If I ever end up in a police missing-persons report, it will be because I went out to run some errands （跑差事） for my wife and never returned．

My adventure begins when I announce that I am going out to get a haircut, or to pick up my suit at the cleaner’s, or to do something that shouldn’t take very long．

As I look for my car keys, my wife utters （说出） those terrible words: “While you’re out …” This is a signal for me to make sure the car has enough gas for a cross-country trip because God knows when I will come back．

Of course my wife runs 95 percent of the errands, or that she is the one who keeps the household running smoothly．If it were up to me, the whole family would come to an end．The simple reason is that I am not good at doing anything more complicated than going out to get a haircut．

Here is what often happens:

“I’m going out to get a haircut,” I announce．

“While you’re out,” my wife says, “can you drop off the movie we rented last week? It’s due back today and I don’t want to pay a late charge．” “Sure,” I say．

Then she adds, “And stop at the post office for a book of stamps．” At last, I become nervous．I can handle a haircut and two errands．One more errand and I’m finished．

“And stop at the vet’s to pick up a bag of dog food．”

It doesn’t matter if all of these places are in the same shopping center （they aren’t）．Three errands are more than my brain can process （处理）．So I write them down．

“You mean you can’t remember three little errands?” my wife asks unbelievably．

Sadly, I can’t．I can remember to return the movie because it will be in the car． But with no visible reminders of my other two errands, I will almost certainly forget one of them．

I have to figure out where to go first．Should I get a haircut and then run my errands?

Should I stop at the post office first, get a haircut and then go to the video store and the vet’s on my way home?

Later in the day, I return home．With no small amount of pride, I hand her the book of stamps and the bag of dog food．She holds up a small box and says, “You forgot to give the movie back．”

It’s the story of my life: In one ear and out of the other．

1．The use of the word “terrible” in paragraph 3 shows that the writer ______．

A．does not love his wife

B．has deep hatred for his wife

C．gets frightened by his wife’s voice

D．is anxious about his wife’s request

2．The wife asks her husband to do three things after his haircut because ______．

A．she thinks they are easy errands

B．she likes to do housework at home

C．she is not satisfied with her lazy husband

D．she does not want to do these things herself

3．Why does the husband write down the three things?

A．He is serious．                          B．He is joking．

C．He is forgetful．                        D．He is foolish．

4．When the husband returns home, he is ______．

    A．rather tired       B．very happy          C．rather proud               D．very nervous

(2013·南通模拟) “It is never too late and you are never too old to start something new！”says Englishtown _____ Ellen Rema.Ellen began to learn English at the age of 50，and in just a few years，she has made ____ progress!

Ellen chose to study at Englishtown because no evening classes were ____ in the German countryside where she lives.At Englishtown，she joins ____ classes online and speaks with live native English?speaking teachers.

“Englishtown is a wonderful place to ____，”she says.“My son always says，mom，you are a bit ___.He cannot understand why I spend so many hours studying，____ love it，I do it for myself.”

In 2001，Ellen began with the first level of Englishtown and quickly ____.“I spent hours and hours studying.”she said.“Maybe I wanted too much in a short time.I finished all my ___ after 2 years，but noticed I still had ____ difficulties.”

Instead of ____，she chose to press on.After four years at Englishtown，she's still studying in the online classroom，but now to perfect her already ____ English，she has set new ____ for herself and ___ understanding grammar points.

“Studying online is never ____，but you need self?discipline，self?motivation and staying power，”she says.“If you really want to learn，never quit even when you notice difficulties or when you think there is no____.Practice，practice，practice！”

Ellen says studying English isn't all about hard work.It should also be ____！“I really like the online conversation classrooms，”she says.“I have learned so much about other cultures and traditions.I'm open for all____.”

Ellen has been able to ____ her English to use by visiting England five times！“I'm very thankful to Englishtown because most of the English I know now was learned here，”Ellen says.“My life has ____ with Englishtown.”

1.A.professor?? B．friend?? C．student?? D．reporter

2.A.amazing?? ????????????? B．challenging

C．discouraging?? ????????????? D．disturbing

3.A.satisfied?? ????????????? B．offered

C．attended?? ????????????? D．represented

4.A.conversation?? ????????????? B．composition

C．listening?? ????????????? D．reading

5.A.live?? B．eat?? C．entertain?? D．study

6.A.crazy?? B．tired? C．worried?? D．attractive

7.A.though?? B．but?? C．while?? D．when

8.A.dropped?? ????????????? B．brushed

C．awarded?? ????????????? D．progressed

9.A.channels?? B．schedules? C．courses?? D．papers

10.A.comprehending?? ????????????? B．reading

C．grammar?? ????????????? D．vocabulary

11.A.fighting back?? ????????????? B．giving up

C．turning away?? ????????????? D．looking around

12.A.significant?? B．shabby? C．broken?? D．excellent

13.A.goals?? ????????????? B．decisions

C．means?? ????????????? D．conclusions

14.A.turns off?? ????????????? B．gets off

C．focuses on?? ????????????? D．puts up

15.A.interesting?? B．boring? C．shocking?? D．unwilling

16.A.vision?? B．success?? C．struggle?? D．tendency

17.A.fun?? B．waste?? C．weakness?? D．wonder

18.A.measures?? B．topics?? C．timetables?? D．fashions

19.A.take?? B．set?? C．make?? D．put

20.A.ruined?? B．started?? C．changed?? D．turned

Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of Frederick in the 13th century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the babies died before the first year. But clearly there was more than language deprivation (剥夺，丧失). What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly. There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.
Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.
Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”.
But speech has to be developed, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal (非语言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.
【小题1】Frederick’s experiment was extreme because _________.

Is language, like food, a basic human need? Judging from the extreme experiment of Frederick in the 13th century, it may be. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue he told the nurses to keep silent.

All the babies died before the first year. But clearly there was more than language deprivation (剥夺，丧失). What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the ability to survive is seriously affected.

Today no such extreme deprivation exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to signals of the baby, whose brain is programmed, to mop up language rapidly. There are critical times, it seems when children learn more rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again.

Linguists suggest that speech milestones are reached in a fixed order and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ.

Recent evidence suggests that a baby is born with the ability to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy bear with the sound pattern “teddy bear”.

But speech has to be developed, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling, clinging, grasping, crying, smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals reduces the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal (非语言的) signals is basic to the growth and development of language.

1.Frederick’s experiment was extreme because _________.

A．he wanted to prove children are born with ability to speak

B．he wanted his nurses to say another language

C．he was unkind to the nurses

D．he ignored the importance of mothering to the babies

2.The reason that some children are backward in speaking is most likely that _________.

A．they do not listen carefully to their mothers

B．their mothers do not respond to their attempts to speak

C．their brain has to absorb too much language at once

D．their mothers are not intelligent enough to help them

3.In paragraph 3, by “critical times” the author means _________.

A．difficult periods in the child’s life

B．moments when the child becomes critical towards its mother

C．important stages in the child’s development

D．times when mothers often neglect their children

4.If a child starts to speak later than others, he will _________ in future.

A．have a high IQ                          B．be less intelligent

C．not necessarily be backward               D．be insensitive to verbal signals

5.If the mother seldom responds to her child’s signals, _________.

A．the child will be able to speak properly

B．the child will continue to give out signals

C．the child will invent a language of own

D．the child will make little effort to speak