America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real，yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two，perhaps a few letters for a while— then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance，even years later，they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand，because friendships between us develop more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings，extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes，share their holidays，and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives，they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes，we，as hosts，will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans，however，express their welcome usually at homes，but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes，the welcome will be full，warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans，it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants，except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!
【小题1】Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?　　

A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families.

B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives.

C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy.

D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break.

【小题2】 From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend，we will probably be ______.

A．warmly welcomed at the airport

B．offered a ride to his home

C．treated hospitably at his home

D．treated to dinner in a restaurant

【小题3】The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.

A．strict with time	B．willing to spend time
C．careful with time	D．serious with time

【小题4】A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.

A．Friendships between Chinese

B．Friendships between Americans

C．Americans’hospitality

D．Americans’and Chinese’s views of friendships

Who help you most in your everyday life, families, charities, or friends? Don’t forget about your neighbours! Neighbours help you more than anyone else in your daily life. So it is important to have good neighbours.

What does it take to be a good neighbour? Here is some advice.

Good fences (栅栏) make good neighbours. One of the most important things in being a good neighbour is to respect (尊重) a person’ s privacy (隐私). If you go rushing over as soon as new neighbours move in, they may think you are going to come over at all hours of the day, not respecting their privacy.

It is always a good idea to be friendly to everyone in the neighbourhood. This can not only put you on good terms (关系和睦) with them, but will also be a kind of protection for your family and home. If you wave as they drive by or offer a friendly hello while they are out to work, they will think you respect them. If you are friendly to them, they are much more likely to watch out for anything wrong going on around your home while you are out and let you know if anything happens.

Another way of being a good neighbour is to be helpful in their hour of need. If you see that they are in need of a helping hand, it is good to offer your help. They will do the same if you are in trouble.

In a word, if you respect a person’s privacy, treat them kindly and be helpful when you see they are in need, you will be a great neighbour and anyone would be happy to have you next door!

1.    on how to be a good neighbour
2.    are good neighbours important?	Because they can help you 3.    in your daily life.
How to be a good neighbour?	Respect others’ privacy	Don’t rush over as soon as new neighbours 4.    　　 in.
Be5.    　 to neighbours	It can not only make you get along6.    with your neighbours but also make your neighbours help you 7.    your home and family when you are out.
Be8.   in their hour of need	Offer neighbours a helping hand when they are in need, and they will do the same when you have9.   .
Conclusion	Only 10.   you are a good neighbour yourself you can have good neighbours.

 

 

If you go to Finland, you’ll be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high class Benz with a fare (票价) of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then get off without paying your fare. And the driver would not show the least sign of worry.

The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends and dine free of charge.

With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “pretty advantages”. But the strange things is, all the taxi-passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. As the Finns always act on good faith and always show an attitude of “which is which” and “what is what” in everything they do, so to live in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”. In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to take precautions (预防措施) against others?

1.The word “foolish” probably means _____________.

A．friendly

B．careful

C．strange

D．funny

2.Why wouldn’t the driver show the least sign of worry? Because _________.

A．he is sure that the passengers always act on good faith

B．he is afraid to make the passengers angry and unhappy

C．he thinks the passengers may be too poor to pay him

D．he is sure that the passengers are really in trouble

3.The dining rooms in all big hotels ___________.

A．check the guests’ registration card carefully

B．give people meals without paying

C．serve their guests free of charge

D．only serve their guests free breakfast

4.What’s FALSE according to the passage?

A．No one takes advantages although there are many loopholes.

B．All the taxi-passengers come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business.

C．Not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms.

D．Finland is heaven for immoral people because they can always take advantages freely.

5.The sentences “which is which” and “what is what” show that __________.

A．the Finns are foolish

B．the Finns take things seriously

C．the Finns are busy making money for the family

D．the Finns never take precaution against others

 

Helping your children to read and write at home will improve their skills and confidence—it will also make them get ready for learning in the classroom environment.
　    　 are needed by every child in every subject in every year of their life in or outside school. Students who improve their reading and writing skills will increase their vocabulary and their ability（能力）to use the English language correctly. As parents, you can play an important role in improving your children’s literacy（读写能力）. You can make a difference by listening, asking questions, giving information, and reading with your children outside school hours.
Here are 8 tips on how to help your children to read and write:
² having everyday conversations with your children
² trying to ask more “wh-” questions instead of easy “yes” or “no” questions
² encouraging your children to talk about events you don’t know
² reading to your children each night
² listening to your children read
² teaching your children how to use dictionaries
² talking about your children’s writings
² practicing filling in forms, writing letters, sending cards or emails
You can also encourage your children to join the Reading Challenge Club and discuss the books they are reading together. In the club, children must read 15 books from the Challenge book list and 5 more books chosen by themselves. There are over 1,000 books on the list. The reading must be done in one year. What’s more, it is a wonderful way to help your children to write. For example, you can encourage them to write diaries or book reviews. Remember to make positive comments as much as possible.
【小题1】 This passage is mainly written for __________.

A．children

B．teachers

C．parents

D．doctors

【小题2】 __________ is the best for the missing part in Paragraph 2.

A．“Listening and speaking skills”	B．“Reading and writing skills”
C．“Listening and writing skills”	D．“Reading and listening skills”

【小题3】 __________ is NOT mentioned in the 8 tips above.

A．“Listening to the radio every day ”	B．“Listening to your children read”
C．“Reading to your children each night”	D．“Talking about your children’s writings”

【小题4】 In the Reading Challenge Club, children have to read __________ in one year.

A．5 books

B．10 books

C．15 books

D．20 books

【小题5】 Parents can help children to write by encouraging them to__________.

A．draw pictures or take photos	B．listen to pop music
C．write diaries or book reviews	D．play computer games