【推荐1】Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your dreams become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably finish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.

My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren’t written until the deadline.

I’ve been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master’s degree (硕士学位) in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student (技校学生). They’re called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.

When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he’s a good kid,” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”

I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don’t often make school honor rolls (光荣榜).

But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who work in clean shirts in offices don’t have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was about $ 800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.

My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts from a junk yard, and ability from vo-tech classes. The cost was $ 25 instead of $ 800.

Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.

These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.

I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don’t need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.

My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.

1. What can we learn about the author’s children?

A．His daughter does better in school.	B．His daughter has got a master’s degree.
C．His son tried hard to finish homework.	D．His son couldn’t write his book reports.

2. The author let his son repair the car because he believed that _______.

A．His son had the ability to fix it	B．it would save him much time
C．it wouldn’t cause him any more loss	D．other motorheads would come to help

3. In which of the following sentence does the word “clone” have the same meaning as the one underlined in the first paragraph?

A．Mitalipov, senior author on the paper, laughs when asked if he wants to clone a person.

B．Tom was in some ways a younger clone of his handsome brother.

C．Some scientists wish to create the world’s first human clone.

D．To make a clone, you need to first take an egg and remove all of its genetic material.

4. What did the author realize in the end?

A．It is unwise to expect your child to follow your path.

B．It is important for one to make the honor roll.

C．Architects play a more important role than builders.

D．Motorheads have greater ability than office workers.

【推荐2】Naturally, parents praise their kids. They want to encourage their children every day. But when it comes to building self-esteem (自尊) in children, praise doesn’t always have a positive effect, according to a special edition of the journal Child Development. The issue, edited by Eddie and Thomas, is focused on research into how children develop a sense of self and building your child’s confidence takes different skills than you might think.

Eddie points out that children are born without a sense of self, but it doesn’t take long before some kids have a lot of confidence and may feel superior to peers, while others may carry more self-doubt and see themselves as inferior. Yet no one really understands what causes children to view themselves the way they do. Surprisingly little is known about the origins of children’s self-concept,” Eddie said.

Research has found that when kids have a warm, loving relationship with their parents, they develop higher self-esteem. However, when they are given endless praise that is inequal to their achievements, their self-esteem may drop.

Instead of lavish praise, parents should focus on warmth to build self-esteem, researchers have found—specifically, parents should show interest in their kids’ activities and share joy with them. This makes children feel noticed and valued. According to Eddie’s own research, children may develop lower self-esteem when their parents give them lots of positive and overstated praises. Too much praise can make children worry about disappointing their parents, and may lead to an unhealthy attitude toward failure. Other studies suggest that parents can teach children that failure is beneficial by encouraging kids to ask themselves: “Why didn’t I achieve the result I wanted, and what can I do to change the outcome in the future?”

Additionally, it’s important for parents to encourage the belief that kids can develop basic abilities through devotion and hard work. Kids who are praised for their effort instead of their ability are more likely to develop a growth mindset, which have a positive impact on their confidence.

1. What does the special edition of Child Development focus on?

A．When is the best time to build a child’s self-esteem.

B．What effect praise has on a child’s self understanding.

C．How children develop their sense of self-esteem.

D．How blaming and overpraise hurt a child’s comfidence.

2. How does too much praise hurt children’s self-esteem?

A．They’ll be afraid of failing and disappointing their parents.

B．They’ll have a false understanding of their ability and fail.

C．They’ll become too proud to get along with other children.

D．They’ll focus more on their advantages than their weaknesses.

3. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Children’s effort will help build their confidence.

B．Children should he taught the value of hard work.

C．Praising a child’s ability will make them happier.

D．Some parents doubt if kids can develop their abilities.

4. Which of the following is the passage mainly about?

A．Praising a child for any reason helps build his self-esteem.

B．How kids develop their sense of self-esteem differently.

C．Why some kids have more self-doubt than the others.

D．Participation and encouragement build a kid’s self-esteem.

【推荐3】Adrian’s “Amazing Race” started early, when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldn’t hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired (听觉受损的), he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words.

Later on, Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular schools couldn’t take care of a student with special needs. His parents were determined to take the risk and push him hard to go through his work every day because they want to prove that,given the opportunity,he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasn’t always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school.

The effort made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains.He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06, being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so.

But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.“If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great result” she often said.

1. How did Adrian communicate with other disabled children in the special school?

A．By speaking.	B．By using sign language.
C．By writing letters.	D．By making loud noises.

2. Why did Adrian’s parents decide to send him to a regular school?

A．They wanted him to live like a regular person.	B．They wanted to prove the headmaster wrong.
C．He wouldn’t mix with other disabled children.	D．He wasn’t taken good care of in the special school.

3. How did Adrian finally succeed in his study?

A．He did a lot of outdoor activities.	B．He sat at the front of the classroom.
C．He attended private classes after school.	D．He worked hard both in and after class.

4. Why is Adrian’s life described as an “Amazing Race”?

A．He did very well in his study.	B．He succeeded in entering a regular school.
C．He reached his goals in spite of his disability.	D．He took part in the world Yacht Race 05/06.

【推荐1】A mother, who wished to encourage her son’s progress in playing the piano, bought tickets for a performance by the great Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski.When the evening arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the impressive Steinway waiting on the stage.Not long after they arrived, the mother came across a friend in the hall and they began to talk with each other.Meanwhile the boy slipped away and could be found nowhere.
At eight o'clock, the lights in the concert hall began to fail, and then the spotlights(聚光灯) came on.Only then did they notice the boy who was up on the piano bench, innocently picking out “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”.Seeing this, his mother was shocked and embarrassed.But before she could bring her son back, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard.
He whispered gently to the boy, “Don’t quit.Keep playing.” Learning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass(低音的) part.Soon his right arm reached around the other side and performed a delightful accompaniment(伴奏).Together, the old master and the young boy performed so wonderfully and harmoniously on the stage and they held the attention of the crowd with their beautiful music.
In all our lives, we receive helping hands from time to time—some we notice; some we don’t.Equally we ourselves have countless opportunities to offer helping hands—sometimes we want our assistance to be noticed, sometimes we don’t.Little of what we all achieve is without learning from others and without support from others.We are supposed to hand out what we have received.
1. We can learn from the text that the mother___________.

A．was pleased to see her son playing the piano on the stage

B．admired the master so much that she went to watch his performance

C．encouraged her son to play the piano on the stage

D．was talking with a friend when her son slipped onto the stage

2. Seeing the boy playing the piano, the great master___________.

A．felt very shocked and angry

B．encouraged him to continue

C．asked his mother to take him away

D．shouted at the boy

3. The author wrote this text in order to__________.

A．show how patient the great master was

B．tell the readers a very interesting story

C．report an incident in a concert hall

D．urge us to reach out to those in need

【推荐2】Ann was on her first package trip in Rosas, Spain.
At the hotel, she checked in, and then went to her room to change before dinner. She was just ready to go downstairs when she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. She carefully looked in all her luggage, but she couldn’t find it. All she had was a small purse with ten English pound notes in it!
Ann found a place to change her English money. She had very few pesetas(西班牙货币单位), and she would be here for two weeks. On her way back to the hotel, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back, she told the manager that her doctor had told her not to eat Spanish food; she’d just have breakfast each day, as she knew the price of hotels included breakfast.
For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel swimming pool, or lay on the beach and got a sunbath. When the other tourists went to interesting places, she always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry. After all, a piece of fruit for lunch, and bread and cheese for supper isn’t very much.
Late in the afternoon of their last day, a girl, Jane, asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. Ann told her about her money problems. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this holiday includes everything!”
1. “A package trip” probably means _________.

A．a free trip

B．a long journey

C．a pleasant trip

D．a trip that includes the cost of all the tickets and services

2. Ann didn’t eat dinners in the restaurant of the hotel because _________.

A．she was afraid that she couldn’t pay for them with her little money

B．her doctor told her not to eat them

C．she wasn’t well

D．she wasn’t hungry

3. Why did Ann buy some cheese, some bread and some oranges?

A．Because they were good for her health.

B．Because she planned to eat them instead of lunch and supper.

C．Because she liked them more than dinners in the hotel restaurant.

D．Because she is afraid that she couldn’t eat enough in the hotel restaurant.

4. How do you think Jane would feel after she heard Ann’s answer?

A．Angry.

B．Happy.

C．Surprised.

D．Excited

【推荐3】When the young donkey Daisy May came to us, she was pregnant(怀孕的). With no donkey experience, I was unprepared for what might come next.

After some difficulty, Daisy’s baby was born. I thought the poor thing was dead. I planned to put the loss behind us and make sure she never got pregnant again. Just then, I heard a little noise. I couldn’t believe that baby was breathing and looking at me! We called him Samson, and of course I became his mother as much as Daisy was.

When Samson was nine months old, I had to separate Daisy and Samson for a few hours a day to wean(使断奶) him, but otherwise he went wherever she did. I thought he would be lost without her. His donkey stepdad Bernard taught him to always be ready to have fun. They enjoyed playing football together and going for a roll on a hot summer day.

I asked a worker to make a harness(马具)for my three little donkeys. When I brought it home, I taught them one by one how to pull a cart. Samson watched and freely followed Daisy. When he was three, I put the harness on him and he knew exactly what to do.

That was 15 years ago. Now, the most exciting thing about Samson is that he has become a little renowned. People come from all over to see him perform. The neighbors bring their grandchildren, and my sons bring their friends.

Samson shakes hands, unties my shoes, picks up a hat and more. And when I ask him if he has any bad habits, he tries to pick my pocket! He surprisingly learned these tricks himself. I just ask him to do them and he understands.

The relationship I have with my “baby” Samson has been an amazing experience. Every day is a fun day with this superstar donkey.

1. Why was the author at a loss for what might happen next at first?

A．She wasn’t ready to be a mother.	B．The donkey gave birth to a dead baby.
C．The donkey was pregnant by accident.	D．She never raised a donkey before.

2. What can we learn about Samson when he was little?

A．He was separated from his family.	B．He was surrounded by love.
C．He was unwelcome to the neighbors.	D．He was skilled in entertaining people.

3. Which of the following can best describe Samson?

A．Friendly and courageous.	B．Carefree and creative.
C．Intelligent and lively.	D．Patient and fortunate.

4. Where is this text probably taken from?

A．A textbook.	B．A magazine.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A news report.