The differences between men and women's friendships
Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one thing still puzzles (困扰) old Harold. How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ballgame, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa and talking?
What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that women have so much to share.
Betty shrugs. Talk? We're friends.
Researching this matter called friendship, psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men. the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men. Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to a female friend.
"In general," writes Rubin in her new book, "women's friendships with each other lie on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities.”
“ Men keep their innermost(内心深处的) feelings to themselves. " Rubin writes, " Whereas(然而) a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage. However, a man by society doesn’t complain about his marriage trouble. it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa. "
【小题1】What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that ________.

A．he is treated as an outsider rather than a husband

B．women have so much to share.

C．women show little interest in ballgames

D．he find his wife difficult to talk to

【小题2】Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to _________.

A．a male friend	B．a female friend
C．her parents	D．her husband

【小题3】What do women's friendships with each other lie on in general?

A．shared emotions	B．support
C．shared activities	D．shared emotions and support

【小题4】According to the last paragraph, which type of behavior is NOT expected of a man by society?

A．Ending his marriage without good reason.

B．Spending too much time with his friends.

C．complaining about his marriage trouble.

D．going out to ballgames too often..

【小题5】What is the article about? ________.

A．happy and successful marriages

B．friendships of men and women

C．emotional problems in marriage

D．interactions between men and women

It’s not easy growing up. Growing up can be a real “pain” for some of us. Sometimes we feel trapped, sometimes we feel sad, sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don’t understand why we can’t stay young forever. But we should take a look back on all the hardships in life with a positive attitude and learn from them. We must overcome every obstacle one small step at a time. We should realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!
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!
【小题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

【小题2】How does the author now feel when remembering what her parents did for her in the past?

A．She is fearful	B．She is grateful
C．She feels trapped	D．She feels hateful

【小题3】We can know from the last paragraph that _____________.

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

【小题4】The purpose of the passage is to tell readers____________.

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 was shopping in the supermarket when I heard a young voice.
“Mom, come here! There’s this lady here my size!”
The mother rushed to her son; then she turned to me to apologize.
I smiled and told her, “It’s okay.” Then I talked to the boy, “Hi, Mickey, I’m Darry Kramer. How are you?”
He studied me from head to toe, and asked, “Are you a little mommy?”
“Yes, I have a son,” I answered.
“Why are you so little?” he asked.
“It’s the way I was born,” I said. “Some people are little. Some are tall. I’m just not going to grow any bigger.” After I answered his other questions, I shook the boy’s hand and left.
My life as a little person is filled with stories like that. I enjoy talking to children and explaining why I look different from their parents.
It takes only one glance to see my uniqueness. I stand three feet nine inches tall. I was born an dwarf (侏儒). Despite this, I did all the things other kids did when I was growing up.
I didn’t realize how short I was until I started school. Some kids laughed at me.. I began to hate the first day of school each year. New students would always stare at me as I struggled to climb the school bus stairs.
But I learned to smile and accept the fact that I was going to be noticed my whole life. I decided to make my uniqueness an advantage rather than a disadvantage. What I lacked in height, I made up for in personality.
I’m 47 now, and the stares have not diminished as I’ve grown older. People are amazed when they see me driving. I try to keep a good attitude. When people are rude, I remind myself, “Look what else I have---a great family, nice friends.”
It’s the children’s questions that make my life special. I enjoy answering their questions. My hope is that I will encourage them to accept their peers (a person of the same age, class, position, etc.), whatever size and shape they come in, and treat them with respect.
【小题1】Why did the mother apologize to the author?

A．Because the boy ran into the author.

B．Because the boy laughed at the author.

C．Because the boy said the author was fatter than him.

D．Because the mother thought the boy’s words had hurt the author.

【小题2】When did the author realize that she was too short?

A．When she grew up.

B．When she was 47 years old.

C．When she began to go to school.

D．When she met the boy in the supermarket.

【小题3】How does the author feel about people’s stares?

A．Angry.

B．Calm.

C．Painful.

D．Discouraged.

Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads in their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get a success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness doesn’t mean money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving（旋转的）door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.
【小题1】When you do something wrong, people around you will_______.

A．quarrel with you	B．help you correct it
C．do something wrong like you	D．laugh at you

【小题2】What will your friends say when you make great progress?

A．Oh, so do I.	B．Congratulations!
C．Good luck!	D．Just so-so!

【小题3】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air.

B．You can get help from others when you are in trouble.

C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money.

D．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you.

【小题4】The passage mainly tells us_______.

A．parents always care for our life and health

B．we’re not happy if we meet with difficulties

C．happiness is always around us

D．life is colorful

There was an American writer who often told such a story to his friends and readers:
It was an exhibition of the artists’ works organized by the Red Cross. I was invited as a special guest to take part in the exhibition. During this period, two cute girls of 16 or 17 years old came to me and asked for my signature(签名).
“I haven’t brought my pen. Is the pencil okay?” I asked. In fact I knew they wouldn’t refuse. I just wanted to show a well-known writer’s good manners to the common readers.
“Certainly,” the young girls readily agreed. I could see they were very excited. Of course, their excitement also made me more pleased with myself. One of the girls handed her notebook to me. I took out my pencil, wrote a few words of encouragement, and signed my name. The girl read my signature, frowned(皱眉), looked at me carefully and asked, “Aren’t you Robert Charboss?”
“NO,”I told her proudly, “I’m the author of Alice Adams, the winner of two Pulitzer Prizes.”
The young girl turned to another one, and said, “Mary, lend your eraser to me.”
At the moment, all my pride turned into a bubble (泡沫) immediately. Since then, I always warn(告诫)myself：Don’t think too highly of yourself even though you are so outstanding（杰出的）.
【小题1】The writer went to the exhibition because he      .

A．would put out his new book

B．got a special invitation

C．wanted to meet his fans

D．wanted show off (炫耀) that he was an outstanding writer

【小题2】We can infer that the two girls were the fans of   .        

A．the writer

B．Alice Adams

C．Robert Charboss

D．the Red Cross

【小题3】The underlined sentence “all my pride turned into a bubble immediately” means that the writer     .

A．had realized that he was too proud of himself

B．felt very angry when he heard the girl’s words

C．was so polite to the girls and helped them a lot

D．was regret to sign his name for the girl

【小题4】This story teaches us to be a(an)    person.

A．careful

B．outstanding

C．modest

D．easy-going

A mouse looked through a hole in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
　　Running to the farmyard, the mouse shouted, warning, “There is a mouse trap in the house; there is a mouse trap in the house.” The chicken with her head high, said, “Shut up, Little Ugly. This is a great concern to you, but it has nothing to do with me; I cannot be bothered by it.”
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.” “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,” said the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; you are always  in my prayers.”
　　The mouse turned to the cow, who said, “A mouse trap; am I in great danger, huh?”
So the mouse had to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.
　　That very night a sound was heard through the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.
She returned home with a fever. It is said that drinking fresh chicken soup will help treat fever, so the farmer took his sharp knife to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer killed the pig. 　　The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral. The farmer had the cow killed to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So next time someone is facing a problem, don’t say that has nothing to do with you.
【小题1】We could see from the passage that the mouse was______.

A．good at cheating others	B．dishonest
C．kind and warm-hearted	D．foolish

【小题2】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．The others helped the farmer kill the cow.

B．The mouse trap was very practical.

C．The pig is more friendly than the other animals .

D．The farmer’s family had no friends at all

【小题3】What can we learn from the story?

A．Traps can always cause chain reactions

B．Sometimes when the least of us are threatened, we all might be at risk.

C．It is better to be safe than to be sorry.

D．To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us all.

I stood outside New York's Madison Square Garden and just stared, almost speechless. I was a farm boy from County Kilkenny, a child who some thought would never walk, let alone go as far as I had in the world.
From the day I was born, there was a problem. The doctors at the Dublin hospital told my parents I had phocomelia, a deformity that affected both legs below the knee, which were outward and shorter than normal and each foot had just three toes.
Life was tough. I couldn't stand, much less walk. I rarely, left the farmhouse---and then only in someone's arms. Mam bundled me up whenever she took me to town, no matter the season.
“The world will see him when he can walk,” she told Dad. “And he will walk.”
Mam devoted herself to helping me. She tried everything to get me on my feet. When I was three, she and Dad took me to a clinic in Dublin.
A few weeks later we returned to Dublin with my artificial limbs (肢). Back home I practiced walking with my new limbs.
“There's nothing anyone can do but you can't,” Mam said. “You and I are going to walk through town.”
The next day Mam dressed me in my finest clothes. She wore a summer dress and fixed her hair and makeup. Dad drove us to the church. We stepped out of the car. Mam took my hand. “Hold your head up high, now, Ronan,” she said.
We walked 300 meters to the post office. It was the farthest I'd walked, and I was sweating from the effort. Then we left the post office and continued down the street, Mam's eyes shining with a mother's pride.
That night, back on our farm, I lay exhausted on my bed. It meant nothing, though, compared to what I'd done on my walk.
Then I began to pursue my dream of singing. And at every step Mam's words came back to me—Ronan, you can do anything anyone else can do—and the faith she had in God, who would help me do it.
I've sung from the grandest stages in Europe, to music played by the world's finest musicians. That night, I stood at the Madison Square Garden, with Mam's words chiming in my ears. Then I began singing. I couldn't feel the pulse of the music in my feet, but I felt it deep in my heart, the same place where Mam's promise lived.
【小题1】What was the problem with the author as a baby?

A．He was expected unable to walk.

B．He was born outward in character.

C．He had a problem with listening.

D．He was shorter than a normal baby.

【小题2】The underlined word “deformity” in the second paragraph most probably means _______.

A．shortcoming

B．disadvantage

C．disability

D．delay

【小题3】Why did Mam dress him and herself in finest clothes?

A．To hide their depressed feeling.

B．To indicate it an unusual day.

C．To show off their clothes.

D．To celebrate his successful operation.

【小题4】From the story we may conclude that his mother was _______.

A．determined

B．stubborn

C．generous

D．distinguished

【小题5】According to the writer, what mattered most in his success?

A．His consistent effort.	B．His talent for music.
C．His countless failures.	D．His mother's promise.

It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas 2005. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.    
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries（食品杂货），saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.    
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before.    
People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity（人性）as a whole. And it has influenced（影响）us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.
【小题1】Why was the bike so important to the couple?  

A．They used it for work and daily life.

B．It was their only possession.

C．It was a nice Kona 18 speed.

D．The man’s job was bike racing.

【小题2】We can infer from the text that ____________.  

A．the couple worked 60 hours a week.	B．people were busy before Christmas
C．the stranger brought over the bike	D．life was hard for the young family.

【小题3】What do the couple learn from their experience?   

A．Strangers are usually of little help.	B．One should take care of their bike.
C．News reports make people famous.	D．An act of kindness can mean a lot.

Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver. The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman.
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can not get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman’s kind reaction(反应). She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland. “It is OK. It wasn’t your fault.” When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO(总裁) with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn’t the only CEO to have made this discovery. Instead, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It’s hard to get a dozen CEO’s to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule. They say how others treat the CEO says nothing. But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul.
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, “I could buy this place and fire you,” or “I know the owner and I could have you fired.” Those who say such things have shown more about their character(人品) than about their wealth and power.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management. “A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,” Swanson says. “I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables.”
【小题1】What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman’s dress?

A．He was fired.

B．He was blamed.

C．The woman comforted him.

D．The woman left the restaurant at once.

【小题2】Odland learned one of his life lessons from ________.

A．his experience as a waiter.

B．the advice given by the CEOs

C．an article in Fortune

D．an interesting best-selling book

【小题3】According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about ________.

A．Fortune 500 companies	B．the Management Rules
C．Swanson’s book	D．the Waiter Rule

【小题4】From the text we can learn that ________.

A．one should be nicer to important people

B．CEOs often show their power before others

C．one should respect others no matter who they are

D．CEOs often have meals in expensive restaurants

【小题5】The underlined word “rude”here means________

A．bad

B．unfriendly

C．terrible

D．friendly

Many people influenced various aspects of my life, based on their personal characteristics, accomplishments and values. I have been fortunate to have had numerous teachers and professors who I respect for their patience and intelligence. There are artists that have inspired me by their natural talents and original creativity. I value many political leaders, who have inspired me by their contributions to society, and their ability to change our futures. But of all the people I have known in my life, the person I admire most is my father.
As the youngest girl in my family, I always considered myself to be “Daddy's little girl”. While I grew up, it always made me sad to see so many of my friends and neighbors without a father or father-like figure around. This helped me appreciate how my father always takes an interest in his children's lives. In every aspect of my life my father continuously pushes me to excel, so I could accomplish my work outstandingly among my people. Whenever I feel like giving up, or have a question or a concern, I know I can always call on him for advice. From him I have also learned that sometimes you have to put others' needs ahead of your own, but you should make sure you are not taken advantage of by others. His strength seems to be unbreakable during hard times, and he is extremely determined to accomplish anything he sets his mind on, no matter how tiny it is. I highly respect him for how he stands up for what he believes in, and will never back down. I have always admired his open mind, compassion(同情) for people, and sense of understanding. He is a very reserved(保守的) man, but to everybody's surprise, he has a great sense of humor, and always knows how to put a smile on the faces of his wife, his children and his friends.
Living in his affection and instruction, I am very proud of my father. He also professes how proud he is of his children, and is still there to support us in whatever we are involved in.
【小题1】Which of the following could not be used to describe the author's father?

A．Considerate and humorous.	B．Affectionate and open-minded.
C．Energetic and helpful.	D．Learned and fashionable.

【小题2】Which of the following can best explain the underlined word“excel”?

A．Show off.	B．Do better than others.
C．Be cleverer than others.	D．Keep healthy.

【小题3】According to the underlined part, the father was telling the author to _________

A．try to be good to those who were worth making friends with.

B．try to take advantage of those who were friendly to her.

C．think about others and help them, but not to be made use of in a negative way.

D．think about others and help them, so that she could make them serve her.

【小题4】 What can we infer about the author?

A．She appreciated her father because he solved all the problems for her.

B．She considered her father humorous and was often made to laugh by him.

C．She was outstanding in work because her father pushed her hard.

D．She had compassion for the fatherless.