1 . “Dad, I need your help. Come here!” My 5-year-old girl pulled me towards the computer. “Dad, please buy everything I have in the Amazon shopping cart (购物车). Here, take this cash from my savings!” The shopping cart showed ten items for a total of about 130 dollars. “Wait!” I replied.“That’s too much money! Why do you need all these things?”“Please, Dad! These items will get here before Christmas. I have a surprise for everyone. No peeking(偷看)!” she explained, and I bought everything.
A couple of days later, she got everything. I saw her then wrapping (包装) all her gifts. “Can I help you?” I asked.“No, Dad. I told you these are special surprises. No peeking!” she replied. Her excitement was obvious.
The day came. She was all around her gifts, planning, protecting, arranging. Everything had to be perfect. As soon as dinner was over, she jumped from her chair and took her gifts. She went around giving each one of us her piece of love. These were small items, but it was the meaning of giving her heart that we were really feeling. As she gave the gift to each person, she watched the expression on our faces. Our smiles were her greatest reward. Her last gift was for my 2-year-old boy—a toy car. It was hard to describe my little boy’s delight at getting this gift! For several minutes, everyone’s attention was focused on watching him go all around the house happily.
Seeing these acts of my 5-year-old helped me understand the power of giving—giving from the heart. Later that day, my girl received some gifts, but she didn’t need them. She focused on others, not on herself. It was clear that she was the one feeling true joy.
1. Why did the girl ask her father for help?| A．She didn’t have enough money. |
| B．She needed him to keep the secret. |
| C．She wanted to get his opinions on gifts. |
| D．She couldn’t make the online payment. |
| A．She felt proud. |
| B．She felt delighted. |
| C．She felt cautious. |
| D．She felt satisfied. |
| A．Pleasant. | B．Creative. |
| C．Reasonable. | D．Surprising. |
| A．To praise his daughter for her generosity. |
| B．To share his experience of raising his kids. |
| C．To discuss how to find happiness in daily life. |
| D．To share the lesson learned from his daughter. |
2 . On the 25th of December, my mother expected her children to be present, exchanging gifts and eating turkey. But as an artist and daughter, my heart seemed to be more in my work as an artist. As for my mother and my family, I thought we would have more time to spend Christmas together. I was going to do my own thing.
I made plans for my winter adventure in New Hampshire. The MacDowell Colony (麦道尔艺术村) was everything I could have wished for. About 20 to 30 artists were present, and it was as captivating as I had imagined. Snowy New England, sledding (滑雪橇) and whisky! It felt like my life had become an unexpected independent film.
By Christmas Eve, I had been at the colony more than a week. The fresh feelings were wearing off, but I would never admit it. Everyone around me was having too much fun—drinks and deep conversations by the fireplace. It seemed so amazing! What was wrong with me? This was the holiday I’d always dreamed of. No plastic reindeer. Not a Christmas sweater anywhere in sight. People here didn’t even say “Christmas”, but they said “holiday”. Then why was I so down?
Finally, I called home. My dad answered. He told me that my mother was out shopping with my brothers. I found there was a fire in my heart. They were having a fine Christmas without me? Didn’t they miss me? How could they?
Despite a serious snowstorm, a large package with my mother’s beautiful handwriting showed up near my door at the artist colony on Christmas morning. I seized it as if I had been five years old. Inside was my favorite cake.
As I sliced (切) the cake, everyone gathered around —young and old. My mother had sent a real homemade gift. It was a minor Christmas miracle that one cake managed to feed so many. We ate it from paper towels with our hands, satisfying a hunger we didn’t know we had and reminding us of our dear families, who must be missing us too.
1. Why was the author unwilling to spend Christmas at home?| A．She met some trouble at work. |
| B．She wanted to focus on her career. |
| C．She had disagreements with her mother. |
| D．She was tired of staying at a familiar place. |
| A．Attractive. | B．Tough. | C．Strange. | D．Simple. |
| A．It attracted many sports lovers. |
| B．It was suitable for holiday parties. |
| C．It lacked the Christmas atmosphere. |
| D．It gave the author some artistic ideas. |
| A．She learned to be open to others. |
| B．She enjoyed bringing kindness to strangers. |
| C．Her mother was good at taking care of her family. |
| D．Her mother’s cake cured the artists of their homesickness. |
3 . When families get together, we hope for fun times characterized by love and bonding, but we often find that family conflicts occur during these times as well. In fact, in most families, there are longstanding patterns of interaction and roles that people traditionally play within these interactions. These interactions can be positive, but when they’re negative, they can bring high amounts of stress to a family gathering.
How often have you had an experience where you knew you were going to see your family and could predict in advance what annoying or frustrating interactions you might have with certain family members, and things went exactly as you’d hoped they wouldn’t?While you can’t control the actions of others, you can control your response to their actions, which can alter the whole dynamic and create more positive interactions. In fact, Dr. Kathleen Kelley Reardon, USC Marshall School professor estimates that 75% of how people treat us is under our control because of this.
“Communication is like chess where every move one person makes influences the choices of the other,” says Reardon. “A good rule of thumb is to not say what you would normally say in response to any provocation. If you think you’re being blamed for something, instead of getting your back up, try saying, “There’s some truth to that” or “I hadn’t thought of it that way but I see your point.”
If you’re anticipating conflict the next time you get together with certain people, you may want to think about things ahead of time and identify patterns you’ve experienced before, think about potential choice points, and consider alternative responses you may choose.
Try to come up with a few solutions for each possibility and think about what would feel right for you. Rather than getting caught up in the usual conflict and hurt feelings, try to imagine what tone you’d like the conversation to take, and see if you can lead the interaction in that direction with your own responses at pivotal choice points.
Learning better conflict resolution skills, knowing what to avoid in a conflict, and how to cool off when upset can also help immensely.
1. What can we know in the first two paragraphs?| A．Enjoyable family gatherings are preferred. |
| B．Patterns of interaction are changeable in a family. |
| C．There are rarely family conflicts in most families. |
| D．Neither the actions of others nor yours can you control. |
| A．Convey your point to him or her. |
| B．Deny there’s some truth to that. |
| C．Get your back up and argue with him or her. |
| D．Make him or her know that you understand them. |
| A．Predict the conflict and find a way to solve them. |
| B．Imagine what tone you'd like the conversation to take. |
| C．Get caught up in the usual conflict and hurt feelings. |
| D．Learn conflict resolution skills and know what to avoid in a conflict. |
| A．Find Best Times to Have Family Gatherings |
| B．Change negative interactions into positive ones |
| C．Realize the importance of family relationships |
| D．Resolve Family Conflicts and Relieve Stress |
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When I was a very young children, my father created a regular practice. I remember well years late. Every time he arrived home at end of the day, we’d greet her at the door. He would ask who we was and pretend not to knowing us. Then he and my mother would have had a drink when she prepared dinner and they would talk about his day and hers. When they chat, my father would lift my sister and me up to sit in the top of the fridge. It was both excited and frightening to be up there! My sister and I thought he was so cool for putting us there.
