【推荐3】During the school year many parents take on the role of driver as they drive their children from one lesson to another. Understandably so. Many of us want our children to have a little taste of everything, from organized sports to music, dance and more. But we can overdo it, leaving our children feeling a little burnt out, and according to parent educator Diane Loisie, it’s their school work that suffers the most, “After school, if they’re busy in a number of sporting events, besides, they need to do their homework, then the time they’ll feel sleepy is in the classroom. Your child needs free time. So if you’re filling up that after school time, then it’s during the day they’re going to be taking a break.”

Professor Claire McDermott agrees that there’s a lot to be gained from sometimes putting those scheduled lessons and activities away.“Relaxing time is important for children. It’s time just to do the things they want to do. Children can go up to their room, or they can play around. It doesn’t look like productive time；parents certainly wouldn’t be saying ‘Wow, are they ever learning things now？’ But this relaxing time gives both the body and the brain just a wonderful chance to relax after a day. It helps a child prepare for sleep, but it also helps to understand the learning that’s gone on that day.”

It’s hard to prevent signing our kids up for some activities and lessons. After all, many of us want our children to have a head start in life and the chance to join in great activities in the arts or sports is part of that. However, Loisie feels that in the long run most children feel better with just a few key activities because it gives them an opportunity to master them.“When we get our children in too many activities because we want our children to experience everything, then what we’re doing is setting them up not to be good at one thing or gain a skill.” So choose your children’s activities wisely. It may be one of the best things you’ve ever done for your kids and for the family drivers!

1. What is the biggest disadvantage for children to attend too many lessons after school?

A．They can get bored easily about everything.

B．They might have no time to do the homework.

C．They might not pay much attention to learning.

D．They can not easily focus on learning during the day.

2. What does Professor Claire McDermott think of children’s playing around?

A．It is productive.	B．It is a bad habit.
C．It is helpful.	D．It is a waste of time.

3. What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Don’t be children’s drivers after school.

B．Let children learn something from various subjects.

C．Make your children learn as much as possible.

D．Choose activities for your children wisely.

【推荐1】Too many people want others to be their friends, but they don’t give friendship back.That is why some friendships don’t last very long. To have a friend, you must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous (宽宏大量的); be understanding.

Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you don’t tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven’t been honest, you may lose your friend’s trust. Good friends always count on one another to speak and act honestly.

Generosity (大度) means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You don’t have to give your lunch money or your clothes, of course. Instead you have to learn how to share things you enjoy, like your hobbies and your interests. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them you help your friend know you better.

Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend’s place so you can understand the problem better.

No two friendships are ever exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friendships, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.

1. Some friendships don’t last very long because________.

A．there are too many people who want to make friends

B．they don’t know friendship is something serious

C．those who give others friendships receive friendships from others

D．those who never give others friendships receive no friendship from others

2. According to the passage, honesty is ________.

A．as important as money	B．more important than anything else
C．something countable	D．the base of a friendship

3. Which of the following is NOT true in the passage?

A．A friend who gives you his lunch money is a true friend.

B．Always tell your friend the truth.

C．Discussing your problems with your friend often helps to solve the problem.

D．Sharing your mind with your friend is of great value.

4. According to the author, how do you help your friend know you better?

A．Ask your friend for everything.

B．Don’t tell the truth to your friend.

C．Share your ideas and feelings with your friend.

D．Give your lunch money or your clothes to your friend.

【推荐2】Victor’s hobby was collecting stamps. He had stamps from many countries, like England, Canada and China. On his birthday, can you guess what people gave him? That’s right--stamps.
Victor’s favourite stamps came from France. He had almost every stamp from 1954 to 2004. He only needed one. That was a 1974 special edition(版本). It was very hard to find.
He looked for it everywhere. He asked his friends and relatives to help him. But nobody could find the stamp. It made Victor very sad.
“Don’t worry. Never give up,” his father said to him. “If you have enough patience, you’ll find it one day.”
“I hope so,” Victor said.
Victor also liked writing. He had a penfriend in France. They wrote to each other every month. Victor’s penfriend, Phillip, usually used new stamps to send letters. Sometimes, his mother gave him stamps to use. Once Phillip’s mother gave him a big, green stamp. It looked old. When Victor received the letter, he was very surprised. On the envelope, he looked carefully at the stamp. It was the 1974 special edition stamp. Victor was so happy. He told his sister, his mother and his father.
“You see,” his father said. “ You did find your stamp. So, it’s good to have two things in life.”
“What are they?” Victor asked.
“ Friends and patience.” He answered.
1. It was very difficult for Victor to find a special French stamp of _________.

A．1954

B．1974

C．1994

D．2004

2. What does the underlined word “patience” mean?

A．勇气

B．知识

C．耐心

D．目标

3. Who owned the special edition stamp at the very beginning?

A．Phillip.	B．Phillip’s mother.
C．Victor.	D．Victor’s father.

4. Which sentence is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Victor’s father didn’t support his hobby.

B．Victor both liked collecting stamps and writing.

C．Phillip’s mother wanted his son to write letters to Victor.

D．Phillip was from France.

5. The passage mainly tells us that ________ is(are) important to people.

A．a happy family

B．a good hobby

C．relatives and friendship

D．friends and patience

【推荐3】Dear Sir,
I have to travel every day from Souk Road to the airport. Two buses travel along their route: the number 49 and number 16. But by the time the number 16 bus reaches Souk Road it is always full, so I can’t get on it. I have to wait for the number 49, because sometimes there are empty seats on it.
The timetable says that there are buses from Souk Road to the airport every ten minutes. If this is so, why do I have to wait half an hour for a bus nearly every day?
The regulations (规章) say that if there are empty seats on a bus, the bus must stop at every stop where people are waiting. Why do the half-empty buses go straight past me when I am standing at the bus stop?
The regulations say that no bus may carry more than 40 seated passengers and 20 standing passengers. Yesterday I was the first to get off the bus when it reached the airport. I counted the other passengers as they got off. There were 129 of them.
It is clear that our bus companies break the regulations and think little of their passengers. Can nothing be done to make your service better?
Yours,
Tired passenger
1. The writer has to take Bus No. 49 because______.

A．it arrives on time

B．it travels faster

C．it is not always full

D．it has fewer seats on it

2. The regulations say that each bus may carry ______ passengers at most.

A．20

B．40

C．60

D．129

3. From the passage we can infer that the writer of the letter is probably ______.

A．a bus driver

B．an airport worker

C．a very tired traveler

D．an English teacher

4. What kind of letter is this passage?

A．It’s a letter of thanks

B．It’s a letter of complaint (投诉)

C．It’s a letter of introduction

D．It’s a letter of apology