B
“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” --a document stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores. Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)
After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled（挫败的）,”  admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press, stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”
Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids. Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs, “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----until Bob signed the contract, therefore, she decided to relax and enjoy it. 
Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria, his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.
As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”
Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative（暂时的） title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
45. The couple signed the contract because _______.
A. Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself
B. Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest
C. they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks
D. Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book
46. It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.
A. pay a certain amount of money
B.  admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood 
C. say sorry to his wife         D. do all the housework for years
47. What can we learn about Pat Peters?
A. She was hard-working and selfless.   B. She was pretty and kind-hearted.
C. She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.
D. She did not love Bob any longer.
48. Which of the following can best end the news story?
A. “Wait till your mother gets home!”    B. “My experience of being a mother.”
C. “I’m proud of you all, my dear!”     D. “Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”

B

“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school football coach Bob Peters, 39. Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” --a document stating that for 70 days this summer he would take over the care and feeding of the couple’s four children, plus all household chores. Although he didn’t even know how to make coffee when he signed, he was quite confident.(He thought the experience would make a nice book.)

     After 40 of the 70 days, he was ready to give up. “I was beaten down, completely humbled（挫败的）,”  admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press, stating, “Not only is motherhood a difficult task, not only is it never-ending, it is an impossible job for any normal human being.”

     Bob and Pat were high school sweethearts. After they were married in 1960, she worked as a secretary to help put him through university. Since then Bob has been the football and wrestling coach at Palo Alto’s Cubberley High while Pat raised the kids. Then two years ago Pat went back to work as a secretary at Cubberley. “I had been around children so much,” she sighs, “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----until Bob signed the contract, therefore, she decided to relax and enjoy it. 

Although Peters had consulted(咨询) with his school’s home economics teachers and the head of the cafeteria, his meals were sometimes a disaster. “I tried to slip the butter I’d forgotten under the eggs after they were frying, ” he says. For the last three weeks, the family ate out a lot—sometimes having Macdonald’s hamburgers for lunch and dinner.

     As for housekeeping, a home economics teacher had told Bob that a room always looks clean if the bed is made. “I found an easier way-I shut the doors, ” he says. Soon the kids were wearing the same clothes for a week. “I made them wear their shirts inside out, and when we went to pick up Pat at work they turned them right side out so they would look clean.”

     Now that Bob has publicly admitted he was wrong, he is routinely sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative（暂时的） title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.

45. The couple signed the contract because _______.

    A. Pat complained a lot about her doing the housework all by herself

    B. Bob loved taking care of children and wanted his wife to have a good rest

    C. they agreed that husband and wife should share household tasks

    D. Bob thought it easy to take care of the family and wanted the experience for a book

46. It was agreed that if Bob failed to keep to the contract, he would have to _______.

    A. pay a certain amount of money

B.  admit publicly he was wrong about motherhood 

  C. say sorry to his wife         D. do all the housework for years

47. What can we learn about Pat Peters?

    A. She was hard-working and selfless.   B. She was pretty and kind-hearted.

    C. She was tired of the child-raising and household tasks.

    D. She did not love Bob any longer.

48. Which of the following can best end the news story?

 A. “Wait till your mother gets home!”    B. “My experience of being a mother.”

 C. “I’m proud of you all, my dear!”      D. “Motherhood: an impossible job for anyone.”

B

It is important that you make a good impression at work. If you make a good impression on your boss, he or she is more likely to give you more responsibilities which can lead to promotions and raises. Here are some ways to make a good impression at work.

Use Proper Office Etiquette (礼仪)

Using proper manners will help you make a good impression on your boss and also your co-workers. Office etiquette includes everything from the proper way to use e-mails to knowing when, where, and how to use your cellphone at work。

Face Up to Your Mistakes

When you make a mistake at work, which everyone inevitably (不可避免地) does at some point, face up to it. Don’t ignore your mistake or blame others. Take the responsibility and come up with a solution to your mistake. Your boss may not be happy about it, but he or she will at least be impressed with your response.

Know to Call in Sick

Do you think coming to work when you are sick instead of staying at home will impress your boss? Reasonable bosses know that the sick employee not only is unproductive but also he or she can spread an illness around the office. Call in sick when you are ill.

Come through in a Crisis

When the unexpected thing happens at work, who will make a better impression on the boss? Of course it’s the employee who deals with the crisis quickly and effectively.

60. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. How to Use Good Etiquette

B. How to Deal with Mistakes at Work

C. How to Be a Good Worker in the Future

D. How to Make a Good Impression at Work

61. What should you do if you make a mistake at work?

A. Try to ignore the mistake.

B. Put the blame on others.

C. Think out a solution to your mistake.

D. Leave the company as soon as possible.

62. According to the writer, when you are ill you’d better _______.

A. go to work on time as usual

B. stay at home without telling others

C. go on working but stay away from others

D. stop working and ask for a leave

63. Who will make good impressions on the boss?

A. Employees who deal with the crisis quickly and effectively.

B. Employees who often make mistakes.

C. Employees who go to work though they are ill.

D. Employees who often use their cellphones at work.

It is common for older people to forget things. Now an American study has found that memory starts to fail when we are young adults. People younger than thirty years of age usually do not know that they are starting to forget information. But scientists from the University of Michigan say the loss of memory has usually already started.

    Researchers say people do not observe this slow reduction in mental ability until the loss affects their everyday activities.

    Denise Park led the new study. She directs the Centre for Aging and Cognition at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Her team studied more than 350 men and women between the ages of twenty and ninety years. The study identified people in their middle twenties with memory problems.

    She says young adults do not know they are forgetting things because their brains have more information than they need.

    But she says that people in their twenties and thirties are losing memory at the same rate as people in their sixties and seventies.

    Ms. Park says people between the ages of sixty and seventy may note the decrease in their mental abilities. They begin to observe that they are having more trouble remembering and learning new information.

    The study found that older adults are more likely to remember false information as being true. For example, they remembered false medical claims as being true. Younger people remembered hearing the information. But they were more likely to remember that it was false.

    Ms. Park is now using modern imaging equipment to study what happens in the brains of people of different ages. She is studying what parts of the brain older adults use for different activities compared to younger adults. Ms. Park says mental performance is a direct result of brain activity and brain structure. She says keeping the brain active is important. She hopes future studies will identify ways to improve the operation of our aging minds.

The passage is meant to _____________.

A. emphasize the importance of exercising the brain

B. analyze the difference between different age groups on the loss of memory

C. reveal the decrease in mental ability of young adults as well as older adults

D. introduce effective ways to improve memory

According to the passage, young adults differ from older adults in that ________.

A. they lose their memory at a slower rate

B. they rarely realize they have memory problems

C. their brains can store much more information

D. all of the above

Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Not until the loss of memory affects their daily activities, do people notice the decrease in their mental abilities.

B. People begin to lose memory in their twenties.

C. Older people tend to remember false information as being true.

D. Younger people find it easier to remember the information that is proven false.

It can be inferred from what Denis Park says that ______.

A. mental performance can be improved

B. mental ability is determined entirely by brain structure

C. people of different ages use different parts of the brain for memorizing

D. different parts of the brain are responsible for different mental activities

Which of the following is a suitable title for the passage?

A. The Mysterious Brain         B. The Ability to Forget

C. Memory Reduction           D. Mental Performance

C

The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their children．On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or otherwise made to feel special．

However, the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in Spokane, Washington．A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon（布道）in 1909．Having been raised by her father, Henry Jackson Smart, after her mother died, Sonora wanted her father to know how special he was to her．It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a selfless and loving man．Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910．

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge declared the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day．Roses are the Father’s Day flowers: red to be worn for a living father and white if the father has died．

When children can’t visit their fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card．Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not too sentimental（感伤的）．Most greeting cards are too special so fathers laugh when they open them．Some give heartfelt thanks for being there whenever the child needed Dad．

64．The United States is special in Father’s Day because ______．

      A．many people celebrate the day           B．only America celebrates the day

      C．America makes it an official day  D．all men are honored in America

65．At first, Father’s Day was fixed on June 19th because ______．

      A．Sonora honored her father on her father’s birthday

      B．Sonora’s birthday was June 19

      C．it was decided by the president at that time

      D．her mother died on June 19

66．How many years had passed before Father’s Day became an official day since the father’s day was celebrated?

      A．4          B．10      C．14        D．24

67．According to the passage, on Father’s Day,  ______．

      A．people will wear the same flowers to honor their fathers

      B．only daughters wear red flowers to honor their fathers

      C．children must go home to honor their fathers

      D．fathers are often honored in different ways

68．According to the passage, we can infer that Henry Jackson Smart ______．

      A．was very kind to anyone       B．did a lot for his daughter

      C．was the first father honored in 1924     D．always help others by giving money