This year’s fall in profits was not unexpected 　　　,it is very disappointing.

A.Otherwise　　　　　　　　　　　　B.But

C.However　　　　　　　　　　　　　D.Nevertheless

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　　Halloween is a festival celebrated on October 31st. The name of the holiday means “hallowed” or “holy evening” because it happens the day before All Saints Day(万圣节) .

　　It is said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. they dress up with special costumes(服装) , they eat too much, and stay up too late celebrating.

　　Children go around the neighbourhood wearing make-up, and dressed masks and colorful costumes. The most common costumes are witches, ghosts, skeletons, and popular TV, movie and storybook characters. Sane costumes are homemade, others are bought in stores. The children go door to door saying “trick or treat” . People give them candy, cookies, fruit or money. Sometimes money is to help UNICEF ( United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) .

　　Homes, stores and classrooms are decorated in the traditional Halloween colors, orange and black. Usual decorations are witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns (灯笼) . Jack-o-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved to look like faces. They ace placed on doorway entrances and in windows. Horror movies and ghost stories are shown on TV on this day.

　　Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades, festivals and costume parties. Some people create their costumes, other people rent them. Contests are held where the beat costume receives a prize. One of the party events popular with children is dunking(浸泡) for apples. Apples are put in tubs filled with water. People try to get the apples using only their , hands cannot be used.

1．Why is it said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve?

[　　]

A．Because Halloween comes the day before All Saints Day.

B．Because only on that day can children go around the neighbourhood.

C．Because children can get money from their parents on Halloween.

D．Because children dress up with special costumes, eat a lot, and stay up late celebrating.

2．Which of the following is NOT true about the common costumes according to the passage?

[　　]

A．They are colorful.

B．Some of the costumes are homemade.

C．They are witches, skeletons, ghosts and popular TV characters, and so on.

D．All of the costumes are homemade.

3．What are the traditional Halloween colors?

[　　]

A．Red and green.

B．Orange and black.

C．Black and white.

D．Orange and brown.

4．Which of the following about Halloween is WRONG?

[　　]

A．Jack-o-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved to look like faces.

B．Adults also celebrate Halloween together with children.

C．Horror movies are shown on 1'V on 31st October.

D．Apples are the favourite fruit people eat on Halloween.

Creativity(创造性)is the key to a brighter future, say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

　     If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have a product that we now think of as very important: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their work time just thinking and developing new ideas.

　     Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily an indicator of high intelligence. Just that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

　     Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention paid to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can give back information but can't recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly, but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

　     It is important to give children choices. From an early age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it's choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should let their children decide how to use their time or spend their money, but not help them too much if they make the wrong decision. The child may have a hard time, but that is all right. This is because the most important characteristic of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

1.What did the company where Dick Drew worked learn from its mistake?

improving new ideas.

2.Creativity is something ______.

3.Why don’t schools try to encourage creativity?

4.What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money?

Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simply because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.?

Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child's hurriedly-made table as “perfect”!Even though it couldn't stand on uneven (not same in height) legs. Another way is to shift blame. If John fails in science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.?

The trouble with failure—prevention methods is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time—and that it's possible to enjoy a game even when you don't win. A child who's not invited to a birthday party, who doesn't make the honor roll or the baseball team feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort prize or say “It doesn't matter”,because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.

Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grown-ups and children exactly alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did I fail?”. Control the natural impulse(冲动) to blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don't be shy about asking them.?

This passage mainly tells us about _______.?

A. the reasons why people fail

B. how to fail?

C. the ways to prevent failures

D. the importance of facing failures?

When the writer says “every person has the right to fail”, he means to say _______.

A. the world is full of failures 　　　　　　 

B. no one is perfect?

C. failures are quite common in our lives　　　　　

D. no one can grow up mentally without failures?

By “protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed”, the writer means that most parents try their best _______.?

A. to let their children know that they won't fail?

B. not to teach their children about knowledge of failure?

C. to provide their children for the knowledge against failure?

D. to keep their children from realizing that they failed?

According to the writer, _______.

A. parents should tell their children to think nothing of not being chosen into a football team?

B. children should be encouraged to get rid of disappointment all by themselves

C. parents should judge what their children have done as it is?

D. children should learn to enjoy a game that they won't win??