This site contains 100 original short stories about life in America. These stories are written for ESL(English as a second language ) learners who are, at least, high beginners. We want to help ESL students learn English as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Learning should be interesting, not boring. We hope that learners will find that these stories are of some help to improve their English.

The stories have interesting topics and are easy to understand. Each story comes with an audio narrative so that learners can listen as they read. The audio requires downloading the free Real Player. Each story contains a search for pictures, definitions, and pronunciation.“ Following each story are four sets of exercises, and each containing 10 items.

Exercise A is “Yes / No Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Does Sara have children?” The learner can then type in, “Yes, she does.” Then the learner can check whether it’s the right answer or not.

Exercise B is “Wh-Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Where does Sara live?” The learner can then type in, “She lives in Pasadena.” Then the learner can check his answer.

Exercise C is “Ask Questions”. The learner is given an answer like, “They have two children.” The learner must then type in a question like, “How many children do they have?”The learner can then check to see whether he is correct or not. Exercise D is “Dictation”. The learner listens to a sentence. Most of the sentences duplicate  the sentences in the stories. The learner types the dictation and then checks to see whether he is correct or not.

Work on the site is in progress. Help us make it better as the years go by. We welcome all comments, suggestions, complaints, new ideas, and questions. Click here to send us emails.

1.Where does this passage come from?

2.The main purpose of this passage is to _____.

3.All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT _______.

4.If you want to improve your listening ability, you may mainly do some practice in _____.

This site contains 100 original short stories about life in America. These stories are written for ESL(English as a second language ) learners who are, at least, high beginners. We want to help ESL students learn English as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Learning should be interesting, not boring. We hope that learners will find that these stories are of some help to improve their English.
The stories have interesting topics and are easy to understand. Each story comes with an audio narrative so that learners can listen as they read. The audio requires downloading the free Real Player. Each story contains a search for pictures, definitions, and pronunciation.“ Following each story are four sets of exercises, and each containing 10 items.
Exercise A is “Yes / No Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Does Sara have children?” The learner can then type in, “Yes, she does.” Then the learner can check whether it’s the right answer or not.
Exercise B is “Wh-Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Where does Sara live?” The learner can then type in, “She lives in Pasadena.” Then the learner can check his answer.
Exercise C is “Ask Questions”. The learner is given an answer like, “They have two children.” The learner must then type in a question like, “How many children do they have?”The learner can then check to see whether he is correct or not. Exercise D is “Dictation”. The learner listens to a sentence. Most of the sentences duplicate  the sentences in the stories. The learner types the dictation and then checks to see whether he is correct or not.
Work on the site is in progress. Help us make it better as the years go by. We welcome all comments, suggestions, complaints, new ideas, and questions. Click here to send us emails.

1. 1.

   Where does this passage come from?

   1. A.
      A newspaper.
   2. B.
      A magazine.
   3. C.
      A website.
   4. D.
      A research report.
2. 2.

   The main purpose of this passage is to _____.

   1. A.
      tell English learners how to do exercises
   2. B.
      ask the readers to help them improve the site
   3. C.
      give a brief introduction of an English learning site
   4. D.
      teach you how to download English articles
3. 3.

   All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT _______.

   1. A.
      the learners can listen to a story while reading it
   2. B.
      there are pictures, definitions, and pronunciation, as well as exercises followed
   3. C.
      new ideas and suggestions are welcomed
   4. D.
      the stories are suitable for learners of different levels
4. 4.

   If you want to improve your listening ability, you may mainly do some practice in _____.

   1. A.
      Exercise A
   2. B.
      Exercise B
   3. C.
      Exercise C
   4. D.
      Exercise D

 “In real life, the daily struggles between parents and children are around these narrow problems of an extra hour, extra TV show, and so on” said Avi Sadeh, psychology professor at Tel Aviv University. “Too little sleep and more accidents,” he said.

Sadeh and his colleagues found an extra hour of sleep can make a big difference. The children who slept longer, although they woke up more frequently during the night, scored higher on tests, Sadeh reported in the March/April issue of journal Child Development.

“When the children slept longer, their sleep quality was somewhat weak, but in spite of this their performance for study improved because the extra sleep was more significant than the reduction in sleep quality. ” Sadeh said. “Some studies suggested that lack of sleep as a child affects development into adulthood and it’s more likely to develop their attention disorder when they grow older. ”

In earlier studies, Sadeh’s team found that fourth graders slept an average of 8. 2 hours and sixth graders slept an average of 7. 7 hours.

“Previous research has shown children in elementary school need at least nine hours of sleep a night on a regular basis, said Carl Hunt, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, and high-school-age children need somewhat less, he said, adding the results of insufficient sleep could be serious.

“A tired child is an accident waiting to happen,” Hunt said. “And as kids get older, toys get bigger and the risks higher. ”Hunt also said too little sleep could result in learning and memory problems and long-term effects on school performance.

“This is an important extension of what we already know, ” Hunt said of Sadeh’s research, adding sleep is as important as nutrition(营养) and exercise to good health.

“To put it into reality,” Hunt said, “parents should make sure they know when their children actually are going to sleep and their rooms are conducive to sleeping instead of playing. ”

What is Child Development?

A A new story                       B A popular book

C. A periodical magazine               D A TV programme

How many persons are exactly mentioned in the text?

A One          B Two          C Three           D Four

The underlined phrase “conducive to” (in the last sentence) means ________.

A helping to happen                  B influenced by

C full of                               D acceptable of

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. There are some daily struggles between parents and children because of having nothing in common with extra rest time.

B. The children who sleep longer are weak in their study.

C. Lack of sleep as a child has great effect on their development into adulthood.

D. In general, children in elementary school need at least nine hours of sleep a night.

Jeter King 15 and Mary ,13 went to see a doctor together peter had a bad cold .so the doctor gave him some polls to take .Mary had a bah cough .so the doctor gave her some cough medicine.

There are the words in the bottle of medicine.

Mary or her mother should      the medicine after the tenth month of 2004.

A. throw away        B. take two times     .C. stop to take        D. take 3 times more

People aged      can’t take this medicine

A. 80           B. 15         C. 20          D. 3