1 . Difficult financial times don’t mean your giving shuts down.       1    There are so many ways to give back that won’t hurt your wallet and will enrich your life.

1. Pick up the phone

Calling someone “for no reason” is an important opportunity to show them that you are thinking of them. You are taking time out of your busy day to reach out. Everyone needs someone to just listen sometimes. They may be filled with joy or sadness.     2    

2.Write a note    3    It is one thing to say it, but it can be even more meaningful to put it in writing. What if you made a commitment to write a thank-you note to someone every week?

3.     4    

You never know what someone might be going through-a painful divorce, a tough college semester, or just a bad day. Opening up your home will make someone feel appreciated. In addition’ it costs less than going out. The leftovers from this dinner can be packaged up for homeless people. That’s double giving!

4. Set aside money from a daily routine to donate

Giving doesn’t have to mean a life full of sacrifices. You can still buy a burger or get your nails done.     5     Donate the money you saves: Even $ 5 can make a difference in someone’s life.

A．Give a gift to the stomach.

B．Invite someone over for dinner.

C．To take your awareness to a new level, move beyond money.

D．But instead of buying much coffee every week, you can drink less.

E．While some people enjoy receiving gifts, all of us appreciate a kind word.

F．Instead, they allow you to examine how your time and money are spent.

G．Be there to celebrate their good news, or support them with sympathy.

2 . Our family loves the snow and cheers at the first good storm of the season. While others may think of Florida, we dream of a cabin vacation in New York’s Allegany State Park.

One particular trip, I recall, was just a bit more memorable than the rest. What we now refer to as the snow pants incident began accidentally enough. My husband, Bernie, and our 2-year-old daughter, Faith, were building a snow fort while I sledded down a nearby slope.

On the way back up from one trip, I saw a small stone tumbling down the track I had just made. I was puzzled, since all the other rocks were buried under several feet of snow, as I stood and wondered about the stone---it jumped! This was no stone. This was a mouse.

Now, I love nature, but that doesn’t include mice. I loudly protested the invader, and Bernie, coming to my rescue, assured me that this was not a mouse but a mole, as if that mattered. A mouse or a mole I still didn’t like it.

Bernie and I stood for a few minutes watching the creature disappear from the path into the furry white and come back out again. But soon it disappeared and I headed up the hill again.

Shortly after I left, my husband screamed out, saying that the mole had gone up the leg of his snow pants. You have to understand Bernie can be quite a joker, and I smelled a rat. Not wanting to be a sucker and fall for another one of his jokes, I laughed it off. When he started running for the cabin, though, I stopped laughing and decided maybe this was for real.

“Don’t you dare take that thing into the house!” I yelled. But like a flash, Bernie was already dashing through the cabin’s front door, with his snow pants, the mole and all. If it were me, I’d have been down to my long underwear right there in the snow without a second thought.

A few minutes later Bernie appeared. We relished the rest of our winter vacation, drinking lots of hot chocolate, sitting beside the fireplace and admiring nature---from a safe distance.

1. Why did the author’s husband come to her rescue?

A．Because the “mouse” frightened her

B．Because she hardly controlled the sled

C．Because the snow fort she built was damaged

D．Because she stepped on the stone and fell down

2. When her husband said that the mole had gone up the leg of his snow pants, the author was ___.

A．curious	B．puzzled
C．excited	D．doubtful

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．They enjoyed the rest of their holiday

B．They were fond of hot chocolate

C．Her husband had freedom at last

D．Nature can be dangerous at times

4. What could be the best title of the text?

A．A Memorable Experience with a Joker

B．The Painful Incident in Allegany State Park

C．Family’s Funny Vacation in the Snow

D．My Strong Love for Nature

3 . "Sorry, but I don't agree with you ..."This is usually followed by unbearable silence and angry tears. I've always found it difficult to disagree with someone, because I don't want to lose a friend. I've found it even harder to accept it when someone disagrees with me, because my ego（自尊心）is hurt.

Before the other person gets a chance to explain why she disagrees with me, my usual response would be," If you aren't able to see my point of view, then what you think isn't worth my time or consideration, either." But now I've come to realize that when a friend disagrees with me, sometimes she is simply saying, "I don't agree with the way things are done." She still respects me as a person, and is only pointing out a better way to look at a matter. However, there may be times when my friend disagrees with me because I'm against the truth. That's when need to listen to what she says.

I've learned that one way to help my friend is for me to be open and honest with the other to voice my thoughts and listen to the other carefully. While we can't control how a person will respond to our views, we must learn to disagree with our friends in love. We will never feel that we are better than the other person.And that will help us to be less emotional, and more objective in the way we express our opinions.In the same way, we can also stay open to feedback（反馈）from others,knowing that our friends may be correcting us in love.

Good friendships build each other up, sometimes through disagreements and honest opinions. Though I don't like being disagreed with, I'm starting to see the value of such disagreements.

1. The author has found it difficult to disagree with someone because       .

A．he is a friendly person	B．he usually hides his ideas
C．he has no mind of his own	D．he wants to keep the friendship

2. When a friend disagreed with him,the author used to       .

A．be unhappy	B．argue with the friend
C．break up with the friend	D．explain things calmly

3. The author will listen to a friend when       .

A．he is against the truth	B．he doesn't tell the truth
C．he is respected by a friend	D．he does things in the wrong way

4. What does the author mainly talk about in the text?

A．How to keep friendship.	B．How to avoid hurting a friend.
C．How to express disagreements.	D．How to deal with disagreements.

4 . The more hours that young children spend in child care, the more likely they are to turn out aggressive and disobedient by the time they are in kindergarten, according to the largest study of child care and development ever conducted. Researchers said this correlation (相关性) held true regardless of whether the children came from rich or poor homes, were looked after by a relative or at a center, and whether they were girls or boys.

What is uncertain, however, is whether the child care actually causes the problem or whether children likely to turn out aggressive happen to be those who spend more hours in child care. It also remains unclear whether reducing the amount of time in child care will reduce the risk that a child will turn into a mean person. What’s more, quality child care is associated with increased skills in intellectual ability such as language and memory, leading some academics to suggest that child care turns out children who are “smart and naughty”.

The government-sponsored research, which has tracked more than 1,300 children at 10 sites across the country since 1991, is bound to cause the debate over child care again: How should people balance work and family? And how should parents, especially mothers. Resolve the demands that are placed on them to be both breadwinners and supermoms?

That debate was already on display at a news briefing yesterday, where researchers themselves had different opinions about the data and its implications (含义). “There is a constant relationship between time in care and problem behavior, especially those involving aggression and behavior,” said Jay Belsky of Birkbeck College in London, one of the lead investigators of the study who has previously annoyed women’s groups because of his criticisms of child care. “On behalf of fathers or mothers?” interrupted Sarah Friedman, a developmental psychologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and one of the other lead scientists on the study. “On behalf of parents and families,” responded Belsky.

“NICHD is not willing to get into policy recommendations.” said Friedman, contradicting her colleague. “There are other possibilities that can be entertained. Yes it is a quick solution—more hours in child care is associated with more problems. The easy solution is to cut the number of hours but that may have implications for the family that may not be beneficial for the development of the children in terms of economics.” In an interview after the briefing, Friedman said that asking parents to work fewer hours and spend more time with their children usually meant a loss of family income, which adversely(不利地) affects children.

Scientists said that the study was highly reliable. But the researchers said they had no idea whether the behavioral difficulties persisted as the children moved to higher grades.

1. Children who spend more time in quality child care will ________.

A．develop greater ability in language	B．be easy to manage and less naughty
C．possess great risk-taking spirit	D．be greedy and mean to their classmates

2. What is still unknown about higher level of aggressiveness in kindergarten children?

A．Whether higher level of aggressiveness can be avoided with longer child care.

B．Where longer child care equally affects children from different families.

C．Whether aggressiveness is a direct result of longer child care.

D．Whether longer child care improves intellectual ability in children.

3. In the fifth paragraph the word “it” probably means ________.

A．NICHD is unwilling to give parents recommendations

B．NICHD is willing to give policy advice concerning child care

C．the number of hours in child care should be reduced significantly

D．parents should discipline the behavior of their children more strictly

4. According to Friedman, Cutting the number of hours in child care ________.

A．may prevent families from having the necessary financial sources

B．will make families unable to enjoy much of the social benefits

C．will result in subsequent behavioral difficulties in children

D．should be accompanied with the improvement in the quality of child care

5 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

There’s no doubt that when it comes to friendship，you want positive people in your life and not negatives ones．    1     ．Support when you need it. With positive friends，you don’t need to beg for help when you need it because chances are they will be there for you without asking．    2         ．Health benefits of being positive．The more positive friends you have，the better you will be at remaining optimistic yourself．    3     . For example，it helps people to deal with stress and illness better．Health benefits may include lower rates of depression，a greater ability to throw off colds，and a reduced risk of developing disease．Bring out the best in you．    4     . This means trying new things，achieving goals，and having the kind of life you dreamed of for yourself．With positive people in your life，you’11 feel more comfortable sharing your goals because your friends will give you the emotional push you need to go after what you want in life．Attracting More Positive FriendsYou naturally attract the kinds of friends who are most like you．So if you’re a downer，you’11 probably find that negative people flock to you．    5     . The more you are able to maintain a positive attitude，the more likeminded people you’11 attract in return．

A．Here are some benefits of spending time with positive friends．

B．That’s why you’d better surround yourself with positive friends．

C．In most cases，they will go out of their way to help you when you’re in trouble．

D．The same is true for being positive．

E．As we all know，there are many benefits of being optimistic．

F．Your positive friends will inspire you to be the best you can be．

G．Most of the time，you have to ask them to help you when in trouble．

6 . When I got the driving license last summer, Mom and I took our first trip around an empty parking lot. Then I found that my mother was not the best teacher for me. It wasn't that she shouted, or told me that I was doing poorly. As you can imagine, my mother’s “helpful instructions” only managed to make me more nervous.

Since I could no longer practice with her, the job was placed in the hands of my father. The idea of learning from Dad was not one that thrilled me. I loved him dearly, but I just did not see Dad as someone I could be comfortable learning from. He almost never talked. We shared a typical father-daughter relationship. He'd ask how school was, and I'd say it was fine. Unfortunately, that was the most of our conversations. Spending hours alone with someone who might as well have been a stranger really scared me.

As we got into the car that first time, I was not surprised at what happened. Dad and I drove around, saying almost nothing, aside from a few instructions on how to turn. As my lessons went on, however, things began to change. Dad would turn the radio up so I could fully appreciate his favorite Stones music. And he actually began talking. I was soon hearing about past failed dates, "basic body" gym class, and other tales from his past, including some of his first meeting with Mom.

Dad’s sudden chattiness was shocking until I thought about why he was telling me so much in the car. In all the years that I had wondered why my father never spoke that much, I had never stopped to consider that it was because I had never bothered to listen. Homework, friends, and even TV had all called me away from him, and, consequently, I never thought my quiet father had anything to say.

Since I began driving with him, my driving skill has greatly increased. More important, though, is that my knowledge of who my father is has also increased. Just living with him wasn't enough— it took driving with him for me to get to know someone who was a mystery.

1. The author couldn’t practice driving with her mother because

A．she couldn’t talk with her mother

B．her mother made her nervous

C．her father wanted to teach her

D．she didn't trust her mother

2. At first, the idea of learning driving from her father made her

A．happy	B．disappointed
C．satisfied	D．uneasy

3. What surprised the author when the driving lessons went on?

A．Her Dad was a chatty person.	B．Her Dad was the best teacher.
C．Her Dad liked modern music.	D．Her Dad told her his sad stories.

4. With her story “Car Talk”, the author indicates that

A．fathers love their daughters dearly

B．family members need real communication

C．mothers are less patient than fathers

D．it takes time to improve the father-daughter relationship

7 . On countless mornings over the past year, I stood with my son, James, in our driveway, watching our neighbor hurry off to kindergarten. My wife and I wanted to give James the best   education, but that meant we’d have to change our jobs and spend less time with our kid. I asked myself, “Would this trade-off be worth it?” When I look at the research on child development, I think it might not. Where our kids go to school might matter less than most American parents think.
Social scientists have long tried to determine why some children grow up to be successful. In a 2001 study, Greg Duncan, a professor of education at the University of California, measured the influence that the people in a child’s life have on how well the child does in school. Duncan and his team found almost no relationship between how students did on the test and whom they sat beside in class, whom they hung out with after school and who lived in their block. The only meaningful link they found was between siblings（兄弟姐妹）and twins in particular.
For a long time, scholars thought that a family’s income heavily affected how well kids did     in life. But that might not be the case. When Susan Mayer at the University of Chicago looked at the relationship between family income and lifetime achievement, she ran a series of experiments to measure it, finding such outcomes weren’t caused by income. She argued that the things that make a difference are relatively inexpensive: the number of books a kid has or how often his family goes to museums.
Lareau, another scholar began one of the most in-depth observations of American parenting. He concluded that success is much more related to the amount of time parents spend with their children. He said “Many parents I interviewed are anxious about their children’s futures．But they have exaggerated（夸大）the sense of the risks involved if they don't give their children the best of everything..”
So at last, we decided to leave things as it were. More time with our kid is the best we can provide.
1. The first paragraph is intended to __________.

A．introduce the topic of the passage

B．confirm the result of a research

C．stress the importance of good education

D．support a research on child development

2. From the passage we know that most American parents _________.

A．spend a lot of time with their children

B．like to buy a variety of books for their children

C．think children's achievement largely depends on schools

D．believe their income cannot afford children's education

3. Who believes children's brothers and sisters may influence their academic performance?

A．Lareau．	B．Greg Duncan．
C．Susan Mayer．	D．James．

4. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A．Parents' time matters to children's future．

B．School education determines children's future．

C．Family income counts to children's achievements．

D．Less education means more risks for children's success．

8 . In this age of Internet chat, videogames and reality television, there is no shortage of mindless activities to keep a child occupied. Yet despite the competition, my 8-year-old daughter Rebecca wants to spend her leisure time writing short stories. She wants to enter one of her stories into a writing contest, a competition which she won last year.
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.
1. What do we learn from the first paragraph?

A．A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays.

B．Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities.

C．Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time.

D．Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing.

2. What did the author say about her own writing experience?

A．She was constantly under pressure to write more.

B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers.

C．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer.

D．Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations.

3. Why did Rebecca want to enter this year’s writing contest?

A．She believed she possessed real talent for writing.

B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help.

C．She wanted to share her stories with readers.

D．She had won a prize in the previous contest.

4. The underlined sentence probably means that the author was _______.

A．trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life

B．trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished

C．making sure that her daughter would win the contest

D．helping her daughter develop real skills for writing

9 . I teach geography at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. The young man then asked me why I always seemed to be so cheerful. “I choose to be cheerful.” I said. Then I told them a story.
In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died and wouldn’t start again. So I left my car there and marched down the road to the college.
As soon as I got there I called AAA (美国汽车协会)and arranged for a tow truck (拖车) to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the office asked me what had happened. “This is my lucky day.” I replied, smiling.
“Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?” She was puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway but it didn’t.” I replied, “Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance from here. I’m still able to teach my class, and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class.” The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class. So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe _____________. In fact, it had all started with a student’s observation that I was cheerful. An Indian wise man once said, “Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say.” I suppose it must be so.
1. Why did the author tell his students the story?

A．To share his lucky experience.

B．To make his class more lively.

C．To draw all students’ attention.

D．To encourage his students to be positive.

2. What happened to the author on his way to the community college?

A．He parked his car in a perfect place.

B．He called AAA for a tow truck to meet him.

C．He covered the last quarter mile on foot.

D．He drove off the freeway at a wrong exit.

3. By saying “it wasn’t the story at all”, the author means that_______.

A．His story is not convincing

B．He shouldn’t have told the story

C．His attitude to life has inspired the students

D．His story is not as interesting as expected

4. What can be concluded from the passage?

A．Easier said than done.

B．You are what you choose.

C．Behind bad luck comes good luck.

D．A good beginning makes a good ending.

10 . There has been an outpouring of love for a 23-year-old disabled woman whose dog was killed in front of her while a groomer(美容师) tried to trim(修剪) its claws.
Calls and e-mails came from as far away as the Upper Peninsula and Arizona as well as Oakland and Macomb counties, offering Laurie Crouch, who uses a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis(硬化症), everything from dogs to money, such as that from Jason Daly of Roseville who said, “ I would like to buy her a new dog.”
A story about the death of Crouch’s pet, Gooch, was printed on the front page of Macomb Daily. Crouch said a man sat on the dog to trim its nails. Gooch died after one claw was trimmed.
Crouch yelled at the groomer to stop when she saw Gooch was struggling to breathe, but she said she was ignored. “If I could have walked, I would have put my hands on her and pulled her off my dog and physically stopped her, but I can’t do that.” Gooch was not a trained service animal, but naturally helped Crouch by picking up things for her.
“This case is absolute animal abuse(虐待),” Larry Obrecht, division manager of the Oakland County Animal Shelter in Auburn Hills, said.
People who read the story contacted Oakland Press to offer help. A message, from Rebecca Amett of Giggles N Wiggles Puppy Rescue, in Roseville, said, “We have puppies to donate … and want to help the young woman who lost her service dog.”
“When Gooch was with me, I was happy,” Crouch said, “I think I can be happy again but no animal can replace Gooch. There’s never going to be another Gooch out there but I think I will find a dog that can bring me joy again.”
1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．A disabled woman’s service dog.

B．A cruel groomer killed a disabled woman’s dog.

C．People’s love for a disabled woman who lost her dog.

D．Disabled woman loves to have the dog as company.

2. People called and emailed to             .

A．offer help and care to Laurie Crouch.

B．give their angry voice to the groomer.

C．offer a cure for Crouch’s disease.

D．tell Crouch how to punish the groomer.

3. We can infer from the passage that          .

A．Crouch refused to take another dog.

B．Crouch must be sad after losing her dog.

C．Crouch has accepted another dog from a stranger.

D．Crouch can live well without a dog’s company.