Night after night, she came to tuck me in(掖好被子), even long after my childhood years. Following her longstanding custom, she'd lean down and push my long hair out of the way, then kiss my forehead.

I don't remember when it first started annoying me — her hands pushing my hair that way. But it did annoy me, for they felt work-worn and rough against my young skin. Finally, one night, I shouted at her: "Don't do that anymore — your hands are too rough!" She didn't say anything in reply. But never again did my mother close out my day with that familiar expression of her love. Lying awake long afterward, my words rang in my mind. But pride overwhelmed my conscience, and I didn't tell her I was sorry.

Time after time, with the passing years, my thoughts returned to that night. I missed my mother's hands, missed her goodnight kiss upon my forehead. Sometimes the incident seemed very close, sometimes far away. But always it appeared in the back of my mind.

Well, the years have passed, and I'm not a little girl any more. Mom is in her mid-seventies, and those hands I once thought to be so rough are still doing things for me and my family. She's been our doctor, reaching for medicine to calm a young girl's stomach or ease the pain of a boy's injured knee. She cooks the best fried chicken in the world…gets stains out of blue jeans like I never could…and still insists on dishing out ice cream at any hour of the day or night.

Through the years, my mother's hands have put in countless hours of toil, and most of hers were before automatic washers!

Now, my own children are grown and gone. Mom no longer has Dad, and on special occasions, I find myself drawn next door to spend the night with her. So it was that late on Thanksgiving Eve, as I drifted into sleep in the bedroom of my youth, a familiar hand hesitantly stole across my face to brush the hair from my forehead. Then a kiss, ever so gently, touched my brow.

In my memory, for the thousandth time, I recalled the night my surly young voice complained: “Don't do that any more —your hands are too rough!” Catching Mom's hand in hand, I blurted out how sorry I was for that night. I thought she'd remember, as I did. But Mom didn't know what I was talking about. She had forgotten —and forgiven —long ago.

That night, I fell asleep with a new appreciation for my gentle mother and her caring hands. And the guilt I had carried around for so long was nowhere to be found.

1.Why was the author annoyed with her mother?

A. Her mother disturbed her rest by tucking her in.

B. She felt uncomfortable with her mother’s non-smooth hands.

C. Her mother leant down and kissed her forehead.

D. She was not accustomed to her mother’s action.

2. Which of the following best describes the author’s mother?

A. devoted and hardworking B. caring and intelligent

C. thoughtful but stubborn D. optimistic but careless

3. We can learn from the passage that __________.

A. The author lived separately from her mother

B. The author’s father has passed away

C. The author alone took care of her children

D. The author’s mother never kissed her again since that night

4. What’s the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A. To thank her mother’s help

B. To express her regret

C. To appreciate her mother’s love

D. To call up memories of her childhood.

The first day of school always goes wrong. For many students in the United States, however, this year it was even more so. It was all due to one extra school policy – they are now required to follow a new standardized dress code.

According to the handbooks of all high schools in Allentown, Pennsylvania, students must wear short- or long-sleeve polo shirts and khaki (卡其色) or black pants. Skinny jeans, leggings and open-toe shoes are not allowed.

Allentown schools are not alone. At Edgewater High School in Florida, shirts must have collars or sleeves, and pants must not sag (下垂) and reach at least mid-thigh (大腿中部). No see-through shirts or T- shirts with references to sex on them are allowed.

Overall, more than half of US public schools now enforce dress codes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. About 57 percent of schools now have a “strict dress code”, up from more than 47 percent a decade earlier, USA Today said.

Among young people, there are mixed emotions. Some don’t mind wearing similar clothes every day while others aren’t happy. Despite dress codes in many school districts, some students still come to school – even on their first day – in skirts that are too short, necklines that are too low and sagging pants that don’t stay up on their hips.

But there are punishments. If they are out of dress code, students can be removed from the classroom until they fix the problem. In Florida, wearing sagging pants is illegal for youths according to a state law issued in 2011. Breaking the rule results in not being able to do after-school activities, and even being forbidden to attend class.

Some US schools go further and require students to wear uniforms. Many say that they simplify their jobs, saving teachers from having to punish students for wearing skirts or shorts that are too short, for instance. They can also prevent feelings of competition and envy among students.

“It takes away the daily fashion show and helps level the playing field a little bit with the haves and have-nots,” longtime school safety consultant Ken Trump told USA Today.

Critics of uniforms say they rob students of individuality. But for some people, that’s a lazy argument.

“Clothing isn’t the only form of self-expression. Students should know that it’s what they do that counts,” commented a parent named Beth Kassab in The Orlando Sentinel in Florida.

1.According to the new standardized dress code, students in the US are allowed to wear .

A. knee-length pants B. shirts without sleeves

C. transparent T-shirts D. jeans sticking to skin

2.What is the main idea of Para 5?

A. What the new dress code is.

B. How students dressed themselves.

C. What punishments students may receive.

D. How students responded to the code.

3.Students in some US schools are required to wear uniforms Not to .

A. pay less attention to their appearance

B. prevent comparison among students

C. bring out the best in students

D. spare teachers from punishing students for their improper dress

4.What do Beth Kassab’s words imply?

A. Uniforms limit the individuality of students.

B. Students should pay more attention to their behavior.

C. Clothing is of no importance to students.

D. Students should concentrate more on their study.

If you are sitting down listening to what I’m going to say, stand up. Move your legs. Touch your toes, if you can. Do anything but sit.

If you cut down on the time you spend sitting, you might live longer. New research shows that sitting less than three hours a day might extend your life by two years.

Just the opposite, says Peter Katzmarzyk. He is a scientist at the University of Louisiana in the southern United States. He says that sitting is ubiquitous in our lives. "We sit while we're eating; we sit in the car; we sit while we watch TV. Many of us sit for many hours at work. " But, he adds, that does not make sitting good for us. The human body is designed to move. But modern lifestyles and office jobs rarely give us the chance to move around.

Exercise is important. So is not sitting.

"We can't throw away physical activity. It's extremely important. We have 60 years of research showing us that. Even if you exercise for 30 minutes a day, what goes on in the other 23-and-a-half hours a day is also very important."

Mr. Katzmarzyk and his co-workers are part of a new generation of researchers studying how sitting all day affects length of life. This is a relatively new area of study—studies that have assessed the relationship between sitting and mortality(死亡) or television viewing and mortality.

Making uses of the few studies available to them, they found that cutting television time to less than two hours a day could add one-point four years to life.

New desk designs are helping

Change is already coming to some offices, especially in the design of desks. A "standing desk" lets people stand while they work. Another new design is called the "treadmill desk." A treadmill is an exercise machine that lets you walk in one place. That's one of the strategies that many companies are using now. Some companies may equip their employees with a "standing desk" or a "treadmill desk". Other companies may not buy one for everybody, but they'll have a bank of these desks where people can go for an hour a day and answer their emails or talk on the phone. Even some U.S. schools are beginning to experiment with such desks to keep children moving.

Mr. Katzmarzyk says studying this problem has inspired his team to make a few changes in their own lives. "As a university professor, you know, it is a very sedentary occupation. We're chained to a desk in terms of writing papers and doing research. We really try to limit the amount of time we spend doing that."

Suggestions for sitting less

If you work in office job or have a sedentary job, Mr. Katzmarzyk and his team suggest a few simple changes:

get up from your desk as often as you can take walks at lunch time walk to your colleagues’ offices and talk directly instead of emailing them All these activities may help you live longer.

1.What might be the best title for the passage?

A. Take exercise, keep fit.

B. Change more, achieve greater.

C. Talk directly, improve relationship.

D. Sit less, live longer.

2.The word “ubiquitous ” (in Para. 3) means “_______”.

A. common B. normal

C. individual D. specific

3. Mr Katzmarzyk holds the view that _______.

A. the study doesn’t benefit him at all

B. it’s unnecessary to limit television time

C. emailing colleagues is better than a face-to-face talk

D. those taking exercises 30 minutes a day still can’t sit long

4. The passage is most likely to be _______.

A. a medical research B. a book review

C. a health report D. a sports feature

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of them are not so nice.

For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.”

Sometimes, people say something to a friend or a family member that they later regret because it hurts that person’s feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time.” If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.

Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: “I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth.”

Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. “How did you hear about that new movie?” someone might ask. “Oh, by word of mouth.” A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece.

Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience “left a bad taste in my mouth.” Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: “I had my heart in my mouth.”

Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, “was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.” This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.

Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.

But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.

1.Which of the following can best describe his or her feeling if a speaker feels down in the mouth?

A. Delighted B. Regretful

C. Disappointed D. Respectful

2.When your car was close to knocking into a truck, you might say “_______”

A. I really put my foot in my mouth this time.

B. I had my heart in my mouth.

C. I live from hand to mouth.

D.I get to know it by word of mouth.

3.According to the passage, which behavior is surely Not welcome?

a. bad mouthing somebody

b. mouthing off about something

c. putting words in somebody’s mouth

d. taking the words right out of somebody’s mouth

A. abc B. abd C. bcd D. acd

4.What do “I” probably (in the last Para.) do?

A. A host B. A journalist

C. A director D. A listener

On Sept 18, they arrived before polling stations even opened, dressed in school uniforms, with book bags over their shoulders—and, for the first time in British history, ballot (选票) cards in hands.

More than 109,000 Scottish teenagers aged 16 to 17 took part in the Scottish independence referendum (公民投票), in which Scotland eventually decided not to become independent.

The age group only made up a small part of the 4.29 million total voters, but they have “demonstrated how the youngest voters can be some of the most enthusiastic in a mature democracy”, commented The Associated Press. Casting their ballots, they were “proud and passionate” to help their nation decide whether to break away from the UK after 307 years in union.

“You feel like you’ve got a say, because it is going to be you. You are going to decide what it is like when you’re older,” 16-year-old Erin Cheshire in Glasgow, who voted “yes”, told The Wall Street Journal.

At age 16, Scottish residents are allowed to join the military, get married, and work. Eighteen is the legal drinking age, as well as the UK’s voting age. But in 2013, Scottish law was changed to allow 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland to vote in the referendum. The government pushed for the change because “younger voters are more likely to vote with their hearts, not their heads—and embrace fundamental change by voting for the pro-independence Yes Scotland campaign”, NBC News said.

But when the decision was handed down, some worried that high school students might not be as informed as adult voters. However, many experts said that assumption was wrong.

Professor Jan Eichhorn of the University of Edinburgh insisted that Scottish teenagers were as likely to read newspaper articles and campaign materials as their parents. They would simply get these resources through social media.

“There’s no evidence to suggest that they’re less capable than adults of voting, from a research point of view,” Eichhorn told NPR.

Scotland’s move to let younger teenagers vote in the referendum has led to a discussion about whether the voting age ought to be lowered to 16, both in the UK and the US.

“By 16, most people have about as stable an ideology (思想意识) as they are going to get,” Professor Jason Brennan of Georgetown University wrote for CNN, arguing that the US should also think about allowing younger US citizens to vote.

1. The Scottish independence referendum was held on Sept. 18 ______.

A. to encourage youngsters to be concerned with politics

B. to lower the minimum voting age to 16 for the referendum

C. to elect who would be the new leader of Scotland

D. to decide whether Scotland would become independent from the UK

2. According to the passage, we can learn ______.

A.It is possible for the USA to lower the voting age to 16 in the future.

B.Scotland gained its independence from the UK eventually.

C.All the people in Scotland thought highly of the government’s decision to lower the voting age to 16.

D.Scottish teenagers aged 16 are allowed to join the military, get married, work and drink alcohol now.

3.What doe the underlined word “embrace” (in para.5) probably mean?

A. Approve of B. Object to

C. Know about D. Admit to

4.What is Jan Eichhorn’s opinion of the Scottish teenagers aged 16 to 17?

A.They are too enthusiastic to make informed decisions.

B.They make no difference to the voting result.

C.They are as informed and capable as adults of voting.

D.They are unwilling to be involved in the decision of the country’s future.

阅读下列各小题，根据汉语提示，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子，并将答案写在答题卡上的相应题号后。

1.______________________ the film Transformers 4: Age of Extinction, Lucy absolutely didn’t notice someone dipping into her bag. (devote)

专心于看电影《变形金刚4：绝迹重生》，露西全然没有注意到有人把手伸进她的包。

2. Many netizens to spend 2,000 dollars going to Brazil just to watch a football match. (think)

许多网民认为花两千美元去巴西只为看一场足球不值得。

3. I had never been exposed to the terms at the seminar. (come)

我从没有接触过在研讨会上提出的这些术语。

4. He is wearing that I am sure the exam result has been made known to him. (such)

他面带难过的表情，以至于我确信他已经知道了考试结果。

5.The technology is great. Without it we the ocean’s depth or put a man on the moon in the last century. (explore)

这项技术了不起。没有它， 我们不可能在上个世纪探索海洋的深度以及把人送上月球。

6.“It took me about twenty minutes to dig out that black sweater. The cupboard does need .” my husband complained. (sort)

“今天早上我花了二十分钟才找到那件黑色的毛衣。衣柜确实需要整理了”丈夫抱怨道。

7.Most students in Senior 3 have been burying themselves in study all day. Seldom

a variety of activities. (part)

高三的大多数学生整天忙于学习。他们很少参加各种各样的活动。

8.There is some doubt the Most Welcome Singer this year. (award)

不确定他今年是否会被授予“最受欢迎的歌手”。

9.The project manager as well as his team members us so far, which undoubtedly puts us at a disadvantage. (familiar)

到目前为止那个项目经理和他团队的成员都不为我们所了解，这毫无疑问让我们处于劣势。

10. her colleagues, whether young or old, she always remains a modest attitude. (consult)

她无论什么时候向年轻或年长的同事请教，都保持谦逊的态度。

请根据以下提示，并结合具体事例，用英语写一篇短文。

People nowadays are facing more and more pressures in life and therefore they are more likely to do something they like in their spare time. They hold the belief that a hobby is a good way to relax themselves and live a colorful life.

注意：1、无需写标题；

2、除诗歌外，文体不限；

3、内容必须结合你生活中的具体事例；

4、文中不能透露个人姓名和学校名称；

5、字数不少于120词，如引用提示语则不计入总词数。

You may never think a documentary film could have aroused so much public enthusiasm in Chinese history. Nowadays everybody is talking about a new 7-part documentary called A Bite of China which was recently broadcast late at night on CCTV I. The documentary describes various gourmet items across the vast Chinese culinary (烹饪) landscape.

According to Taobao, China’s biggest online retail website, just five days after the series began to air, nearly 6 million people went to the site in search of various local specialties, particularly those mentioned in the documentary. More than 7.2 million deals were concluded. A ham producer from Yunnan Province saw his sales grow 17-fold in five days.

However, one can’t help but believe that the documentary’s popularity is probably linked to the endless stream of terrible food security issues that have emerged in recent years. In one well-received article, a netizen wrote, “I wonder how many felt so empty-hearted and sighed after watching the film. Blue-vitriol watered chive, formaldehyde(甲醛) sprayed cabbage, Sudan Red colored salty eggs, restaurants using gutter oil. The list is long…”

A varied and ancient food culture that is famous world-wide and which should have made the Chinese proud ends like this: one can only sigh. Food is the most vital thing in people’s lives. Yet China’s food industry is a typical description of “bad money driving out the good”.The market is huge while the cost of faking and cheating is so low for immoral businessmen; and the punishment is too light. Take the milk industry as an example. Although Sanlu, the company that sold the melamine-adulterated milk powder, was punished, thousands of other dairies didn’t work hard to improve the quality. In order to allow national brands to survive, Chinese authorities are happy to loosen their regulations.

As the documentary shows, people are attracted not to gourmet items like matsutake, a species of rare mushroom grown naturally in remote forests, but to common Chinese dishes like barley, lotus root or tofu. They are what meet our basic needs. This explains why people are so excited about A Bite of China---it is a reminder that there is still a world out there where food is excellent and people have dignity.

1.The underlined word “gourmet items” probably means_______.

A. delicious food B. latest technology

C. beautiful clothes D. great inventions

2.The second paragraph mainly talks about______.

A. the content of the documentary

B. the producer of the documentary

C. The popularity of the documentary

D. the history of Chinese gourmet

3. We can infer from what a netizen wrote in one well –received article that _____.

A. the price of food is too high for many common people

B. the documentary was made by a world-famous Chinese director

C. there is a huge contrast between the ancient food culture and the reality

D. none of the television viewers have a knowledge of the Chinese food culture

4.According to the passage, China’s food industry is full of faking and cheating because_____.

A. there are still so many poor people at the present time

B. the punishment for unscrupulous businessmen isn’t serious enough

C. the Chinese government encourages it to do so

D. the food technology is not so advanced as in developed countries

“My Best Teacher Ever” Contest

Students

Tell us why, in 300 words or less, your teacher (present or past) is the best teacher ever.

Assay Topic

Who was/is your best teacher ever? What makes him or her the best?

Participation

The contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 2 through 12.

Entries

Word limit: 300

Essays will be judged on the following criteria by Readers editorial staff:

·originally, creativity—40 percent

·clarity of presentation— 40 percent

·grammar, punctuation, spelling —20 percent

All entries should be word-processed, typed, or hand-printed on 8.5-inch by 11-inch paper or submitted as an attached word or text document via email.

Each entry must include the entrant’s name, age, complete home mailing address, phone number, school name, and grade, as well as the submitting teacher’s name, school name, complete school mailing address and email address.

Contest Deadline

Entries must be postmarked on or before April 26, 2013, or mailed by EST on that date.

Submission

Email your entry with attached essay and entry information (entrant’s name, age, complete home mailing address, phone number, school name, and grade, submitting teacher’s name, email address, school name, and complete school mailing address) to web-contest @ readers.com or mail your entry with attached entry form to this address:

Readers Publishing My Best Teacher Ever Contest

Attn: Anne Flounders 44 South Broadway, 18th Floor White Plains, NY10601

Prizes

One winner will be chosen in each of two categories: elementary (grades 2-6) and secondary (grades 7-12). Winning students will win a $ 50 gift card and may have their essays published on readers.com. Teachers of winning students will win one free classroom subscription to the Readers magazine of their choice. Winning essays will be posted up on signing of a release by students and their agent or guardian. Winning essays will be announced on May 7, 2013, Teacher Appreciation Day, on readers.com, and winners will be notified directly.

1.Essays will be judged on the following criteria EXCEPT _________.

A. punctuation B. handwriting

C. presentation D. creativity

2.If you become a winner, you _________.

A. will be awarded $ 150 in cash

B. will be informed of your success online

C. may have your essay published online

D. can have the Readers magazine for free

3.According to the text, your essay _________.

A. should have a total of 300 words at least

B. can’t have any mistakes in grammar

C. will be judged by some best teachers

D. must be mailed on or before April 26, 2013

As the saying goes, man struggles upwards; water flows downwards. Water runs downhill from mountaintops to streams to rivers to oceans. But downhill isn’t the only way that water moves .A new study measures how water travels from country to country for human consumption. This flow isn’t the type we usually think about .These scientists looked at the water used to grow and make the products which get shipped from nation to nation as imports or exports. They call this a flow of “virtual water（虚拟水）”.

We typically think about water as the liquid that flows from a tap. However,92％of the water used by people goes into growing crops，according to water researcher Arjen Hoekstra. He recently studied the hidden travels of virtual water used in products made from things like crops and meats .These products are shipped around the world.

For example, consider a sugary soft drink. Hoekstra estimated that to produce one half-liter of the drink requires between 170 and 310liters of the water—about 95％—is used to grow and process the ingredients(原料).Another 4％goes into the packaging and labeling. In Hoekstra’s calculation, when one country produces a half-liter of soda and sells it abroad，it exports as much virtual water as would fill a large refrigerator．

According to Hoekstra’s new report，dry countries like Israel and Kuwait，both in the Middle East,get the majority of their virtual water from other countries，through imported products. More surprisingly, some wetter countries，like the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, also get the majority of their virtual water from other places. That means that most of the water used to grow or produce the products and food consumed in those countries came from other countries.

In the United States most of the virtual water used comes from American sources .In China even less of the water associated with its products.

1.The example of a sugary soft drink in Paragraph 3 is given to show_________.

A. how drinks are shipped

B. how virtual water is exported

C. how virtual water is used

D. how drinks are made

2.In which countries does most part of virtual water come from outside?________

A. Kuwait and the Netherlands

B.China and the United Kingdom

C. America and the Netherlands

D. Israel and America

3.What is the best title for the passage?

A. Crops and Virtual Water

B. Water’s worldwide travels

C. Benefits of Virtual Water

D. Import and Export of Water

4.The passage is most probably a________.

A.science news report B. science fiction story

C. newspaper advertisement D. book review