A motivational strategy that parents can employ with their kids, is to frame tasks and responsibilities in the context of what the end benefit is for them. I call this strategy WIIFM

(“What’s in it for me?”).

When a teen can combine an understanding of WIIFM with a sense of passion about achieving a goal, barriers will start to fall away. At our teen summer camps, we arrange an event near the end of the 10-day session that helps campers identify an important life goal and mentally break through their biggest barrier to achieving the goal.

We pass around 12-by-12-inch pine boards. We tell campers that this activity is not about breaking a piece of wood. It’s about how you can get what you want in your life. It’s about breaking barriers to grab on to your goals.

They have the power to break through any barrier. It has nothing to do with body size or physical condition. The skinniest, smallest teens will break through the board almost as easily as the big ones.

We talk to the campers about the reasons they might have had for not reaching their goals in the past. Maybe they got lazy and decided it wasn’t worth the effort. Maybe they failed and let their fear of failure hold them back. But this exercise is about putting the past where it belongs. Today is about making new choices.

By this point in the program, we ask them to think of the goal they’ve set for themselves and write their goals on the boards. Then they write the possible obstacles which may hold them back on the opposite sides. An inch of pine now stands between them and their dreams.

The facilitators and their teammates gather around. The support is strong. One by one, they break through the barriers and grab their goals! All around us teens are laughing, crying, hugging, and holding up the broken pieces of their boards. The confidence shown on their faces is beautiful.

While arranging such an activity in one’s home is almost unrealistic for parents, the value of helping a teen break through a personal barrier simply by being there as moral support can not be overestimated. More help for parents in the form of videos and articles is available at our website, in our blogs and in a monthly e-newsletter.

1.The 12-by-12-inch pine boards are used as _________________.

A. materials to test one’s muscles

B. signs of goals in one’s life

C. assessments to show one’s progress

D. symbols of barriers in one’s life

2.We can learn from the passage that through the event the campers _________.

A. become hard-working               B. get moral support 

C. gain confidence                    D. set right goals

3.Which is the best title for the passage?

A. The Power of WIIFM              B. What’s in It for Me

C. The Importance of Goals             D. Motivational Strategies

4.The passage is intended for _____________.

A. teens                      B. parents                      C. campers                    D. Tutors

Doreen Sykora is now a junior at McGill University. She had a difficult time when she first began college. She said, “I was always well prepared for my examinations. But when I go into class to take the exam, I would fall apart. I could just blank out because of nervousness and fear.” Hitoshi Sakamoto, an anthropology(人类学) student at Temple University in Tokyo reports similar experiences.

These two young students were experiencing something called test anxiety. Because a student worries and is stressed(加压力于) about a test, his or her mind does not work as well as it usually does. The student cannot write or think clearly because of the severe tension and nervousness.

Now there are special university courses to help students. In these courses, advisors and psychologists try to help students by teaching them to manage test anxiety. Such a course helps students learn to live with stress and not fail because of it. First students take a practice test to measure their worry level. If the tests show that their stress level is high, the students can take a short course to manage the fear. These courses teach students how to relax their bodies. They get training to become calm in very tense situations. By controlling their nervousness, they can let their minds work more easily. Learned information then comes out without difficulty on a test.

Doreen Sykora saw immediate results after taking such a course. She now has enthusiasm about the relaxation methods. “Mostly, what I do is imagine myself in a very calm place. Then I imagine myself picking up a pencil. I move slowly and carefully. I breathe easily and let all the tension out. With each breath, more worry leaves me. It really works too. My grades have improved greatly! I’m really doing well at McGill now. This relaxation method works not only on examinations, but it has improved the rest of my life as well.”

For Hitoshi in Tokyo, the results were much the same. He is enjoying school a lot more and learning more.

1. What is the similarity between Doreen Sykora and Hitoshi Sakamoto?

A. They are students from the same university.

B. They failed in all the examinations.

C. They both had experiences of test anxiety.

D. They both had the same poor studying habits.

2. The phrase “blank out” in Paragraph 1 refers to “_______.”

A. lose interest in the exam           B. refuse to take the exam

C. get an extra paper                  D. be unable to think clearly

3. What’s the purpose of some special university student-help courses?

　　A. To help students to reduce test anxiety.   

　　B. To show a stress level experienced by students.

　　C. To learn more knowledge about test anxiety.

　　D. To have a better understanding of test anxiety.

Tim Welford, aged 33, and Dom Mee, aged 30, both from England, were keen on (=like... very much) rowing boats. They made a plan to row across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to San Francisco. The name of their rowboat was “Crackers”. It was about seven meters long.

     They set out from Japan on May 17,2001. They had rowed nearly 5,500 miles when their boat was hit by a fishing ship on September 17,2001. Luckily they both escaped unharmed, but their boat was badly damaged and they had to abandon( = stop)their journey.

　 　In a radio interview, Dom expressed his disappointment and explained how the accident took place.

　　“A fishing ship came towards us with nobody on the bridge and ran us down. It all happened so quickly. I managed to dive into the water. Tim felt it would be safer to stay on board. He was trapped inside as the boat was driven under the water. Finally some people appeared on the ship and saw me in the water. I shouted at them to stop the ship and to get Tim out. When the ship stopped, I eventually saw Tim, and I was very, very happy that we were still alive. We were very disappointed that we couldn’t reach San Francisco. But we are alive. That above everything is the most important. ”

41. 1. How long had Tim and Dom been at sea when their boat was hit by a fishing boat?

A. For one month　 　           B. For two months. 

C. For three months.　　        D. For four months.

42. 2.According to Dom, the main reason for the accident was that________.

A. Tim and Dom were too careless

B. the speed of the fishing ship was too fast

C. nobody on the fishing ship saw them

D. their rowboat was not strong enough

43. 3.Dom said that the most important thing in this accident was that________.

A. their rowboat was not damaged

B. both of them existed after a dangerous time

C. they enjoyed this journey

D. they failed to reach San Francisco

44. 4.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Some people on the fishing ship saved them.

B. Tim and Dom were going to San Francisco in the rowboat because they had no money to buy airplane tickets.

C. Dom dived into the water when the accident happened because he thought it would be dangerous to stay on board.

D. Dom told people about their dangerous experience when he was interviewed on the radio.

A husband-and-wife team from California reached the Pacific Ocean after a 4,900- mile-cross

-country walk, becoming the first to backpack the American Discovery Trail in one continuous

walk. 

Marcia and Ken powers, of Pleasanton, started the travel across 13 states, through 14 national parks and 16 national forests on Feb. 27 from Cape Henlopen in Delaware. Nearly eight months later, the excited couple walked through water into the Pacific Ocean at Point Reyes, a day ahead of time. 

“We are a little sad that a great adventure is over. It was a fantastic adventure. And now we go home and just do housework. It's really sad.” Marcia, who said she's in her 50s, and her 60-year-old husband traversed cities, desert, mountains and farmland before reaching the Pacifics alone with arms around each other' s backpacks.

They overcame deep snow in the East, a quicksand in Utah, close lightning strikes in the Mid- west and strong desert sandstorms in the West while averaging 22 miles a day and taking only four days off. But they enjoyed the French history of St. Louis' the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and the kindness of strangers they met along the way. They particularly remember two brothers ---- a

doctor and dentist-------who put them up in their homes, after terrible days, and a motorcyclist who gave them water after they failed to find any on Utah's lonely Wah Wah Desert.

“Americans are truly warm-hearted and wonderful people.” Marcia Powers said. “We got to meet people that we would never meet in our daily living at home. We got to touch it with our feet and hands and smell all its scents and hear its wildlife. It' s an amazing country,” she added.

1.Which of the following about couple's walk is TRUE?

2.The underlined word “traversed” in the third paragraph means “____________.”

3. According to the text, we can infer that during the walk the couple __________.

4.The couple went through many places except ____________.

When I was growing up in America, I was ashamed of my mother’s Chinese English. Because of her English, she was often treated unfairly. People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
　　My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. I was forced to ask for information or even to yell at people who had been rude to her. One time I had to call her stockbroker (股票经纪人). I said in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, "This is Mrs. Tan.”
　　And my mother was standing beside me, whispering loudly, "Why he don’t send me check, already two week late.”
　　And then, in perfect English I said, "I’m getting rather concerned. You agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived. "
　　Then she talked more loudly.  "What he want? I come to New York tell him front of his boss. "And so I turned to the stockbroker again, "I can’t tolerate any more excuse. If I don’t receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when I am in New York next week. "
　　The next week we ended up in New York. While I was sitting there red-faced, my mother, the real Mrs. Tan, was shouting to his boss in her broken English.
　　When I was a teenager, my mother’s broken English embarrassed me. But now, I see it differently. To me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It is my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, and full of observation and wisdom. It was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed ideas, and made sense of the world.
【小题1】Why was the author’s mother poorly served?