When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.

Where is Love? How can we find Love?
Once a little boy wanted to meet Love. He knew it was a long trip to where Love lived, so he got his things ready with some pizzas and drinks and started off. When he passed three streets, he saw an old woman sitting in the park and watching some birds. She looked very hungry. The boy gave her a pizza. She took it and smiled at him. The smile was so beautiful that he wanted to see it again, so he gave her a Coke. She smiled once again. The boy was very happy.
They sat there all the afternoon, eating and smiling, but they said nothing. When it grew dark, the boy decided to leave. But before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. The woman gave him her biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door of his house, his mother was surprised by the look of joy(快乐)on his face and asked what had made him so happy. “I had lunch with Love. She has got the most beautiful smile in the world.” At the same time, the old woman,s son was also surprised at his mother,s pleasure and asked why.
“I ate a pizza in the park with Love,” she said, “and he is much younger than I expected.”
If the world is full of love, we can enjoy a better life.
【小题1】When the little boy saw the old woman, she was   .

C
“Everything happens for the best.” Whenever I faced disappointment, my mother would say this to me.
After I graduated form college in 1932, I decided to find a job in radio as a sports announcer(广播员). I went to Chicago and knocked at the door of every station. But unluckily, I was refused every time.
At one station, a kind lady told me that big stations wouldn’t hire(雇佣) a person without any experience and suggested that I try my luck at smaller stations. Following her advice, I went back to Dixon, where I had grown up. There were no such jobs in Dixon, and my father said a newly-opened store wanted a local athlete to work for it. I wanted this job, but I was refused again.
“Everything happens for the best,” Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to look for a job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.
As I left his office, I felt so frustrated. “How can I become a sports announcer if I can’t get a job in a radio station?” I asked aloud.
While I was waiting for the elevator, I heard someone calling. It was MacArthur. “What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?” Then he asked me to have a try. He was pleased with my performance, and he offered me a chance to work there.
On my way home, I thought of my mother’s words: “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn’t have happened if without the failure before.”
【小题1】Why couldn’t the writer find a job at big radio stations?

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：
What does a groundhog look like？
Where do groundhogs live？
What do they eat？…
In the article，the author might answer those questions．
Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.
Earthworms
Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．
The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！
Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．
Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．
Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．
【小题1】What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A teenage girl couldn't stand(忍受) her family rules，so she left home.

　　She wanted to be a star and became   1 . But she had a little education and  a few years later，she had to ask for food on the street for a living. Now her father has  2  . Her mother is an old woman. But she is still     3  her daughter. She went to every corner of the city. Everywhere she goes，she put up a big photo of herself on the wall. At the lower part of the    4  she writes，“I still love you …Come back home！”

One day，the daughter saw one of the photos. She was so surprised that she couldn't believe her    5  . “Is that my mother？”She moved    6 and read the words，“I still love you…” She cried. When she got home，it was early morning. She pushed the door. The door    7   itself. She rushed to the bedroom at once. Her mother was sleeping there. She woke her mother up，“It's me！Your daughter is back home！”The mother and daughter looked at each other excitedly，full of   8   tears. The daughter asked，“     9  is the door unlocked？A thief could get in.” The mother answered softly，“The door    10 locked  after you left. We miss you all the time. We believe that you'll come back some day.”

The door of parents’ love for their children will never be closed.

1.                A．famous         B．poor           C．pretty    D．polite

2.                A．lost            B．died           C．worried  D．changed

3.                A．looking up      B．looking at       C．looking for D．looking down

4.                A．wall           B．photo          C．house    D．door

5.                A．ears           B．nose           C．head D．eyes

6.                A．farther         B．closer          C．better    D．cleaner

7.                A．opened         B．broke          C．closed    D．locked

8.                A．sorry          B．wonderful       C．sad  D．happy

9.                A．When          B．Why           C．Where   D．Which

10.               A．never          B．always         C．sometimes D．often