When I came home on the first day of every school year, there was always a new book on my bed. My mother lived for tradition-especially on holidays. Knowing how much I loved to read, a new book was the perfect way to begin a new school year for me, and it was a reminder of how much she cared.
I carried my mother’s thoughtfulness into my own children’s lives. When it was time for them to start school, we began our own traditions. For us, it was all about our favorite pizza at dinner and High/Low, a game in which the kids shared their best and not-so-good memories of that first school day. They loved the game so much that they made me share mine.
The start of a new school year can be exciting or frightening for children, but creating a family tradition can help beat the first-day-of-school blues. Kristin Taylor of Murray, Kentucky, wishes her parents had recorded her childhood more, so she’s promised to do that for her kids. “I want to remember the moments that seem little but end up being the stories we retell as our kids grow up,” says Taylor, mother to three children.
Each year on the first school day, she photographs her children in their school uniforms. “I plan on giving them a book of those photos when they graduate,” she says.
The book “The Kissing Hand” has meant a lot to Marie Karns and her daughter, Lil. In the story, a baby raccoon (浣熊) cries to his mom that he doesn’t want to go to school. The mom passes down a tradition from her mom to her little boy. She kisses the inside of his palm (手心) so he can take her love to school with him. “We read the book every year and then I kissed the palm of her hand so she could take it to school with her,” says Karns.
Traditions create memories and one day, when the kids are older, they will be a great way to look back and remember those new beginnings.
1. What did the author think of the new book on her bed?| A．It expressed her mother’s wish to teach. |
| B．It was an everyday gift for her. |
| C．It was a great way for her to start each school year. |
| D．It showed her mother’s love for reading. |
| A．They went out to a restaurant to have dinner. |
| B．They read a new book together. |
| C．They discussed how to start a new family tradition. |
| D．They described their experiences that day in a game. |
| A．She values childhood memories. | B．She works as a photographer. |
| C．She is strict with her children. | D．She is good at telling stories. |
| A．A family tradition. | B．Karns’ love. | C．Lil’s gift. | D．A children’s book. |
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【推荐1】So your room is a pile of unfinished projects, unsorted papers, a soccer sweater from last fall, and – beneath it all – puzzle pieces and pet food. You catch some old banana peel and dirty socks every time you walk in the door and you can’t see the top of your bed. ‘No baseball until your room is clean!’ your parents say.
Some kids seem to be born tidy. But if you were not, you probably hear ‘clean your room’ and ‘put piles under the bed and into the closet.’ You also know, though, that this kind of cleaning is just a quick fix.
Wouldn’t you like to clean up your room for good? A real clean-up job is not such a monumental task if you learn a few timesaving ‘tricks of trade’.
If you share a room, get your brother or sister to help. Then collect a pile of big boxes, and take a kitchen timer into your room, and you’re ready for the two easy steps that will turn you into a super sorter!
Do a ‘Big Sort’.
Think about what’s in that mess of stuff in your room.
A big job seems smaller when it’s broken into parts. Write different names on the empty boxes to fit the contents of your room. Write ‘Give Away’ on one box for things you don’t want. Draw a big ‘?’ on another box for those things that don’t belong anywhere else.
Set the timer for 60 minutes. Working for just an hour at a time, you won’t feel as if you’re climbing a mountain of messiness. Ready, set, GO! Put letters from friends and unsorted school papers into a ‘Papers’ box. Put the helmet in with ‘Sports Equipment.’ Throw stinky socks and dirty sweatshirts in a laundry basket. Hang up clothes that belong in the closet. Keep going! Pair your shoes and line them up next to your bed (or in your closet, if there is room). Put dirty dishes in the hall to take to the kitchen later. Take a look around. There’s your bed! Dad’s missing hammer! Tuesday’s homework assignment! Things are getting neater. Toss (扔) trash into the wastebasket.
Depending on how messy your room is, this Big Sort could take several sessions. Keep at it!
Plan where things should live.
Handle one of your Big Sort groups at a time. Do the items in your groups already have a home, and they just aren’t in it? Or do they need a ‘place to call home’?
Dirty clothes, for example: if you usually toss them on the floor, put a clothes basket behind your door. Ready, aim… shoot your clothes into the basket. Score!
Store similar supplies in one place. Desk supplies can go into the bottom and lid of an empty egg carton. Put puzzle piece in small empty gift boxes. Keep hobby supplies in plastic bags.
Draw a map of your room to figure out where to put things. Once everything has a home, you can train yourself to put items in their place as soon as you’re done with them. That makes it much easier to keep your room neat.
1. What behavior is regarded as a quick fix?| A．Leaving the soccer jersey on the door. |
| B．Tossing the old banana peel into the dustbin. |
| C．Cleaning up the room by hiding everything. |
| D．Tiding up the room with ‘tricks of trade’. |
| A．Whatever you haven’t cleaned in an hour is not worth keeping |
| B．An hour is all the time it takes to clean your entire room. |
| C．Working for an hour at a time makes a big job seem smaller. |
| D．Training yourself to put items in their place takes time.[ |
| A．Cleaning your kitchen. | B．Drawing a map of your room. |
| C．Throwing away boxes. | D．Tossing the unwanted on the floor. |
My family had moved into a new house with big back yard. For some time, my older brother and I had been expecting a family pet. Finally, we managed to persuade our parents that the time had come for keeping one.
Though my brother and I were of like minds about the goal of having a family member, what exactly it meant to each of us was entirely different. I was excited and happy when my parents brought home the dog, Snoopy. Despite the fun of playing with him，I knew it was really more my brother’s pet than mine. I really, really wanted a cat! I tried to show my joy for getting a pet while trying to hide my disappointment that he wasn’t a cat. My parents must have known how I was feeling because they suggested that I could make a wish about it.
Running to my bedroom, I made a wish sincerely that I would have a cat. Not more than a minute or two passed when I heard a faint scratching sound(轻微的抓挠声) coming from the front door. Curious, I stood up, approaching the open front door. There, sitting calmly before me was a large, white cat.
I was absolutely amazed! I went close to the white cat, and it began walking towards me. I gathered his mass into my arms and then I went into the back yard where my parents and brother were playing with Snoopy. So, Snowball joined our household that day, too.
Although my parents always denied having anything to do with Snowball's arrival, I guessed they might have. However, even if they did somehow arrange for him to appear at the front door at the very moment when I was making a wish for a cat, it would not reduce the miracle of a cat doing in my life.
1. What were the author's parents persuaded to do? (no more than 10 words)2. Why did the author feel disappointed? (no more than 10 words)
3. What happened to the author after her wish? (no more than 10 words)
4. How can we understand the underlined part in Paragraph 4? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of the author's parents? And why? (no more than 20 words)
【推荐3】Scientists have discovered a common household item is the perfect host for bacteria: the kitchen sponge (海绵块). According to the new research, a sponge is a better habitat for diverse bacterial communities than a laboratory petri dish.
Some bacteria prefer living with a collection of microbial species, while others prefer solitude. “Bacteria are just like people living through the pandemic — some find it difficult being set apart while others thrive (繁育),” says study co author Lingchong You, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke, in a statement.
In their study, researchers distributed different strains of E. coli (大肠杆菌菌株) onto plates with different numbers of wells, which functioned as physical separation. The large wells allowed microbial species to mix freely, while the small wells let species keep to themselves. After 30 hours, they looked at the number and types of bacterial on each plate, which had anywhere from six to 1, 536 wells. The scientists found that a moderate level of physical separation, similar to the structure of a kitchen sponge, allowed both kinds of bacteria — those that live in groups and those that live alone — to thrive.
After the researchers ran their initial experiments, they recreated the experiment on a sponge. They found that the bacterial community growing on a kitchen sponge was more diverse than those produced in laboratory petri dishes, which are designed to host bacteria. “Sponges are not really well-suited for kitchen cleanness.” says Markus Egert, a microbiologist at Furtwangen University. “There’s hardly any sterile surface at home, but the kitchen sponge is probably the most thickly populated item at home.”
To keep bacterial growth to a minimum (最小量), Markus recommends microwaving your kitchen sponge for one to two minutes, keeping it away from raw meat, and replacing it every couple of weeks.
1. What does the underlined word “solitude” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Being alone. | B．Growing in the soil. |
| C．Being in air. | D．Living in groups |
| A．It mixes microbial species to a different level. |
| B．Its moderate holey structure maintains both kinds of bacteria. |
| C．It offers a high level of nutrients to bacteria. |
| D．It allows bacteria communities to keep to themselves. |
| A．Raw meat is a major source of bacteria. |
| B．The sponge is a necessity in every kitchen. |
| C．The sponge should be removed from the kitchen. |
| D．Bacteria can grow on almost every item at home. |
| A．To urgently call for kitchen cleanness. |
| B．I o explain how we easily fall victim to bacteria. |
| C．To call on people to abandon kitchen sponges. |
| D．To report kitchen sponge is a better home for bacteria. |
【推荐1】My 6-year-old son hates the British. To be more specific, he hates the British Empire that had ruled over up to a quarter of the world’s land by the early 1900s. He hates that one of the biggest diamonds in the world, found in India over 1,000 years ago, now sits in the queen’s set of crown jewels.
How does my 6-year-old son know all about this? Well, because we talk about it and have a lot of books at home. And now that we have more flexible schedules since we have to work at home- and the kid has to do school at home--- we have even more time together. He is naturally attracted by the books with characters that look like him.
As a scholar of multicultural education, I know that children are able to understand complex issues, like racism, if they are broken down and explained in a way that they can grasp. So, when books talk about subjects like racism, slavery, or colonialism（殖民主义）, my wife and I explain those terms as best as we can.
The-coronavirus pandemic （全球性流行病） has brought on a lot of hardship and heartache to families everywhere, and it has also made it easier for parents like us to spend more time with our children. As parents of color, we have an opportunity to offer counter-stories that focus on people who look like us, instead of having our children forced to learn from narratives and stories written from a European or white angle.
Schooling at home provides a unique chance for children of color to build up their knowledge of their histories and larger struggles for social and racial justice locally and globally. Perhaps this moment can be an opportunity, a place of possibility within the overwhelming task of parenting during the pandemic.
1. Why did the author’s son hate the British Empire?| A．He was introduced to books concerning racism and colonialism. |
| B．He was told about his father’s suffering and hardship in the UK. |
| C．He was too young to have a good understanding of the history. |
| D．He was schooled at home without teachers’’ instruct and guidance. |
| A．Misguided. | B．Practical. | C．Equal. | D．One-sided. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Positive | C．Concerned | D．Negative |
【推荐2】The classroom, the bathroom, the outdoors — my smart phone is always in hand as if it were some magic self-defense tool capable of protecting me from all evil in the world. I also love my laptop, because it holds all of my writing and thoughts. Despite this love of technology, I know that there are times when I need to move away from these devices and truly communicate with others.
On occasion, I teach History Matters for a group of higher education managers. My goals for the class include a full discussion of historical themes and ideas. Because I want students to thoroughly study the materials and exchange their ideas in the classroom, I have a rule — no laptop, iPads, phones, etc. When students were told my rule in advance, some of them were not happy.
Most students assume that my reasons for this rule include unpleasant experiences with students misusing technology. There’s a bit of truth to that. Some assume that I am anti-technology. There’s no truth in that at all. I love technology and try to keep up with it, so I can relate to my students. The real reason is that I think there are very few places where we can have deep conversations and truly engage complex ideas. Interruptions by technology often break concentration and allow for too much dependence on outside information for ideas. I want students to dig deep within themselves for inspiration. I want them to think differently and make connections between the course materials and the class discussion.
I’ve been teaching my history class this way for many years. The evaluations reflect student satisfaction with the environment that I create. Students realize that with deep conversation and challenge, they learn at a level that helps them keep course materials beyond the classroom.
I’m not saying that I won’t ever change my mind about technology use in my history class, but until I hear a really good reason for the change, I’m sticking to my plan. A few hours of technology-free dialogue is just too sweet to give up.
1. What upset some students most at the beginning?| A．The topics for class discussions. | B．The requirements for idea exchange. |
| C．The materials chosen for the course. | D．The ban on electronic devices in class. |
| A．To push them to be more involved. |
| B．To make connections with information. |
| C．To explore their potentials to study better. |
| D．To introduce them to more complex themes. |
| A．They are well received and highly assessed. |
| B．The study environment is far from satisfactory. |
| C．They show his attitude against high technology. |
| D．The managers are promoted by attending the classes. |
| A．He will stick to this practice until he changes for a new job. |
| B．Technology is an effective way to relate teachers to students. |
| C．Unpleasant experiences can be the beginning of some new rules. |
| D．A few hours of technology-free dialogue will harvest a lot. |
【推荐3】A man who dined regularly in his favorite restaurant complained about the bread. “It wasn’t fair,” he emphasized, “that other restaurants served lots of bread.” But here he got only one piece. So the next time he came in, they served him four pieces. He still complained it wasn’t enough.
On his next visit his server brought him a dozen piece. The man still complained, “The other restaurants give all the bread you can eat.”
The restaurant decided to be ready for him the next day. They had an enormous loaf of bread prepared. It was six feet long and two feet wide. Four people carried the loaf to his table. They put it down in front of him. It took up half the table and hung over both sides. The chef stood back to see how the customer would react.
He looked over the loaf and commented, “So, we’re back to one piece again, aren’t we?”
Like this man, we volunteer to be victims, but in more suitable ways. We believe life is unfair, people are untrustworthy and that we are getting a bad shake. We think everyone should know just how terrible things are and we feel responsible to tell them. The problem is that life sometimes is unfair and we can be victimized, but the greater truth is that people can decide whether they are victims or victors. They can feel helpless and miserable, or they can try to feel strong. Happy people have learned that they cannot always control their circumstances, but they can often control how they will respond.
Lewis Dunning said, “What life means to us is determined not so much by what life brings to us as by the attitude we bring to life; not so much by what happens to us as by our reaction to what happens.”
1. What did the man complain about the enormous bread?| A．It was still not enough to eat. | B．It returned to one piece again. |
| C．It was overbaked by the chef. | D．It was too large to eat at a time. |
| A．He wanted to play tricks. | B．He hoped to get more bread. |
| C．He might have a mental disorder. | D．He took a negative attitude to life. |
| A．To be a victim or a victor? | B．Little actions, big impact |
| C．Make your choice count | D．What is the meaning of life? |
【推荐1】Before you walked down the aisle—if you even did---did you first agree to take your partner’s name? had you agreed to the bank for updated credit cards, changed your email address, and updated your Facebook?
I didn't; and I know plenty of women out there didn't, either. So I was pretty shocked to learn that in a recent survey, over 50 percent of U.S. citizens believe a wife should take her husband's name—and she should be required to do so by law.
Author Emily Schafer, a sociology professor at Portland State University, surveyed a representative national sample of 1,200 people tar the study, which found that a larger number of American adults think there needs to actually be a law in place to prevent women from keeping their own name.
The most common reason given? The general belief is that women should prioritize (优先)their marriage and their family ahead of themselves. To this, I admit I'm a bit confused, because I don't understand how exactly not taking your husband’s last name means you aren't prioritizing your marriage.
Now, I didn't take my husband's name for a variety of reasons: I didn’t feel like the name was "mine" and professionally I had built up a reputation as a writer under my maiden(未婚的)name, so I didn't want to lose that. His surname wasn't easy to spell, either; everyone gets it wrong (including my mother—still—and we've been married 13 years).But most of all, I felt like in taking my husband's last name, I was losing a huge sense of self. And while yes, we are a family, I don't want his surname to define me. I'm not his possession.
Just like every aspect of motherhood, each woman should be respected for the choices she makes—without having to do anything by law. And we should all be grateful to Lucy Stone—the first American woman to legally maintain her last name after marriage in 1856.Just imagine how difficult that must have been to forego tradition in that time?
1. What can be learned about the tradition of taking a husband's name from the survey?| A．A law should be there to break the tradition. |
| B．The majority of American adults support the tradition. |
| C．The majority of American women go against the tradition. |
| D．The law requires wives to take their husbands' names in America. |
| A．To value her marriage and family. |
| B．To show honesty to her husband. |
| C．To join in the family of her husband. |
| D．To unite a new family under the same name. |
| A．Why the author didn't use her husband's name. |
| B．Why the author's mother didn't like her husband. |
| C．How worthy the author's own maiden name was. |
| D．How bored the author became with her husband's name. |
| A．It's reasonable | B．It isn’t worth caring |
| C．Every coin has two sides | D．It's out of date and confusing. |
A couple of weeks later, the bartender decided to clear this out and inquired: “I do not want to pry, but could you explain, why do you order three beers all the time?” The man replied: “It seems strange, isn’t it? You see, my two brothers live abroad at the moment, one – in France and another – in Italy. We have made an agreement, that every time we go to pub each of us will order extra two beers and it will help keeping up the family bond ”.
Soon all the town have heard about the man’s answer and liked it a lot. The man became a local celebrity. Residents of the town were telling this story to newcomers or tourists and even invited them to that pub to look at Three Beer Man.
However, one day the man came to pub and ordered only two beers, not three as usual. The bartender served him with bad feeling. All that evening the man ordered and drank only two beers. The very next day all the town was talking about this news, some people pray for the soul of one of the brothers, others quietly grieve.
When the man came to pub the next time and ordered two beers again, the bartender asked him: “I would like to offer condolences to you, due to the death of your dear brother”. The man considered this for a moment and then replied: “Oh, you are probably surprised that I order only two beers now? Well, my two brothers are alive and well. It‘s just because of my decision. I promised myself to give up drinking.”
1. The man ordered three beers all the time because _______.
| A．people were fond of drinking beers in this pub. |
| B．he missed his two brothers living abroad very much. |
| C．this would help him become a local celebrity. |
| D．it was an agreement with his brothers to keep up the family bond. |
| A．news traveled fast in the town. |
| B．the man became famous in the town because he was a heavy drinker |
| C．the man’s brothers liked drinking beer very much |
| D．the man was strong-minded to give up drinking |
| A．he thought the man should order three beers |
| B．he thought one of the man’s brothers had passed away |
| C．he would earn less money |
| D．the man decided to drink two beers |
| A．gratitude | B．sympathy | C．appreciation | D．surprise |
【推荐3】“Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different answer from every man who hears these words. Some feel proud when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had a lot of experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the change from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few tries have been made to educate fathers in this re-socialization process. Although many good books have been written about American mothers, only recently have some books discussed the role of a father.
It is argued by some writers that the transition to the father’s role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the transition the wife must make to the mother’s role. The mother’s role seems to require a complete transformation of daily routine and adaptation to a new life, on the other hand, the father’s role is less immediate. However, even though we have mentioned the fact that growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household.
1. According to the author, being a father ________.| A．brings a feeling of excitement to some men |
| B．has a different meaning for those who have daughters |
| C．makes some men feel proud and others uneasy |
| D．means nothing but more responsibilities |
| A．some parents are prepared to have a child |
| B．young couples do not like children at all |
| C．working couples do not have much time to take care of their children |
| D．many parents look forward to having a boy as their first child |
| A．changes her life style in a quite different way |
| B．makes a complete change in her everyday life to deal with the new situation |
| C．stays at home to take care of the baby |
| D．helps her husband in his re-socialization process |
| A．have to do more in the household | B．have to make more difficult adaptations |
| C．have an easier job to do | D．can usually do a better job |
