Whenever my dog, Barney, comes into the house after having been for a ride in the car, he runs to the pen(围栏) we have set up for him by the back door. It’s not something we intentionally trained him to do. The habit came simply because my husband tended to put him in his pen whenever they came in. After doing it a few times, Barney just figures that’s what you do when you come inside after a car ride.

It’s the same with your thinking. You get into the habit of thinking a certain way and then you’ll rarely question it after that.

This is especially true when you were growing up. You developed habits that just made things easier for you. You probably didn’t even think about them. That’s just the way it was and that’s what you did. Just like Barney thinks he has to go into his pen, you do things automatically as well.

For example, when you were a kid, you may have been told not to “talk back” and to just keep quiet about things that were bothering you. These are habits that might have worked to keep you safe and out of trouble when you were young.

Now that you're grown up, you may be finding that these previous strategies are actually causing you problems. In a relationship, not communicating isn't going to work as your partner can’t read your mind. What works when you're a child may not work when you become an adult.

When you decide you need to change your thoughts, your brain may at first feel that it's not a safe thing to do. Lots of practice and years of experience says it’s not. Also, you don’t know to question the thought. It’s a truth for you. The trick is to look at your results and see if your thoughts are the cause. Be willing to question your thinking and ask yourself if there are thoughts that are hindering (妨碍) you. As you are now in a different phase of your life, different strategies may be needed.

1.As with the dog Barney, people _______.

A．think in a habitual way

B．enjoy having a car ride

C．usually behave in a friendly way

D．have a good memory

2.According to the passage, as a kid, one tends to _________.

A．be afraid to make mistakes

B．have the experience of playing with a dog

C．learn much from adults like his/her parents

D．form a habit which can keep his/her out of trouble

3.In the writer’s opinion, adults should _______.

A．not“talk back”

B．avoid causing any problem

C．change the habit which will bring troubles

D．value their habits formed in their childhood

4.It can be concluded from the passage that ________.

A．the author’s husband must be good at training dogs

B．childhood is the best time for developing good habits

C．one can change his/her life by changing his/her thoughts

D．you should change all your childhood habits when you grow up

 

Jeffrey Bezos, founder, president and chairman of the board of Amazon.com, was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His mother’s ancestors were early settlers in Texas, and over the generations had acquired a 25,000 acre farm at Cotulla. Jeffrey spent most summers of his youth working with his grandfather on their farm.

Jeffrey showed intense and varied scientific interests at an early age. He set up an electric alarm to keep his younger sisters and brothers out of his room and changed his parents’ garage into a laboratory for his science projects.

After he graduated from Princeton University with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering, Jeffrey Bezos found employment on Wall Street, where computer science was increasingly in demand to study market trends. He rose quickly, becoming a senior vice president, and looked forward to a bright career in finance, when he made a discovery that changed his life, and the course of business history.

In 1994, there was still no internet commerce to speak of. One day that spring, Jeffrey Bezos observed that Internet usage was increasing by 2300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new circle of commerce, and immediately began considering the possibilities.

Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, setting up the original company in his garage. The company was called Amazon for the seemingly endless South American river with its numberless branches. It started as an online bookstore but soon diversified to all kinds of products. His work with Amazon eventually led him to become one of the most excellent dot-com entrepreneurs. He was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 1999. In 2008, he was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders. Bezos’ Amazon has become “the Earth’s biggest anything store”. Amazon.com is now called “one of the smartest strategies in business history”.

Today, Jeffrey Bezos lives north of Seattle and is increasingly concerned with charity activities. “Giving away money takes as much attention as building a successful company,” he said.

1. In his childhood, Bezos ______.

A．had to work with his grandfather on their farm all day long

B．showed great interest in science

C．didn’t get along well with his brothers and sisters

D．wanted to become a businessman

2.Jeffrey changed the course of business history because he ______.

A．looked forward to a bright career in finance on Wall Street

B．considered the possibility of setting up an original company

C．founded a new form of commerce that developed fast later

D．was the first to speak of Internet commerce

3.Which of the following isn’t mentioned in the passage?

A．How hard Bezos studied in Princeton University.

B．“Amazon.com” only sold books in the beginning.

C．Bezos not only devoted his life to Internet commerce but also to charity.

D．The reason why Jeffrey Bezos decided to found Amazon.com.

4. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

A．it was Bezos’s grandfather on the farm who helped him a lot

B．Bezos invented e-commerce to win the world fame overnight

C．Bezos has a sharp business mind and a kind heart

D．Bezos aimed at setting up “the Earth’s biggest bookstore”

 

On Sunday while I was having my own Father’s Day celebration, I thought about my dad a lot. By the time I called to tell him that I loved him, he had already gone to bed. So I wrote the following to show what my dad means to me.

About 28 years ago, my dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for the auction（拍卖会）. Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it there.

One day, I was riding with my dad to Shreveport for the auction when he found a hitchhiker（搭车者）with a backpack. As soon as dad saw him, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name and continued to talk to him about all sorts of things. I can’t recall why but he told dad a lot of terrible things that had occurred to him. I sat in the back seat and watched the scene with amazement. I could see that the hitchhiker changed his attitude as he could tell someone who was really listening to him.

We drove another forty-five minutes before we had to exit the interstate（州际公路）. We pulled over and dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitchhiker a twenty-dollar bill and then a the-dollar bill.

We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I just witnessed. I was always told everyone to never pick up a hitchhiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. I’m sure that it made that poor man’s day, probably a month to follow.

While reflecting upon that story, I learned a lot about my dad and life. I learned that if you come from a place of service or compassion, you can change people’s lives. Just one single kind act can change someone’s life. It never occurred to my dad about not stopping to help him.

This is the type of person my dad is. Thank you for setting such high standards for me to follow.

Dad, I love you. Happy Father’s Day!

1.The author and his dad met a hitchhiker（搭车者）_______.

A．when they were just warned not to pick up a stranger

B．on their way to Shreveport to sell a car

C．on their way to the west for a trip

D．when their car was running out of gas

2.What do we learn about the hitchhiker from the passage?

A．Something unpleasant occurred to him.

B．He was going to the auction.

C．At first he didn’t believe in the author.

D．It was he who bought the author’s car.

3.How did the author feel about his dad’s behavior at that time?

A．Angry

B．Appreciated

C．Surprised

D．Ashamed

4.What did the author learn from his father?

A．Just a single kind act can make a difference.

B．Try learning to be a good listener.

C．Set high standards for yourself in life.

D．Offering a ride to a stranger is dangerous.

 

Twelve years ago, a young traveler named Rhett Butler from San Francisco, California, visited the Sabah rainforest on Malaysian Borneo. In one area of the rainforest, he watched a bird flying through the trees. The beautiful sight left quite an impression on him. But weeks later, back home, Rhett Butler got the news that trees had been cut down in the area he visited.

 

To keep his website going, he travels around the world on several major trips each year. His working tools are a laptop computer, cameras and sometimes diving equipment. He often calls on experts for information. For example, he interviewed Alison Jolly, a top experts on lemurs(狐猴). He interviewed Rodney Jackson, a biologist who established the Snow Leopard Conservancy.

Stories like these have made Mongabay a favorite place on the Internet for researchers, students and teachers. In April, Time.Com named it one of the fifteen top climate and environment websites in the world.

1. What’s the main idea of the passage?

   A. Rhett Butler and his website.

   B. Rainforest on Malaysian Borneo.

   C. How Rhett Butler protected rare animals.

   D. How Rhett Butler made his website popular.

2.Rhett Butler didn’t publish his book about rainforests because _______.

   A. making websites earns more money than writing books

   B. he didn’t want to become a writer

C. the book was not about rainforest protection

   D. he wanted to use the information to create a website

3.Which of the followings is NOT true about the Mongabay. Com?

   A. It was set up in 1999.

   B. It attracted many advertisers.

   C. At least two related websites grew from it.

   D. Rhett Butler made a lot of money from it.

4.To keep his website going, Rhett Butler ________.

   A. kept visiting the rainforest

   B. traveled around and interviewed experts

   C. raised rare snow leopards

   D. made a great number of advertisements

5.We can learn from the passage that _________.

   A. Mongabay.Com was loved by researchers as well as students

   B. kids. Mongabay.Com. has many stories written by kids

   C. WildMadagascar.org is better known than Mongabay.Com

   D. Rodney Jackson was once a businessman

 

As I sat beside the window of our classroom that afternoon, my heart sank further with each passing car. This was a day I’d looked forward to for weeks: Miss Pace’s fourth-grade, end-of-the-year party. I had happily volunteered my mother when Miss Pace looked for cookie volunteers. Mom’s chocolate chips were well-known, and I knew they’d be a hit with my classmates. But two o’clock passed, and there was no sign of her. Most of the other mothers had already come and gone, dropping off their sweet offerings. The three o’clock bell soon took me away from my thoughts and I took my book bag from my desk. I decided I would slam the front door, and refuse to return her hug.

But when I arrived, she wasn’t at home. I was lying face-down on my bed upstairs when I heard her come through the front door. “Robbie,” she called out a bit urgently. “Where are you?” I could then hear her rushing anxiously from room to room, wondering where I could be. I remained silent. Coming through the door, she said: “I’m so sorry, honey,” she said. “I just forgot. I got busy and forgot.” Then my mother did something completely unexpected. She began to laugh! How could she laugh at a time like this? I rolled over and faced her, ready to let her see my rage (愤怒). But my mother wasn’t laughing at all. She was crying. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I let you down. I let my little boy down.”

I was moved by her tears. I tried to remember her kind words from times past when I’d skinned knees or cut myself, times when she knew just the right thing to say. “It’s okay, Mom. We didn’t even need those cookies. There was plenty of stuff to eat. Don’t cry. It’s all right. Really.” We didn’t say another word. We just held each other. When we came to the point where I would usually pull away, I decided that, this time, I could hold on, perhaps, just a little bit longer.

1.The author was pretty down because ________.

A．he couldn’t go to the party he had been looking forward to

B．his mother didn’t turn up at the party as she had promised

C．his mother had refused to make chocolate chips for the party

D．the cookies his mom made was not popular at the party

2.When the author returned home, ________.

A．he was so angry that he slammed the front door.

B．he was silent and refused to return his mother’s hug.

C．he rushed from room to room looking for his mother.

D．he was so disappointed that he couldn’t express his anger to his mother.

3.We can tell from the story that _______.

A．the mother didn’t get to the party because of the traffic jam

B．the mother was sorry for her absence and laughed at herself

C．the author was a caring and thoughtful boy

D．the author was overcome with anger

4.The article conveys the message that _______.

A．it is silly to be angry with your family

B．everybody should keep his or her promises

C．true love is based on understanding

D．understanding how to comfort people in low spirits is a true skill