“Have you checked the oil in the car, Ted?” My father used to say to me. Sometimes our phone calls would begin and end with an only inquiry (询问) about the oil, without asking anything else. Fathers have lots of love to give, but it’s often provided through useful advice. In my experience, it’s mostly about the car.
Why can’t fathers just say “I love you” or “It’s great to see you”? Why can’t the sentences “I care about you” and“ You made my life better from the moment you were born” be heard? Because fathers tend to express their true feelings indirectly. You just have to understand the language — Fatherlish.
When I was 17 years old, I went on my first road trip in that old car. My father stood on the corner on a cold early morning to say goodbye. “Roads are dangerous,” he said, “so don’t try driving faster than a horse. And remember to take a break every two hours. And every time you stop for oil, you really should check the oil.” At the time I thought his speech was pretty funny and old.
Dad’s long gone now. But after all these years, I realize that if I had owned a copy of the Fatherlish-to-English dictionary, I would have understood that the speech that I always laughed at was simply Dad’s way to express love and care.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?| A．The author wanted to buy a new car badly. |
| B．The author forgot to check the oil regularly. |
| C．The author’s father expressed his love differently. |
| D．The author’s father preferred to make phone calls. |
| A．To show the danger of the trip. | B．To tell a very exciting experience. |
| C．To explain the rules of driving. | D．To present his father’s hidden love. |
| A．Humorous. | B．Caring. | C．Funny. | D．Boring. |
| A．The Fatherlish language | B．The habit of driving an old car |
| C．Father’s helpful advice | D．Annoying phone calls |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】I was sitting in my high school classroom, nervously tapping my pencil against the desk as I awaited the start of the English exam.
As the clock struck, signaling the beginning of the exam, my heart began to race. I opened the exam booklet and scanned the questions, and I felt a wave of panic over me. The questions seemed foreign, and the topics unfamiliar. In a state of panic, I hurriedly wrote down my answers, hoping that somehow, by some stroke of luck, they would be correct. But as the minutes went by, I realized I couldn’t seem to make sense of the questions before me. As the final bell rang, I handed in my paper with a heavy heart.
In the days that followed, I couldn’t shake the feeling of failure that hung over me like a dark cloud. I replayed the exam over and over in my mind, analyzing every question, every answer, searching for clues as to where I had gone wrong.
But in the depression, a realization began to dawn on me — I had failed, yes, but I had also learned valuable lessons along the way. Armed with this newfound wisdom, I ensured that I would do better next time. I threw myself into my studies with renewed determination, devouring books and practicing past exams with an eagerness I had never known before.
When the time came to retake the exam, I was ready. I approached each question with confidence and clarity, drawing upon the lessons I had learned from my previous missteps.
When the results were announced, I held my breath as I scanned the list of names. And there it was — my name, shining brightly among the list of successful candidates. At that moment, all the hard work, all the late nights and early mornings, were worth it.
And as I look back on that sunny afternoon in the high school classroom, I am grateful for the lessons it taught me, and the person it helped me become.
1. Why did the author panic when he first took the exam?| A．He sat with a pounding heart. |
| B．He found the questions too difficult. |
| C．He was not familiar with the foreign language. |
| D．He was in a hurry when answering the questions. |
| A．He attended valuable lessons in school. |
| B．He retook the exam over and over again. |
| C．He promised to arm himself with eagerness. |
| D．He determined to engage himself in learning. |
| A．being targeted at | B．being obliged for |
| C．being absorbed in | D．being credited to |
| A．cheerful and considerate | B．objective and demanding |
| C．tough and persevering | D．proud and tolerant |
【推荐2】I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head．Now I am thirty two．I can slightly remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is．It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity（灾难） can do strange things to people．It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind．I believe in life now．I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise．I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes．I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left．
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was luck. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it --which I didn’t see, made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself．That was basic．If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life．When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone．That is part of it．But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit．
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance．It had to start with the simplest things．Once a man gave me an indoor baseball．I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt．"I can't use this．" I said．"Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around．" The words stuck in my head．"Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went．This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball．At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball．We called it ground ball．
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time．I had to learn my limitations．It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure．I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress．
1. We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______| A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash． |
| B．the author wouldn't love life if the disaster didn't happen． |
| C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had． |
| D．the disaster strengthened the author's desire to see． |
| A．How to adjust himself to reality． |
| B．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life． |
| C．Learning to manage his life alone． |
| D．How to invent a successful variation of baseball． |
| A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life． |
| B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair． |
| C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties． |
| D．would sit in a chair and stay at home． |
| A．A Miserable Life | B．Struggle Against Difficulties |
| C．A Disaster Makes a Strong Person | D．An Unforgettable Experience |
【推荐3】Many scholars agree that a meaningful existence comes down to three factors: the coherence(连贯)of one’s life, the possession of clear long-term goals and the belief that one’s life matters. But we believe there is another element to consider.
Imagine the first butterfly you stop to admire after a long winter or the scenery atop a hill after a fresh hike. Sometimes existence delivers us small moments of beauty. When people are open to appreciating such experiences, these moments may enhance how they view their life. We call this element experiential appreciation, an ability to detect and admire life’s inner beauty as events happen.
To better understand this appreciation, we conducted a series of studies involving over 3,000 participants. Initially, we had participants rate their coping strategies to relieve their stress. Those managing stress by focusing on their appreciation for life’s beauty reported experiencing life as highly meaningful. In the follow-ups, we asked them to rate the extent to which they agreed with various statements, such as “I have a great appreciation for the beauty of life” and other statements related to coherence, purpose, existential mattering. Our results showed that the more people indicated that they were “appreciating life”, the more they felt their existence valuable. In the subsequent experiment, we further explored the phenomenon by asking participants to watch an awe-inspiring video, they also reported having a greater sense of experiential appreciation and meaning in life in these moments, compared with those watching more neutral videos.
The final results confirmed our original theory: appreciating small things can make life feel more meaningful. But applying that insight can be difficult. Our modern, fast-paced, project-oriented lifestyles fill the day with targets. We are on the go, attempting to maximize our output. This makes it easy to miss what is happening right now. Yet life happens in the present moment. We should slow down, let life surprise us and embrace the significance in the everyday. After all, we live in a wonderful world. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
1. Why does the author mention the admiration of butterfly?| A．To express people’s desire to enhance their life. |
| B．To display people’s imagination to whatever happens. |
| C．To indicate the openness of people to the life coherence. |
| D．To introduce the concept of experimental appreciation. |
| A．The participants’ life involved in the study. |
| B．The contribution of a long-term goal in life. |
| C．The theory in experiential appreciation. |
| D．The analysis of the belief that matters most. |
| A．Our modern fast-paced lifestyle. | B．The lack of opportunities |
| C．Our focus on individual feelings. | D．The ignorance of future outcomes. |
| A．Enjoying a valuable coherence. | B．Finding the inner beauty of ourselves. |
| C．living an active and meaningful existence. | D．Exploring the end of a significant life. |
【推荐1】My three-year-old granddaughter, Tegan, went with her parents to a family gathering at the home of her other grandparents. Everyone was having a wonderful time visiting and catching up on all the latest family news.
Like most children, Tegan was having a good time playing with all the toys that were different from her own and that were kept for children to play with at her grandparents’ house. In particular, Tegan had found a little tea set and had begun pretending that she was having a tea party. She set up all the place settings and arranged her table with the great care and elegance that only a three-year-old can create. Meanwhile, her Daddy concentrated on conversation, and as he continued to chat with his family, Tegan would hand him a cup of "tea". Her Daddy, who always tries to participate in her games, would pause for a few seconds from his conversation, and say all the proper words and gestures for her tea party which would thrill Tegan. He would request two lumps of sugar. He would tell her how wonderful her tea tasted, and then he would continue his adult conversation with his family.
After going through this routine several times, her Daddy suddenly awoke to reality as he had a flash of concern in his mind: "She is only three years old, where is she getting this ‘tea’ that I've been dutifully drinking?" He quietly followed her, without her knowing, and his fears were growing stronger as he saw her turn and go through the bathroom door. Sure enough, there she was stretching up on her tippy toes reaching up to get her ‘tea’ water out of the container of water that grandpa used to soak (浸泡)his false teeth!
1. At the family gathering, the adults__________.| A．drank tea while chatting |
| B．arranged tables for children’s games |
| C．talked about what happened at home |
| D．watched their favorite TV programs |
| A．whether there was any tea left |
| B．what kind of tea he had drunk |
| C．where she got the sugar for tea |
| D．where she got the tea |
| A．fresh and clean |
| B．boiled at the bathroom |
| C．taken from Tegan’s home |
| D．the water of soaking false teeth |
| A．Tegan’s father always played with her in games |
| B．Tegan refused to apologize for what she had done |
| C．Tegan was unhappy to be left alone at the gathering |
| D．Tegan’s father cared nothing about what she was doing |
【推荐2】In my childhood, my mother spent her evening hours doing something for someone else. Sometimes she knitted hats for babies, and at other times, she cooked chicken soup for sick neighbors. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised when one evening my mother announced she had undertaken a new project.
“I am going to telephone seniors,” said my mother. “Every night? But you don’t even know these people.” “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “What’s important is that I listen.”
I was sixteen years old and couldn’t understand why my mother was willing to spend her evenings talking to strangers. She had friends and my two older sisters to call if she felt lonely. “They will talk your ear off. Some people didn’t even stop to catch breath,” I said.
My attitude didn’t stop my mother’s enthusiasm for the project. That evening, she settled on the sofa and dialed. When she finished the call, I said, “Why do you care whether she had cookies or rice pudding for dessert?” My mother grasped one of my hands and said in a proud tune, “I’m the only person she talked to today.”
It took me more than thirty years to fully understand the meaning of that statement. Now, as my mother is nearing eighty, I find myself thinking about those nightly calls she used to make. I am often the only person who telephones my mother, and sometimes I’m the only person she speaks to all day. I ask her what she cooked for dinner, but mostly I just listen as she describes a walk she took, or how her dog Lucky stole foods from the refrigerator. I realize that my mother’s calls were life lines that ensured housebound seniors remained connected to the world. Without her, their world would have been empty.
1. What is the mother’s purpose of calling the seniors?| A．To know what they eat. | B．To ask for some cookies and pudding. |
| C．To relieve their loneliness. | D．To teach them how to make dessert. |
| A．Hurt your hearing | B．Blame other’s behaviors |
| C．Miss important information | D．Speak all the time |
| A．The author started to telephone seniors as her mother |
| B．The author realized the value of her mother |
| C．The author’s mother preferred to live alone |
| D．The author’s mother still keeps connected with the seniors |
| A．Seniors blessing | B．A new project |
| C．Nightly calls, lifeline calls | D．Call your parents often |
【推荐3】A home is a place where we feel safe and loved. The warmth of a home doesn’t depend on its size or decoration (装饰).
·Have an indoor picnic
You want to enjoy a small picnic with your family, but neither the weather nor your daily schedule allows you to go to enjoy a nearby park. How about having a picnic indoors? You can have ice cream or sandwiches made in your own kitchen. The best part is that you don't have to wait for a long weekend for this picnic.
·Role play
Give each family member a different role to play. For example, ask your youngest daughter to play the role of Daddy.
·
Family meetings are often held to discuss different matters with your family members, share happy memories and talk about interesting stories. It can be a meeting when the family is sitting together at the dining table talking on a Friday night.
·Watch a movie
| A．Plan a fun family meeting. |
| B．Video chat with family members. |
| C．Watching a movie alone can be boring. |
| D．It is because you can have it at any time you want. |
| E．See for yourself how your children view their parents. |
| F．It will be difficult for all family members to gather around. |
| G．It is the people in the house that make the home a place worth living. |
【推荐1】It's not easy to grow up. Actually, it's far from easy. Growing up can be a real "pain" for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren't allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don't understand why we can't stay young forever. When we look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude, we realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!
Throughout our lives we are going to face many challenges and pains, but we should never let these obstacles（障碍）keep us from following our dreams. We must overcome every obstacle one small step at a time.
As a young girl my parents forced me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched my life in so many ways. I realize that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They've always wanted me to have better life than they did themselves.
Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest! We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that.
The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps（凸块）on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!
1. According to Paragraph 1, we learn that when we are young, ________.| A．life is easy for us | B．life is full of joy |
| C．we know we can stay young forever | D．we sometimes can't do things we like |
| A．take music lessons | B．turn gains into pains |
| C．look back on hardships | D．live a successful life |
| A．We all have to experience growing pains. |
| B．Life without fear is a better choice for us. |
| C．Growing pains are necessary for us to grow up. |
| D．A little hard work and sweat are harmful to us. |
【推荐2】I was at the hardware store the other day and overheard a woman tell Ed., the manager, that fall was her favorite time of year. Ed., because he liked to keep his customers happy, agreed that fall was a wonderful season, but I could tell he was lying.
I was going through my mind recently, trying to find sweet memories of fall. I failed. I met my wife in the summer and married her two summers later. My sons were born in the winter and summer, my granddaughter in the winter. I’ve been fried twice in my life, both in fall. One October, a truck carrying tofu ran a red light and hit me, destroying my favorite car, combining the three things I most hate - trucks, tofu and October.
I'm not saying fall is without its attractions. The leaves are beautiful. But fall's vacillation (立场摇摆)is troubling, its effort (努力)to please everyone, its continuous search for the middle ground to be all things to all people. Say what you will about summer and winter, at least they have the courage to keep their opinions strong, even if they kill us with extreme heat or cold.
I recently read a story of a man coming out of a three-month coma (昏迷). It started in early fall and ended just as winter came. I hope if I were ever in a coma I would be just as lucky as the man.
Upon my awakening, one of my families who stood around my bed would ask. "Don't you remember anything from the past three months?"
"Not the first thing," I would happily report.
If I ever have enough money. I'm going to buy a second home in Australia, so that when fall starts here, I can move there for three months, just when spring is starting.
1. What did Ed think of the customers words according to the author?| A．Ed understood them and supported the customer completely. |
| B．Ed might hold a different opinion on the topic. |
| C．Ed believed the customer wasn't telling the truth. |
| D．Ed thought they stood for most peoples' opinion. |
| A．The author has a big and loving family. |
| B．The author is having a hard time at work. |
| C．It is important to follow the rules of the road. |
| D．Nothing good has happened to the author in fall. |
| A．Because he slept fall away. |
| B．Because he ho sweet memories of fall. |
| C．Because he dreamed of fill many times. |
| D．Because he was met by his family when waking up. |
| A．Drive tracks. | B．Eat tofu dishes. |
| C．Watch leaves falling in fall. | D．Move to Australia in October. |
When the Japanese attacked America’s ships at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941,they did it secretly.The makers of the movie Pearl Harbor have behaved differently.
The noise about Pearl Harbor,made by Disney,has reached its highest point with its premiere(首次公演) before the movie opens in cinemas across the US at the start of the Memorial Day holiday weekend,a time to recall national heroes who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.
As Ben Affleck is the main star,the movie seems sure to become a success in the United States at least.
At almost three hours in length,it promises to be a good old Hollywood movie.There is a love story.Affleck and his co-star,Josh Hartnett,both fall in love with the navy nurse,Kate Beckinsale and,of course,there is much human courage and love of country.
It’s certain that Disney will be accused of “changing” history.The showing of actual events in a movie always causes arguments.
Bits of the story are deliberately not mentioned in the movie.It does not address the theory held by some historians that President Franklin Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention to attack the ships in Pearl Harbor.It is said he did nothing,as he was aware that such a blow would allow him to take America into the Second World War.
Japan remains sensitive about being accused of wartime atrocities(暴行).And Disney is sensitive about its business in Japan,where it has a theme park.
Not all the reviews of the movie have been full of praise.A reviewer for Newsweek,who was given an early preview,acknowledged that the 40-minute sequence(连续镜头) showing the attack itself was powerful.The attack comes quite late in the movie,however,and the reviewer was less impressed with the characters and the love story.
“Almost every line of the dialogue sounds like it comes from an old movie,” the reviewer wrote.
1. From the passage we can infer that the Memorial Day refers to .
| A．the day when the United States was founded |
| B．the day when people honour their ancestors |
| C．a day when people honour those who died in wars |
| D．a day when people celebrate the victories of World War Ⅱ |
| A．may be a very popular movie star |
| B．regarded Josh Hartnett as an enemy |
| C．experienced the Pearl Harbor Incident |
| D．was in love with the actress Kate Beckinsale |
| A．The movie has made the Japanese angry. |
| B．The movie will cause a lot of arguments. |
| C．The movie truly describes the Pearl Harbor Incident. |
| D．The movie shows that President Franklin Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention. |
| A．The scenes of the attack leave no impression. |
| B．The dialogue in the movie is original and creative. |
| C．The characters and the love story are less attractive. |
| D．The attack scenes occupy too much time of the movie. |
