【推荐3】How to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Celebrated yearly on the fourth Thursday in November, the holiday of Thanksgiving was first observed (庆祝) in 1621 and continues to be an American tradition today.     1    .

(1) Make the table merry.    2    . If not, lay out the food somewhere readily reachable on the day. Get the kids to help set the table, which is regarded as part of their contribution to the preparations.

(2)    3    . There are a few traditions connected with Thanksgiving that are enjoyed in many families, such as gathering around the TV and watching football games or watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV with the kids.

(3) Spend a little time thinking the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a chance for many families to spend time together after being apart for much of the year.    4    . Think of your family’s own ways to express your appreciation (感激) on this day and in the following year.

(4)    5    . Offer to help prepare meals at a homeless shelter, and start food or clothing donation (捐赠). This can be an important part of teaching your children about gratitude in action.

A．Take a long nap after the meal if you’re feeling sleepy

B．Consider helping the less fortunate during Thanksgiving

C．Enjoy some traditional activities in Thanksgiving holiday

D．It is a good time to think the love that you have for one another

E．If you want to know how to celebrate Thanksgiving, just follow these steps

F．Here are some things you’ll have to do to prepare the food for your holiday

G．Arrange the table decorations the day before Thanksgiving if you have a separate dining table

【推荐1】About this time every year, I get very nostalgic(怀旧的). Walking through my neighborhood on a fall afternoon reminds me of a time not too long ago when sounds of children filled the air, children playing games on a hill, and throwing leaves around in the street below. I was one of those children, carefree and happy. I live on a street that is only one block long. I have lived on the same street for sixteen years. I love my street. One side has six houses on it, and the other has only two houses, with a small hill in the middle and a huge cottonwood tree on one end. When I think of home, I think of my street. Only I see it as it was before. Unfortunately things change. One day, not long ago, I looked around and saw how different everything has become. Life on my street will never be the same because neighbors are quickly grown old, friends are growing up and leaving, and the city is planning to destroy my precious hill and sell the property to contractors.
It is hard for me to accept that many of my wonderful neighbors are growing old and won’t be around much longer. I have fond memories of the couple across the street, who sat together on their porch swing almost every evening, the widow next door who yelled at my brother and me for being too loud, and the crazy old man in a black suit who drove an old car. In contrast to those people, the people I see today are very old neighbors who have seen better days. The man in the black suit says he wants to die, and another neighbor just sold his house and moved into a nursing home. The lady who used to yell at us is too tired to bother any more, and the couple across the street rarely go out to their front porch these days. It is difficult to watch these precious people as they near the end of their lives because at once I thought they would live forever.
The “comings and goings” of the younger generation of my street are now mostly “goings” as friends and peers move on. Once upon a time, my life and the lives of my peers revolved around home. The boundary of our world was the gutter at the end of the street. We got pleasure from playing night games or from a breathtaking ride on a tricycle. Things are different now, as my friends become adults and move on. Children who rode tricycles now drive cars. The kids who once played with me now have new interests and values as they go their separate ways. Some have gone away to college like me, a few got married, two went into the army, and one went to prison. Watching all these people grow up and go away makes me long for the good old days.
Perhaps the biggest change on my street is the fact that the city is going to turn my precious hill into several lots for new homes. For sixteen years, the view out of my kitchen window has been a view of that hill. The hill was a fundamental part of my childhood life; it was the hub of social activity for the children of my street. We spent hours there building forts, sledding, and playing tag. The view out of my kitchen window now is very different; it is one of tractors and dump trucks tearing up the hill. When the hill goes, the neighborhood will not be the same. It is a piece of my childhood. It is a visual reminder of being a kid. Without the hill, my street will be just another pea in the pod.
There was a time when my street was my world, and I thought my world would never change. But something happened. People grow up, and people grow old. Places changes, and with the change comes the heartache of knowing I can never go back to the times I loved. In a year or so, I will be gone just like many of my neighbors. I will always look back to my years as a child, but the place I remember will not be the silent street whose peace is interrupted by the sounds of construction. It will be the happy, noisy, somewhat strange, but wonderful street I knew as a child.
1. The writer calls up the memory of the street _____________.

A．every year when autumn comes

B．in the afternoon every day

C．every time he walks along his street

D．now that he is an old man

2. The writer finds it hard to accept the fact that _____________.

A．many of his good neighbors are growing old

B．the lady next door who used to yell at him and his brother is now a widow

C．the life of his neighbors has become very boring

D．the man in his black suit even wanted to end his own life

3. The writer thinks of the past all the more when he sees those who had grown up with him _____________.

A．continue to consider home to be the center of their lives

B．leave the neighborhood they grew up in

C．still enjoy playing card games in the evenings

D．develop new interests and have new dreams

4. The biggest change on the writer's street is _____________.

A．removing the hill to make way for residential development

B．the building of new homes behind his kitchen window

C．the fact that there are much fewer people around than in the past

D．the change in his childhood friends' attitude towards their neighborhood

5. What does the writer mean by saying “my street will be another pea in the pod”?

A．his street will be very noisy and dirty

B．his street will soon be crowded with people

C．his street will have some new attractions

D．his street will be no different from any other street

6. Which could be a good title for the passage?

A．The Past of My Street will Live Forever

B．Unforgettable People and Things of My Street

C．Memory Street Isn’t What It Used to Be

D．The Big Changes of My Street

【推荐2】Most of the 20th century has been a development on the Industrial Revolution taken to an extreme（极端）: people now own more products than ever before; there are enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth several times over; there is hardly any forest left and pollution has got to the point where we buy water. Within a few years I predict you will be able to buy air—there once was a time when you didn't need to buy food or shelter either.

Important developments in the last century are the breaking down of the class structures left over from the Industrial Revolution stage, bringing with it the empowerment（授权）of the "common man": the working day is set by law to only 8 hours a day; everyone has the vote; the media has less obvious government control; people have landed on the moon, sent spacecraft to Mars and so on. Families have also been shrinking; the nuclear family came about, and especially in the last half of the 20th century, one-parent families are becoming more common. The smaller size of the family shows the increased independence of people—once upon a time people had to live in large groups to survive.

Humans have realized their personality and independence and taken their control of the world to an extreme. In many countries the land is almost completely used in the production of food and as living space. People live in small cities which are entirely human constructed ,made from materials which are also entirely human constructed（concrete bricks）with hardly any remains of nature. Weeds are poisoned because they are messy; even parks have trees grown in tidy lines; grass is mowed to keep it short and soon. I think the massive drug "problem" troubling people is a result of too much of this influence, humans needing to escape the dull world they have created by entering fantasy worlds.

Over the last 100 years, the 20th century consciousness has spread throughout the world. Most of Asia has been thoroughly "Westernized", and most of the Third World is being over-run by Western ways of doing things and living.

1. How is the text mainly developed?

A．By giving examples and stating facts.

B．By stating facts and making comparisons.

C．By listing facts and arguing.

D．By predicting and concluding.

2. What does the underlined word "shrinking" in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Becoming smaller.	B．Getting better off.
C．Disappearing sharply.	D．Becoming popular.

3. Which of the following situations is NOT mentioned in the text?

A．Effects of pollution.	B．Changes in people's way of living.
C．Development in science and technology.	D．Control of population.

4. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

A．Birth rate is over controlled.	B．Population quality has greatly improved.
C．People have more rights and freedom.	D．Government has lost control of society.

【推荐3】During the 20th century there has been a great change in the lives of women. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century probably has been in her middle 20’s and would be likely to have seven or eight children. By the time the youngest was 15, the mother would have been in her early 50’s and would expect to live a further 20 years, during which chance and health made it hard for her to get paid work.

Today women marry younger and have fewer children. Usually a woman’s youngest child will be 15 when she is 45 and she can be expected to live another 35 years and is likely to get paid work until 60.

This important change in women’s life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’s economic position. Even a few years ago most girls left school and took a fulltime job. However, when they married, they usually left work at once and never returned to it. Today the school-leaving age is 16, many girls stay at school after that age, and though women marry younger, more married women stay at work at least until shortly before their first child is born. Many more return to work later. Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage, with the husband accepting a greater share of the duties of family life.

1. We learn from this passage that in the 19th century         ．

A．there were more children in the world than there are today

B．women spent a greater part of their lives raising

C．there were more women in poor health than there are today

D．women married younger than they do today

2. One reason why a married woman of today may take a job is that         ．

A．she is young when her children can look after themselves

B．she is obliged to help her husband support the family

C．she feels lonely at home when her children grow up

D．she hopes to change the world a bit

3. Many girls are now likely to         ．

A．give up their jobs after they get married

B．leave school as soon as they can

C．marry early so that they can get better jobs

D．continue working until they are going to have a baby

4. According to the passage, it is now quite usual for women to ______．

A．stay at home after leaving school

B．find jobs when they reach the age of 16

C．start working again later in life

D．marry and have children while still at school

5. Now a husband probably         ．

A．plays a greater part in doing housework

B．does almost all of the housework

C．feels unhappy about his wife’s going out to work

D．takes a part-time job so as to help at home