It’s not easy to be a stay-at-home military mom. From military bases to apartments to mobile home communities, the one thing we could always count on was moving. Goodbye to old friends, hello to new ones. From climate to climate and town to town, I found myself wondering if my children would ever be able to put down roots.
It’s true that I would be there for them, but money was always short, and sometimes my husband’s pay record would be lost for months. Pinching pennies became an art form. From dusk to dawn, I made my children’s clothing, often redesigning hand-me-downs (旧衣服). I was once asked what made me so creative. My answer was both brief and honest: desperation.
My children adjusted with courage and humor. Their strength amazed me. But with no extended family, I often wondered if they would ever feel that they had roots. Would my children be harmed in the long run without feeling roots? What could I do?
Then I began gardening. We planted an apple tree. South Carolina is not exactly the perfect apple state. But that was never the point. We just knew the tree we planted really set root there. We lived in the Charleston for nearly eight years and our garden grew larger each year.
Not long ago, we did a search on Google Earth, and we found the house that had contained the laughter and dreams that we shared for eight years in Charleston. We scanned closer and closer down, down, and down and there it was, our little apple tree, alive and well.
Bittersweet tears rolled down my cheeks as I remembered the day we planted that tree. It had survived hurricanes, drought, and much sorrow, and so had we. At that moment, I finally understood. The apple tree’s roots, growing deep in South Carolina soil, were much like our family. Deep in the soil of shared joys and sorrows, our roots are strong in one another, in faith and in love.
1. What bothered the author as a stay-at-home military mom?(no more than 5 words)2. How do you understand the underline sentence in Paragraph 2?(no more than 10 words)
3. Why did the author begin gardening ? (no more than 10 words)
4. What did the author and her children search for on the Google Earth?(no more than 10 words)
5. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?(no more than 10 words)
2 . I was born legally blind. Of all the stories of my early childhood, the one about a
I was only two when the
Mom loves to use this story as an
We are almost certain to get
A.trip | B.race | C.tree | D.driver |
A.incident | B.change | C.illness | D.problem |
A.feared | B.refused | C.forgot | D.turned |
A.delay | B.absence | C.freedom | D.rest |
A.landed | B.slept | C.laughed | D.wept |
A.promised | B.encouraged | C.allowed | D.expected |
A.woke | B.picked | C.warmed | D.gave |
A.adds | B.replies | C.admits | D.supposes |
A.drove | B.lived | C.stood | D.zoomed |
A.crashed | B.broke | C.climbed | D.looked |
A.answer | B.example | C.excuse | D.order |
A.able | B.ashamed | C.afraid | D.anxious |
A.ask | B.share | C.learn | D.try |
A.honesty | B.toughness | C.kindness | D.curiosity |
A.regretted | B.reviewed | C.made | D.explained |
A.job | B.friend | C.fortune | D.house |
A.memories | B.efforts | C.research | D.experience |
A.mixed up | B.fed up | C.knocked down | D.settled down |
A.play | B.relax | C.dream | D.cry |
A.all at once | B.in the end | C.in either case | D.as a result |
3 . Activities in Cincinnati Museum Center
Movie Magic Camp
Everything is awesome at Museum Camp! Discover what happens behind the scenes of a movie. Learn how to make a storyboard, study movie magic secrets and create an animation movie(动画片).
Admission: Admission Fee
Age Range: Grades 1-6
Category: Programs, Children, Education
Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Inside a Viking(斯坦的纳维亚人)Home
Take a look at the inside of a Viking home.
Admission: Free to Members or with Museum Admission
Age Range: Early Childhood, Grades 1-6, Preteen, Teen, Adult
Category: Traveling Exhibits
Time: 11:00 am to 12:00 pm
Parochial(教区的)and Private Schools History Session
Hear about the establishment of private, Catholic, Jewish and other independent schools in Cincinnati including the growth of early Irish and German speaking schools.
Admission: Admission Fee
Age Range: Adult
Category: Programs, History, Education
Time: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Galaxy(星系)Explorers
Come to a camp that’s sure to be out of this world! Discover secrets of our solar system and learn about galaxies far away!
Admission: Admission Fee
Age Range: Early Childhood, Teen
Category: Programs, Science, Children, Education
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
1. What can we do at Movie Magic Camp?A.Tell your favorite story. | B.Listen to a wonderful story. |
C.Learn how to make movies. | D.Appreciate an animation movie. |
A.It is free to all people. | B.It suits both kids and adults. |
C.It is open in the early morning. | D.It allows visitors to live in a house. |
A.9:00 am to 4:00 pm. | B.9:00 am to 5:00 pm. |
C.7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. | D.11:00 am to 12:00 pm. |
A.Galaxy Explorers | B.Movie Magic Camp |
C.Inside a Viking Home | D.Parochial and Private Schools History Session |
A.A poster. | B.A report. |
C.A novel. | D.A textbook. |
4 . Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught lawyer, was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. Lincoln proved to be a smart military strategist and a competent leader: His Emancipation Proclamation (解放宣言) paved the way for slavery’s abolition, while his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous speeches in American history. In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was killed; his untimely death made him a hero to the cause of liberty, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.
On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be killer, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar.
At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to motivate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore “the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism.”
When George W. Bush, at the age of 54, became the 43rd president of the United States, it was only the second time in American history that a president’s son went on to the White House. John Quincy Adams, elected the sixth president in 1824, was the son of John Adams, the second president. While John Adams had brought up his son to be president. George Bush, the 41st president, insisted he was surprised when the eldest of his six children became interested in politics, became governor of Texas, and then went on to the white House.
Barack Obama served as the 44th President of the United States. His story is the American story—values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a strong family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the belief that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.
With a father from Kenva and a mother from Kansas, President Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raised with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton’s army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank.
1. Of the four presidents, who is regarded as an excellent public speaker?
A.Abraham Lincoln. | B.Ronald Reagan. |
C.George W. Bush. | D.Barack Obama. |
A.he regretted having been elected President |
B.he still had much to do for the country |
C.he had kept his promise to the people |
D.he was becoming more popular with the people |
A.George W Bush. | B.John Adams. |
C.John Quincy Adams. | D.George Bush. |
A.Abraham Lincoln. | B.Ronald Reagan. |
C.George W. Bush. | D.Barack Obama. |
A.Abraham Lincoln. | B.Ronald Reagan. |
C.George W. Bush. | D.Barack Obama. |
5 . Boomerang children who return to live with their parents after university can be good for families, leading to closer, more supportive relationships and increased contact between the generations, a study has found.
The findings contradict research published earlier this year showing that returning adult children trigger a significant decline in their parents’ quality of life and wellbeing.
The young adults taking part in the study were “more positive than might have been expected about moving back home—the shame is reduced as so many of their peers are in the same position, and they acknowledged the benefits of their parents’ financial and emotional support. Daughters were happier than sons, often slipping back easily into teenage patterns of behaviour, the study found.
Parents on the whole were more uncertain, expressing concern about the likely duration of the arrangement and how to manage it. But they acknowledged that things were different for graduates today, who leave university with huge debts and fewer job opportunities.
The families featured in the study were middle-class and tended to view the achievement of adult independence for their children as a “family project”. Parents accepted that their children required support as university students and then as graduates returning home, as they tried to find jobs paying enough to enable them to move out and get on the housing ladder.
“However”, the study says, “day-to-day tensions about the prospects of achieving different dimensions of independence, which in a few extreme cases came close to conflict, characterised the experience of a majority of parents and a little over half the graduates”.
Areas of disagreement included chores, money and social life. While parents were keen to help, they also wanted different relationships from those they had with their own parents, and continuing to support their adult children allowed them to remain close.
1. What is the finding of the previous research?A.Boomerang children made their parents happier. |
B.The parents were looking forward to their children’s return. |
C.The parents’ quality of life became worse than before. |
D.Boomerang children never did any housework. |
A.cause | B.defeat |
C.arise | D.allow |
A.They are ashamed of turning to their parents for help. |
B.They are glad that they could come back. |
C.They are doubtful about whether they should return. |
D.They are proud to be independent from the family. |
A.The children want to keep in closer touch with their parents. |
B.The parents are willing to provide support to their children. |
C.It is harder for the children to secure a satisfying job. |
D.There is more house work needed to be done by the children. |
A.Both parents and children enjoy a more harmonious relationship. |
B.Neither parents nor children want to do the chores at home. |
C.Not only parents but also children want to be independent. |
D.There are occasional quarrels between parents and children. |
6 . An introduction to this book is as superfluous as a candle in front of a powerful searchlight. But a convention of publishing seems to require that the candle should be there, and I am proud to be the one to hold it. About ten years ago I picked up from the pile of new books on my desk a copy of Sons and Lovers by a man of whom I had never heard, and I started to race through it with the immoral speed of the professional reviewer. But after a page or two I found myself reading, really reading. Here was—here is—a masterpiece in which every sentence counts, a book packed with significant thought and beautiful, arresting phrases, the work of a remarkable genius whose gifts are more richly various than those of any other young English novelist.
To appreciate the rich variety of Mr. Lawrence we must read his later novels and his volumes of poetry. But Sons and Lovers reveals the range of his power. Here are combined and blended(混合的) sort of “realism” and almost lyric(抒情的) imagery and rhythm. The speech of the people is that of daily life and the things that happen to them are normal adventures and accidents; they fall in love, marry, work, fail, succeed, and die. But of their deeper emotions and of the relations of these little human beings to the earth and to the stars, Mr. Lawrence makes something near to poetry and prose(散文) without violating its proper “other harmony.”
Take the marvellous paragraph on next to the last page of Sons and Lovers (Mr. Lawrence depends so little on plot in the ordinary sense of the word that it is perfectly fair to read the end of his book first):
Where was he? One tiny upright speck of flesh, less than an ear of wheat lost in the field. He could not bear it. On every side the immense dark silence seemed pressing him, so tiny a spark, into extinction, and yet, almost nothing, he could not be extinct. Night, in which everything was lost, went reaching out, beyond stars and sun, stars and sun, a few bright grains, went spinning round for terror, and holding each other in embrace, there in the darkness that outpassed them all, and left them tiny and daunted(气馁). So much, and himself, infinitesimal, at the core a nothingness, and yet not nothing.
Such glorious writing lifts the book far above a novel which is merely a story. I beg the reader to attend to every line of it and not to miss a single one of the many sentences that await and surprise you. Some are enthusiastic and impressive, like the paragraph above; others are keen, “realistic” observations of things and people. In one of his books Mr. Lawrence makes a character say, or think, that life is “mixed.” That indicates his philosophy and his method. He blends the accurately literal and trivial(琐碎的) with the extremely poetic.
To find a similar blending of tiny daily detail and wide imaginative vision, we must go back to two older novelists, Hardy and Meredith. I do not mean that Mr. Lawrence derives(源于) immediately from them or, indeed, that he is clearly the disciple(弟子) of any master. I do feel simply that he is of the elder stature(名望) of Hardy and Meredith, and I know of no other young novelist who is quite worthy of their company. When I first tried to express this comparison, this connection, I was contradicted by a fellow-critic, who pointed out that Meredith and Hardy are entirely unlike each other and that therefore Mr. Lawrence cannot resemble both. To be sure, nothing is more hateful than forced comparisons, nothing more boring than to discover parallels between one work of art and another. An artist’s mastery consists in his difference from other masters. But to refer a young man of genius to an older one, at the same time pronouncing his independence and originality, is a fair, if not very superior, method of praising him.
1. The underlined word “superfluous” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _______.A.meaningful | B.unnecessary |
C.fundamental | D.unbelievable |
A.They equally reveal his genius power. |
B.They contain lots of great lyric poetry. |
C.They present some real living situations. |
D.They focus on relations between humans. |
A.The plot of the novel has little to do with daily life. |
B.It is wise to read Lawrence’s books from the end. |
C.Lawrence is capable of telling good stories. |
D.The language in Lawrence’s books is elegant. |
A.They taught Lawrence literature when he was young. |
B.They were the realistic novelists of Lawrence’s time. |
C.They were novelists who resemble each other in writing. |
D.They were novelists combining details with imagination. |
A.He must have personal diversity. |
B.He must have the critical spirits. |
C.He must be happy to be compared. |
D.He must be a man of genius. |
A.To introduce Lawrence’s novel Sons and Lovers. |
B.To show his experiences of reading classics. |
C.To analyze Lawrence’s writing characteristics. |
D.To compare the styles of different novelists. |
7 . 选编(十九)
A Strange Greeting, a True Feeling
Last week I was invited to a doctor’s meeting at the Ruth hospital for incurables. In one of the wards a patient, an old man, got up shakily from his bed and moved towards me. I could see that he hadn't long to
“Frank!” I cried in astonishment. He couldn’t
My
One night a policeman came and told Mrs. West that her house had been flattened by a 500-pounder. She
When that sort of thing happened, the rest of us helped the
A.work | B.stay | C.live | D.expect |
A.answer | B.speak | C.smile | D.laugh |
A.covering | B.moving | C.fighting | D.pressing |
A.minds | B.memories | C.thoughts | D.brains |
A.better | B.dark | C.younger | D.old |
A.cave | B.place | C.sight | D.scene |
A.Discussing | B.Solving | C.Sharing | D.Suffering |
A.learn from | B.talk to | C.help | D.know |
A.needed | B.recognized | C.interested | D.encouraged |
A.normal | B.common | C.unusual | D.quick |
A.more | B.worse | C.fewer | D.less |
A.word | B.speech | C.sentence | D.language |
A.not | B.no | C.something | D.nothing |
A.fed | B.kept | C.lived | D.depended |
A.attention | B.control | C.treatment | D.management |
A.lost | B.needed | C.destroyed | D.left |
A.troublesome | B.unlucky | C.angry | D.unpopular |
A.separated | B.went | C.reunited | D.returned |
A.pushed | B.tried | C.showed | D.measured |
A.nodding | B.greeting | C.meeting | D.acting |
8 . Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own.My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old,making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen.While I was growing up,we lived a very hard life.We had little money,but my mom gave me a lot of love.Each night,she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life,“Kemmons,you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen,I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again.Every day,my mother spoke to me in her gentle,loving voice,telling me that no matter what those doctors said,I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough.She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her.A year later,I returned to school—walking on my own!
When the Great Depression(大萧条)hit,my mom lost her job.Then I left school to support the both of us.At that moment,I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years,I experienced various levels of business success.But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951.I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child.That was too expensive for the average American family.I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽车旅馆)for families that would never charge extra for children.There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly,mom was one of my strongest supporters.She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style.As in any business,we experienced a lot of challenges.But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul,I never doubted we would succeed.Fifteen years later,we had the largest hotel system in the world—Holiday Inn.In 1979 my company had 1759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situations.But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself,nothing can stop you.
1. What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was_______.A.caring | B.moving |
C.encouraging | D.interesting |
A.Doctors. | B.Nurses. | C.Friends. | D.Mom. |
A.His terrible experience in the hotel. |
B.His previous business success of various levels. |
C.His mom’s support. |
D.His wife’s suggestion. |
A.Modest,helpful and hard-working. |
B.Loving,supportive and strong-willed. |
C.Careful,helpful and beautiful. |
D.Strict,sensitive and supportive. |
A.Self-confidence,hard work,higher-education and a poor family. |
B.Mom’s encouragement,clear goals,self-confidence and hard work. |
C.Clear goals,mom’s encouragement,a poor family and higher education. |
D.Mom’s encouragement,a poor family,higher education and opportunities. |
Bad news sells. If it bleeds, it leads. No news is good news, and good news is no news. Those are the classic rules for the evening broadcasts and the morning papers. But now that information is being spread and monitored(监控) in different ways, researchers are discovering new rules. By tracking people’s e-mails and online posts, scientists have found that good news can spread faster and farther than disasters and sob stories.
“The ‘if it bleeds’ rule works for mass media,” says Jonah Berger, a scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. “They want your eyeballs and don’t care how you’re feeling. But when you share a story with your friends, you care a lot more how they react. You don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer.”
Researchers analyzing word-of-mouth communication—e-mails, Web posts and reviews, face-to-face conversations—found that it tended to be more positive than negative(消极的), but that didn’t necessarily mean people preferred positive news. Was positive news shared more often simply because people experienced more good things than bad things? To test for that possibility, Dr. Berger looked at how people spread a particular set of news stories: thousands of articles on The New York Times’ website. He and a Penn colleague analyzed the “most e-mailed” list for six months. One of his first findings was that articles in the science section were much more likely to make the list than non-science articles. He found that science amazed Times’ readers and made them want to share this positive feeling with others.
Readers also tended to share articles that were exciting or funny, or that inspired negative feelings like anger or anxiety, but not articles that left them merely sad. They needed to be aroused(激发) one way or the other, and they preferred good news to bad. The more positive an article, the more likely it was to be shared, as Dr. Berger explains in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.”
1. What do the classic rules mentioned in the text apply to?
A.News reports. | B.Research papers. |
C.Private e-mails. | D.Daily conversations. |
A.They’re socially inactive. |
B.They’re good at telling stories. |
C.They’re inconsiderate of others. |
D.They’re careful with their words. |
A.Sports new. | B.Science articles. |
C.Personal accounts. | D.Financial reviews. |
A.Sad Stories Travel Far and Wide |
B.Online News Attracts More People |
C.Reading Habits Change with the Times |
D.Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks |
10 . During my second year at the city college,I was told that the education department was offering a "free"course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I
Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this
Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he
A.put forward | B.jumped at | C.tried out | D.turned down |
A.waste | B.earn | C.save | D.pay |
A.excited | B.worried | C.moved | D.tired |
A.title | B.competitor | C.textbook | D.instructor |
A.urged | B.demanded | C.held | D.meant |
A.fastest | B.easiest | C.best | D.rarest |
A.interview | B.meet | C.challenge | D.beat |
A.chance | B.qualification | C.honor | D.job |
A.real | B.perfect | C.clear | D.possible |
A.attend | B.pass | C.skip | D.observe |
A.add | B.expose | C.apply | D.compare |
A.eventually | B.naturally | C.directly | D.normally |
A.game | B.presentation | C.course | D.experiment |
A.criterion | B.classroom | C.department | D.situation |
A.taught | B.wrote | C.questioned | D.promised |
A.fact | B.step | C.manner | D.skill |
A.grades | B.decisions | C.impressions | D.comments |
A.analyze | B.describe | C.rebuild | D.control |
A.announce | B.signal | C.block | D.evaluate |
A.role | B.desire | C.concern | D.behavior |