As a five-year-old, I didn’t know how poor we were. My father would not be home that Christmas Eve. He was in the Army serving overseas. My mother and I worked all afternoon making tree decorations. The kitchen table was crowded with stars made of shiny paper. We were going to get the Christmas tree in the evening, when the prices for them usually dropped.

After sunset, we walked four blocks to a parking lot where they sold Christmas trees. “How much is your cheapest tree?” My mother asked the man standing at the entrance. He held his gloved hands over the fire. “Thirty dollars, miss.”

Her smile disappeared, “Nothing for less?” The man picked up a small tree branch and dropped it into the fire. “I just work here. I can’t change the price.”

The sudden melancholy（忧郁）in my mother’s face made me sad. The man looked down at me for what felt like a long time; it probably was only moments. He pointed at a pile of branches in the corner. “Behind it is a tree that we can’t sell. You can have it for free.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

There it was, a thing just a little taller than me. It had few branches—almost a ghost（幽灵）of a tree. My mother asked, “Can we take some of these branches?” He waved his arm. “Take it all if you want to, miss.”

We headed back home. We set the tree in the living room. I couldn’t imagine how we could hang many decorations on such a tree. She was smiling again, “Go to sleep now, son. Santa will decorate the tree for us.”

I woke at dawn and rushed into the living room. To my amazement, the tree had a beautiful natural shape. The decorations shone in the morning light. My mother had somehow fixed branches to the tree trunk. A few weeks later, my father returned. When I told him about the tree, tears filled the eyes of that strong soldier. 

Since then, I have seen many wonderful holidays. That Christmas remains as my favorite.

21. Why did the mother decide to get the tree in the evening?

A. She wanted to buy it at a lower price.

B. She was fully occupied during the day.

C. She was waiting for the father to pick it up.

D. She had made an appointment with the seller.

22. How did the son feel when he spotted the tree behind the branches?

A. Disappointed.             B. Delighted.               C. Frightened.            D. Relieved.

23. What brought the father to tears?

A. The pain of his war wound.                           B. The efforts his wife put into the tree. 

C.       The reunion with his family.                            D. The decorations his son made for the tree.

Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a book-lover or merely go there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower.

Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings. The desire to pick up a book with an attractive dust-jacket is irresistible but you might end up with a rather dull book. A book-lover rarely adopts this method of selection. All too often you soon become absorbed in some book or other, and usually it is only much later that you realize you have spent far too much time there and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment — without buying a book, of course.

This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. A music shop is very much like a bookshop. You can wander round such places to your heart’s content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will approach you with the unavoidable greeting: “Can I help you, sir?” You needn’t buy anything you don’t want. In a bookshop an assistant should remain in the background until you have finished browsing. Then, and only then, are his services necessary. Of course, you may want to find out where a particular section is, but when he has led you there, the assistant should retire considerately and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.

You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on, say, ancient coins and to come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel and perhaps a book about brass-rubbing — something which had only uncertainly interested you up till then. This volume on the subject, however, happened to be so well illustrated and the part of the text you read proved so interesting that you just had to buy it. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up a huge account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section.

24. What is most likely to happen to a book-lover in a bookshop?

   A. Lost in some book, he forgets something else important.

B. Annoyed by the shop assistant, he dashes off for an appointment.

   C. Attracted by its cover, he buys some book turning out to be a dull one.

   D. Unsatisfied with its surroundings, he leaves the shop without buying a book.

25. In the author’s opinion, a shop assistant in a bookshop is supposed to ________.

   A. greet customers in a more suitable manner

   B. retire from the job if he has no passion for it

   C. leave customers alone before services are needed

   D. offer nice services from the very moment customers step into the shop

26. In a bookshop with a diversity of books, you tend to ________.

   A. ignore the latest best-selling novel

   B. be trapped in a dangerous situation

   C. buy some book you are not at all interested in

   D. buy other books instead of those you initially want

Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity (阳刚) in which students either sink or swim, the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to conform (符合) to a stereotype, a US study says. Boys at single-sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness, rather than feeling they had to conform to the “boy code” of hiding their emotions to be a “real man”.

The findings of the study go against received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls.

Tony Little, headmaster of Eton, warned that boys were being faded by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls. He criticized teachers for failing to recognize that boys are actually more emotional than girls. The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become discouraged when their female peers do better earlier in speaking and reading skills.

But in single-sex schools teachers can tailor lessons to boys’ learning style, letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study’s author, Abigail James, of the University of Virginia.

Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with specifically “boy-focused” approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them. Because boys generally have more acute vision, learn best through touch, and are physically more active, they need to be given “hands-on” lessons where they are allowed to walk around. “Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine (女性的) and prefer the modern style in which violence and sexism are major themes,” James wrote.

Single-sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to conform to a stereotype that men should be “masterful and in charge” in relationships. “In mixed schools boys feel forced to act like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means,” the study reported.

27. What does Tony Little say about the British education system?

A. It makes girls less emotional than boys.

B. It fails more boys than girls academically.

C. It fails to give boys the attention they need.

D. It places more pressure on boys than on girls.

28. According to Abigail James, boys perform better in single-sex schools because ________.

A. boys can choose to learn whatever they are interested in

B. boys focus more on their lessons without being disturbed

C. teaching quality is relatively higher than in mixed schools

D. teaching can be designed to suit the characteristics of boys

29. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of boys?

A. Boys have sharper vision.                           B. Boys enjoy being in charge.

C. Boys like “hands-on” lessons.             D. Boys prefer physical activities.

30. What is mainly discussed in the passage?

A. Problems boys may have in mixed schools.

B. Boys’ physical and mental growth in school.

C. Advantages of single-sex education for boys.

D. Boys’ disadvantages over girls in mixed schools.

Tips to fight summer weight gain

When we think of summer, most of us think of outdoor fun. So it seems like we should naturally lose weight over the summer—not gain it.    31    Lots of summer activities can work against our efforts to stay at a healthy weight. The good news is that it’s easy to avoid problems if we know what to look out for.

Get going with goals. When we don’t have a plan, it’s easy to spend summer moving from couch to computer, with regular stops at the fridge.    32    Just be sure to plan for some downtime so you can relax a little!

        33    With school out, we lose our daily routines. If you don’t have a specific job or activity to get up for, it’s easy to sleep late, watch too much TV, and snack more than usual. Make sure your summer days have some structure — like getting up at the same time each day and eating meals at set times. Plan activities for specific times, like exercising before breakfast, for example. If you have time on your hands, offer to make dinner a couple of nights a week so your family can enjoy a sit-down meal together.

Think about what and how you eat. Summer means picnics and barbecues — activities that revolve around an unlimited spread of food. Pace yourself. Don’t overload your plate. Avoid going back for seconds and thirds. Choose seasonal, healthy foods like fresh fruit instead of high-sugar, high-fat desserts.    34   

Stay busy.    35    In addition to helping you avoid the cookie jar, filling your days with stuff to do can give you a sense of accomplishment. That’s especially true if a dream summer job or planned activity fell through. Limit your screen time — including TV, computer, and video games — to no more than 2 hours a day.

A. Stick to a schedule.

B. Plan more activities.

C. Appropriate summer eating sets you up on the right track!

D. Most of us, however, don’t take summer weight gain seriously.

E. In reality, though, summer isn’t all about beach volleyball and water sports.

F. When we’re bored, it’s easy to fall into a trap of doing nothing and then feeling low on energy.

G. Avoid this by setting a specific aim, like volunteering, mastering a new skill, or working at a job.

When I packed up my life and moved from the comforts of my little hometown to Waco, I remember feeling    56    (lose). All my friends were so excited to start their own lives, but I just wasn’t sure    57    I was ready for that yet. Many things worried me. But I hid my fears and when the time    58    (final) came, I hugged my mother goodbye, made the two-hour one-way drive from Coppel to Waco, and set up my new room.

For the first few weeks, I didn’t miss home or really feel any kind of emotion at all except tired. There was so much for me to learn    59    I hadn’t had time to think about anything. My energy    60    (direct) towards figuring out campus, adjusting to college-level classes and remembering the names of every new person I met. I explored every corner,    61    (look) for the perfect place to study. I learned to set    62    (I) a schedule of getting groceries, cleaning my room and doing my laundry on Sundays.

Nowadays, in my second semester, I feel like I have almost adapted    63    the university life. The transition from high school to college wasn’t    64    difficult as my mind made me think it would be. One of the best    65    (thing) college has taught me is how to be independent.