Maurice Sendak’s children’s book, Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963, has become very successful throughout the years and was made into a movie earlier this year.
The book’s main character is a boy named Max who gets into trouble with his mother and is sent to bed without any supper. Before long, Max’s room magically becomes a forest, and he sails away to a land where monsters live. Max isn’t scared, though, and becomes king of the wild things, but after a while, he begins feeling homesick. Max sails back home and his supper is still hot when he arrives in his bedroom.
Many teachers and professors like this story and use it to help children develop creativity and imagination. Melina Davis, an education professor, said she likes how the book contains a couple of pages that have only pictures on them. “This allows children to shape the story themselves,” she said.
The book contains a few of larger words that some parents worry may confuse children, but experts say those words help improve children’s reading skills and challenge them.
Davis said the book is well written which helps kids get involved in the story. “The book talks about what all children go through, like ‘I was naughty but my mommy still loves me’,” Davis said.
The book also encourages children to face their fears. “I think it’s really good to show that Max is friends with the monsters,” Davis said. “Kids can find out monsters aren’t always the thing under the bed that’s going to scare them. I think this is good because it shows that the children can go to scary places but still have a positive experience.”
Since the book has been successful throughout the years, a movie was recently made and many people are excited to see it. Davis said she thinks the movie will be wonderful but it might be a little scary for younger children. “You don’t want bad dreams over a book that’s extremely wonderful,” Davis said.
46. Teachers and professors like the book Where the Wild Things Are because it helps children ________.
A. learn to draw their own pictures
B. understand their own fear
C. develop more quickly
D. become more imaginative
47. What is the intention of using the larger words in the book?
A. To add to the difficulty while children are reading.
B. To help challenge the children’s reading skills.
C. To cause the children some confusion.
D. To help children get involved in the story.
48. Which of the following is TRUE about the book?
A. The character Max is brave enough in the story.
B. Max was sent to the forest as punishment.
C. It is suitable for people of all ages.
D. It is the most popular children’s book ever published.
49. What does Davis think of the movie?
A. She thinks children of all ages will love it.
B. She encourages children to see it to fight against their fear.
C. She worries that it might be too frightening for some children.
D. She believes it will be a better choice for children than the book.
50. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
A. To suggest ways to improve children’s reading.
B. To comment on a famous children’s book.
C. To encourage children to read scary stories.
D. To introduce a movie based on a children’s book.

Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing(评定) your skills and matching them with a particular position．If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job's pay．There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job．Here are a few of those main areas;

1） Do you prefer working alone or with other people?

    There are isolating（使孤立）jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy．Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer．There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation．

2） How do you handle change?

    Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others．If you need to be stable in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen so often．Other people would be bored of the same daily routine．

3） Do you enjoy working with computers？

    I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic．There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day．Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well．

4） What type of work environment do you enjoy？

    This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly．

5） How do you like to get paid?

    Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that．The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this．

    Anyway, these are a great starting point for you．I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love．It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for it can change the course of your life for the better．

1.What is unnecessary in your job hunting?

    A．Assessing your skills

    B．Going to different areas

    C．Matching your skills with a position

    D．Taking your personality into consideration

2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

    A．Isolating jobs usually drive people mad．

    B．Interactive jobs make people shy easily．

    C．Extreme people tend to work with others．

    D．Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs．

3.The underlined word in the passage means ________.

    A. not likely to move or change

    B. calm, reasonable and not easy to upset   

C. being in the same chemical state

D. a group of people working for the same company

4.What is the best title for this passage?

    A．Lifestyles and Job Pay               B．Jobs and Environment

    C．Job Skills and Abilities             D．Personalities and Jobs

Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago. Because more people live longer, there are more people around at any given time. In fact, it is a decrease in death rates, not an increase in birthrates, that has led to the population explosion.

Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies, people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine (饥荒), infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved, where as if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary societies, people feel a moral obligation (责任) to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work; we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement, somebody else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illnesses than young or middle-aged people; unless they have wealth or private or government insurance, they must often “go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.

When older people become senile (衰老的) or too weak and ill to care for themselves, they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures, they would be cared for at home until they died. Today, with most members of a household working or in school, there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need, a great many nursing homes and convalescent (疗养的) hospitals have been built. These are often profit making organizations, although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups. While a few of these institutions are good, most of them are simply “dumping (倒垃圾的) grounds” for the dying in which “care” is given by poorly paid, overworked, and under skilled personnel (员工).

1.The author believes that the increased size of the human population results from _______.

A．an increase in birthrates                  B．the industrial development

C．a decrease in death rates                 D．childhood diseases

2.It can be inferred from the passage that in hunting and gathering cultures _______.

A．it was a moral responsibility for the families to keep alive the aged people who could not work

B．the survival of infants was less important than that of their parents in times of starvation

C．old people were given the task of imparting (传授) the cultural wisdom of the tribe to new generations

D．death was celebrated as a time of rejoicing for an individual freed of (免除) the hardships of life

3.The phrase “this need” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A．prolonging the dying old people’s lives

B．reducing the problems caused by the retired people

C．making profits through caring for the sick or weak people

D．taking care of the sick or weak people

4.According to the passage, which of the following statements about the old people in the United States is true?

A．Many of them live on social security money which is hardly enough.

B．Minority of them remain in a state of near poverty after their retirement.

C．Many nursing homes are sponsored by religious and nonprofit groups.

D．Older people have wealth or private insurance if they have a serious illness.

One Sunday a few of us decided to take advantage of the first sunny day we’d have for ages to take a trip down to the coast to visit the penguins again. Last time I went down there was a couple of months ago and it was a dull cold day. Sunday couldn’t have been more different — clear skies and sunshine made it feel like summer, although it was still -25°C.
Six of us drove to the coast. It was the first time we’d been off the base on our own without our field assistant, so it had a slightly different feeling — more like a few friends going to the seaside than an Antarctic field trip! When we reached Windy Creek, we luckily caught sight of quite a few small flying seabirds, which are seldom seen there.
Once on the sea ice we found that some of the more curious penguins had wandered over from the main group to come and check us out. We’d been told that then they were nursing their chicks (刚孵出的幼雏) and they would be more careful and nervous than last time, but that didn’t seem to be the case. We walked across to the main group which were stretched for a couple of miles along the coast. We sat down for some sandwiches and soon found ourselves surrounded by many curious observers. Without any attackers on land, they were very brave and came within a meter of us to pose (摆姿势) for photos.
Before heading back, we spent a few hours on the sea ice watching the penguins and their chicks, which had grown dramatically (明显地) since our last visit. It was such a nice day.
【小题1】
When did the trip most probably happen?