Robert Armstrong’s favorite food has been his grandma’s cookies ever since he was a child.
Years later and armed with a business degree, Armstrong, 28, is turning his grandma’s cookie recipe into a national brand, G. Mommas Southern Style Cookies, featuring chocolate chip pecan(美洲山核桃) and “buddascotch” oatmeal(燕麦片) flavors.
In February, California-based specialty retailer(零售店), Cost Plus World-Market, with 265 stores in 31 states selling home decor(装饰), food and drink, started selling the cookies. They will also be in 800 Cracker Barrel stores this fall.
After graduating from college in 2008 and unable to find a job, Robert Armstrong asked his grandmother, Anice Morris Armstrong, to teach him how to bake, which he thought would take an afternoon.
“It was harder than college,” he said.
With basic cooking tools and an oven in an abandoned kitchen, he set up his own business, Selma Good, and began producing cookies in an old warehouse. Baking 10 to 12 hours a day, he managed to deliver cookies to 35 stores. His grandmother helped him develop the “buddascotch” recipe before her death, aged 88, last July. “She inspirited me in ways no one else ever could,” said Armstrong.
He reached out via LinkedIn, a website, to a national distributor, who asked for samples. Within a year, he found a commercial bakery in Pennsylvania and a deal to go national with World Market. “Everybody has a grandma recipe, but I was lucky to find people that would take a chance on me,” Armstrong said. “They’re crunchy, but light, like feathers, and taste extremely good,” said Judy McKinny at Mark’s Market, one of Armstrong’s first retail customers in his hometown of Selma, Alabama.
World Market is ordering two cases per store each quarter, a huge leap from the 9,000 bags he made himself per quarter.
His goal is to one day move production back to his native Selma to help its development. Selma has struggled economically since the closure of a candy factory several years ago.
1. What did Robert major in when he was in college? (1 word)2. Why did Robert choose to bake after his graduation? (no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined word mean in Paragraph 6? (1 word)
4. What does Robert owe his success to according to Paragraph 7? (no more than 10 words)
5. What did your grandma teach you? Please explain. (no more than 30 words)
2 . We often hear such statements “I spilled juice, but it wasn’t my fault.”, “I got in trouble at school, but it wasn’t my fault.” Or “I was in a car accident, but it wasn’t my fault.” That “It’s not my fault.” is a go-to response for so many people and especially teenagers.
Parents complain they are tired of the “excuse”. The reason why variations(变体) of “It’s not my fault.” are so popular is that it lets us off the hook from guilt and blame. I’m a fan of not owning responsibility for things that I can’t control. Teens who often say “It’s my fault.” when something bad happens tend to be highly self-critical, perfectionistic and more easier to be troubled by anxiety and depression.
While it is important to recognize a lack of reason to blame oneself, many teens over-rely on “It’s not my fault.” When trying to get them to take responsibility, parents usually attempt to convince their teens that something is their fault. The approach tends to be ineffective and turn into a power struggle. No one wins. A more effective approach can be to stress significant drawbacks to consistently focusing on removing our responsibility with this phrase.
Overuse of the phrase can result in feelings of lack of ability to control their own lives. This sense has been shown to cause low motivation. Besides creating feelings of lack of ability, overuse of “It’s not my fault.” focuses a teen’s attention on what is done as opposed to what needs to be done.
People may not have caused all their problems, but they have to solve them anyway. The example I frequently share with teens is the question of what one will do if he is pushed into a deep lake. One can certainly stay in water, yelling, “It’s not my fault.” However, that won’t get him out of water. He needs to swim to the shore, regardless of the fault.
If you take a proper approach to communicating with your teens, you can help them avoid over-reliance on “It’s not my fault.”.
1. What phenomenon is described in Paragraph 1?| A．The teenagers’ dislike for school life. |
| B．The common trouble faced by teenagers. |
| C．The reasons for blaming others for accidents. |
| D．The tendency for people not to be responsible for mess in life. |
| A．Those lacking confidence and ambition. |
| B．Those allowing others to find excuses. |
| C．Those unable to get along well with others. |
| D．Those often blaming themselves for some incidents. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Negative. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Neutral. |
| A．It’s harmful to overuse “It’s not my fault.”. |
| B．It’s important to learn lessons from faults. |
| C．It’s difficult for people to admit their fault. |
| D．It’s absurd to often find excuses for mistakes in life. |
| A．We should try to avoid troubling others. |
| B．We should focus on how to solve problems. |
| C．We should dare to point out others’ mistakes. |
| D．We should be self-critical as much as possible. |
3 . I was ready for bed when the phone rang. “This cannot be good,” I thought as I hurried to see why I was called so late at night. My mind quickly ran through the list of family members that might need my help.
“Lindy, this is Leslie,” she said. “I hope I didn’t disturb your sleeping.” I was confused that she should call me at 11 pm. We occasionally spoke with each other at some community events, but to say we were friends was a stretch.
I asked what she needed. She replied, “Do you have room for turkeys in your freezer?” We had lots of room in our freezer. My husband’s business had taken a downturn and we were pretty much at the bottom of our food supply. “Sure,” I responded. “Did your freezer break down?” “Not exactly,” Leslie replied. “But if you give me directions to your house, I will explain when I get there.”
Later a huge freezer truck pulled into the driveway. Leslie and her husband got off the truck. Leslie explained her husband owned a small grocery store that had just lost its lease(租约). They had to empty all the freezers before midnight that night. They thought it was a shame to just cast all this good food into garbage cans. So she began to go through her list of contacts, dropping off food to those who might be willing to take it. When Leslie put turkeys in our freezer, she asked, “Is it OK if we just fill this up?” She told me that ours was the last place they planned to stop at and anything left would have to be discarded.
At last, I asked her, “When will you come back for all this?” Leslie just laughed and replied, “We don’t want it back. It is yours. We have been delivering food since 5 pm and have exhausted our list of contacts. That’s the end of it. Thanks for helping out.”
Over the next several months we ate well and shared turkeys with friends, family and neighbors. When the food in our freezer finally ran out in May, we were back on our feet. Our income increased and buying groceries was no longer a problem.
1. How did the author respond to the call from Leslie according to Paragraph2?| A．She felt excited about it. | B．She felt anxious about it. |
| C．She felt indifferent to it. | D．She felt unexpected about it. |
| A．Because they disliked storing much food. |
| B．Because their freezer was out of order. |
| C．Because they lacked money for groceries. |
| D．Because they wanted Leslie to use it. |
| A．Sorted out. | B．Handed out. |
| C．Taken away. | D．Thrown away. |
| A．Patient and cautious. | B．Thoughtful and selfless. |
| C．Honest and humorous. | D．Optimistic and ambitious. |
| A．The author’s family’s finance improved quite a lot. |
| B．The author’s relationship with her husband was better. |
| C．The author’s many friends came to her family’s help. |
| D．The author’s generosity was recognized by Leslie and others. |
4 . As I was walking along a river this evening, I intended to do something nice for a stranger. I started to look around for a
As I tried to walk along, he
Seconds later, just when I felt really
As I rushed away, I was shaken up, but at the same time had feelings of
| A．permit | B．reason | C．chance | D．promise |
| A．approached | B．arrested | C．recognized | D．praised |
| A．so | B．but | C．for | D．or |
| A．proud | B．busy | C．sad | D．calm |
| A．beaches | B．farms | C．benches | D．buses |
| A．suggested | B．minded | C．avoided | D．kept |
| A．idea | B．direction | C．style | D．topic |
| A．do | B．get | C．prove | D．play |
| A．courageous | B．energetic | C．polite | D．strict |
| A．tired | B．useless | C．puzzled | D．helpless |
| A．gave in | B．came along | C．broke out | D．sat down |
| A．practiced | B．hated | C．started | D．admitted |
| A．weeping | B．swearing | C．debating | D．commenting |
| A．comforting | B．ordering | C．begging | D．teasing |
| A．agreed | B．finished | C．left | D．entered |
| A．explaining | B．pointing | C．driving | D．walking |
| A．responsibility | B．appreciation | C．satisfaction | D．sympathy |
| A．purpose | B．effect | C．difficulty | D．power |
| A．Therefore | B．Besides | C．Otherwise | D．Instead |
| A．honesty | B．humour | C．kindness | D．patience |
| A．completed | B．having been completed |
| C．being completed | D．to be completed |
| A．is; many more | B．are; many more |
| C．is; much more | D．are; much more |
| A．when | B．that | C．which | D．where |
| A．admitting | B．admitted |
| C．to be admitted | D．having been admitted |
| A．gave away | B．made up | C．paid off | D．left out |
—__________. Just let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
| A．The same to you | B．My pleasure |
| C．No, thanks | D．It’s nothing serious |
