Make sure the ________ are not touching each other so that people won't get a shock form them.

[    ]

A. lines   B. ropes   C. wires   D. thread

A child who has once been pleased with a tale likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to tell a story than read it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce what, in the actual situation of the time and the child, is an improvement on the printed text, so much the better.

A charge made against fairy tales is that they harm the child by frightening him or making him sad thinking. To prove the latter, one would have to show in a controlled experiment that children who have read fairy stories were more often sorry for cruelty than those who had not. As to fears, there are, I think, some cases of children being dangerously terrified by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises(出现) from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition turns the pain of fear into the pleasure of a fear faced and mastered.

There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that they are not objectively true, that giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets, etc. do not exist; and that, instead of being fond of the strange side in fairy tales, the child should be taught to learn the reality by studying history. I find such people, I must say so peculiar(奇怪的) that I do not know how to argue with them. If their case were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girl-friend.

No fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world and no clever child has ever believed that it was.

1. The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is _______.

A. repeated without any change                  B. treated as a joke

C. made some changes by the parent            D. set in the present

2. According to the passage, great fear can take place in a child when the story is _______.

A. in a realistic setting                       B. heard for the first time

C. repeated too often                                  D. told in a different way

3. The advantage claimed(提出) for repeating fairy stories to young children is that it _______.

A. makes them less fearful

B. develops their power of memory

C. makes them believe there is nothing to be afraid of

D. encourages them not to have strange beliefs

4. The author’s mention of sticks and telephones is meant to suggest that _______.

A. fairy stories are still being made up

B. there is some misunderstanding about fairy tales

C. people try to modernize old fairy stories

D. there is more concern for children's fears nowadays

5. One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that _______.

A. they are full of imagination

B. they just make up the stories which are far from the truth

C. they are not interesting

D. they make teachers of history difficult to teach

Are you afraid of moving up to senior high school? It is a completely new experience, but you shouldn’t worry. We’ve put together a guide to help you.

You are not alone

   Remember that everybody else in your grade is in the same boat. You may not notice it, but they are just as nervous as you are.

   Moving up to senior high school is a chance, not a problem. Things are different, and all you need to do is be polite and learn the new rules.

The teachers will help

   If you don’t know what to do or are worried about something, then ask for help. Teachers are probably the best people to turn to because they have experience in helping new students.

Everything changes

   There are lots of differences between junior high school and senior high school. You will have your lessons with different teachers in different rooms. You will have homework for different subjects on different days, so make sure you get organized.

Other points

   If you’ve got an elder brother or sister at senior high school, then ask them for advice.

   Be yourself! It sounds simple, but people will respond much better to you if you act naturally.

   Going to bed early makes a difference. You’ll also find it easier to get up in the morning!

The author says that you’re not alone because other students______

A. are polite and nervous

B. will help you

C. feel the same as you do

D. will learn the new rules with you

When you don’t know what to do, you can______

A. write your problem down

B. watch your brothers

C. go to bed early

D. turn to your teachers

The main purpose of the passage is to ___________?

A. Tell students about a new experience

B. help students that are going to senior high school

C. tell students that teachers are the best helpers                

D. teach students how to organize themselves

For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romance languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, opera goers also had a certain appearance in people's mind: rich, well-dressed and old.

But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.

Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to make the opera closer to common people. Because young people don't or won't come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such unusual places as parks, libraries and public schools.

The Houston Grand Opera's choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas” shortened versions(剧本) of child-friendly operas. This summer's production is Hansel ＆ Gretel. By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists' Training Program.

Which is the main idea of this passage？

A.    Opera is famous for its long history.

B.    Opera is only performed for rich people.

C.    Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive.

D.    Young people are not interested in opera.

The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means ______.

A.    breaking up the old rules      B.       changing the dresses

C.    making the audience at ease    D. advertising themselves

Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because ______ .

A.    they can be performed in public libraries

B.    short versions are easy to perform

C.    it is hard to find long versions 

D.    they can make more people come to opera

The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to ______.

A.    celebrate its 75th anniversary         B.    reduce the cost

C.    attract young people                           D.    make Cinderella popular

Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of ingredients(contents) on the back. Third, compare prices: that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.

Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality, however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands. In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.

Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well-informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial, or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.

All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items” in Paragraph 2 EXCEPT __________.

A. ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

B. ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands

C. producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items

D. the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands

What does the writer think about ads? __________

A. They are believable.          B. They are attractive.

C. They are full of misinformation.   D. They are helpful to consumers.

One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is __________.

A. to make use of ads             

B. not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

C. to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch

D. to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands

The author implies that __________.

A. going into the supermarket hungry, you may buy more than you plan to

B. the quality of ordinary items is usually high and the prices are relatively low

C. discount clothing stores are good places to go to      

D. ads sometimes don’t tell the truth