Throughout our lives we are going to face many challenges and pains, but we should never let these obstacles keep us from following our dreams. We must overcome every obstacle one small step at a time.
As a young girl, my parents forced me to do so many things that I didn’t like. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music and I also hated them. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched(丰富) my life in so many ways. I now realize that my parents and teachers wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.
We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just part of our life. They might seem so huge at the time, but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no challenges and lived a life like that. Life would be really boring and meaningless. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps(碰撞) on our road to success, we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!
1. The underlined word “obstacles” (in Paragraph 2) roughly means things that ______.
A.are related to your studies |
B.you easily achieve |
C.make you happy |
D.make it difficult for you to do something |
A.She is fearful | B.She is grateful |
C.She feels trapped | D.She feels hateful |
A.life without challenges is dull |
B.life needs no pains but sunshine and happiness |
C.we should give up faced with challenges as the future is ours |
D.we shouldn’t easily pay a little hard work in growing up |
A.life is full of hardships |
B.growing pains can turn into growing gains in a positive way |
C.everyone is painful in growing up |
D.everyone should do what they don’t like when young |
I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently --- one who works for you. In fact, he’s one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.
Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume(简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues(问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I’m sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you’ve given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.
So why is he looking for a way out?
He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.
The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.
He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he’s doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That’s what you want for him, too, isn’t it?
So your reporter has set me thinking.
Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists --- everyone --- is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can’t do it, they’ll find someone who can.
1. What does the writer think of the reporter?
A.Optimistic. | B.Imaginative. | C.Ambitious. | D.Proud. |
A.Finding the news value of his stories. | B.Giving him financial support. |
C.Helping him to find issues. | D.Improving his good ideas. |
A.An editor. | B.An artist. | C.A reporter. | D.A reader. |
A.keep their best reporters at all costs |
B.give more freedom to their reporters |
C.be aware of their reporters’ professional development |
D.appreciate their reporters’ working styles and attitudes |
3 . My 17-year-old daughter went off to college and having her away from home brought back memories of watching Peter Pan when she was little. In the classic TV production, one scene in particular impressed me: when Mrs. Darling puts her children into bed. As she turns off the last of the night light, she takes one last look at the bedroom and says, “Dear night lights protect my sleeping children.” As a mother, I know how much she loves her children.
It has been several weeks since we took our daughter to college and she seems to be adjusting well after a short period of homesickness. For us, though, it’s another story. Like most parents, I love checking in on my children at night. But now she’s gone, and I find night times the hardest. I miss her most at night.
In my neighborhood, most of the parents whose kids are off to college are dealing with similar melancholy. My husband is filled with anxiety. One friend talked about getting this sick feeling in her stomach as she prepared for the college drop-off. We complained that many of us were too busy to truly enjoy being with our children while we had them.
For us moms, seeing Toy Story 3 only made the sadness worse as we watched the character Andy, who is the same age as our kids, say goodbye to his childhood as he prepares to leave for college. And it’s not just “first-time” parents like me. Two moms who have kids already well into college said the separation didn’t get any easier. “You feel like something has been taken away from inside you,” said one of them.
I imagine things will get easier with time, especially as I see my daughter adjust to college life. Meanwhile, as I keep my cell phone close to me in bed and text my daughter goodnight and sweet dreams every night, I like to think at messages serve as a night light that keeps her safe.
1. The writer was deeply impressed by the scene in Peter Pan because ________.A.she watched the scene with her daughter |
B.the scene was very exciting and interesting |
C.the scene taught her and her daughter a good lesson |
D.as a mother, she understood how much a mother loved her children |
A.didn’t get used to the change for a long time |
B.often cried as she missed her daughter so much |
C.realized she hadn’t done enough for her daughter |
D.failed to have a good sleep every night |
A.Happiness. | B.Anger. |
C.Sadness. | D.Excitement. |
A.To call her daughter any time. | B.To wait for her daughter’s calls. |
C.To say good night to her daughter. | D.To wait for her daughter’s messages. |
“Aren’t you cold, Dad?” I’d ask. “No,” Dad would reply. “I’m not cold—working too hard to be cold.”
Many times I wondered whether my father was an extremely tough man, or whether he was foolish.
One time when I was quite young, perhaps five or so, I went ice fishing with Dad. It was a bright, clear day—and bitterly cold.
After we’d been out on the ice for a little while, my feet started getting cold.
“Daddy, my feet are cold.” I said.
“Yeah, it’s cold out here today,” he replied.
“Tell you what,” he said. “Walk around. Make some circles in the snow. See how many different patterns you can make. That will get your feet warm.”
I was just a little girl at the time but I remember thinking, “How in the world will walking around in the snow make my feet warm? Dad must be out of mind.”
But he was my father, after all. I made circles in the snow. I made squares. Pretty soon I was having so much fun making patterns in the snow. I forgot about my feet being cold.
Now, all these years later, I know, too, from personal experience how my father was able to take his coat off and work outside in the winter wearing just a shirt, a cap and gloves. Because I do it, too. “Aren’t you cold?” my husband asked one winter day. “No,” I replied. “I’m not cold—working too hard to be cold.”
I hope my husband has decided I’m both tough and smart. But I guess quite a bit of the time he thinks I’m foolish.
Wherever Dad is on that great big farm in the sky—I’m sure he can’t help but smile whenever I take my coat off while I’m working outside in the winter.
1. When the author’s feet felt cold, her father advised her to ________.
A.go home alone first | B.keep walking in the snow |
C.draw pictures in the snow | D.light a fire on the ice |
A.forgettable | B.warm-hearted | C.crazy | D.cruel |
A.Tough. | B.Smart. | C.Brave. | D.Foolish. |
A.remember her tough and smart father |
B.show how her father cared about her |
C.describe memories of her childhood |
D.explain why her father loved her so much |
1. The man learned that there would be a concert last Friday ________.
A.from his friends | B.from one of his workmates |
C.over the radio | D.from the newspaper |
A.forty-five minutes | B.fifteen minutes |
C.just twenty minutes | D.over an hour |
A.worried | B.pleased | C.puzzled | D.sorry |
A.enjoyment of the concert | B.anger for buying the ticket |
C.efforts to buy the ticket | D.disappointment at the concert |