New Distractions (使人分心的事)

Madeline’s family vacation to the beach was usually the highlight of her summer. This year, however, her parents announced a new_________: no phones allowed for the entire week. “No distractions,” they said.

“But my friends will be_________updates,” Madeline protested (抗議). ”

“They’ll have to_________,” her mom said.

“What if something bad happens?” Madeline changed her strategy (策略). Her mom shook her head as she opened a drawer. Madeline saw that her parents’ phones were already in it. Madeline had to drop her_________in, too.

The drive to the beach house took most of the day. That night after dinner, Madeline wandered into the kitchen, where her father was_________dishes.

“Still hungry?” he asked.

“No,” she answered. Then she gave him a loving look and said in her sweetest voice, “Couldn’t I have my phone back? Just so I can tell everyone what a(n)_________time I’m having?”

“Can’t,” he said. “It’s not here. Remember? Check out the bookcase in the living room,” he suggested. “Might find something you like.”

She walked into the living room and spotted a jigsaw puzzle (拼圖玩具) on the bookcase. She took it, put the pieces on the table, and began to work on them.

After what seemed like minutes, she looked up. It was past ten o’clock. She had been working for almost two hours! The puzzle was less than half done. It would have been nice to_________a picture of the puzzle with her friends, she thought.

The next morning, a golden sun was rising over the blue ocean. The sky was cloudless. The scene reminded Madeline of a photo that Brandi had shared. Her friends had oohed and ahhed (對……大加贊賞) over it. This view was even better. It would leave everyone_________. Madeline’s hand reached for the bedside table, but there was nothing there.

That evening, Madeline lost herself in the jigsaw puzzle again. She felt a little excited every time the shapes met. Soon, all that were left were a few gaps. She quickly put the remaining pieces into place. The puzzle was complete.

She stepped back to appreciate the finished puzzle. The picture showed an old painting of several farmhands working in a brown field and there was a giant rainbow arching across the sky.

Madeline enjoyed the puzzle for a few minutes, trying to keep the image in her mind. Then, she quietly started taking it apart. That, she thought, was just for me.

1.A.rule B.result C.date D.discovery

2.A.providing B.expecting C.considering D.selecting

3.A.wait B.guess C.search D.judge

4.A.book B.computer C.puzzle D.phone

5.A.serving B.preparing C.washing D.cooking

6.A.limited B.amazing C.boring D.common

7.A.share B.draw C.explain D.discuss

8.A.confused B.hopeless C.amused D.speechless

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing!” I thought to myself. Jeff was the last candidate (候選人) for president of Student Council. My best friend Tony came to me and said, “I’m sorry, Mike.” I really thought you should be_________.”

Later that day, I happened to pass Jeff in the dining room. I offered him a_________ “congratulations” and walked to my usual table. To my surprise, Jeff put his plate beside mine.

“I’m, er-I’m just wondering if you would…consider coming to work on my team,” he said_________ . “You are really smart, and you would be a great manager.”

“I don’t think so,” I replied, feeling unsure.

“Well, if you change your mind, we are meeting tomorrow,” he said before moving to another table.

All that night, I thought about the_________from Jeff. Maybe being a part of the election process(選舉過程) would give me a chance to make important changes at our school. I decided to join them.

My first goal was to_________a catchy advertisement. Within a few days, we designed a poster with Jeff’s pictures showing him in a number of activities. No one could walk through any hallway without passing Jeff’s smiling face.

My next step was to_________out which new activities students would like to have at our school. Many of them wanted a chess club and a volleyball team.

With the information I had collected, Jeff met with the headmaster. The headmaster_________to add these activities to our school program.

With my help, Jeff and our ideas were well_________at school.

An eighth grader said, “It’ll be like attending a new school with Jeff as president.”

Hearing these words made my heart filled with_________. I had wanted to become president of Student Council to make a difference, I achieved that and more by working as a member of Jeff’s team. He became the most popular candidate and I was a large part of his _________. The face that it has made a difference in other people’s lives is the real prize. What a great feeling!

1.A.heard B.chosen C.invited D.followed

2.A.polite B.loud C.warm D.cheerful

3.A.proudly B.quickly C.nervously D.regretfully

4.A.advice B.chance C.message D.offer

5.A.print B.invent C.create D.send

6.A.carry B.try C.work D.find

7.A.agreed B.wanted C.expected D.asked

8.A.allowed B.received C.introduced D.required

9.A.pride B.surprise C.patience D.hope

10.A.luck B.spirit C.life D.success

Studying abroad

1.Where does Jessica come from?

A.Spain. B.Canada. C.The Netherlands. D.The UK.

2.Who studies in the Netherlands?

A.Jessica. B.Dixie. C.Myriam. D.Oli.

3.What does Myriam think of studying abroad?

A.Interesting. B.Challenging. C.Boring. D.Amazing.

My Grandpa Forgets Who I Am

A few days ago I visited my grandfather in hospital. He has Alzheimer’s—a degenerative (退化的) disease that usually starts slowly and gets worse over time. I thought I was prepared to see him. I knew chances were slim that he’d actually recognize me.

He didn’t. As a matter of fact, he had no idea that he even had grandchildren. But he was excited that somebody came to visit him. I tried to explain to him who I was. But after he told me multiple times that he didn’t have grandchildren, I gave up. And my heart broke into a million little pieces.

I was tired of explaining things to him. So I just smiled. He smiled back. It’s a genuine smile. Like a long time ago, when he’d take me by the hand and made this big world feel a little bit less scary for me. Now I have to take his hand.

We sat in silence for a little while, before he told me to call my grandma. This was the first time I had tried so hard to hold back tears. My grandma died four years ago and he didn’t remember. He thought she was stuck on her way to pick him up.

My grandpa used to be a strong, hard-working man. He was the person you turned to when you needed your car fixed, your tires changed or something heavy to be carried. Sadly, that man left this world a long time ago, and left behind a man that is lost and scared.

I want to help him. I want to make him feel better. I want to tell him about his old life, and how great it was. So I sat with him and I held his hand, and every once in a while I told him how good he looked and how much I liked the color of his shirt and how it brought out the blue in his eyes. I told him that my grandma was on her way whenever he asked about her, and I made sure the glass in his hand was always filled with water.

I can’t take away his pain. I can’t help him remember. I can’t make the disease go away. All I can do is hold on to the memories—hold on for both of us.

1.When the author first saw her grandpa in hospital, ________.

A.she gave up on him B.they were both excited

C.he didn’t recognize her D.they talked about the past

2.The author was close to tears because ________.

A.grandma died about four years ago

B.grandpa needed to be taken care of

C.grandma didn’t make it to the hospital

D.grandpa believed grandma was still alive

3.Which of the following best describes the author?

A.Open-minded and cheerful. B.Considerate and patient.

C.Warm-hearted and grateful. D.Strong-minded and generous.

Learning Colour Words

In the first few years of their lives, children brought up in English-speaking homes successfully master the use of hundreds of words, including those for objects, actions, emotions, and many other aspects of the physical world. However, when it comes to learning colour words, the same children perform very badly. If shown a blue cup and asked about its colour, typical two-year-olds seem as likely to come up with “red” as “blue”.

Cognitive (認知) scientists at Stanford University in California supposed that children's inability at colour-word learning may be directly linked to the way these words are used in English. They are used mostly in pre-nominal position (e. g. “blue cup”), in contrast to post-nominal position (e. g. “The cup is blue. ”). The difficulty children have may simply come down to the challenge of having to make predictions from colour words to the objects they refer to, rather than from the objects to the colour words.

To explore this idea further, the research team recruited (招募) 40 English children aged between 23 and 29 months and carried out a three-period experiment. It included a pre-test, followed by training in the use of colour words, and finally a post-test that was the same to the pre-test. The pre- and post- test materials contained six objects that were unfamiliar to the children. There were three examples of each object in each of three colours-red, yellow and blue. The objects were presented on trays (托盤), and in both tests, the children were asked to pick out objects in response to requests in which the colour word was either a pre-nominal ( “Which is the red one?”) or a post-nominal ( “Which one is red?”).

In the training, the children were introduced to five sets of familiar items (balls, cups, crayons, glasses,and toy bears) in each of the three colours. Half the children were presented with the items one by one and heard them labeled with colour words used pre-nominally, while the other half were introduced to the same items described with a post-nominal colour word. After the training, the children repeated the selection task on the novel items in the post-test. Correct choices on items that were consistent (一致的) across the pre-and post-tests were used to measure children's colour knowledge.

According to the assessment, children's performance was consistent when they were both trained and tested on post-nominal adjectives, and worst when trained on pre-nominal adjectives and tested on post-nominal adjectives. Comparing the pre-and post-test scores across each condition showed a significant decline in performance when children were both pre-and post-tested with questions that placed the colour words pre-nominally.

1.What is the purpose of Paragraph 2?

A.To present a phenomenon. B.To make a contrast.

C.To give a possible explanation. D.To provide an example.

2.What can we learn about the experiment from the passage?

A.The children had to place the pre-and post-test objects onto coloured trays.

B.The children were presented with the same objects in the pre-and post-tests.

C.Pre-nominal questions were less used than post-nominal questions in the training.

D.The researchers aimed to look for consistencies in children's knowledge of word order.

3.The outcome of the experiment shows that ______.

A.children are unable to accurately sort objects by colour.

B.children trained on pre-nominal adjectives perform well.

C.children learn colour words rapidly in post-nominal position.

D.children can make predictions from the objects to the colour words.

Teens want structure in their lives, which means they want their lives well-planned. To begin building structure, teens need love and trust. They need to know their parents arc there to give them needed love and support (支持).Teens want to be sure that nothing can prevent parents from shouldering their responsibility for them — not their growing maturity (成熟),misbehavior, nor anger at something they have done. Teens want parents to keep control while allowing them to make some decisions.

There are some ways you can help your teens create reasonable structure and remain close. One way is to spend time together. Parents often mistake their teens’ increased interest in friends for a disinterest in the family.

Teens would like to spend more time doing things with their parents, but watching TV is not counted as spending time together. As your teens mature, it is important for you and your teens spend time alone together, one to one. Your teens need time to talk to you alone without any other family member present.

Talk with your teens about their interests and concerns. Make sure you really show interest in what is happening. When talking with your teens, give full attention and do not stop them.

The way to help your teens become adults is to let your teens into your world. Sharing your emotions and concerns with your teens is important. Avoid causing needless worry.

Trust your teens. Don't expect the worst. Hope for the best. Telling your teens you don’t like their friends will cause the teens not to bring their friends home. If something should go wrong, believe that your teens didn’t do it on purpose.

It is very important that you treat your teens with respect. Teens need the same respect adults show for total strangers. Don’t talk down to your teens.

You need to be supportive o f your teens. What may be a small problem to you may be troubling to your teens. Teens don't have the experiences that adults have had. Let the teens know that you understand how much it hurts when something happens that is upsetting or hurtful to them. As they mature, they can look back at some problems they had and laugh at having been upset by something that now seems unimportant.

The most important things to remember are: talk with your teens, listen to their worries and offer suggestions when needed. This will help your teens to live a well-organized life.

1.According to Paragraph 1, teens ___________.

A.can control themselves.

B.expect direction and freedom.

C.don’t know how to make decision

D.don’t have responsibility for the family

2.The underline part “counted as” in Paragraph 3 probably means “__________”.

A.compared with B.used as

C.connected with D.regarded as

3.To help teens organize their lives , parents should __________.

A.invite their teens’ friends home.

B.leave their teens’ problems alone.

C.share their feelings with their teens.

D.pay little attention to their teens’ daily lives.

4.What is the best title of the passage ?

A.Training Teens to Become Responsible Adults.

B.Helping Teens to Build Reasonable Structure.

C.Improving the Relationship with Your Teens.

D.Stepping into Your Teens’ Secret Word.

A new Chinese coronavirus (冠狀病毒), a cousin of the SARS virus, has infected more than 40,000people since the outbreak (爆發(fā)) began in Huanan Seafood Market, Wuhan, China, in December. At first, we knew little about this virus. With more researches going on, we get to learn more about it.

Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. In rare cases, they are what scientists call zoonotic (人畜共患病), meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is believed that the novel coronavirus spreads from human contact with animals. Bats are widely believed to be carriers of the latest strain of the disease.

Chinese researchers said on Friday that the endangered pangolin (穿山甲) may be the intermediate host between bats and humans.

The viruses can make people sick, usually with a mild(輕度) to moderate(中度) upper respiratory tract illness(上呼吸道疾病), similar to a common cold, including a runny nose, cough, sore throat, possibly a headache and maybe a fever, which can last for a couple of days. For those with a weakened immune system, the elderly and the very young, there's a chance the virus could cause deadly diseases.

What's horrible about this virus is that once a human is infected, he/she becomes a carrier of the virus and spreads it to more people by coughing, sneezing or even handshaking. The virus can also be transmitted (傳播) by touching something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes. Doctors and nurses may also catch the disease when taking care of the patients, so they are required to wear strict protective clothes.

Unfortunately, there are no disease-specific treatments for the disease at this stage, which makes the outbreak a challenging one to control. Besides, since we live in an interconnected world, where the situation in one country can affect the whole world, the influences of the novel coronavirus are huge-damaging trade relations, affecting foreign visitors and weakening the entire country.

To fight against the disease, as individuals, we should strictly follow the requirements of the government to stay at home and help to prevent the spread of the disease. In terms of the government, a strong health care system can surely help decrease the risk of health attack and lessen the impact of the disease.

1.How many people have been affected since the outbreak of the new Chinese coronavirus?

2.Where does the novel coronavirus come from according to the researchers?

3.What symptoms (癥狀) may people have when they are affected?

4.Why are doctors and nurses required to wear strict protective clothes?

5.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

—I have to say that this is _______ best film I have seen.

—I agree. I have never seen __________ better one.

A.a, the B.a, a C.the, a D.the, the

—Did you see the film last night?

—Yes, I thought __________ for me to see such a film.

A.it’s interesting B.that’s interesting C.it interesting D.that interesting

Which color do you like_______, Bill, red ______ yellow?

A.most, or B.better, or C.best, or D.more, and