【推荐1】We’re raising children!

A famous research scientist was being interviewed why he was so much more creative.

    1    He had been trying to remove a bottle of milk from the refrigerator when he lost his balance and it fell, spilling its contents all the kitchen floor—a veritable sea of milk!

When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him, she said , “Robert, what a great and wonderful mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk.    2    Would you like to get down and play in the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?”

Indeed, he did. After several minutes, his mother said,“You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess, eventually you have to clean it up and restore everything to its proper order.    3    We could use a sponge, a towel or a mop. Which do you prefer?” He chose the sponge and they cleaned up the spilled milk.

His mother then said, “You know, what we have here is a failed experiment in how to effectively carry a big milk bottle. Let’s fill the bottle with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it.” The boy learned that if he grasped the bottle at the top near the lip with both hands, he could carry it without dropping it.    4    

This scientist remarked that it was at that moment that he knew he didn’t need to be afraid to make mistakes.    5    

Wouldn’t it be great if all parents would respond the way Robert’s mother responded to him?

A．Instead, he learned that mistakes were just opportunities for learning something new.

B．Well, the damage has already been done.

C．What set him so far apart from others?

D．What a wonderful lesson!

E．So, how would you like to do that?

F．Such an opportunity of experiencing was delightful to him.

G．He responded that it all came from an experience when he was about two years old.

【推荐2】阅读下面短文并根据题目要求回答问题。答语要意思清楚，结构正确，书写工整。

You don’t have to spend money or even leave your desk to protect the environment. Here’s how to do your bit.

● Buy nothing

“Stop shopping—start living’’ is the slogan (口号) of the Buy Nothing Day ( BND) movement. Every 24th or 25th November, activists take a 24-hour retail (零售) break and… stop shopping!

BND was founded in 1992 by Canadian artist Ted Dave and it has been a great success ever since. People stop shopping on the day, expressing their concern about the environmental problem. So if you are used to shopping every day, BND gives you a chance to have a break! You might change your habit not just for one day, but for life!

● Stop eating prawns

You’ve probably got prawns ready for a quick and easy meal. But how are they produced? Well, most prawns come from Asia and Latin America, where they are fished or farmed.

Unfortunately, prawn fishing causes harm to marine (海洋的) life because huge nets are pulled along the sea bottom. 10 kilos of dead fish are thrown away for every kilo of prawns caught. Prawn farming is no better—a lot of forests are destroyed to make room for the farms. So think again about the prawns on your plate!

● Save the rainforest

Now only 2 million square miles of rainforests are left, and another 1% is being destroyed every year. The trees are being cut down for their wood, and the remaining rainforests could have been used by 2050. Over half of the world’s plant and animal species are found in rainforests. It is believed that extinctions (灭绝) take place every day due to cutting down trees.

Why not go to www. worldlandtrust. org? Donate the price of a cinema ticket for a piece of rainforest. It will be saved with your simple click of the mouse. If we don’t act，in 30 years from now the rainforests will have been destroyed.

1. What do people do on BND?       (不多于四个单词)
2. Why is prawn farming bad for the environment?       (不多于十个单词)
3. How long will the remaining rainforests be used?       (不多于三个单词)
4. What does the passage mainly talk about?       (不多于八个单词)

【推荐1】I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent.

I no longer consider myself the centre of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows(誓言) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.

So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger pay cheque, the larger house.

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure. It is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing, and that you have no business taking it for granted.

It is so easy to waste our lives: our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

1. How did the author form her view of life?

A．Through social experience.	B．By learning from her friends.
C．Through an unfortunate experience.	D．From her children and husband.

2. The underlined part “exist instead of live” means “________”.

A．keep alive but not to live a real life	B．work rather than enjoy life
C．waste a lot in life	D．forget the most important lessons in life

3. What’s the author’s attitude towards work?

A．Do it well to serve others.	B．Earn enough money to make life better.
C．Try your best to get a higher position and salary.	D．Don’t let it affect your real life.

【推荐2】The second-hand car that I bought just three months ago wouldn’t start the other day. The factory battery that came along with it showed that it had worked long enough to “face death”. My kind-hearted neighbor gave it a try, but the battery wouldn’t hold the charge. After giving another try, I headed to the local car store to buy a new one. Fixing it was more difficult than we thought, so I took it to a local repairman who finally got the new battery in and the car started running once again.

Driving it this morning, though, I noticed that the time on the screen had suddenly gone back to nine years, resetting to the date of the first time when it was started. While my son smartly found out how to program it back to today, I thought about how I had wished I could turn back time and make up for some of the errors I had made and the missteps I had taken in my own life during my boyhood time.

How many of us wish that we could go back to a certain time and change things? Like most middle-aged fathers, I have ever wished that. Yet, when I look back on my life today, I think that I won’t change anything. Every choice I have made, every step I have taken, and every road I have taken has led me to where I am now. Many of my choices have brought me pain in the past, but they have also guided me in the present. I won’t want to change things as they will change me. All that I have learned comes from the roads I have taken.

When you look at your own life, you can remember your past sadness, bout don’t regret the roads you took. Instead, celebrate the path you are on. Keep your feet moving forward.

1. How did the author get the car to work?

A．by accepting his neighbor’s battery.

B．By asking a man to repair it at home.

C．By sending it to its production factory.

D．By changing is battery for a new one.

2. What did the wrong time on the car’s screen remind the author of?

A．His past mistakes.

B．His happy childhood days.

C．His difficulty in the car repair.

D．His experience of buying the car.

3. What does the author think of his pain in life now?

A．It is confusing.	B．It is valuable.
C．It is uncommon.	D．It is unimaginable.

4. What does the author want to tell us?

A．We shouldn’t remember the past.

B．No one can make up for mistakes.

C．No one wants to go back and live once again.

D．We shouldn’t regret the past but should move on.

【推荐3】The key to happiness is how quickly you can get back your focus on what’s important.

—Anonymous

Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here’s what happened. I jumped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!

The driver of the other car, who almost caused a big accident, started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call “The Law of the Garbage Truck.”

Many people are like garbage (rubbish) trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to throw it away. And if you let them, they’ll throw it away on you. When someone wants to throw their garbage away on you, don’t take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You’ll be happy with what you did.

I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets? It was that day I said, “I’m not going to do any more.”

Successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? If you let more garbage trucks pass you by, you’ll be happier. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t.

1. What happened one day when the author was taking a taxi?

A．The taxi driver was injured.

B．The taxi almost hit another car.

C．The author scolded the driver of the other car.

D．The author learned a lesson from the driver of the garbage truck.

2. How did the taxi driver respond to the behaviour of the driver of the black car?

A．He yelled back at the driver.

B．He sent the driver to the hospital.

C．He dumped some garbage in front of his car.

D．He was friendly towards the driver.

3. What does the taxi driver think of people according to Paragraph 3?

A．Many people like to drive garbage trucks.

B．Many people throw garbage away wherever they like.

C．Many people tend to be very much depressed.

D．Many people are warm-hearted to make others happy.

4. According to the passage, what should you do if people “throw garbage away” on you?

A．Ignore them and go on with our own work.

B．Try our best to persuade them not to do that again.

C．Tell them to throw garbage away in the right place.

D．Take over their work and carry the garbage to somewhere else.