It was Thanksgiving morning and in the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey when the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in rags(破舊衣服) huddling together inside the storm door on the top step.

"Any old papers, lady? " asked one of them.

I was busy. I wanted to say "no" until I looked down at their feet. They were wearing thin little sandals(涼鞋), wet with heavy snow.

“Come in and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”

They walked over and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the floor. I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight against the cold outside. Then I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget.

The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, "Lady, are you rich? "

"Am I rich? no!"

I looked at my shabby slipcovers(舊家具套). The girl put her cup back in its saucer (茶托;淺碟)carefully and said, "Your cups match your saucers." Her voice was hungry with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn't said "Thank you." They didn't need to. They had reminded me that I had so much for which to be grateful.

Plain blue china(瓷的) cups and saucers were only worth five pence. But they matched.

I tasted the potatoes and stirred the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job--these matched, too.

I moved the chairs back from the fire and cleaned the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to forget how rich I am.

1. Why did the writer let the children in?

A. She showed great pity on them.

B. She wanted to sell old papers.

C. She knew them and wanted to make them a cup of cocoa.

D. She wanted to invite them to her Thanksgiving party.

2. The girl thought the writer was rich perhaps because_________

A. she saw that the lady's room was comfortable

B. she saw the cups matched the saucers

C. the writer's slipcovers were very new

D. the woman had expensive clothes

3.What was the weather probably like when the story happened?

A. cloudy     B. sunny      C. windy      D. snowy

4. From the passage, we can infer that whether you are rich depends on_______

A. how much money you have had    B. how you feel about your life

C. how you have helped others       D. what job you are doing

 

Parents are often amazed at how fast their child grows and develops. New research has determined that the ability to quantify may develop much sooner than most parents realize.

Kristy vanMarle, professor of the University of Missouri, has determined that contrary to what previous studies have shown, infants（嬰兒）are able to quantify substances（物質(zhì)）—like sand or water—as early as 10 months. As long as the difference between the two substances is large enough, infants will choose the larger amount, especially when it comes to food.

With the assistance of her team researchers, vanMarle tested the quantifying skills of babies by presenting them with two cups: one containing a small amount of food, and one containing a larger amount. Consistently, the babies chose the larger amount.

“Several studies throughout the last 15 years have shown that infants are very good at telling how many objects they see; however, infants don’t seem to count things like water or sand,” vanMarle said. “What we’re saying is that they can quantify substances; it’s just much harder. The infants can see how much food goes into each cup and compare that in their memories. They decide which amount is larger, and they almost always select the larger one.”

This information further refutes（駁斥）the long-held idea that babies “know nothing of the world,” vanMarle said.

“Since psychologists have begun studying infants with sensitive measures, we’ve discovered a lot of early abilities. I think for parents, it should be exciting to know that there’s somebody in there that has some fundamental and basic knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is guiding their development,” vanMarle said.

In the future, vanMarle says this kind of study could be linked to a child’s progress in math-related skills, although programs marketed to increase those abilities, such as “Baby Einstein,” still have mixed reviews when it comes to academic study.

1. The quantifying ability refers to the ability to     .

A. choose between different substances

B. get much knowledge of the world

C. describe the quantity of something

D. obtain math-related skills

2. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 4?

A. The process of doing research.

B. The scientific findings.

C. The final choice of infants.

D. The observation of infants’ behavior.

3.Babies choose the larger amount of food     .

A. by saying numbers            B. with the help of parents

C. on personal preference           D. through their natural abilities

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A. Breakthrough in Baby Studies

B. Amazing Baby-training Ideas

C. Early Human Abilities

D. Unique Quantifying Methods

 

 

God’s Coffee

A group of class friends, highly achieved in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor．Conversation soon    31   into complaints about stress(壓力) in work and life．

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the   32  and returned with a large pot of coffee and a couple of   33   —porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking,    34  

expensive, some delicate—telling them to    35   themselves to the coffee．

When all the students had a cup of coffee in  36  ,the professor said：“If you noticed，all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up,  37  behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is

  38  for you to choose only the best for yourselves, that is the    39  of your problems and stress．Be sure that the cup itself    40  no quality to the coffee．In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink．    41  all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously (自覺地) went    42  the best cups．And then you began    43   each other’s cups．Now consider this：Life is the   44  ; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups．They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not explain , nor   45  the quality of life we   46  . Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we  47  to enjoy the coffee God has  48   us．God brews the coffee, not the cups…Enjoy your coffee!”

The happiest people don’t have the best of everything．They just   49   the best of everything．

Live simply．Love generously．Care deeply．Speak kindly．Leave the   50   to God．

1.A．crowded          B．looked           C.burst                 D．turned

2.A．living-room       B．waiting-room    C．bedroom          D．kitchen

3.A．cups             B．pans           C．bowls               D．dishes

4.A．some             B．others         C．a(chǎn)nother             D．other

5.A．choose            B．help           C．take           D．pick

6.A．stomach          B．hand           C．mind                D．mouth

7.A．running          B．leaving        C．hiding                 D．staying

8.A．wise             B．important      C．natural                D．necessary

9.A．use              B．disagreement   C．a(chǎn)nswer           D．cause

10.A．likes           B．comes          C．a(chǎn)dds                     D．relies

11.A．As               B．What             C．That           D．Which

12.A．for              B．into              C．by                  D．on

13.A．looking         B．guiding        C．eyeing         D．changing

14.A．tea             B．water          C．wine           D．coffee

15.A．worsen               B．beat           C．change         D．improve

16.A．dislike         B．live                 C．make           D．use

17.A．fail             B．succeed              C．wish            D．try

18.A．sold            B．gave                C．bought         D．brought

19.A．keep            B．say                 C．make           D．do

20.A．item  B．view        C．rest      D．thought

 

In England, afternoon tea is the most informal (非正式) meal of a day. It is taken between four and five. If you are a friend of the family, you may come for tea at any time. Very often it is not taken at a table. The members of the family and visitors take the tea in the sitting room. Each person has a cup and saucer (茶盤), a spoon (調(diào)羹) and a small plate for bread and butter (黃油) and cakes. By the way, do not help yourself to cakes first, bread and butter first, and then cake. Do remember: Though you can eat as much as you want, do not put more than（超過） one piece of bread or cake on your plate each time.
【小題1】In England, afternoon tea is usually taken
A. between breakfast and lunch        B. in the middle of a day
C. early in the afternoon              D late in the afternoon
【小題2】A real English afternoon tea has               .

A．tea only	B．both tea and food
C．tea, food and vegetables	D．the same things as other meals

【小題3】If you want to have afternoon tea in a friend's home,               .  

A．you must send a message before you go

B．you must take food with you

C．you must go only when he asks you to

D．you may put only one piece of bread or cake on your plate each time

【小題4】Help yourself to                   . 

A．cakes first	B．bread and butter first
C．either bread first or cake first	D．only one piece of bread or cakes .

【小題5】Which of the following is NOT true?

A．People don't use the same spoon for afternoon tea.

B．Afternoon tea is often taken in the sitting room.

C．For afternoon tea, people use cups only.

D．Afternoon tea is often taken with bread and cakes.

It seems like every day there's some new research about whether our favorite drinks are good for us.  One day,  science says a glass of red wine a day will help us live longer. The next day, maybe not.  It seems journalists are pretty interested in wine research and the same might be said for coffee.  Now there's been a lot of research into whether coffee's good for our health "the results have really been mixed"，admits Neal Freedman who led the coffee study and published his findings in a medical journal recently.   "There's been some evidence that coffee might increase the risk of certain diseases and there's also  been  maybe  more recent evidence that coffee  may protect against other diseases as well".

Freedman and his colleagues undertook the biggest study yet to look at the relationship between coffee and health.  They analyzed data collected from  more than  400，000 Americans ages 50 to 70 participating in the study.  "We found that the coffee drinkers had a modestly lower risk of death than the non-drinkers， he said.  Here's what he means by "modestly": those who drank at least two or three cups a day were about 10 percent or 15 percent less likely to die for any reason during the 13 years of the study when the researchers looked at specific causes of death, coffee drinking appeared to cut the  risk  of  dying from  heart  disease, lung  disease injuries,  accidents  and infections.

Now, Freedman stressed that the study doesn't prove coffee can make people live longer .A study like this can never prove a cause-and-effect relationship.  All it can really do is to point researchers in the right direction for further investigation. And even if it turns out that coffee is really good for you, scientists have no idea why.

1.According to the first paragraph，reporters  would like to  know  the research findings of_______.

A． tea             B． beer            C． coffee           D． wine

2.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A． Freedman and his colleagues hired 400，000 Americans to collect date.

B． People who took part in Freedman's research are about 50 to 70 years old.

C． About 400, 000 Americans worked for Freedman's team for 13 years.

D． People who are 50 to 70 years old seldom drink wffee.

3.According to the author, scientists________.

A． have already proved that coffee is good for human health

B． have a long way to go before they find a way to study coffee

C． have avoided the cause-and-effect approach to study coffee

D． are still unable to figure out why coffee is good for us

4.Which of the following can be the best title?

A． The Magical Effects of Coffee

B． Neal Freedman and His Research

C． Can Coffee Help You Live Longer?

D． A Cup of Coffee A Day Makes Diseases Away