Teaching a child to read at a young age gives him a valuable start in life. Reading is the basic part of education and a child’s reading ability will influence his school success greatly. Learning difficulties, many of which begin from poor reading skills, can damage a school child’s confidence and affect his future achievement. Young children are programmed to learn and they can learn better with encouragement. Ten to twenty minutes of reading a day still leaves plenty of time for play.

Many parents are concerned that learning to read is too challenging a task for a pre-school child, but they should also remember that most children learn to speak by the time they are 3. Learning a language is probably the single most challenging task any individual can undertake, yet children do it without formal instruction, achieving the fluency much better than adult language students.

There is a window of opportunity in terms of IQ development, which is most open during a child’s early years. A scientific study, carried out by Dr. Peter Huttenlocher at the University of Chicago, showed that the number of connectors, called synapses（神经元突触）, between the nerve endings in a newborn baby’s brain is similar to the number in the average adult brain. These synapses increase rapidly during early childhood. By 12-24 months a child’s brain has about 50% more synapses than the average adult brain. After that the synapses which are not in use begin to atrophy（衰退）. For most people, from age 16, the number remains steady. It begins to drop again as we move into our golden years. Doing intellectual activities at a young age, such as learning to read, can stimulate（刺激）and preserve these connectors in the brain resulting in a long-term beneficial（有益的）effect on IQ development.

Another notable study is probably the Milwaukee project. This study took a group of babies, all of whose mothers had low IQs, and gave them special training for seven hours a day, five days a week, until they started first grade. By the age of 6 these children had an average IQ 30 points higher than their contemporaries. The overwhelming conclusion is that the early intellectual stimulation can have a positive, long-term effect on a child’s brain development.

From birth you should talk to and explain things to your baby. Reading to him can be a wonderful way of spending quality time with your child. The enjoyment of books and being familiar with the idea of print will pave the way for（为……铺平道路）learning to read later.

If your child is a fast learner you can help him realize his potential by introducing him to the joy of the printed word at an early age. This will lay the foundations（基础）for both a high achieving school career and a lifelong love of reading. If your child shows early signs of reading difficulties, your efforts may help him get rid of such problems before he goes to school.

It can be difficult to teach your own child because emotional（引起情绪激动的）issues arise easily. Online programs for learning to read English are excellent options. They allow children to repeat new materials as many times as they need to, without wearing out the parents’ patience.

1.What does the passage mainly discuss?

A. Children should be taught to read at an early age.

B. Children can read better than most adult students.

C. Children have more synapses than most adults.

D. Children are supposed to learn to read on the Internet.

2.Why does the author mention the study by Dr. Peter Hutten locher?

A. To remove parents’ worry.

B. To explain IQ development.

C. To explain how a baby’s brain works.

D. To show the parents’ wrong ideas.

3.How can children benefit from learning to read at a young age?

A. It can build up great confidence in their mind.

B. It can help preserve the connectors in their brains.

C. It can help produce more connectors in their brains.   

D. It can help them find both their weaknesses and strengths.

4.At the end of this passage the author advises _______.

A. parents not to get angry too often

B. children to enjoy reading as early as possible

C. children not to wear out their parents’ patience

D. parents to get their children to take an online program

Just ten years ago, I sat across the desk from a doctor with a serious look. “Yes,” he said, “there is a serious injury in the left lung…” I listened, too  21  to speak, as he continued, “You’ll have to  22  work at once and go to bed. Later on, we’ll see.” He gave no definite promise of recovery.

Feeling like a man who has suddenly been placed under  23  of death. In the next three days, I   24  my affairs; then I went home, got into bed, and set my watch to tick off not the minutes,   25  the months. Two and a half years and many crashed hopes later, I left my bed and began the long  26  back. It was another year before I made it.

I speak of this experience because these years that passed so  27  taught me what to believe and what to  28  . They said to me: Take time,   29  time takes you. I realize now that this world I’m living in is not my oyster（牡蛎）to be opened but my opportunity to be  30  . To me, each day is such a   31  gift. The sun comes up and presents me with 24 brand new, wonderful hours—not to pass, but to  32  .

I’ve learned to  33  those little but all-important things I never thought I had the time to notice before: the play of light on  34  water, the music of the wind in my favorite pine tree. I seem now to see and hear and feel with some of the recovered  35   of childhood. I recall the touch of the springy earth under my feet the day I first stepped upon it after the years in bed. It was like  36  one’s citizenship in a world one had nearly lost.   37  ,I sit back and say to myself, let me make a   38  of this moment I’m living right now. All this, I owe to that long time spent on the deadlines of life. Wiser people come to this awareness  39  having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn’t wise enough. I’m   40  now, a little, and happier.

21．A．frightened B．embarrassed     C．shocked    D．confused

22．A．pick up     B．give up     C．take up     D．keep up

23．A．sentence   B．shadow     C．pressure    D．trial

24．A．figured out      B．looked after     C．cleared up D．concentrated on

25．A．or     B．and   C．nor    D．but

26．A．jump B．walk  C．rush  D．climb

27．A．quickly     B．slowly      C．quietly      D．easily

28．A．expect      B．desire       C．obtain       D．value

29．A．before      B．after  C．until  D．when

30．A．picked      B．accepted   C．grasped     D．quitted

31．A．precious   B．potential   C．pleasant    D．permanent

32．A．spend       B．fill    C．employ     D．kill

33．A．observe    B．appreciate C．ignore      D．respect

34．A．falling      B．rolling      C．running    D．pouring

35．A．ignorance B．absence     C．carelessness      D．freshness

36．A．regaining  B．requiring  C．rebuilding D．recovering

37．A．Regularly B．Immediately     C．Frequently       D．Continuously

38．A．copy B．note  C．study D．summary

39．A．beyond     B．by     C．without     D．through

40．A．better       B．stronger    C．wiser D．healthier

 (10·上海A篇)

The elephant was lying heavily on its side, fast asleep. A few dogs started barking at it. The elephant woke up in a terrible anger: it chased the dogs into the village where they ran for safety.

That didn't stop the elephant. It destroyed a dozen houses and injured several people. The villagers were scared and angry. Then someone suggested calling Parbati, the elephant princess.

   Parbati Barua's father was a hunter of tigers and an elephant tamer. He taught Parbati to ride an elephant before she could even walk. He also taught her the dangerous art of the elephant round-up -- how to catch wild elephants.

   Parbati hasn't always lived in the jungle. After a happy childhood hunting with her father, she was sent to boarding school in the city. But Parbati never got used to being there and many years later she went back to her old fife. "Life in the city is too dull. Catching elephants is an adventure and the excitement lasts for days after the chase," she says.

   But Parbati doesn't catch elephants just for fun. "My work," she says, "is to rescue man from the elephants, and to keep the elephants safe from man." And this is exactly what Parbati has been doing for many years. Increasingly, the Indian elephant is angry: for many years, illegal hunters have attacked it and its home in the jungle has been reduced to small pieces of land. It is now fighting back. Whenever wild elephants enter a tea garden or a village, Parbati is called to

guide the animals back to the jungle before they can kill.

   The work of an elephant tamer also involves love and devotion. A good elephant tamer will spend hours a day singing love songs to a newly captured elephant. "Eventually they grow to love their tamers and never forget them. They are also more loyal than humans," she said, as she climbed up one of her elephants and sat on the giant, happy animal. An elephant princess indeed!

65. For Parbati, catching elephants is mainly to             .

   A. get long lasting excitement              B. keep both man and elephants safe

   C. send them back to the jungle             D. make the angry elephants tame

66. Before Parbati studied in a boarding school,             .

   A. she spent her time hunting with her father

   B. she learned how to sing love songs

   C. she had already been called an elephant princess

   D. she was taught how to hunt tigers

67. Indian elephants are getting increasingly angry and they revenge because __________.

   A. they are caught and sent for heavy work                

   B. illegal hunters capture them and kill them

   C. they are attacked and their land gets limited

   D. dogs often bark at them and chase them

68. The passage starts with an elephant story in order to explain that in India _________.    

   A. people easily fall victim to elephants' attacks

   B. the man-elephant relationship is getting worse

   C. elephant tamers are in short supply

   D. dogs are as powerful as elephants

Sons who have fond childhood memories of their fathers are more likely to be emotionally stable（稳定的） in the face of day-to-day stresses, according to psychologists（心理学家） who studied hundreds of adults of all ages.
“As our study shows, fathers do play a unique（独特的） and important role in the mental health of their children much later in life,” Psychology professor Melanie Mallers of California State University said.
For this study, 912 adult men and women between the ages of 25 and 74 completed short daily telephone interviews about that day’s experiences over an eight-day period. The interviews focused on the participants’ psychological and emotional distress (i.e., whether they were nervous, sad, etc.) and if they had experienced any stressful events that day.
The participants were also required to answer questions such as, “How would you rate your relationship with your mother during the years when you were growing up?” and “How much time and attention did your mother give you when you needed it?” The same questions were asked about fathers.
People who reported they had a good mother-child relationship reported three percent less psychological distress（忧虑） compared to those who reported a poor relationship, according to Mallers.
Men who reported having a good relationship with their father during childhood were more likely to be less emotional when reacting to stressful events in their current daily lives than those who had a poor relationship, according to her findings.
Also, the quality of mother and father relationships was significantly associated（有关） with how many stressful events the participants faced on a daily basis. In other words, if they had a poor childhood relationship with both parents, they reported more stressful incidents over the eight-day study when compared to those who had a good relationship with their parents.
Mallers theorized why healthy or unhealthy relationships may have an effect on how people handle stress as adults. “Perhaps having caring parents equips children with the experiences and skills necessary to more successfully navigate（导航） their relationships with other people throughout childhood and into adulthood.” She said.
【小题1】What can we know about the recent study from the passage?
A It was led by Melanie Mallers.
B 912 adults who were over twenty-five joined in it.
C It lasted as long as eight days.
D It was funded just by California State University.
【小题2】Which of the following may the participants be asked about in telephone interviews?
A Their physical condition.      B Their parenting（育儿） skills.
C Their emotional distress and stressful events.
D Their childhood relationships with teachers.
【小题3】Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A Many people with good parent-child relationships still can’t keep emotionally stable in stressful incidents.
B Men with a good mother-child relationship were more likely to be emotionally stable when reacting to stressful events.
C Women were better at getting along with their parents than men when they were young.
D People with good childhood relationships with parents suffered（遭受） fewer stressful incidents.
【小题4】What can be concluded from the findings of the study?
A Childhood memories of parents have a lasting effect on one’s ability to handle stress.
B Adults with good childhood relationships with parents will live happily and successfully.
C The mother-child relationship is more important than the father-child relationship.
D The quality of parent-child relationships determines（决定） how people handle stress as adults.

When I was six years old, my mom told me that I could find anyone's number in the phone book. I used to look through the phone book for hours trying to find Michael Jordan's phone number. When I couldn't find it, I just dialed seven numbers. When someone answered, I'd ask, "Is that Michael Jordan?" Obviously, I always had the wrong number.
A year later I started playing basketball at my local recreation center. It was very big. I never thought in my wildest dreams that a basketball court could be inside a building. The recreation center had a special smell in it, sort of like hot rubber. I guessed it was from the shoes hitting the floor so fast and hard. The atmosphere on the court was carefree. Our biggest excitement of the day was when we actually made a shot. We celebrated wins over ice cream at a fast food restaurant.
I got good at it, and my confidence grew. I played it all the time until the sixth grade. As soon as junior high school came, I stopped playing basketball and focused on school. When senior high school started, I tried out for the school team and made it. We worked hard. Every week we did 300 push-ups and 300 sit-ups on our own. Our coach encouraged the sit-ups to keep stomach power, because it gave us so much control when we were playing basketball. If we didn't want to do the sit-ups and push-ups, we could practice dribbling (运球) and shooting more. It's just us, the ball, the court and the net. But don't take my word for it. See for yourself. After all, I'm just one kid playing the game.
【小题1】From Paragraph 1 we know that ____.