Bob Miller was a woodcutter and he started a new job at a timber (木材) company. The pay and work conditions were quite good. In return, Bob worked as hard as he could.
His boss gave him an axe and showed him where he was supposed to work. On his first day, Bob cut down 18 trees. “Congratulations,” his boss said. “Keep going!”
Encouraged by his boss’ words, Bob worked even harder the next day, but could only cut down 15 trees. The third day, he tried even harder, but only cut down 10 trees. Day after day, he was cutting down fewer and fewer trees.
“I must be losing my strength.” Bob thought. Since the boss was treating him well, he felt really sorry and guilty. He went to his boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” his boss asked.
“Sharpen? I have no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut down trees.”
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to sharpen our “axe”. In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but also less happy than ever.
Why is this? There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. Probably it is because we have forgotten how to stay “sharp”. We have forgotten to continuously improve our skills so we lose our efficiency(效率). Then we leave ourselves in a busy state and become stressed. We will feel less happy.
So remember, it’s worth taking time to sharpen your skills. As the saying goes, “More preparation may quicken the speed in doing work.”
根据短文内容，回答下列问题。
1. What was Bob’s job?
2. How many trees did Bob cut on the third day?
3. Why did Bob cut fewer trees day by day?
4. According to the story, if people don’t sharpen the “axe” often, how will they feel?
5. What can we learn from this story?
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This week, my dog of almost 14 years died. What I lost was not just a pet dog. She was so much more than that. I don’t even remember my life without her.
My dog only cost $40. She was among hundreds of dogs at Philadelphia’s Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) . PAWS is the largest animal shelter in my city. It is also a “no-kill” shelter. Many other shelters, however, are unable to be “no-kill”because of the large number of animals they have. Nearly sixty percent of dogs that enter these shelters end up being euthanized (meaning “killed in a peaceful way”)
This number could be lowered if more people decided to adopt an animal rather than purchasing one. When you adopt a pet from a shelter, you are not only giving your chosen animal a loving home. You are also saving the lives of many others as you help to free up space for them.
Adopting an animal is much cheaper than buying one. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, many people have had lower incomes than usual. More people have turned to adopting dogs. The idea behind the adoption of a dog is good. However, some animal shelters are worried that after the pandemic is over, some of these new pet owners might become, busy again and no longer have time to care for their animals. These animals might end up back on the street and in the end being put down. So before you take in an animal, think about why you want to do so. Do you truly love it, or do you just want to save money?
I like to think back to when I adopted my dog almost 14 years ago. I’m proud that I gave her the life she deserved. Pets can make wonderful additions to our lives. However, almost any pet, including those without a large price tag, can do this. We should never allow man’s best friend to be let down by a system that kills because there is no room.
1. The dog was just a pet to the writer, wasn’t she?2. Where did the writer get the pet dog?
3. What caused many people to turn to adopting dogs?
4. According to the writer, what might happen to the newly adopted pets after the pandemic?
5. What does on the streetson the streets “this” in the last paragraph mean?
6. Do you agree with the writer that adopting is better than purchasing? Why?(15-20 words)
【推荐2】A woman was at the airport waiting for her flight to start boarding. She still had a lot of time, so she went to a shop and bought a book to read. While she was in the shop, she decided to buy a bag of cookies as well.
She arrived at her gate, sat down and started reading her book. She read her book so carefully that she didn’t notice what was going on around her. But she did see that a man had sat down next to her and taken one of her cookies out of the bag.
She pretended(假装) not to notice, as she didn’t want to make a scene(当众大吵). But then the man took more. He kept eating the cookies until there was just one left. The man took the last cookie and broke it in half. He tapped the woman on the shoulder and held out one half to her.
The woman could not believe how much nerve (勇气) this man had to steal (偷) all of her cookies and then offer half a cookie in return. She angrily grabbed (夺) the half-cookie out of his hand and ate it without any words.
Finally, it was time for her to board. As she went to the gate, she reached into her purse. Suddenly, she realized that her bag of cookies was still in her purse. The man had eaten his own cookies the whole time and simply wanted to share the last one with her. The woman’s face turned red with shame. So she quickly caught up with him and said, “__________.”
When we’re not paying attention to the world around us, it can be easy to misunderstand what’s happening or even become angry with others. It is better to keep our eyes open and think about every possibility when trying to understand a special situation.
1. Did the woman arrive at the airport so early?2. Why couldn’t the woman notice what happened around her at all?
3. What did the man do with the last cookie?
4. How did the woman feel when she was offered the half-cookie?
5. When did the woman realize her mistake?
6. What did the woman probably say to the man?(Please fill in the blank in Paragraph 5 with one sentence.)
Zengzi, also called Zeng Shen, became a good student of Confucius（孔子）when he was 16.
Early one morning, Zengzi’s wife left for the market. Her little son wanted to go with her. But he was too young and the market was too far.
Then she cheated（欺骗）her son and said, “I will soon be back. You stay at home and wait for me. If you do as I say, I will kill a pig and make a nice dish for you.” The child went back to the house happily.
When Zengzi’s wife got back from the market, she showed no sign of killing a pig. So Zengzi himself prepared to do that, but his wife rushed to stop him and said, “Don’t do that. I just cheated the child.”
“Honesty（诚实）is the most important thing,” Zengzi said. “Children are like blank（空白的）pieces of paper. They understand nothing but they can learn from their parents’ actions. Because you have cheated your son, he won’t trust you anymore. In the future he will cheat others.”
Hearing her husband’s words, Zengzi’s wife regretted cheating the child. So she wanted to keep her word. She joined Zengzi in killing the pig, and cooked nice dishes for the child. While eating, the boy was happy and thankful to his parents.
One evening, when the child went to bed, he suddenly got up and ran outside. Zengzi asked him where he was going. The boy replied, “I promised I was going to return a toy to a friend today. But I forgot, so I am going to return it now.” The couple exchanged（交换）satisfied smiles, and waited until the boy came back.
1. Whose teacher was Confucius from the passage?2. How did Zengzi’s wife let her son stay at home?
3. What did Zengzi think of honesty?
4. Why did Zengzi’s wife kill the pig and cook dishes?
5. Did Zengzi’s son become an honest person?
It’s Sunday today. Jenny has a busy day. She does lots of things. In the morning, she helps her mother make breakfast. After that, she does her homework (做作业) from nine to eleven. In the afternoon, Jenny goes to the CoCo Clothes Store with her parents. She loves shopping (购物). In the store, they see many kinds of (许多种类的) clothes, like trousers, T-shirts, sweaters, shoes, socks, bags and skirts. They are on sale. Jenny likes sweaters very much because she thinks they are very cool. She takes two sweaters. But she doesn’t like the black shoes because she thinks they are expensive (昂贵的). Her favorite color is purple.
In the evening, Jenny watches TV with her parents. It’s about sports. She thinks it’s very interesting. It’s really a busy day!
1. Why does Jenny like sweaters?(不多于7个单词)2. What’s Jenny’s favorite color? (不多于7个单词)
3. What does Jenny do in the evening? (不多于7个单词)
4. 将划线部分句子译成汉语
5. 给短文拟一个适当的英文标题
One pleasant Sunday evening, I was holding Grandpa’s hand and taking a walk in the park. “Where are the peanuts (花生)? Give me now!” he suddenly said. How I wished I had some with me! “William, the monkeys are taking long to come out today. Wait till they smell the peanuts.” I knew he was lost in one of his memories again. I remembered the stories he told me of how he fed the monkeys when he was a kid. Then, he saw the goldfish! He acted as if he was seeing them for the first time.
Poor Grandpa! He fell ill with Alzheimer’s disease (阿尔茨海默症) last year. The doctor said it was a progressive brain disorder which could destroy (破坏) a person’s memory. The patient might also not be able to make reasonable judgments (判断). The saddening part was that it was a lifelong disease. My parents were worried about his disease, so they planned to bring him to live with us. But when my parents invited him to stay with us, he refused and said he liked living alone. One day, he forgot to turn off the fire after cooking porridge. Luckily, one of the neighbors came to help him before the fire could spread.
It was then that my parents brought Grandpa to live with us for his safety. Often, he would forget my name and ask me who I was and what I was doing in his house. Each time I would answer softly, “It’s me, Ray, Grandpa!” Even if he had forgotten who I was, he would always be my beloved grandfather.
1. The writer and Grandpa2. Grandpa wanted to feed
3. One of the
4. The writer’s parents brought Grandpa to live with them for
5. Grandpa often
My dream（梦想）room is a big and beautiful room. I want to make the room full of blue color because I like blue very much.
First, I clean my room, then I paint（油漆）the wall blue. Then I put some pictures on the wall. The pictures are all about plants, flowers and rainbows. Then I put a big pink bed in the room. My pillow（枕头）is soft. The quilt is like a big tree. You can see there is a bird sleeping in the tree. On the left side of the bed there is a blue table. On the right side of the bed is a blue desk. There are many storybooks on it. There is also a big bookcase in the room. The bookcase is orange. I am going to put three things in the bookcase: my CDs, science books and the model plane.
This is my dream room. Isn’t it beautiful?
Answer the following questions.
1. What color does the writer （作者）like?
2. What are the pictures about?
3. What color is the bed?
4. Where is the blue desk?
5. How many things are there in the bookcase?
