I shook hands with my father in the truck, and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word. But I knew he was going to say a little to me. “I can’t tell you anything,” he finally said. “I never went to college, and none of your brothers went to college. I can’t say don’t do this or do that, because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up. I can’t help much with money, either, but I think things will work out.”

He gave me a new chequebook(支票本). “If things get pushing, write a small check. But when you write one, send me a letter and let me know how much it is. There are some things we can always sell.” In four years all the checks I wrote were less than one thousand dollars. My part-time jobs such as reading to the blind students and sitting with the teachers’ kids filled in the financial gaps.

“You know what you want to be, and they’ll tell you what to take,” my father went on. “When you get a job, be sure it’s honest, and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be alone in the big town, and I would miss the cool wind and the life where your thinking was done for you.

Then my dad reached down beside his seat and took out the old, broken Bible that he had read many times, the one he used when he wanted to look something up in a friendly quarrel with one of the neighbours. I knew he would miss it. I knew, though, that I must take it.

He didn’t say “Read this every morning.” He just said, “This can help you if you read it.”

Did it help? I went to college without being a burden(负担) on the family. I had been able to make money since then.

1.What is the writer’s main purpose in writing this passage?

A. To tell readers his life story.

B. To tell people what kind of person his father was.

C. To let people know how poor he was.

D. To tell readers what present he got from his father.

2.Why didn’t the father ask his son not to do this or do that?

A. Because he had never been to college and he didn’t know what was going to come up.

B. Because he was born in a poor family.

C. Because he was a man of few words.

D. Because he didn’t want to be much too strict with his son.

3.What can we learn from this passage?

A. How to live happily.

B. How to stand on one’s own feet.

C. What a good father should do.

D. What self-confidence is.

4.The underlined phrase “financial gaps” means “________” in Chinese.

A. 闲暇 B. 学费 C. 经济不足 D. 精神空虚

5.What kind of book did the Bible seem to be to the writer’s father?

A. It was a book which told you how to get on well with others.

B. There were many good examples for you to copy in it.

C. It was a book that told you how to get a good job and a good future.

D. It was a good book that could help you when you were in trouble.

Do you feel tired sometimes? Nowadays, stress is everywhere in our daily life. Not just men, women and young people also suffer from stress.

There are many causes, such as: death, marriage, money, moving house, changing jobs, ending relationships.

So how do you know if you suffer from stress? Do the Stress Test and find out!

Stress Test

Do you …? Yes No

1. often sleep badly?

2. get headaches a lot?

3. find it difficult to relax?

4. need alcohol (酒精) or cigarettes to keep calm?

5. usually hide your feeling?

6. find it difficult to put your heart into something?

7. take sleeping pills?

8. get angry when things go wrong?

If you have more than two “Yes” among these questions, you are suffering from stress. So what can you do about it?

Doing yoga (瑜伽), chewing gum and playing with worry beads (念珠) are all common ways of relieving (减轻) stress. However, doctors now say that there are simpler ways. They say that people should laugh and smile more often. When you laugh and smile, your body relaxes. They also say that people—and especially men—ought to cry more often, because cry ing is the natural way of relieving stress.

1.From the passage, we can know that .

A. many soc ial problems can cause stress

B. young people suffer more from stress than the old

C. doing yoga is the most useful way to relieve stress

D. if all the answers are yes, you are suffering from stress

2.You may suffer from stress if you .

A. never depend on alcohol or cigarettes

B. can sleep without sleeping pills

C. often communicate with anyone else

D. easily get angry when things go wrong

3.Which of the following is NOT a way to relieve stress?

A. Doing yoga. B. Taking sleeping pills.

C. Laughing and crying. D. Playing with worry beads.

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