1 . One morning, my four-year-old daughter and I were getting ready to leave the house when she suddenly yelled “Idiot!” right at me. As I processed the word, I noticed she was upset. Tears streamed down her face as she half whispered and half yelled “you are an IDIOT Mama.” Total silence followed as we looked at each other. We were staring at each other for so long, and I nearly forgot to breathe out, and in again. Idiot. How could my daughter call me an idiot?

There are many behaviors that really push parents’ buttons. Disrespectful, rude words tend to top the list. The wrong response to such rude remarks is often a serious warning. But I didn’t offer any serious remarks.

I realized that my daughter’s intention wasn’t to disrespect me. She was expressing the disconnection. And punishment doesn’t solve disconnection. It creates more of it. Her choice of word said it all. She was annoyed. She sensed the stress. I needed to hear her. I was being careless. I was the one being rude to her.

So, why punish our children when they need guidance? We must know the words we use matter, and become our children’s words too. The words include those we use to handle emotional overload. Idiot is a word I regretfully must admit to using when I’m extremely annoyed. Not at my children, but yes, they have heard me say it. So, instead of punishing my daughter for misbehavior, I chose to focus on her real message: Idiot means that “Mom, you are stressing me out!”.

No blame. No punishment for honest feelings. No criticizing her choice of words. Just focus on our relationship. I admitted my ignoring her, and we hugged and kissed each other. I walked into her play school with interest and was ready to see all her current projects.

Don’t be afraid to focus on your relationship, to show kindness, and to model forgiveness. Don’t be afraid to look beyond misbehavior, find the true message and trust the power of connection.

1. After hearing her daughter’s words, the author ________.

A．lost her temper	B．gave her a warning
C．couldn’t believe it	D．had a talk with her

2. What does the underlined phrase push parents’ buttons in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Cheer parents up.	B．Make parents annoyed.
C．Follow parents’ advice.	D．Distract parents’ attention.

3. From the text we can conclude that the mother is ________.

A．calm and considerate	B．brave and tolerant
C．sensitive but overprotective	D．intelligent but bad-tempered

4. What’s the purpose of this text?

A．To settle conflicts between parents and children.

B．To explain why children disrespect their parents.

C．To encourage readers to express their true feelings.

D．To suggest a positive response to children’s misbehavior.

5 . Our lives are full of habits. Unfortunately a great many of them are bad habits. One way to break these bad habits is to fill our lives with good habits. Most people decide one day that they need to make changes to their lives and then they go all out to make big sweeping changes. This may work for them for the first few days, but then they get burned out.     1     This is a very unproductive way to spend your time and energy.

    2     Say your goal is to get up an hour earlier every day. One day you start setting your alarm for an hour earlier and you keep this up for one week. Then because you are naturally resistant to change, you go back to your old habit. A better way is to set your alarm one minute earlier every day. After two months you are getting up an hour earlier and you will not even notice the change.     3    

This approach can work for just about anything. If you are exercising for half an hour every day and you want to increase that time to one hour then add a minute every day. After one month you will have reached your goal with very little resistance from your body and mind.     4    

This method of change is gentle, but very powerful. Think of everything you can accomplish if you just continuously improve a little at a time. The change itself creates the momentum (动力) you need to keep going.     5     What one minute change can you make to your life today?

A．The key is to change a little bit at a time.

B．Keeping on exercising can build up strength.

C．It may take longer, but with this approach you are likely to succeed.

D．Nothing will happen if you are not determined to achieve your goal.

E．Pretty soon they are back to their old habits and nothing has changed.

F．Changing slowly removes the greatest barrier we have to change: fear.

G．Soon you will find yourself reaching your goals with almost no pain involved.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Museums inspire dreams-to become an astronaut, an     1     (astronomy), or an aerospace engineer. But can they also help provide a pathway to those goals?

For students seeing everything     2     dinosaurs to distant galaxies (星系) on a museum visit, the real-life applications of science, technology, engineering and mathematics are clear. The American Museum of Natural History doesn’t want to just impress students. It aims to make those “wow” moments the first step toward     3     (develop) the future STEM leaders.

    4     (start) building a career in STEM, students need hands-on experiences and a support network. They need a place     5     they feel comfortable while learning. AMNH uses its position as     6     out-of-school environment with collections, research tools, informal educators, and scientific staff. The museum trains its scientists to work with students     7     offers them year-long, scientist-mentored research opportunities. Students are provided with opportunities to present     8     (they) work to the public.

Students thrive in the program. To date, over 1,000 students     9     (participate) in NASA-themed Science Research Mentoring Program courses, and they have published their work in journals and at conferences. They have gone on to college at a rate of almost 100 percent, with many     10     (active) involved in research at their schools.

7 . Steps to Take to Become a Morning Person

Seek out as much natural light as possible.

The secret to becoming a morning person is exposure to bright light, says Jennifer Martin, president of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. That’s because light suppresses melatonin, a hormone that plays an important role in circadian rhythm.     1    

Ease in gradually.

    2     You could force yourself to get up at your desired time every day, knowing that you’ll feel tired during the transition but will naturally start falling asleep earlier within a few weeks. But for some people — like those who need to drive long distances — those first few days of exhaustion from switching to a new schedule aren’t safe. In that case, Martin recommends gradually easing into the early-bird life. “What I’ll suggest to people is to shift half an hour, wait a few days, shift another half an hour, wait a few days, and then shift another half an hour,” she says.

    3    

A consistent bedtime isn’t as crucial as sticking to the same wake up time every day, but it’s still important to make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Most people should aim for at least seven hours a night — so you’ll probably need to inch your bedtime forward as you transition to a new schedule. Starting at least an hour before you hit the sack, cut back on how much exposure to bright light you’re getting, experts advise.     4    

Plan something to look forward to.

    5       “Now is the time to go buy your favorite coffee or pick up some pastries to have when your alarm goes off at 5 a. m.,” she says. “You’re not dreading it if you think of that.”

A．Reschedule your bedtime.

B．Wind down in the evenings.

C．The sun is the driver of our internal clock.

D．There are two ways to approach your journey to early rising.

E．To tempt you out of bed, Martin suggests treating yourself to something special.

F．Being exposed to artificial light in the late evening could interfere with your ability to fall asleep.

G．They also recommend rethinking the curtains you might use to foster a very dark sleeping environment.

8 . Summer is around the corner, and you may already be dreaming about how you’ll spend your break. Chances are, staying in school is not your top pick. But for 13-year-old Simone Jones of Philadelphia — and more than 2 million other students in the U.S. — going to school in the summer is the only choice. That’s because Simone goes to a year-round school.

In fact, year-round schools have almost the same number of vacation days as traditional-calendar schools. In a year-round school, summer break is usually shortened to about four weeks; the remaining vacation time gets spread out over the rest of the year. Simone, for example, gets a few weeks off in the fall, winter, and spring.

That extra time off during the school year can be a good thing. “Everyone thinks a year-round school is hard,” says Simone. “But the little breaks take a lot of pressure (压力) off us.”

Reorganizing the year can prevent summer learning loss — that is, forgetting what you’ve learned from the prior (之前的) school year. However, there is a downside. In fact, some schools have tried year-round schedules (时间表) only to turn back when it was difficult to carry out. Try setting up a soccer game with another school when you’re on a break every few weeks. Planning family trips can be difficult too, especially if siblings (兄弟姐妹) are on different school schedules.

What does summer vacation mean in our culture? It’s an American tradition, a time to create lasting memories. But is tradition a good enough reason to keep it around? Summer break began 120 years ago, when it was very hot in the summer, so schools started closing. Today, we have air conditioning. And most parents work. For many kids, summer days are spent mostly indoors, playing video games and watching TV. Clearly the world has changed. Is it time for summer break to change, too?

1. According to the text, Simone Jones _____.

A．suffers from summer heat	B．studies at a year-round school
C．has become tired of going to school	D．keeps forgetting what she’s learned at school

2. In what way are year-round schools different from traditional-calendar schools?

A．The number of vacation days.	B．When students go to school every day.
C．What subjects students may choose.	D．How the holidays are organized.

3. The underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 could best be replaced by “_____”.

A．problem

B．choice

C．danger

D．duty

4. In the author’s opinion, summer vacation _____.

A．was started in the early 19th century	B．doesn’t have to be that long any more
C．is a tradition for people to keep alive	D．is a good time for kids to enjoy themselves

9 . My name is Marceen Farsakian. As a first grade teacher, I try to _______ myself around kind and caring people. I’m happy to teach young children. To me, _______ the social and emotional needs of a child is just as important, if not more important than teaching knowledge. Students seem to grow in all areas _______ a safe, positive, and inspiring environment is provided for them.

At the beginning of each school year, I set a goal for _______: get organized, try new strategies for classroom management, focus on the good, etc. One year I remembered telling myself I would focus on the _______ of kindness. I would be _______ to my students, parents, staff members and myself. That year _______ being one of my most _______ years as a classroom teacher, but I grew greatly as a human. Being kind did make a _______. Kindness spreads quickly.

Teaching kindness creates an environment of mutual (相互的) care and respect. Students become devoted to their school. They are ________ in the fact that they belong there and that their being there matters. I believe that when students feel secure, trusted, and respected, then they will take risks, and take ownership in their actions, and they will have ________ in all areas. Sharing the teaching of kindness to children has taken me on a beautiful new ________. I started a Kind Kids Club in my class and over the last four years it has ________ into a school-wide program. Our kind kids come to life when they are ________ an act of kindness. Their smiles are magical.

My kind kids inspire me every day. I am grateful and ________ blessed to be able to do what I do! Kindness has changed my world, and let it change yours!

1.

A．center

B．show

C．challenge

D．amaze

2.

A．stopping

B．meeting

C．creating

D．recovering

3.

A．unless

B．so that

C．when

D．even though

4.

A．myself

B．my staff

C．my parents

D．my students

5.

A．nature

B．reply

C．practice

D．trouble

6.

A．open

B．kind

C．similar

D．equal

7.

A．wound up

B．ended up

C．picked up

D．gave up

8.

A．successful

B．meaningless

C．beneficial

D．difficult

9.

A．choice

B．mess

C．difference

D．mistake

10.

A．secure

B．interested

C．lacking

D．fortunate

11.

A．difficulty

B．doubt

C．success

D．duty

12.

A．holiday

B．look

C．business

D．journey

13.

A．run

B．got

C．slid

D．grown

14.

A．carrying away

B．carrying out

C．carrying forward

D．carrying on

15.

A．hardly

B．immediately

C．truly

D．simply

10 . Everyone has “down days”. Maybe it’s because of the bad weather, or the disappointing grades on a difficult test, and some days teenagers just act uninterested in life or school. But these symptoms(症状) often pass quickly, as teens move on to new school subjects, or meet with friends to prevent themselves from thinking what troubles them at the moment. But if a teenager displays symptoms of sadness for more than two lasting weeks, it might point to something serious.

As teenagers develop, they push new boundaries(边界), complain about rules and look for more free rights from their parents. According to the online Health Guide on Adolescent Development, parents must be lasting figures in their teenagers’ life, providing safe boundaries for teens to grow, even if the teenagers act like these boundaries are unwanted.

Parents need to provide rules, while also remaining flexible(灵活的) and respectful of the growing teens’ need for freedom. For example, teenagers will often feel frustrated, embarrassed, and even angry that thought they want freedom, they still need to ask their parents for an agreement to go to a friend’s house, or need their mothers to take them to school.

The US Department of Education says that parents should respect and support their teen’s choices as long as those choices won’t have long-term harmful effects. For example, even if a parent doesn’t enjoy the music his or her teen listens to, it’s unlikely that the choice of music will prevent that teen from entering a good college, or lead to health problems. However, if that teen is drinking alcohol and driving, parents must get through strict punishments to teach that there are bad results for poor choices that come with increased freedom.

1. Why do teen’s feelings of bad days usually disappear quickly?

A．Their teachers help them.

B．They take some medicine.

C．Their parents talk with them.

D．They change their attention.

2. What does the example in paragraph 3 show?

A．Freedom must be given at anytime.

B．Teens are mad at being controlled.

C．Teens need both freedom and proper rules.

D．Rules must be absolutely strict for teens.

3. What should parents do about their teens’ choices?

A．Support their helpful hobbies.	B．Tell them which college to attend.
C．Cancel their after-school activities.	D．Get them away from singing pop songs.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．How to Be With Growing Teens

B．Causes of Teens’ Sadness

C．Teens’ Worries About Strict Rules

D．The Importance of Making Friends With Teens