Have you ever been afraid to talk back when you were treated unfairly? Have you ever bought something just because the salesman talked you into it? Are you afraid to ask a boy (girl) for a date？

Many people are afraid to assert themselves (insist upon their own rights). Dr Robert Alberti, author of Stand Up, Speak Out, and Talk Back, thinks it’s because their self-esteem(自尊) is low. “Our whole set-up makes people doubt themselves,” says Alberti. “There’s always a 'superior' around — a parent, a teacher, a boss — who 'knows better’”.

But Alberti and other scientists are doing something to help people to assert themselves. They offer “assertiveness training” courses (AT). In the AT courses people learn that they have a right to be themselves. They learn to speak out and feel good about doing so. They learn to be aggressive(敢闯, 闯劲儿) without hurting other people.

In one way, learning to speak out is to overcome fear. A group taking an AT course will help the timid person to lose his fear. But AT uses an even stronger motive—the need to share. The timid person speaks out in the group because he wants to tell how he feels. AT says you can get to feel good about yourself. And once you do, you can learn to speak out.

1. In the passage, the writer talks about the problem that _______.

A. some people are too easy-going

B. some people are too timid

C. there are too many superiors around us

D. some people dare not stick up for their own rights

2. The effect of our set-up on people is often to _______.

A. make them distrust their own judgment

B. make things more favorable for them

C. keep them from speaking out as much as their superiors do

D. help them to learn to speak up for their rights

3. One thing AT doesn’t do is to _______.

A. use the need of people to share

B. show people they have the right to be themselves

C. help people to be aggressive at anytime even when others suffer

D. help people overcome fear

As a parent you might never guess all the ways a good imagination benefits your child. It helps a preschooler(学龄前儿童)：

Develop social skills

As children play pretend, they explore relationships between family members, friends and co­workers and learn more about how people interact. Playing doctor, they imagine how physicians care for their patients. Playing house, they learn more about how parents feel about their children. Imaginative play helps develop empathy(同情) for others. If children can imagine how it feels to be left out of a game or to lose a pet, they are better able to help those in need. They become more willing to play fair, to share, and to cooperate.

Build self­confidence

  Young children have very little control over their lives. Imagining oneself as a builder of skyscrapers(摩天大楼) or a superhero defending the planet is empowering to a child. It helps them develop confidence in their abilities and their potential.

Boost intellectual growth

  Using the imagination is the beginning of abstract thought.Children who can see a king's castle in a mound(堆) of sand or a delicious dinner in a mud pie are learning to think symbolically(象征性地). This skill is important in school where a child will have to learn that numerals symbolize groups of objects, letters symbolize sounds, and so on.

Practice language skills

Kids who play pretend with their friends do a lot of talking.This helps boost their vocabulary, improve sentence structure and promote communication skills.

Work out fears

  Playing pretend can help children work out their fears and worries. When children role­play about the big, bad monster under the bed, they gain a sense of control over him and he doesn't seem quite so big or so bad. Imaginative play also helps kids vent(发泄) confusing feelings they might have, such as anger toward a parent or compete with a new sibling(兄弟姐妹)．

To encourage your youngster's imagination, read to him every day. Books offer children the opportunity to visit other worlds and create new ones of their own.

  For generations children have enjoyed reading the story of Peter Pan because Peter takes them on fascinating adventures.Reader's Digest Young Families offers a beautiful typical Disney edition of Peter Pan, which is an iParenting Media Award winner. Click here to find out how you can get this classic story along with 2 free books-Bambi and Pinocchio.

1.What's NOT the advantage of children having a good imagination?

A．Understanding the other people's feelings and problems.

B．Expressing their feelings like anger.

C．Having a strong faith in their own abilities and potential.

D．Helping them form a good habit of reading stories.

2.What does the underlined word “Boost” mean?

A．Improve.  B．Limit.C．Push.  D．Praise.

3.From the last paragraph we can learn that ________．

A．Reader's Digest Young Families wins an iParenting Media Award

B．Disney edition of Peter Pan can be got online for free

C．the story of Peter Pan has been popular with kids

D．Bambi and Pinocchio are offered for free because of bad sales

4.What's the purpose of writing the article?

A．To tell readers the benefits of encouraging children's imagination.

B．To introduce some wonderful Disney stories to readers.

C．To provide ways of helping make kids more imaginative.

D．To persuade parents to buy the Disney edition of Peter Pan.

I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic City and landing on my head. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity(灾难) can do strange things to people. It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn't been blind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise. I don't mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.

Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it--which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.

The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed (崩溃) and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance（确信） that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.

It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the simplest things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. "I can't use this." I said. "Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around." The words stuck in my head. "Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.

All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.

1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______

2.What's the most difficult thing for the author?

3.According to the context, "a chair rocker on the front porch" in paragraph 3 means that the author __________

4.According to the passage, the baseball and encouragement offered by the man _____

5.What is the best title for the passage?

阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在文后第76至第85小题的空格里填上适当的单词。

注意：每空1个单词。

When it comes to the world of computers, green computing is becoming popular. But what is green computing?

The term “green computing” is one that is being used in many different markets and areas all over the world in today’s global technology. However, many computer users aren’t sure what it means. Green computing is actually quite easy to explain and to do—it is basically learning to use computer resources more efficiently to protect the environment as well as saving energy. The main goal is to reduce the use of energy and materials that harm the environment.

Green computing started as early as 1992, when the EPA created Energy Star program that improved computing equipment and technologies. Because of this program sleep pattern appeared and many computer users began to adopt this policy to help save energy when they were not using their computers. In October of 2006, Energy Star made the requirements stricter for computers. Because of these new requirements, there are over 20 states that have now set up a special recycling program for old computers to help with green computing.

Many of today’s IT systems are beginning to rely on both people and hardware to help push their computer systems toward a more green computing system to help both the company and others. This is a hard balance to achieve, as it has to satisfy users. Many companies are learning the best ways that they call go greener when it comes to their computing and also help their business in the process. While many home computer users may not be quite as familiar with green computing as large firms, this term is starting to become more mainstream all around the world.

When Albert Einstein was young, he was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty in learning to read.

     When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass (指南针). Albert was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle (针) always pointed in the same direction —the north. He asked his father and uncle what caused the needle to move.

     Their answers were difficult for Albert to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something must be behind things.

     Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students couldn’t ask questions. Albert said he felt as if he were in prison.

     One day Albert told his uncle Jacob how much he hated school, especially mathematics. His uncle told him to solve mathematical problems by pretending to be a policeman. "You are looking for someone," he said, "but you do not know who he is. Call him X. Find him by using your mathematical tools."

     Albert learned to love mathematics. He was studying the complex math of calculus (微积分学) while all his friends were still studying simple math. Instead of playing with friends he thought about things such as "What would happen if people could travel at the speed of light?".

     Albert wanted to teach math and physics. He graduated with honors, but it was a pity that he could not get a teaching job.

1.According to Paragraph 2, we can learn that Albert Einstein ________.

A．was interested in the compass             B．wanted to be a great scientist   C．was not clever enough    D．didn’t like thinking by himself

2.Why did Albert Einstein hate school?

A．He couldn’t play with his friends there.     B．Students were not allowed to ask questions.    C．The schools were small at that time.                D．He had to learn mathematics that he didn’t like.

3.What does the underlined word "complex" probably mean?

A．useless.           B．Difficult.           C．Boring.           D．Interesting.

4.We can learn from the passage that ________.

A．Einstein became a mathematics teacher after graduation             B．Einstein gradually loved mathematics with his uncle’s help                    C．learning mathematics is like working as a policeman  D．Einstein liked playing with other children

5.What is the main idea of the passage?

A．How Albert Einstein studied in school.        B．Something about Albert Einstein’s early interests.   C．Something about the young Albert Einstein.   D．Why Albert Einstein learned more than his classmates.