“It was all his own idea, ” says Pat Peters, the 38-year-old wife of Palo Alto, California high school . Bob had just drawn up a “motherhood contract” ----- a document (文件) 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 (杂务). 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, ” admits Peters. Three weeks later he spoke to the local press (also part of the bargain), 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 (叹气), “I couldn’t talk to a grown-up.” She continued to run the household, however----- until Bob signed the contract, whereupon 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 (食堂), 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(日常地) sharing the child-raising and household tasks with Pat. The tentative (暂定的) title of his book about the summer is taken from something he shouted at the kids one day.
【小题1】The couple signed the contract because _______.

Glynis Davis:
I first piled on the pounds when I was in the family way and I couldn’t lose them afterwards. Then I joined a slimming club. My target was 140 pounds and I lost 30 pounds in six months. I felt great and people kept saying how good I looked. But Christmas came and I started to slip back into my old eating habits. I told myself I’d lose the weight at slimming classes in the new year… but it didn’t happen. Instead of losing the pounds, I put them on. I’d lost willpower and tried to believe that the old bag of fish and chips didn’t make any difference — but the scales don’t lie.
Roz Juma:
To be honest, I never weigh myself any more. I’ve learnt to be happy with myself. It seemed to me that I would feel sorry about every spoonful of tasty food that passed my lips. My idea is simple. You shouldn’t be too much thinking about food and dieting. Instead, you should get on with life and stop dreaming of a super thin body. This is obviously the size I’m meant to be and, most of all, I’m happy with it.
Lesley Codwin:
I was very happy at winning Young Slimmer of the year. I’d look in the mirror unable to believe this slim lady was me! That might have been my problem — perhaps from then on I didn’t pay any attention to myself. Winning a national competition makes everything worse, though. Because you feel the eyes of the world are fixed upon you. I feel a complete failure because I’ve put on weight again.
Ros Langfod:
Before moving in with my husband Gavin, I’d always been about 110 pounds, but the pleasant housework went straight to my waist and I put on 15 pounds in a year. Every so often I try to go on a diet… I’m really good in a few days, then end up having the children’s leftovers or eating happily chocolate — my weakness. I’d like to be slim, but right now my duty is the children and home. I might take more exercise when my kids are older.
【小题1】What do you think the four women were talking about?

—Would you like to go outing with me tonight?

—Oh, with so much homework ________, I’m afraid I couldn’t afford the time.

I shall never forget the day when the earthquake took place. It was about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I was   16   to my daughter’s school. Our plan was to go   17 together. I’d stopped at a   18   to get some fresh fruit. We like to have some fruit to eat   19   our swim. I was driving along a high road on the way.  20   my road was another road which was built like a   21 . I was hungry so I put the bag of apples   22   me and started to eat one.  23   I saw the cars in front of me start to  24   from side to side. Then my car started to shake! I didn’t know what was happening. Perhaps something had   25   wrong with my car. I drove a little more slowly and then I   26   the car and at the same moment the road   27   onto the cars in front of me. I found myself in the __28  . I couldn’t move. My legs and feet were hurting badly and I couldn’t move them. All round me was  29  But above me I could hear shouts and a lot of noise. Then I memorized what had happened. I had been   30   an earthquake. For about two hours nobody came. Luckily I could reach the bag of   31  , so at least I had plenty to eat. Then I heard people   32   towards me. A team of people had come to   33   if anyone was under the   34  road. I called out, “I’m here!” I heard a shout. Soon a stranger climbed to my car. “How are you   35  ?”He asked. “Not too bad,”I said. They didn’t get me out until the next morning.

1.A. driving    B. leading  C. walking      D. running

2.A. shopping       B. dancing    C. swimming   D. sightseeing

3.A. farm           B. shop         C. park        D. school

4.A. after          B. during           C. since        D. once

5.A. Under          B. Along        C. Over         D. Beside

6.A. bridge         B. roof         C. cover       D. top

7.A. under          B. along            C. inside       D. beside

8.A. Finally        B. Actually     C. Suddenly    D. Slowly

9.A. move       B. roll         C. burst       D. jump

10.A. been        B. broken    C. gone     D. done

11.A. parked      B. started    C. moved    D. stopped

12.A. put         B. ran       C. fell       D. jumped

13.A. dark        B. afternoon  C. sun       D. car

14.A. noisy       B. dusty     C. quiet      D. blood

15.A. on        B. at       C. by        D. in

16.A. food       B. sandwiches  C. apples    D. bread

17.A. climbing    B. shouting    C. moving   D. driving

18.A. know      B. tell        C. understand  D. see

19.A. falling      B. broken     C. breaking   D. dirty

20.A. sleeping     B. feeling     C. eating     D. going

It was raining. I went into a café and asked for a coffee. ___21___ I was waiting for my drink, I realized that there were other people in the place, but I sensed ___22 ___. I saw their bodies, but I couldn’t feel their souls ___23___ their souls belonged to the ___24___.

I stood up and walked between the tables. When I came to the biggest computer, I saw a thin, small man ___25___ in front of it. “I’m Steve”, he finally answered after I asked him a couple of times what his name was. “I can’t talk with you. I’m ___26___”, he said. He was chatting online with somebody — probably someone he didn’t know—and, at the same time, he was playing a computer game—a war game. I was surprised. He was chatting online and, ___27___, he was playing a computer game—a war game. I was ___28___.

Why didn’t Steve want to talk with me? I tried ___29___ to speak to that computer geek (怪人), ___30___ not a word came out of his mouth. I touched his shoulder, but no reaction（反应）. I was ___31___. I put my hand in front of the monitor, and he started to shout, “___32___!”

I took a few steps back, wondering if all those people in the café were looking at me. I ___33___, and saw nobody showed any interest.

___34___, I realized that the people there were having a nice conversation with their machines, not with people. They were more ___35___ having a relationship with the ___36___, particularly Steve. I wouldn’t want to ___37___ the future of human beings if they preferred sharing their lives with machines ___38___ with people.

I was worried and I sank in my thoughts. I didn’t even ___39___ that the coffee was bad, ___40___ Steve didn’t notice there was a person next to him.

21. A. Before  B. Since  C. Although    D. While

22. A. pain     B. loneliness   C. sadness       D. fear

23. A. because       B. when  C. until   D. unless

24. A. home   B. world  C. Net     D. Cafe

25. A. sleeping       B. laughing     C. sitting D. learning

26. A. busy     B. thirsty C. tired   D. sick

27. A. first of all    B. just then     C. at the same time D. by that time

28. A. surprised     B. delighted    C. moved       D. frightened

29. A. once     B. again  C. first    D. even

30. A. but       B. so       C. if D. or

31. A. excited B. respected    C. afraid  D. unhappy

32. A. Shut up       B. Enjoy yourself   C. Leave me alone  D. Help me out

33. A. walked about      B. walked out        C. raised my hand  D. raised my head

34. A. From then on      B. At that moment        C. In all  D. Above all

35. A. interested in B. tired of      C. careful about     D. troubled by

36. A. computer     B. soul    C. shop   D. geek

37. A. tell       B. plan    C. imagine      D. design

38. A. other than    B. instead of   C. except for   D. as well as

39. A. pretend B. understand  C. insist   D. realize

40. A. as if     B. just as C. just after    D. even though