My dearest son and daughter,
The story of New Jersey high school student Rachel Canning suing (起诉) her parents for child support and high school education inspired me to write you a little letter. Let me just put this out there: the only way I expect to see you in a court is as a lawyer or a judge.
There are two things about this case that seem to be disaster.
First, it’s natural for parents and children to argue. I can guarantee that we will disagree. One or both of you will, at some point, scream at the top of your lungs the various ways you hate me. And I won’t always like you, either. But I will always love you and do everything I can to keep your best interests as my focus, even when I’m so angry. We are family. That means we are as much a part of one another as the flesh, blood and bones in our body. And we all should think about it very deeply instead of breaking that bond.
Second, I’ll be honest, no matter how far apart we are on your life choices, your father and I will most certainly pay everything we can for your higher education. But that doesn’t mean you deserve it. To be clear, that is a privilege we happily extend (给予) to you—not a right you are born with. And you will have to work hard to earn that privilege. Growing up is hard work.
If I do my job properly as your mother—and you do yours as my children—you would sooner get a job or two, and find a way to make your dreams come true than go to trial over what you think you have the right to.
Love always,
Mom
1. The mother writes this letter because she wants her children to ______.

A．be prepared for education

B．learn a lesson from the case

C．take up the legal profession

D．remember Rachel Canning

2. When in disagreement, the mother expects her children not to ______.

A．guarantee anything

B．scream out their anger

C．break the family bond

D．forget their best interests

3. The mother thinks of parents’ paying for their children’s higher education as ______.

A．a way in which children realize their dreams

B．a test of whether parents love their children

C．a privilege that children should earn

D．a right that parents are born with

BRAD GARRETT’S COMEDY CLUB
Category: Comedy
Best known for his role on the Emmy award-winning sitcom (情景喜剧) Everybody Loves Raymond, Brad Garrett returns to his Vegas roots with his comedy club at the MGM Grand. It is a good place to check out when you need a break from work.
Prices from: $56.40 and up
Age restriction: Must be 21 years of age or older
Show Length: 115 minutes
MAC KING COMEDY MAGIC SHOW
Category: Comedy, Magic
The Mac King Comedy Magic Show is different every afternoon, with lots of audience participation. He is willing to make fun of himself instead of his guests in order to make everyone feel welcome and entertained. The afternoon is kid-friendly from start to finish. Still, whether you’re eight or 80, you won’t be able to figure out King’s secrets.
Prices from: $40.90 and up
Age restriction: No age restriction
Show Length: 90 minutes
THE MENTALIST, GERRY MCCAMBRIDGE
Category: Comedy, Magic
Using his skills as a “mentalist”, Gerry McCambridge shocks the crowds as he uses his abilities to predict just what audience members will do next. Anyone who has seen the show has walked away in disbelief, amazed by his unusual power.
Prices from: $34.99   and up
Age restriction: Under 13 will not be admitted into the theater
Show Length: 75 minutes
ROCK OF AGES
Category: Plays & Musicals
The cheerful Rock of Ages brings audiences back to the times of big hair and even bigger bands with 28 popular rock songs from the 80s including “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “I Wanna Know What Love Is,” “Here I Go Again,” and more.
Rock of Ages has been nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. It also received a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Production for a Musical.
Prices from: $74.00   and up
Age restriction: Must be 15 years of age or older
Show Length: 125 minutes
4. Who is most likely to be able to read audiences’ minds?

A．Raymond.

B．Mac King.

C．Brad Garrett.

D．Gerry McCambridge.

5. Which of the following is good for a kid of 10 years old to go to?

A．Gerry McCambridge’s show.

B．Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club.

C．Mac King’s comedy magic show.

D．Performances of Rock Of Ages.

6. If someone is interested in musicals, his best choice must be ______.

A．ROCK OF AGES

B．BRAD GARRETT’S COMEDY CLUB

C．MAC KING COMEDY MAGIC SHOW

D．THE MENTALIST, GERRY MCCAMBRIDGE

7. How many shows are about two-hour long?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

Modern humans have a hard time controlling their desire to eat. Often you eat not because you are hungry, but because you are affected by many other things. How much you eat is strongly affected by how much those around you eat. People eating alone eat least. People eating with one other person eat 35 percent more than they do at home. People dining in a party of four eat 75percent more. Eating with overweight friends? You’ll eat more. Is your waitress overweight?You’ll eat more. Wide variety of food? You’ll eat more.
Plates can decide how sweet dessert tastes. If people ate it off a paper plate, they’d say, “This is good.” If they ate it off a fancy silver plate, they would say, “This is the greatest cake I’ve eaten in my entire life.”
Your knowledge about what makes food good or bad also affects how much you eat. You tend to eat more when you think the food is good, and less when you think it is bad. So Grandma’s cookies always taste better than other cookies. “Good food” even has a “health halo(光环) effect”. If we’re eating something healthy, we feel that everything in that meal is healthy. Due to this, people often believe that a cheese cake with a salad has fewer calories (卡路里) than the cheese cake alone. That’s perhaps also why eating organic (有机的) food might turn you into an annoying guy. Your brain may use anything that makes you feel good about your own morality to excuse your immoral behavior .
Food and hunger affect your judgment too. Hungry judges give more serious sentences. Kids who don’t eat breakfast behave worse than kids who eat their breakfast. People who have low blood sugar are more likely than the average person to have trouble concentrating and controlling their unpleasant emotions.
8. What is mentioned as a cause of overeating?

A．Suffering from great loneliness.

B．Being served by a helpful waitress.

C．Being treated to high quality food.

D．Eating with many friends.

9. According to the passage, an annoying person may be one who ______.

A．finds any excuse for eating more

B．is crazy about the quality of plates

C．competes with others in making cookies

D．teaches people to stick to morality

10. According to the passage, people are more likely to make a bad judgment when ______.

A．they don’t feel hungry

B．they aren’t overweight

C．they have low blood sugar

D．they know little about food

11. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．When Can’t We Go on a Diet?

B．What Affects Eating?

C．How to Make Good Food

D．Where to Find Safe Food

Books are typically written first, then narrated (朗读) for audio (有声) books. Until now. Audible , the largest company of audio books, has begun asking well-known writers to create works specifically for audio, instead of inviting people to narrate already existing print books. It’s a new chapter for the book industry.
Audible now has about 30 totally new audio works in production. And it turns out that audio books, which have long been regarded as less important than e-books, have actually been doing quite well. They are a $1,000,000,000 industry, with more than 35,000 titles published in 2013 alone.
What promotes that progress is not only an evolution of technology, but more importantly ,the rise of the celebrity (名人) narrator. Narrators are key to the success of an audio book and these days, producers are signing on more and more celebrities. Celebrities’ narration is like a private performance to customers, who get a feeling of closeness in listening to their voices. Many of the customers buy audio books based on the narrator. They will listen to anything a specific actor or actress reads.
That is why Audible is taking the risk of not producing print books at all but starting totally new audio works. There’s another reason why the company is expecting its risk-taking action to pay off: humans have been telling stories since the beginning of time. We are taking part in a little habit that goes back thousands and thousands of years—before the first mark was ever made on a stone. Long before writing, people were telling each other stories and the audio book goes all the way back to that tradition. As Peter Allen sang softly in the 1970s, everything old is new again.
12. The “new chapter” (Para. 1) refers to a time of ______.

A．producing totally new audio works

B．starting audio companies

C．narrating print books for audio

D．creating electronic books

13. What does Paragraph 2 tell about audio books?

A．Their difference from e-books.

B．Their previous production.

C．Their great importance.

D．Their bright future.

14. Customers like celebrities’ narration because ______.

A．celebrities help them understand the stories

B．celebrities have more attractive voices

C．celebrities have better narrating skills

D．celebrities seem to be within their reach

15. Audible believes its risk-taking action will be rewarding because ______.

A．the action agrees with the story-telling tradition

B．customers play an active role in the action

C．the company has spent a lot on the action

D．the action has lasted for a long time