The Boy Made It!

One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn’t have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.

    Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.

    He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter form the freezing wind and snow. If he didn’t, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him. Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.
    By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn’t lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could — he huddled (蜷缩) in his cave and slept.

    The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn’t find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.
    Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls’ survival show Man vs. Wild. That’s where he learned the tips that saved his life. In each episode(一期节目) of Man vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.

When Grylls heard about Nicholas’ amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.

21. What happened to Nicholas one Sunday afternoon?
A. He got lost.     B. He broke his skis.      C. He hurt his eyes    D. He caught a cold.
22. How did Nicholas keep himself warm?
A. He found a shelter.                  B. He lighted some branches.
C. He kept on skiing.                   D. He built a snow cave.
23. On Tuesday, Nicholas ______.
A. returned to his shelter safely             B. was saved by a searcher
C. got stuck in the snow                   D. stayed where he was
24. Nicholas left Grylls a very deep impression because he ______.
A. did the right things in the dangerous situation   B. watched Grylls’ TV program regularly
C. created some tips for survival                D. was very hard-working

Papa, as a son of a dirt-poor farmer, left school early and went to work in a factory, for education was for the rich then. So, the world became his school. With great interest, he read everything he could lay his hands on, listened to the town elders and learned about the world beyond his tiny hometown. "There's so much to learn," he'd say. "Though we're born stupid, only the stupid remain that way. " He was determined that none of his children would be denied (拒绝) an education.

Thus, Papa insisted that we learn at least one new thing each day. Though, as children, we thought this was crazy, it would never have occurred to us to deny Papa a request. And dinner time seemed perfect for sharing what we had learned. We would talk about the news of the day; no matter how insignificant, it was never taken lightly. Papa would listen carefully and was ready with some comment, always to the point.
Then came the moment—the time to share the day's new learning.

Papa, at the head of the table, would push back his chair and pour a glass of red wine, ready to listen.
"Felice," he'd say, "tell me what you learned today. "
"I learned that the population of Nepal is .... "
Silence.

Papa was thinking about what was said, as if the salvation of the world would depend upon it. "The population of Nepal. Hmm. Well . . . . " he'd say. "Get the map; let's see where Nepal is. " And the whole family went on a search for Nepal.

This same experience was repeated until each family member had a turn. Dinner ended only after we had a clear understanding of at least half a dozen such facts.

As children, we thought very little about these educational wonders. Our family, however, was growing together, sharing experiences and participating in one another's education. And by looking at us, listening to us, respecting our input, affirming our value, giving us a sense of dignity, Papa was unquestionably our most influential teacher.

Later during my training as a future teacher I studied with some of the most famous educators. They were imparting what Papa had known all along—the value of continual learning. His technique has served me well all my life. Not a single day has been wasted, though I can never tell when knowing the population of Nepal might prove useful.

25.  What do we know from the first paragraph?

A.   The author's father was born in a worker's family.

B.   Those born stupid could not change their life.

C.   The town elders wanted to learn about the world.

D.   The poor could hardly afford school education.

26.  The underlined word "it" in the second paragraph refers to "  

A. one new thing       B. a request       C. the news D. some comment

27.  It can be learned from the passage that the author      .

A.   enjoyed talking about news          B.       knew very well about Nepal

C.   felt regret about those wasted days    D . appreciated his father's educational technique

 “Indeed,” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

      The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs, and the like.

       Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.

       We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.”

28. We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.

A.     Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug

B.     George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug

C.    the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century

D.    both Englishman and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century

29. What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean?

       A. Explanation.                B. Finding.                C. Origin.                   D. Fault.

30. The passage is mainly concerned with__________________.

       A. the misunderstanding of the word bug   B. the development of the word bug

       C. the public views of the word bug          D. the special characteristics of the word bug

Money Matters

Parents should help their children understand money.     31   So you may start talking

about money when your child shows an interest in buying things, candy or toys, for

example.

1. The basic function of money

Begin explaining the basic function of money by showing how people trade money for

goods or services. It is important to show your child how money is traded for the things he

wants to have. If he wants to have a toy, give him the money and let him hand the money

to the cashier(收银员).      32     When your child grows a bit older and understands the

basic function of money, you can start explaining more complex ways of using money.

2. Money lessons

Approach money lessons with openness and honesty.   33     If you must say no to a

child‘s request to spend money, explain, ― You have enough toy trucks for now. Or, if

the request is for many different things, say, ― You have to make a choice between this

toy and that toy.

3.      34       

Begin at the grocery store. Pick out two similar brands of a product--- a name-brand

butter and a generic (无商标产品)，for example. You can show your child how to make

choices between different brands of a product so that you can save money.     35     If

he chooses the cheaper brand, allow him to make another purchase with the

money saved. Later, you may explain how the more expensive choice leaves less

money for other purchases.

A. Wise decisions

B. The value of money

C. Permit the child to choose between them.

D. Tell your child why he can –or cannot --- have certain things.

E. Ask yourself what things that cost money are most important to you

F. Talk about how the money bought the thing after you leave the toy store.

G. The best time to teach a child anything about money is when he shows an interest.

Many people travel during the holiday season but do not make sure that their houses and homes ____56____(protect). Crimes go up ____57____(rapid) during the winter and summer holiday seasons. Here are some things that you should keep in mind when you go on holiday.

Always give ____58____(strange) the feeling that you are at home. Have the snow ____59____( clean ) off your stairs or out of your driveway during the winter season. You might aske someone to park his/her car in ____60____(you) driveway.

Tell your newspaper deliverer that you are not at home. ____61____(have) a pile of newspapers and other mail on your doorsteps tells people that you are not at home, so you could also have a neighbor _____62___ a relative get your mail every day.

Fix a timer(定时器) in some of your rooms ____63____ turns lights on and ____64___ during different time of the day. Some TVs also come with a timer that you could set to be turned on during certain time. Have motion(运动) sensitive lights outside your house that keep thieves away ____65____ you are not at home.