1 . Benefits of Reading

The benefits of reading start with the first book a baby hears and continue into childhood and throughout the child’s life. Here are some reasons why reading is important.

Reading teaches children about the world around them.     1    They are exposed to ways of life, ideas and beliefs about the world which may be different from those which surround them. This builds a store of background knowledge, which helps younger children learn to read confidently.

    2    When we read, our brains translate the descriptions we read of people , places and things into pictures. When we are reading a story, we are also imagining how the characters are feeling. We use our own experiences to imagine how we would feel in the same situation

Children who read do better at school. And they don’t just do better at subjects like reading, English and history.     3    

Reading is a great form of entertainment! A paperback book or an e-reader doesn’t take up much space so you can take it anywhere and you’ll never be lonely or bored if you have a book in your bag.     4    

Reading relaxes the body and calms the mind.     5    The constant movement, flashing lights and noise are quite stressful for our brains. When we read in silence, the black print on a white page is much less stressful for our eyes and brains.

A．Reading improves concentration.

B．Reading develops a child’s imagination.

C．We seem to have forgotten how to relax and how to be silent.

D．Children learn new words and greatly enlarge their vocabulary.

E．They do better at all subjects and they do better all the day through school.

F．You can read while waiting for a friend or during a flight delay at an airport.

G．By reading, children learn about people, places and events outside their own experience.

2 . Do you know how to pick a good book you’ll really like? Here are some tips.

Start with your interest.     1    . You can pick something that you love to read, not for school. They can be ancient martial (武术) arts, computers, or fashion design. You name it, there are books about it.

Pick your type. Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction (or both)? Fiction books, like novels, can transport you to another world or help you imagine something beyond your own experience. Nonfiction books give you the who, what, when, and why of something.     2    . Many of them read like novels from start to finish.

Read the description. The reviews and quotes on the back and inside covers of many books give you an idea of what the book is about. They can also help you pick future books, too. If you find a book you really like, take a minute to read the quotes and see which authors praised the book.     3    .

Find a family favorite. Which book did your mother love best when she was at your age?     4    . Find out and give them a read — then you can share your thoughts about the book.

Find a quiet place and make time for the book.     5    . You can put on some good music, get yourself some tea and let yourself be carried away by the book. You’ll see that time does fly when you’re reading something you love!

A．How about your brothers and sisters?

B．They tell stories using facts — but that doesn’t mean they’re boring.

C．Reading is a good way to improve your English.

D．Most reading is best enjoyed when you can concentrate on it.

E．Often, they’ll have similar styles and you might find books you like by those authors, too.

F．So you should read as much as possible when you are free.

G．Reading on your own isn’t like reading for school.

3 .        We feel it important to start reading to your child right from the start—the younger the better! With little ones (children from birth to 4) it is very important to read and reread books. Starting early makes the job of the listener (for you will be teaching your child how to listen) easier, as it helps to develop an early love of the written and spoken word.

We believe that you should read aloud to your child at least once every day. Set a special reading time during the day or evening when you can settle down (安静下来) and enjoy a book, without interruption. For most families, reading aloud at bedtime is a common practice.

We understand that it can be quite discouraging to read to a child who takes no interest. Take heart! Learning to listen takes experience. The more you read, the more your child will learn to sit for a story. Children have a natural development of responses (反应) to your reading. By the time your child reaches 6-7 months, she/he is attracted by the book in your hand, and would like to test it out by using it as a chew (咀嚼) toy. This is natural! By one year, your child is learning to listen and talk about the pages, often shouting out things she/he recognizes. Encourage this! And at the onset (起始) of walking, you have your biggest challenge yet, your child is always on the go. You need to set your reading time for a time in the day when your child is preparing to settle down. This means bedtime. Remember, it is your right and duty to teach your child about the power of books. Of course, it doesn’t happen overnight, but the returns are great!

1. Who does “the listener” in the first paragraph refer to?

A．The writer	B．The parent
C．The child	D．The teacher

2. The best time of the day to read stories to a child is ______.

A．when the child is still active in the early evening

B．when the parents finish the day’s housework

C．when the child has a chew toy to play with

D．when the child is quiet and peaceful

3. Parent may find it most difficult to read to their child when she/he _______.

A．is 6-7 months old	B．is one year old
C．start to walk	D．start to talk

4 . A good book can be satisfying. If reading is a habit you’d like to get into, there are some ways to develop it.

●Realize that reading is enjoyable if you have a good book. If you have a difficult book and you are forcing yourself through it, it will seem like a task.     1    

●Set time. You should have some time during every day when you’ll read for at least 5 to 10 minutes.    2     For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch and even dinner if you eat alone.

●Always carry a book.     3    When I leave the house, I always make sure to have my car keys and one book at hand. The book stays with me in the car, and I take it into the office and to appointments and pretty much everywhere I go.

●    4    Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair. Don’t lie down unless you’re going to sleep. There shouldn’t be a television or a computer near the chair, and no music or no noisy family members/ roommates. If you don’t have a place like this, create one.

●Reduce television/ the Internet. If you really want to read more, try cutting back on time on TV or the Internet.     5    Still, every minute you reduce of the Internet/ TV, you could use for reading. This could create hours of book reading time.

A．Go to bookstores.

B．Find a quiet place.

C．This may be difficult for some people.

D．Wherever you go, take a book with you.

E．Have some good tea or coffee while you read.

F．It means you will read no matter how busy you are.

G．If this happens, give up the book and find another one that you’ll really love.

5 . Treasure hunts (寻宝)have excited people’s imagination for hundreds of years both in real life and in books such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Kit Williams, a modern writer, had the idea of combining the real excitement of a treasure hunt with clues (线索)found in a book when he wrote a children’s story Masquerade, in 1979. The book was about a hare, and a month before it came out, Williams buried a gold hare in a park in Bedfordshire. The book contained a large number of clues to help readers find the hare, but Williams put in a lot of “red herrings”, or false clues, to mislead them.

Ken Roberts, the man who found the hare, had been looking for it for nearly two years. Although he had been searching in the wrong area most of the time, he found it by logic (逻辑),not by luck. His success came from the fact that he had gained an important clue at the start. He had realized that the words :”One of Six to Eight” under the first picture in the book connected the hare in some way to Katherine of Aragon, the first of Henry VIII’s six wives. Even here, however,   Williams had succeeded in misleading him. Ken knew that Katherine of Aragon had died at Kimbolton in Cambridgeshire in 1536 and thought that Williams had buried the hare there. He had been digging there for over a year before a new idea occurred to him. He found out that Kit Williams had spent his childhood near Ampthill, in Befordshire and thought that he must have buried the hare in a place he knew well, but he still could not see the connection with Katherine of Aragon, until one day he came across two stone crosses in Ampthill Park and learnt that they had been built in her honor in 1773.

Even then his search had not come to an end. It was only after he had spent several nights digging around the cross that he decided to write to Kit Williams to find out if he was wasting his time there. Williams encouraged him to continue, and on February 24th 1982, he found the treasure. It was worth £ 3000 in the beginning, but the excitement it had caused since its burial made it much more valuable.

1. The underlined word “them”(paragraph1)refers to .

A．red herrings	B．treasure hunts
C．Henry VIII’s six wives	D．readers of Masquerade

2. What is the most important clue in the story to help Ken Roberts find the hare ?

A．Two stone crosses in Ampthill

B．Stevenson’s Treasure Island

C．Katherine of Aragon

D．Williams’ hometown

3. The stone crosses in Ampthill were built .

A．to tell about what happened in 1773

B．to show respect for Henry VIII’s first wife

C．to serve as a road sign in Ampthill Park

D．to inform people where the gold hare was

4. Which of the following describes Roberts’ logic in searching for the hare ?
a.Henry VIII’s six wives
b.Katherine’s burial place at Kimbolton
c.Williams’ childhood in Ampthill
d.Katherine of Aragon
e.stone crosses in Ampthill Park

A．a—b—c—e—d	B．d—b—c—e—a
C．a—d—b—c—e	D．b—a—e—c—d

5. What is the subject discussed in the text ?

A．An exciting historical event

B．A modern treasure hunt

C．The attraction of Masquerade

D．The importance of logical thinking

6 . Do you enjoy reading? Do you read newspapers or magazines? Chances are, if you do any of these activities, your pre-school child is on his way to becoming a reader.
The process of learning to read is complex, and one of the most important things to know is that parents can help their children learn to read. As children have conversations with adults, they hear both new and familiar words and their vocabulary grows.
There are many opportunities for adults and children to talk together, such as when riding in the car or in a bus, doing housework like fixing dinner, or bathing and getting ready for bed. A major part of conversation is listening. When children talk, adults listen and respond. Then children listen and respond, and so the flow of conversation happens.
Have you watched you pre-school child pretend to read to his younger sisters or brothers? Have you read his favorite story over and over? These experiences tell children that reading is fun. And when things are fun and they are repeated, your child will see letters. He begins to connect them to familiar words, especially the letters that make up his name. A natural next step for him to take is to write the letters.
When children see parents make a grocery list, they want to use a pencil and paper to make their own list. To encourage these beginning writing activities, have pencils, markers, crayons and scrap paper within your children’s reach.
The more children get connected with talking, listening, reading and writing, the easier it is for them to become active readers. While you as a parent have a big influence on these early behaviors, it is important to remember that opportunities for literacy experiences happen when you and your child share in the basic routines（日常生活）of everyday life.
1. The third paragraph tells us that parents can talk with their children__________.

A．during daily routines	B．only in quiet places
C．in their spare time	D．when they are eager to walk

2. During the process of learning to read, children may _________.

A．copy the action of the adults.

B．prefer to talk with those of their own age.

C．show no interest in reading at all.

D．waste a lot of paper and other materials.

3. When do children want to learn to write?

A．When their parents ask them to do so.

B．When they believe they can write well.

C．When they know what they want to know

D．When they can connect letters with familiar words.

4. The passage is written to _____________.

A．talk about parents’ influence on their children’s behavior

B．encourage parents to set a good example to their children

C．advise parents to make reading a part of their children’s daily life

D．make parents believe in the importance of early reading