance with a very handsome young man.
In adulthood the things that bring great joy — birth, love, marriage — also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last; loved ones die. For adults, happiness is complex.
My dictionary explains “happy” as “lucky” or “ fortunate”, but I think a better explanation of happiness is “ the ability to enjoy something”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It’s easy for us not to notice the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to love where we please, and even good health. Nowadays, with so many choices and much pleasure, we have turned happiness into one more thing we have. We think we own the right to have it, which makes us extremely unhappy. So we try hard to get it and consider it to be the same as wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren’t necessarily happier.
While happiness may be more complex for us, the answer is the same as ever. Happiness isn’t about what happens to us. It’s the ability to find a positive for every negative, and view a difficulty as a challenge. Don’t be sad for what we don’t have, but enjoy what we do possess.
1.According to this passage, Middle School students look at happiness mainly in terms of _______.
A. academic achievement B. spiritual satisfaction
C. friendship D. material gains
2.The author thinks that when one dreams wealth and finally gets it he __________.
A. can realize what happiness is B. may consider it extreme happiness
C. may not end up with happiness D. should not feel satisfied with himself
3.According to the passage, happiness lies in the ability to __________.
A. think of something pleasant B. experience delight at an old age
C. feel the magic quality of pleasure D. enjoy what one has at the moment
4.The passage aims to tell __________.
A. the constant dream of happiness B. the great importance of happiness
C. the real meaning of happiness D. the changing idea of happiness
If you thought helicopter parents were too much, wait till you learn about “lawnmower (割草机) parents”. These are the next generation of helicopter parents, who take over-parenting to the next level. Rather than staying overhead in the air, these parents actively prepare the way for their children to succeed, cushioning every bump along the way.
Their goal is to create a soft, even surface onto which their child will proceed, free from harm and worry. They get involved before problems reach their child, sometimes even going to immoral lengths, such as writing college papers for a child who’s running out of time.
One teacher told the Irish Times: “These days you would often hear from a mother or father insisting their child be put in the top math class, for example. Self-esteem (respect) is the buzzword (popular word). They feel it would harm their child’s confidence. The irony is their self-esteem would be damaged far more by sending them into a class where they can’t catch up with others.
It’s not children who are out of control. It’s parents. There will come a point when these children won’t have parents on which to depend, and then how are they going to function? It’s frightening, too, to imagine these children becoming adults and attempting to raise families of their own. They would hardly be capable of teaching independence, confidence, work ethic, and discipline to their own children if they’ve never learned it themselves.
At the end of the TIME article, Gibbs shared a wonderful quote from writer D.H. Lawrence, written in 1918: “How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning.
1.Which of the following would the author agree with about “Lawnmower parents”?
A. They are children of helicopter parents.
B. They always stay over their children’s head in the air.
C. They want to win over helicopter parents.
D. They do much more for children than helicopter parents.
2.According to the teacher mentioned in the text, what does the underlined it in Para 3 refer to?
A. That children belong to the ordinary class.
B. That children are put in the top maths class.
C. That children can’t catch up with the class.
D. That children don’t do well as expected.
3.What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
A. Letting children be is the last thing to do in education.
B. We must allow children enough freedom in their development.
C. Gibbs must have been an expert in children education.
D. There is no definite answer to how to educate a child.
4.What’s the author’s attitude toward the children with “Lawnmower parents”?
A. Very appreciative. B. Quite surprised.
C. Much worried. D. A little disappointed.
When I started teaching at school, I was sure I would change the world and touch children who needed love.
Although my students seemed to respond pretty well to my teaching , there was a small group of girls who became more and more hostile towards me.
One day a fight happened in my classroom. Trying to end it, I stepped in to face one of these hostile young women, who started hitting me in the face. Two boys jumped up to control the girl, but the damage was done.
While the girl was suspended for a few days, I was determined that she would not return to my classroom. But I also prayed. I wanted to see all the students right there in my daily work at school.
On the top of my daily lesson-plan book, I wrote this statement, “To see all the children in my classroom is always beautiful.” With this view I could expect to heal any anger towards the girl in my heart.
After her suspension, she returned to my classroom. The student’s young mother was trying to raise six children while her husband was away in the war. The mother and I agreed to work together to help her oldest daughter.
There were no more incidents of anger the rest of the year. In fact, In the seven years I remained at that school, I taught all six of this family’s children. When the youngest was in my class, the mother told me, “Our family love you. Every year one of my kids says, ‘I hope I’m in her class!’”
The standard of seeing each of my students as a perfect one was the best teaching tool I had, and led to success.
1.What happened in the author’s class one day?
A. A girlfought with two boys. B. She was hit by a girl.
C. She hit a girl in the face. D. Her class was troubled by several girls.
2.How was the girl punished?
A. She had to stay at home for some time. B. She was driven out of school forever.
C. She was sent to another class. D. She was beaten heavily by her mother.
3.When the girl returned to school, __________.
A. she apologized to the author B. she took her mother to school
C. the author was still angry with her D. the author treated her with love
假定你是李华，你校将到黄山风景区举行“我爱黄山（Mr. Huangshan）”主题活动。请你给交换生James发一封邮件告知活动相关情况。内容包括：
1.时间和地点；
2.活动安排；
3.注意事项。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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假定英语课上老师要求同学们交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Be an excellent student with all-round development, Li Hua has been honored as Star of all the subjects but often ranks among the top three in the class. After class, she is active in the playground, music club and some community. The sport he likes most is playing the basketball. He also took great delight in Chinese opera as well singing pop songs. Besides, he takes an actively part in all sorts of social practices. In a word, Li Hua is an outstanding student, which has set a good example to us.
