The phone rings. It’s a friend who wants to tell you his or her latest health problems. You hate to be impolite and cut your friend off, but what can you do? Stephanie Winston, author of Stephanie Winston’s Best Organizing Tips, offers his advice:

Don’t ask questions like “What’s new?” They give the information that you have time to talk. After “hello”, get right to the heart of the matter.

Time your calls wisely. If you make a call right before lunch or dinner, or at the end of the workday, people chat less.

Set a time limit. Start with, “Hi, I’ve only got a few minutes, but I wanted to talk to you about….” Or, “Gee, I’d love to talk more, but I only have a couple of minutes before I have to leave.”

Jump on a pause（间歇）. Even the most talkative caller has to pause now and then. Quickly say, “It has been great talking with you.” Then end the conversation.

Forget niceties. Some people just don’t take a hint. Cut your caller off and say, “I’d like to talk to you longer, but I’m afraid I have no enough time. Good bye.” Then hang up.

Find “a partner in crime”. If nothing else works, ask someone in your home to help you. For example, one woman gives a sign to her husband, who shouts, “Jane, I think the roast chicken is burning.”

Avoid the phone completely. Use an answering machine to screen calls. If you have an important message for a chatterbox（唠叨的人）, leave the message when he or she isn’t in.

50. What’s the good time to make a call so that people can chat less?

A. After lunch or dinner.　　　　　　　　　　　 B. In the middle of the workday.

C. Before lunch or dinner.　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. At the beginning of the workday.

51. “Finding a partner in crime” means ______.

A. finding someone to answer the call

B. getting right to the heart of the matter

C. telling the caller you are just cooking

D. asking someone to help you end the call

52. What’s Winston’s advice about?

A. How to talk on the phone.　　　　　

B. How to make calls wisely.

C. How to make a phone call.

D. How to keep phone calls short.

Feeling left out?

　 A reader wrote in to say that she was feeling lonely at break(课间) because her best friend wasn’t around. Here’s our advice to her—and to all kids who feel lonely sometimes．

　 It’s hard when a best friend isn’t around—maybe because she moved to a different school or a different class. You may feel lonely at break or lunchtime. You want to have new friends. But how do you make them? Maybe it seems like everybody else already has their friends. But remember, there’s always room for more friends．

Start by looking around your classroom—think about which kids you’d like to play with at break. Look for chances to say hi to them, smile, and be friendly. Offer to share something or express your appreciation(欣赏)to them. Invite someone to play with you or say “Do you want to sit here?”when you have lunch.

When you’re at break, walk over to kids you want to play with, act friendly, and say “Hi, can I play, too?” or just join in.

　 If you have trouble doing this or if you’re feeling shy, ask your teacher to help you make new friends. Teachers are usually pretty good at matching up friends. The best way to make friends is to be a friend. Be kind, be friendly, share, say nice things, offer to help—and pretty soon, you’ll have one, or two, or even more new friends.

　 You might still miss that special best friend. But when you see each other, you can share something you didn’t have before she left. You can introduce her to your new friends!

根据材料内容选择最佳答案，并将其标号填入题前括号内。

( 　)51. This text is written for　　　　　 ．

　 A. teachers　 B. parents　 C. students D. visitors

( 　)52. According to the writer, some kids feel lonely at break because they　　　　 ．

A. have trouble with their studies　　

B. don’t have their best friends around

C. need their parents to be with them

D. are too young to look after themselves

( 　)53. The underlined word this in Paragraph 4 refers to(指的是)　　　 .

　 A. sharing your ideas　　　　　　 B. talking before many people

　 C. studying better at school　　　　 D. developing(发展) new friendship

( )54.Some kids need help from teachers to make friends because　　　　 .

　 A. they miss their old friends a lot

　 B. they have no time to stay with others

　 　C. teachers know who wants a new friend

　 　D. they are shy or not good at making friends

( 　)55. The expression “feeling left out'’ means“　　　　 ”in Chinese．

A．受冷落　 8．被调侃　 C．挨批评　 D．遭攻击

Mr. Gao lives in a town. When he was twenty-five, his son was born. He calls him Gao Ling. The little boy is clever. He and his wife love him very much. It’s September 1st today. A new school year begins. Gao Ling is happy and wears his most beautiful clothes. He’s going to school with his new bag. “Let me take you to school, dear.” said Mrs. Gao. “Thank you, Mummy,” said the boy. “The school is not far from here. I can go there myself.”
　　At school a teacher met the little boy and asked, “What’s your name, my little friend?” “Gao Ling, sir.” answered the boy. “How old are you?” “Six, sir.” “What’s your father’s name?” “Gao Daling, sir.” “How old is he?” “He is six, too, sir.” “Oh,” the teacher said in surprise. “Is he as old as you?”
　　“Yes, sir,” said the boy. “He became a father only on the day when I was born.”
根据短文内容，选择正确答案（10分）
【小题1】Mr. Gao is _____now.
A、six                 B、twenty-five          C、thirty one
【小题2】Mr. and Mrs. Gao love their son because_____.
A、the boy is clever
B、he likes to go to school
C、he can go to school himself
【小题3】Gao Ling didn’t let his mother take him to school because_____.

The bicycle is one of the simplest yet most useful inventions in the world. What is most surprising is that it was not ___1__ earlier, although the great inventor Leonardo Da Vinci had drawn pictures for bicycles and also for flying machines and some other things. Those things were not produced___2___ long after he died.
　　A person riding a bicycle uses ___3___ energy to make the bicycle move, and there is no pollution at all when you are riding. Even so, in developed ____4___, most people don’t travel to work by bicycle. It is not because the bicycles are expensive or people feel___5____ if they ride to work. It’s because __6___ cars on the roads becomes larger. It certainly becomes ___7___ to ride a bicycle. As a result, more people put their bicycles away and go to work ___8___ their cars , and in this way, the situation is made more serious.___9___ the best way to make riding safer and more popular is to create paths (开设通道) only for bicycles, and to make ___10___ so difficult and expensive for drivers to take their cars into the city that they will go back to use their bicycles.