Goldie’s Secret
She turned up at the doorstep of my house in Cornwall. No way could I have sent her away. No way, not me anyway. Maybe someone had kicked her out of their car the night before. “We’re moving house.”; “No space for her any more with the baby coming.” “We never really wanted her, but what could we have done? She was a present.” People find all sorts of excuses for abandoning an animal. And she was one of the most beautiful dogs I had ever seen.
I called her Goldie. If I had known what was going to happen I would have given her a more creative name. She was so unsettled during those first few days. She hardly ate anything and had such an air of sadness about her. There was nothing I could do to make her happy, it seemed. Heaven knows what had happened to her at her previous owner's. But eventually at the end of the first week she calmed down. Always by my side, whether we were out on one of our long walks or sitting by the fire.
That's why it was such a shock when she pulled away from me one day when we were out for a walk. We were a long way from home, when she started barking and getting very restless. Eventually I couldn't hold her any longer and she raced off down the road towards a farmhouse in the distance as fast as she could.
By the time I reached the farm I was very tired and upset with Goldie. But when I saw her licking (舔) the four puppies (幼犬) I started to feel sympathy towards them. “We didn't know what had happened to her,” said the woman at the door. “I took her for a walk one day, soon after the puppies were born, and she just disappeared.” “She must have tried to come back to them and got lost,” added a boy from behind her.
I must admit I do miss Goldie, but I've got Nugget now, and she looks just like her mother. And I’ve learnt a good lesson: not to judge people.
【小题1】How did the author feel about Goldie when Goldie came to the house?

 5. — She looks very happy. She __________ have passed the exam.

— I guess so. It’s not difficult after all.

A. should       B. could

C. must   D. might

Dear Benter,

　　You have been away exactly two weeks today but it seems more like two years to me!

　　I’m glad to hear you’ll be back soon. Are you coming directly home, dear? Or do you plan to make some stops   36   the way? I hope you’ll be home in  37  for Patsy’s birthday next Sunday. She is  38  you to show films to her  39  friends.

    Patsy keeps asking every day  40  you’ll be back. She says you never  41   that story you were telling her about  42  train that lost its “ toot”(喇叭嘟嘟声). You’d better   43   and think up a good ending  44  it. You know how Patsy is? She  45  be happy until she knows exactly what ­__46   to the “toot” and  47  the little train got it back  48  !

　　Everything at home is fine except that we  49  you so much! I’ve been  50  with the spring cleaning. Yesterday I had Cora  51  in to wash the kitchen walls and she did a very good __52  of it. The kitchen looks as though it’s been repainted. I made some new yellow curtains, and they  53  very beautiful.

　 I went to see your mother yesterday. Her  54  is all gone and she looks very  55  . Your sister Jean looks wonderful! She has taken off about fifteen pounds since she began dieting. But now she’s complaining that none of her clothes fit!

   Hope to see you before next Sunday.

　 Love and kisses to you!

            　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　     Yours

           　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　            Lynn

1.A in            B. on           C. at           D. along

2.A. time         B. fact          C. all           D. the end

3.A. expecting     B. thinking      C. agreeing      D. hoping

4.A. small        B. short         C. little         D. low

5.A. that          B. when        C. why         D. unless

6.A. finished      B. stopped       C. supplied     D. included

7.A. some        B. a            C. the          D. this

8.A. care         B. arrive        C. pretend       D. hurry

9.A. on          B. for           C. at           D. in

10.A. mustn’t      B. couldn’t      C. won’t        D. shouldn’t

11.A. affected      B. about        C. happened     D. was

12.A. how         B. however      C. because      D. why

13.A. yet          B. too          C. again         D. next

14.A. love         B. think         C. miss         D. care

15.A. working      B. ready        C. together       D. busy

16.A. stay         B. come         C. visit          D. drop

17.A. work        B. job           C. thing         D. clean

18.A. show        B. feel          C. become       D. look

19.A. cold         B. heat          C. health        D. medicine

20.A. good        B. well          C. nice          D. best

She looks forward every spring to _____the flower-lined garden．

For years we have been told that encouraging a child’s self-respect is important to his or her success in life. But child experts are now learning that too much praise can lead to the opposite effect. Praise-sholic kids  who expect it at every turn may become teens who seek to same kind of approval from friends when asked if they want to go in the backseat of the car.

The implication(含义) of saying “You are the prettiest girl in class,” or talking about the goals she succeed but not her overall effort, is that you love her only when she looks the best, scores she highest, achieves the most. And this carries over to the classroom.

Social psychologist Carrol Dweck, PhD, tested the effects of overpraise on 400 fifth graders while she was at Columbia University. She found that kids praised for “trying hard” did better on tests and were more likely to take on difficult assignments than those praised for being “smart”.

“Praising attributes(品质) or abilities makes a false promise that success will come to you because you have that quality, and it devalues effort, so children are afraid to take on challenges, ” says Dweck, now at Stanford University, “They figure they’s better quit while they’re ahead.”

The underlined words “Praise-sholic kids” refers to kids who are ______.

   A. tired of being praised             B. worthy of being praised

   C. very proud of being praised        D. extremely fond of being praised

The author quoted(引用) Dr. Dweck’s words in the last paragraph in order to make the article

_____. 

A. better-known      B. better-organized    C. more percussive   D. more interesting

We can infer from the passage that _____.

   A. praise for efforts should be more encouraged

   B. praise for results works better than praise for efforts

   C. praising a child’s achievements benefits his or her success in life

   D. praising a child’s abilities encourage him or her to take on challenges