A new football competition，Man V Fat，has been organize recently in England．1. (judge) from the name, it is easy to guess that players can only join if they are fat. They can only win when they score or lose 2.(pound) after each game．So，the aim of this competition is 3.(get) overweight men to do regular exercise．
Jay Ali，a bank manager，4.(find) it a brilliant idea．He said，“I don’t want to go to weight loss classes in 5.almost all participants are women．And I don’t want to play football with my friends who are all 6. (fat)than me，so this gives me the perfect opportunity to exercise with guys who are the same7. me．Here，no one judges me，so I don’t have to get8.(embarrass)”．Mr Shanahan from Staffordshire shared the same opinion，“I took part in the competition after getting fed up with weight loss classes which were 9.(main) filled with women．”
10. seems that this football competition has offered overweight men an effective way to lose weight．
Children with learning disabilities (LD) often have problems. For many, strong ____ of anger, shame, sadness, or disappointment can ____ psychological difficulties such as anxiety, depression or low self-esteem.
These problems can be far more than the ____ challenges themselves.
Several heading experts in the field of LD have offered suggestions on ways to help ____ children from these problems.
To be most effective in supporting ____ , it can help to understand some primary ____ for the psychological and emotional challenges they may face.
First, it is not difficult to see ____ children with LD are at greater risk for developing psychological difficulties if one considers the repeated failure they ____ . Although they make efforts to “try harder,” children with LD may receive little ____ feedback（反馈）. Their academic struggles and failures are often met with ___ by teachers, peers and parents. Such disapproval can take the form of unpleasant labeling（标签）of a child ___ “slow,” “lazy” or “dumb.” ____ developing a sense of pride in their accomplishments, children with LD may ____ in disappointment and shame. Low self-esteem and a lack of confidence only ____ prevent learning and academic success.
The second reason is the ____ difficulties they often experience. Research indicates that as many as 75% of kids with LD have such ____ as making and keeping friends. Children with LD are less ___ and often rejected by their peers. Teachers and other adults also may _____ to have negative views of them.
Such social rejection can result in _____ of self-esteem and feelings of loneliness, which, ____ , may lead to psychological difficulties such as anxiety and depression.
1.A. feelings B. opinions C. ideas D. attitudes
2.A. get B. cause C. solve D. overcome
3.A. physical B. mental C. potential D. academic
4.A. preview B. protect C. remove D. separate
5.A. children B. experts C. teachers D. parents
6.A. rules B. ways C. reasons D. directions
7.A. why B. where C. which D. when
8.A. experience B. practise C. possess D. find
9.A. timely B. hopeful C. subjective D. positive
10.A. courage B. sympathy C. disapproval D. respect
11.A. for B. as C. with D. to
12.A. In favor of B. Instead of C. Because of D. In terms of
13.A. work out B. turn away C. break off D. end up
14.A. further B. hardly C. even D. slightly
15.A. social B. general C. personal D. cultural
16.A. mistakes B. values C. chances D. difficulties
17.A. controlled B. requested C. submitted D. accepted
18.A. tend B. mean C. prefer D. pretend
19.A. need B. pride C. loss D. awareness
20.A. in general B. in particular C. in total D. in turn
Third-Culture Kids
Did you grow up in one culture, your parents came from another, and you are now living in a totally different country? If so, then you are a third-culture kid!
The term “third-culture kid” (or TCK) was coined in the 1960s by Dr. Ruth. She first came across this phenomenon when she researched North American children living in India. Caught between two cultures, they form their very own. 1. About 90 percent of them have a university degree, while 40 percent pursue a postgraduate or doctor degree. They usually benefit from their intercultural experience, which helps them to grow into successful academics and professionals.
2. In fact many hardships may arise from this phenomenon. A third-culture kid may not be able to adapt themselves completely to their new surroundings as expected. Instead, they may always remain an outsider in different host cultures. Max, for example, experienced this fundamental feeling of strangeness throughout his life as a third-culture kid. 3. While this can be a way to create a network of friends all around the world, it can be difficult for a third-culture kid like Max to maintain close friendships and relationships.
For a third-culture kid, it is often easier to move to a new foreign country than to return to their “home” country. After living in Australia and South Korea for many years, Louis finally returned to Turkey as a teenager. But she felt out of place when she returned to the country where she was born. 4. She did not share the same values as her friends’ even years after going back home.
While a third-culture kid must let go of their identity as foreigner when he/she returns, the home country can prove to be more foreign than anything he/she came across before. The peer group they face does not match the idealized image children have of “home”.5.
As a part of the growing “culture”, TCKs may find it a great challenge for them to feel at home in many places.
A. Yet being a third-culture kid is not always easy.
B. In general, they often reach excellent academic results.
C. This often makes it hard for them to form their own identity.
D. However, their parents can help them see the opportunities of a mobile lifestyle.
E. Their experience abroad helps them to gain a better understanding of cultural differences.
F. Unlike other teens of her age, she didn’t know anything about current TV shows or fashion trends.
G. Additionally, making new friends and saying goodbye to old ones will at some point become routine for a third-culture kid.
B
He is a lesson to every boy who ever picked up a basketball and dreamed that it would change his life.
The lights were never brighter and the crowds were never bigger for a homegrown sports hero than they were a quarter-century ago for Ray Hall. But his athletic achievements, as impressive as they are, are to my mind not what is most admirable about the man.
Known as “Sugar Ray” in his teens, Hall was rated among the country’s top 25 high school basketball players. An inner-city kid from a solid family, Hall took on the challenge of lifting Canisius College — still recovering from its failure — back to respectability, rejecting more favorable offers. His status of a savior (救世主) brought more pressure than any 18-year-old should have to handle. However, I watched him mature into the player who led Canisius back to daylight.
After college Hall played professionally in Italy and Greece for over 10 years until a car accident at 32 ended his basketball career. The news that he would never play again shocked Hall but unlike so many others he was ready for life after basketball. When I met Hall — still fit at 46 — for lunch Monday, he wore a cut-sharp gray suit, designer tie and blazing white shirt that screamed Success. “That was always the question — when the cheers end, where do you go? Who do you turn to?” he said. “It starts and ends with that person in the mirror.”
Hall got the concept of academics-first from his parents. He graduated from Canisius a semester early. “No matter how good of an athlete you are, you are just one injury away from losing it all,” he said. “But if you take care of things academically, you are prepared until you leave this earth.”
For the past 14 years, he has been in a computer sales job at Ingram Micro. He married his college sweetheart. They have three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. He figured out early what others learn too late: Athletics is part of a journey, not the destination.
Congratulations, Ray, you made it. In more ways than one.
1.Ray was regarded as a savior because ________.
A. he liked to take on challenges
B. he helped his team to regain its glory
C. he was faithful to his hometown city
D. he fought hard against failure at a young age
2.According to the writer, which of the following best describes Ray’s success?
A. Unlike other athletes, he was academically superior.
B. He defeated his injury and returned to the playground.
C. He enjoys a successful job and a happy family.
D. He has gained impressive athletic achievements.
3.What’s the right order of the events related to Ray?
a. He was rated among the best high school basketball players.
b. He was in a car accident.
c. He graduated from Canisius College.
d. He started his computer sales job.
e. He gave up his athletic career.
A. a, c, b, e, d B. a, c, e, b, d C. c, a, b, d, e D. c, a, e, b, d
4.We can learn from the passage that ________.
A. Ray was from an academic family
B. Ray was very mature in his teens
C. Ray was once desperate facing the cruel reality
D. athletics was not Ray’s final goal in life
5.What was the writer’s intention in writing this passage?
A. To describe the difficulties of being a professional athlete.
B. To explain the importance of choosing the right college.
C. To emphasize the need for a good education.
D. To warn against playing professional basketball.
Songs that make our hearts happy can make them stronger too, US researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found that when people listened to their favorite music, their blood vessels (血管) dilated in much the same way as when they are laughing, or taking blood medications.
"We have a pretty impressive effect," said Dr Michael Miller, director of preventive cardiology (心脏病学) at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.
"Blood vessel diameter improved," he said. "The vessel opened up pretty significantly. You can see the vessels opening up with other activities such as exercise." A similar effect is seen with drugs such as statins.
When blood vessels open up more, blood flows more smoothly and is less likely to form the clots (凝块) that cause heart attacks and strokes. "We are not saying to stop your statins or not to exercise but rather to add this to an overall program of heart health," said Miller, who presented his findings to a meeting of the American Heart Association in New Orleans.
Miller's team tested 10 healthy, non-smoking men and women, who were told to bring their favorite music. They spent half an hour listening to the recordings and half an hour listening to music they said made them feel anxious while the researchers did ultrasound tests designed to show blood vessel function.
Compared to their normal baseline measurements, blood vessel diameter increased 26 percent on average when the volunteers heard their joyful music. Listening to music they disliked — in most cases in this group heavy metal — blood vessels narrowed by six percent, Miller said.
Miller said he came up with the idea after discovering that laughter caused blood to literally flow more smoothly. "I asked myself what other things make us feel really good, besides calories from dark chocolate of course. Music came to mind. ... It makes me feel really good," he said.
Most of the volunteers chose country music but Miller said the style is not so important rather than what pleases each individual.
1.The underlined word dilate (in paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to “_____”.
A. widen B. move C. change D. increase
2.According to the passage, which of the following will NOT cause blood vessels to open up?
A. Taking exercise. B. Listening to unpleasant music.
C. Bursting into laughter. D. Taking drugs like statins.
3.It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
A. blood clots are caused by heart attacks and strokes
B. music is better than chocolate for your health
C. the style of music has different effects on different people
D. a person’s overall health is more influenced by how much exercise he gets
4.What is the passage possibly taken out from?
A. A scientific journal. B. A school textbook.
C. A medical brochure. D. A local newspaper.
5.What’the best title of the passage?
A. Pleasant Music Cures B. Research into Blood Vessel
C. Music and Heart Attack D. Music and Happiness
Imagination and fantasy can play an important role in achieving the things we fear. Children know this very well. Fred Epstein ,in his book If I Make It to Five, tells a story he heard from one of friends about Tom, a four-year-old boy with a cancer in his back bone. He came through several operations and a lot of pain by mastering his imagination.
Tom loved to pretend, and he particularly loved to play superheroes ,Dr. Epstein explained that it was actually a brilliant way for his young mind to handle the terrifying and painful life he led.
The day before his third trip to the operating room, Tom was terribly afraid. ”Maybe I could go as Superman ,”he whispered to his mom. Hearing this, the mother hesitated for a while. She had avoided buying the expensive costume（戏装），finally she agreed.
The next day Tom appeared as the powerful Superman, showing off through the hospital halls and coolly waving his hand to the people greeting him along the way. And Tom, with the strength of his fantasy, successfully made it through the operation.
The power of imagination need not be reserved for children only. We all have the power to use our fantasies to attempt things we never thought possible, to go through those things that seem impossible, and to achieve what we never believed we could. Just as Dr. Epstein puts it ,”If you can dream it, you can do it”
It doesn‘t mean that you should dress as a superhero for your next job interview. But, next time you are texted in a way that seems impossible, imagine what it would take to overcome it .Become the person you need to become to win over your challenge and do it in your mind first. So, let your imagination run wild, and dare to dream.
1.What do we know about Tom?
A. He was seriously ill B. He was a dishonest boy.
C. He was crazy about magic D. He was Dr.Epstein’s patient
2.What can be inferred about Tom’s mother?
A. She was a rich lady B. She refused Tom’s request
C. She wanted Tom to be a superhero D. She wanted to get Tom through the pain
3.When Tom went for the third operation,he .
A. pretended to be painful B. acted like a superhero
C. appeared in poor spirit s D. argued with his mother
4.In the last paragraph, you are advised .
A. to go through some difficult tests
B. to wake up from your wild dreams
C. to become a powerful person in your mind
D. to wear expensive clothes for job interviews
5.What is the purpose of the passage?
A. To tell us an interesting story.
B. To help us make right decisions.
C. To advise us to care about children.
D. To encourage us to use our imagination.
