The Best of Friends
     The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young
people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly held image (印象) of unhappy
teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
     An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious
than it has ever been in the past. "We were surprised by just how positive today's young people seen to be
about their families," said one member of the research team. "They're expected to be rebellious (叛逆的) and
selfish but actually they have other things on their minds; they want a car and material goods, and they worry
about whether school is serving them well. There's more negotiation (商议) and discussion between parents
and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don't want to rock
the boat."
     So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their
children as friends. "My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me," says 17-years-
old Daniel Lazall. "I always tell them when I'm going out clubbing. As long as they know what I'm doing,
they're fine with it." Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. "Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot
of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I'd done all my homework, I could go out on a
Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that."
     Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenagers
rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, "Our surprise that teenagers say they get along
well with their parents comes because of a brief period in out social history when teenagers were regarded
as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during
that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth
change from helping out with the family business to taking it over."

1. What is the popular images of teenagers today?

A. They worry about school
B. They dislike living with their parents
C. They have to be locked in to avoid troubles
D. They quarrel a lot with other family members

2. The study shows that teenagers don't want to _____.

A. share family responsibility
B. cause trouble in their families
C. go boating with their family
D. make family decisions

3. Compared with parents of 30 years age, today's parents _____.

A. go to clubs more often with their children
B. are much stricter with their children
C. care less about their children's life
D. give their children more freedom

4. According to the author, teenage rebellion _____.

A. may be a false belief
B. is common nowadays
C. existed only in the 1960s
D. resulted from changes in families

5. What is the passage mainly about?

A. Negotiation in family
B. Education in family
C. Harmony in family
D. Teenage trouble in family

     How should one invest a sum of money in these clays of inflation (通货膨胀)? Left in a bank it will hardly
keep its value, however high the interest rate. Only a brave man, or a very rich one, dares to buy and sell on
the Stock Market. Today it seems that one of the best ways to protect your savings, and even increase your
wealth is to buy beautiful objects from the past. Here I am going to offer some advice on collecting antique
clocks, which I personally consider are among the most interesting of antiques.
     I sometimes wonder what a being from another planet might report back about our way of life. "The planet
Earth is ruled by a mysterious creature that sits or stands in a room and makes a strange ticking sound. It has
a face with twelve black marks and two hands. Men can do nothing without its permission, and it fastens its
young round people's wrists so that everywhere men go they are still under its control. This creature is the
real master of Earth and men are its slaves."
     Whether or not we are slaves of time today depends on our culture and personality, but it is believed that
many years ago kings kept special slaves to tell the time. Certain men were very clever at measuring the time
of clay according to the beating of their own hearts. They were made to stand in a fixed place and every hour
or so would shout tire time. So it seems that the first clocks were human beings.
     However, men quickly found more convenient and reliable ways of telling the time. They learned to use
the shadows cast by the sun. They marked the hours on candles, used sand in hour-glasses, and invented
water-clocks. Indeed, any serious student of antique should spend as much time as possible visiting palaces,
stately homes and museums to see some of the finest examples of clocks from the past.
     Antique clocks could be very expensive, but one of the joys of collecting clocks is that it is still possible
to find quite cheap ones for your own home. After all, if you are going to be ruled by time, why not invest
in air antique clock and perhaps make a future profit?

1. According to the passage, collecting antique clocks _____.

A. can hardly keep the value of your savings
B. will cost much of your savings
C. may increase your wealth
D. needs your bravery

2. By quoting (引用) the remark of a being from another planet, the author intends to _____.

A. suggest human beings are controlled by a clock
B. describe why clocks can rule the planet Earth
C. tell readers what clocks look like
D. compare chicks to human beings

3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a way to measure the time?

A. Counting the beating of one's own heart.
B. Making use of candles, sand and water.
C. Observing shadows cast by the sun.
D. Keeping slaves busy day and night.

4. The underlined phrase stately homes in paragraph 4 means _____.

A. state-owned houses
B. houses in very good condition
C. grand houses open to the public
D. houses where statesmen meet regularly

5. The purpose of the passage is _____.

A. to introduce the culture of antique clocks
B. to offer some advice on collecting antique clocks
C. to compare different ways to make a future profit
D. to explain convenient and reliable ways of telling time

     All her life, my mother wanted busy children. It was very important that her house should remain it all
times clean and tidy.
     You could turn your back for a moment in my mother's house, leave a half-written letter on the dining
room table, a magazine open on the chair, and turn around to find that my mother had "put it back where
it belonged," as she explained.
     My wife, on one of her first visits to my mother's house, placed a packet of biscuits on an end table and
went to the kitchen to fetch a drink. When she returned, she found the packet had been removed. Confused
(疑惑的), she set down her drink and went back to the kitchen for more biscuits only to return to find that
her drink had disappeared. Up to then she had guessed that everyone in my family held onto their drinks, so
as not to make water rings on the end table. Now she knows better.
     These disappearances had a confusing effect on our family. We were all inclined to (有……的倾向)
forgetfulness, and it was common for one of us, upon returning from the bathroom, to find that every sign
of his work in progress had disappeared suddenly. "Do you remember what I was doing?" was a question
frequently asked, but rarely answered.
     Now my sister has developed a second-hand love of clean windows, and my brother does the cleaning
in his house, perhaps to avoid having to be the one to lift his feet. I try not to think about it too much, but
I have at this later time started to dust the furniture once a week.

1. Which of the following is TRUE about my mother?

A. She enjoyed removing others' drinks.
B. She became more and more forgetful.
C. She preferred to do everything by herself.
D. She wanted to keep her house in good order.

2. My wife could not find her biscuits and drink in my mother a house because _____.

A. she had already finished them
B. my mother had taken them away
C. she forgot where she had left them
D. someone in my family was holding them

3. The underlined part in the fifth paragraph suggests that my sister _____.

A. is happy to clean windows
B. loves to clean used windows
C. is fond of clean used windows
D. likes clean windows as my mother did

4. This passage mainly tells us that _____.

A. my mother often made us confused
B. my family members had a poor memory
C. my mother helped us to form a good habit
D. ray wife was surprised when she visited my mother

     It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech. At some point in every speech,
every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned. Fortunately,such moments
are usually not obvious (明显的) to the listeners. Why? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker
plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change
the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain place, no one will be wiser. When such
moments occur, don't worry about them. Just continue if nothing happened.
     Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that doesn't really matter. If you have ever
listened to Martin Luther Kings famous speech-"I have a Dream", you may notice that he stumbles (结巴)
over his words twice during the speech. Most likely, however, you don't remember. Why? Because you were
fixing your attention on his message rather than on his way of speech-making.
     People care a lot about making a mistake in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of
performance rather than as an act of communication (交流). They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-
skating competition. But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performance. They are looking for
a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker's ideas clearly and directly. Sometimes a mistake or two
can actually increase a speaker's attractiveness by making him more human.
     As you work on your speech, don't worry about being perfect. Once you free your mind of this, you will
find it much easier to give your speech freely.

1. The underlined part in the first paragraph means chat no one will _____.

A. be smarter than you
B. notice your mistakes
C. do better than you
D. know what you are talking about

2. You don't remember obvious mistakes in a speech because _____.

A. your attention is on the content
B. you don't fully understand the speech
C. you don't know what the speaker plans to say
D. you find the way of speech-making more important

3. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

A. giving a speech is like giving a performance
B. one or two mistakes in a speech may not be had
C. the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
D. the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. How to Be a Perfect Speaker
B. how to Make a Perfect Speech
C. Don't Expect a Perfect Speech
D. Don't Expect Mistakes in a Speech

     Our "Mommy and Me" time began two years ago. My next-door neighbor and fellow mother, Christie,
and I were out in our front yards, watching seven children of age 6 and under ride their bikes up and down.
"I wish I could take one of my children out alone," said Christie.
     Then we worked out a plan: When Christie takes one of her children out, I'll watch her other three. And
when she watches two of mine, I'll take someone out.
     The children were extremely quick to accept the idea of "Mommy and Me" time. Christie's daughter,
McKenzie, went first. When she returned, the other children showered her with tons of questions. McKenzie
was smiling broadly. Christie looked refreshed and happy. "She's like a different child when there's no one
else around," Christie shared with me quickly. With her mother all to herself, McKenzie didn't have to make
an effort to gain attention.
     Just as Christie had noticed changes in McKenzie, I also discovered something different in each of my
children during our alone times. For example, I am always surprised when my daughter, who is seldom close
to me, holds my hand frequently. My stuttering (口吃的) son, Tom, doesn't stutter once during our activities
since he doesn't have to struggle for a chance to speak. And the other son, Sam, who's always a follower
when around other children shines as a leader during our times together.
     The "Mommy and Me" time allows us to be simply alone and away with each child-talking, sharing, and
laughing, which has been the biggest gain. Every child deserves (应得到) to be an only child at least once in
a while.

1. What is the text mainly about?

A. The experience of the only child being with mother.
B. The advantage of spending time with one child at a time.
C. The happy life of two families.
D. The basic needs of children.

2. Right after McKenzie came back, the other children were _____.

A. happy
B. curious
C. regretful
D. friendly

3. What is one of the changes the author finds in her children?

A. The daughter acts like a leader.
B. Sam holds her hand more often.
C. The boys become better followers.
D. Tom has less difficulty in speaking.

4. The author seems to believe that _____.

A. having brothers and sisters is fun
B. it's tiring to look after three children
C. every child needs parents' full attention
D. parents should watch others' children

     An American friend of mine who was high up in a big corporation had worked out a way of handling a
flood of e-mails before most of us had even heard of the concept. If any information he was sent was vital
enough, his lack of response could ensure the sender rang him up. If the sender wasn't important enough to
have his private number, the communication couldn't be that important. My friend is now even more senior
in the same company, so the strategy must work.
     Almost every week now, there seems to be a report suggesting that we are all being driven crazy by the
bother of e-mail. If this is the case, it's only because we haven't developed an appropriate discrimination in
dealing with it.
     ______. Firstly, you junk anything with an exclamation mark or a string of capital letters, or from any
address you don't recognize or feel confident about.
     Secondly, e-mails don't all have to be answered. Because e-mailing is so easy, there's a tendency for
correspondence to carry on for ever, but it is permissible to stop an endless discussion or to accept a point
of information sent by a colleague without acknowledging it.
     Thirdly, a reply e-mail doesn't have to be the same length as the original. We all have e-mail pals who
send long, chatty e-mails, which are nice to receive, but who then expect an equally long reply. The charm
of e-mail can consist in the simple, incomplete sentence, totally regardless of the format of the letter sent by
post. You are perfectly within the bounds of politeness in responding to a marathon e-mail with a brief reply.

1. Which sentence in the passage it the closed in meaning to the following one? The possible existence of
annoyance results from our inability to sort out e-mails.

______________________________________________________________________________________

2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with a proper sentence. (within 10 words)

______________________________________________________________________________________

3. What advice is given in the last paragraph? (within 10 words)

______________________________________________________________________________________

4. For what purpose does the author mention his American friend in Paragraph 1? (within 10 words)

______________________________________________________________________________________

5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.

______________________________________________________________________________________

     I believe that my country, Poland, is a perfect example for a place where food is particularly important.
When we were little children, we began to understand how much a loaf of bread meant to our parents-to
some it might sound silly but for me the custom of kissing bread before you started cutting it was simply
amazing. It's not so common nowadays to treat food that way, since you hardly ever bake your own bread.
Besides, everyone would call you crazy if you tried to kiss every bread roll before you ate them! But though
we no longer make our food from scratch (起点), some customs have been kept--that's why I feel so sorry
every time I have to throw any food away-even though I no longer live with my parents and nobody would
blame me for this anymore!
     Many people of our nation are still working as farmers, eating what they grow and harvest and therefore
enjoying everything more. It's widely known that you value more anything that needs your effort in the first
place. In most homes in Poland, especially those of farmers, the whole family would try and have their meals
together--extremely difficult now, but so rewarding (值得)! You can share other members' troubles and
successes, give your children some attention, or just sit down for a moment instead of rushing through life
aimlessly. Furthermore, your body, and stomach in particular will be very grateful (感激) for such a time!
     In Poland, a wedding, Christmas or even a birthday is celebrated with a great meal. Women in the house
get together and cook, sometimes for a few days before the event, and the extremely good or unusual food
will be remembered and widely talked about.
     You cannot over-value the importance of food in the country. What's more, almost everyone in Poland
will be as interested in the topic as I am.

1. When the writer was a child, he / she ______.

A. found people were crazy about bread
B. began to realize the importance of food
C. thought that cutting bread was amazing
D. learned people hardly baked their own bread

2. The writer feels very sorry when he/she has to throw away any food because ______. 

A. he/she makes food from scratch
B. his/her parents would blame him/her
C. some customs still have effect on him/her
D. many people are still working hard as farmers

3. From the text, we can learn that, in Poland, ______. 

A. most meals can be interesting topics for a long time
B. the whole family often have meals together nowadays
C. it's common for women to get together to cook for a few days
D. family members can know more about each other by having meals together