【推荐1】I Was the Doughnut Lady

In university I had a part-time job at a shop that sold doughnuts and coffee. Situated on a block where several buses stopped, it served the people who had a few minutes to wait for their bus.

Every afternoon around four o’clock, a group of schoolchildren would burst into the shop, and business would come to a stop. Adults would glance in, see the crowd and pass on. But I didn’t mind if the children waited for their bus inside. Sometimes I would hand out a bus fare when a ticket went missing—always repaid the next day. On snowy days I would give away some doughnuts. I would lock the door at closing time, and we waited in the warm shop until their bus finally arrived.

I enjoyed my young friends, but it never occurred to me that I played an important role in their lives—until one afternoon when a man came and asked if I was the girl working on weekdays around four o’clock. He identified himself as the father of two of my favorites.

“I want you to know I appreciate what you do for my children. I worry about them taking two buses to get home. It means a lot that they can wait here and you keep an eye on them. When they are with the doughnut lady, I know they are safe.” I told him it wasn’t a big deal, and that I enjoyed the kids.

So I was the Doughnut Lady. I not only received a title, but became a landmark.

Now I think about all the people who keep an eye on my own children. They become, well, Doughnut Ladies. Like the men at the skating rink (滑冰场), who let my boys ring home; Or the bus driver who drove my daughter to her stop at the end of the route at night but wouldn’t leave until I arrived to pick her up; Or that nice police officer who took pity on my boys walking home in the rain when I was at work—even though the phone rang all the next day with calls from curious neighbors. “Was that a police car I saw at your house last night?”

That wasn’t a police car. That was a Doughnut Lady.

1. According to the passage, the author sometimes ______.

A．sold bus tickets to the children

B．gave the children free doughnuts

C．did business with the children’s help

D．called the children’s parents to pick them up

2. By saying “…it wasn’t a big deal (Para. 4),” the author meant that ______.

A．she hadn’t done anything significant

B．she hadn’t spent much time with the children

C．she hadn’t made a lot of money from the children

D．she hadn’t found it hard to get along with the children

3. What can we learn about the police officer?

A．He took the boys to the police station.

B．He helped the boys look for their mother.

C．He drove the boys back home in a police car.

D．He managed to make sure of the boys’ identity.

4. The passage suggests that ______.

A．running a business requires skill	B．taking responsibility is a moral virtue
C．devotion should be everything in life	D．there are always no small acts of kindness

【推荐2】How many times have we expressed how rude young people are for texting while having a conversation? They try to fix eyes on their smart phone screen while nodding. What goes through your mind is “how rude they are!”

Have we forgotten some of the old school manners that our parents, grandparents and teachers taught us—manners that have nothing to do with a mobile device or iPad, but everything to do with long-forgotten Golden Rules we were raised with?

When I was growing up, there was etiquette to coughing. When coughing, we were told to turn our head away and block off our mouth. This might sound amusing to many young people. But if we didn’t follow these etiquettes, we would get a quick reminder to the back of our head. When we were given something and forgot to say “thank you”, elders would seriously remind us, “Aren’t you forgetting to say something”, which was immediately followed by a “thank you”.

Maybe technology is a factor that has affected our brains so much that we can never go back to those golden days we like. It seems as if we have thrown out manners and etiquette with the bathwater. Simple etiquette is missing in society. Thank-you notes for gifts you have received all fall into the same box of manners. To me, people are cold these days mostly due to the fact that we are on the run every day in the world.

In the work environment have you ever come across a sign “Your mother doesn’t work here, clean up by yourself”? We often hear people say, the younger generation have no manners. I think many people have lost their manners. We’ve allowed bad manners to go unchecked. We simply stand bad behavior.

In a world of more good manners, more “thank you” or “please” exchanged, our younger generation will have an improved quality of life.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To stress the importance of cell phone.

B．To introduce the main topics of the text.

C．To point out young people’s good manners.

D．To explain the effect of cell phones on people.

2. In the passage, the underlined phrase in the second paragraph refers to ________.

A．modern family manners

B．rules observed at school

C．rules everyone has to follow

D．etiquette started by older generation

3. According to the author, young people have no manners mainly because of ________.

A．the busy lifestyles people have

B．the fast developed technology

C．the people’s attitude towards running away

D．the parents and teachers’ improper act and attitude

【推荐1】A year ago I received a full scholarship to attend the University of San Francisco. All of my hard work paid off. My mom had spent a lot on my attending a private high school, so I made sure to push myself: I volunteered, took part in various clubs, and graduated with honors. I was so excited to start a new part of my life.

Soon enough, the big day came, but it wasn't like what I had thought. The first two weeks were the most difficult days of my entire life. Every night I would cry myself to sleep. I was missing my family, my home and everything in my hometown so much and I didn’t know how to deal with my broken heart.

To distract myself, I threw myself into my studies. I also found a ton of jobs. In any free time, I started forcing myself to go to the gym. I wanted to keep every part of my day busy so I wouldn’t think about how lonely I felt. Soon after, I began to control my eating, considering it another solution to my homesickness. But soon there was something wrong with me.

Finally, I went to see a doctor. When the doctor told me I had no choice but to take time away from school, I started to fear. How could I stop? School was what I was best at. “I’m not so bad,” I thought in my head. But the result was that I was taken to hospital again a month later and my mother came woefully. I had to take a semester off from school, and go to the treatment center near my home.

If there are girls who are suffering similarly, I hope you know that there is hope and that you should have a positive attitude towards life. Though you may feel alone, there are so many people who can understand your struggle. That’s why I want to share my story.

1. Why did the author push herself during high school?

A．She wanted to attend the University of San Francisco.

B．It cost too much to study in a private school.

C．Her parents controlled much of her life.

D．Her family put her under pressure,

2. What can we know about the author in the first two weeks?

A．She couldn't fall asleep because of pressure.	B．She couldn't pay attention to her study.
C．She couldn't deal with her homesickness.	D．She couldn't catch up with others.

3. What does the underlined word “woefully” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Sadly.

B．Surprisingly.

C．Curiously.

D．Happily.

4. What is the author's purpose in writing this text?

A．To look back on her past life.	B．To increase her own confidence.
C．To express appreciation to her mother.	D．To encourage other girls like her to be positive.

【推荐2】“Confidence” is probably one of the most noticeable quality in the Americans. They show confidence in the way they talk, the way they smile, the way they dress and the way they walk. Living and competing with all these confident American students, I find it extremely important to be confident as an international student and teacher. As a student, being confident means you should dare to raise your hand whenever a question or a point comes to your mind. Don’t mind if it sounds simple or silly. Otherwise you will never get a chance to speak in class at all. What’s worse, the professors may think you are not prepared for the discussion or you do not have your own opinion on the topic---this is the last comment any graduate would not like to receive.

Being confidence for me as a foreign teacher means calmly asking the student to repeat what he or she has said if I did not get it. Pretending to understand what you actually did not may just bring yourself uneasiness or even shame. But the time I most need to be confident is when my students come to my office and bargain about the grades I have given for their Speeches. (The course I’m teaching here is Public Speaking.) Modesty(谦虚) is a quality highly valued in China, but it won’t be of much help here if you want to survive and succeed in a good American graduate program.

1. What should we do most if we want to compete with American students?

A．Be quite confident.	B．Be polite and friendly.
C．Have more discussions.	D．Know what they think about.

2. A professor will have the worst opinion of a student who ______.

A．gives a silly or simple answer

B．tries to seize any chance to speak in class

C．shows no interest in the course

D．is considered to have no opinion of his own

3. The author is most likely to feel uneasiness if ______.

A．he asks a student to repeat what he has said

B．the students bargain with him

C．he pretends to know what he doesn’t

D．he has to give a speech

4. The passage is mainly organized by ______.

A．giving examples	B．describing personal experiences
C．giving different figures	D．making comparisons