When I decided to get married, my father decided to share some wisdom. “Lori, it is just as easy to love a rich man as it is to love a poor man, “ he said. My boyfriend didn’t have much money, but I loved him. “What?” I cried. “ How can you say that? I want to marry for love, NOT for money.” “ But why not marry someone you love who has money?” he asked. “Rich men are materialistic(物质主义的). I’d rather marry a poor man who loves me,” I said and he gave in.
And as we went on, with my family growing, I learned why my father put such importance on money. We had to cover the rent, car, electricity, food, and medical bills. We were under lot of pressure. The worries over whether we would be asked to move out or if we had the money to wash our clothes at the Laundromat this week made me question if I did the right thing by marrying a “poor” man.
I realized that I had entered the ranks of the poor. Not that I’d ever been rich. Most of my life, I considered us in the lower middle-class rank. We had a house of our own, food on the table, cars, clothes, and money for college. But now, as I listened to an apartment neighbour talk about her monthly “Mother’s Day” gift, I realized she was talking about her welfare check(政府发放的救济金). And another young mother tried to “help” me out by connecting me with a friend who stole baby clothes from a department store. “ For a small cut,” she said, “ I could return my ‘purchase’(购买的东西)for cash.” It made me sick. How poor was I?
I had a college education but wasn’t using it. I insisted on not missing a minute of our children’s childhood and it came at a price. My husband was working as hard as he could and it wasn’t enough. But somehow we made it.
The kids grew. Today, we look back and see the great values gained by going through those hard years. My children are not materialistic. They never thought they were poor growing up because we always managed to give a little bit of food, money, or clothes to the “poor”. They were satisfied with the simple things in life that come free such as a beach day or a horse back ride from their dad.
We had our worries, but we still treasured our very favorite part of the day when we’d nest (栖息地)under the covers and talked about our future, the kids and how much we loved each other. Sure our financial(财政的) troubles caused a lot of fights, but we didn’t leave each other. We began to live a better life. We moved to a better community(社区)with good schools for the kids. And soon, we’ll face a new challenge with wealth. But we’ll never give up.
My father died three years ago. Before he died, he knew I made the right choice. I’m proud of my decision.
【小题1】.The writer argued with her father because _________________.

A.she thought her father didn’t love her at all
B.her father thought her boyfriend was too materialistic
C.her father wanted her to marry a rich man while she didn’t
D.she thought her father loved her boyfriend’s money more than him.
【小题2】.After getting married, the writer questioned if she had done the right thing to marry her husband because___________.
A.she was often scolded(责骂)by her father
B.she found her husband was irresponsible(不负责任的)
C.he didn’t think her husband loved her deeply
D.they lived a poor life with children to support
【小题3】.After their children were born, the writer_______________.
A.often regretted not using her college education
B.worked very hard in order to make more money
C.had to steal baby clothes from a department store
D.looked after her children as a professional (职业的,专业的)housewife
【小题4】. Why didn’t the writer’s children think they were poor growing up?
A.Because the writer always gave them whatever they wanted
B.Because the writer and her children often helped other people.
C.Because the writer didn’t let her children play with their rich neighbours
D.Because the writer let her children have a good life through receiving help from others.
【小题5】.What do you think is the theme(主题)of the story?
A.Women should always make a decision by themselves
B.Listening to the old is important when people get married
C.Money doesn’t matter as much as love in marriage
D.Children don’t mind whether they have a poor family or not

I took a trip after lunch and on my way home I stopped at a park in this beautiful little town. I really wanted to enjoy the    _ wind of one of the last days of summer. I know I still have a lot of time left according to the ___. But I’ve seen too many summers suddenly____

  When I had a rest at a __ , a man came, who was about my __ . Maybe we could have common topics. “Good _ _ , my friend!” he said as he _  _ down on the opposite side of the table. “You don’t live __ , do you?” “No, I’m just _  _ . I live about an hour and a half from here.” “What do you do for a living?” he asked. “I’m a _  _  .” “Well, I should have known,” he said.

Now he had my _  _ . How could he possibly know what I did for a living just by __ at me? “You were dreaming and wondering just like an author. I could see in your eyes. Most people see how _  _ the town is, but you see many other things most people don’t take the time to see.” I just wondered about his _  _ . “What do you do for a living?” “_  _  I’m a journalist (记者) for our local paper. But I call myself a reflection because I _  _ what I see in my job. My words can _  _  the world around me. I can write about what I know faithfully and I know these people for I have been _  _ here so long. So you can imagine how _  _ the news is here. They are in turn a reflection of me.”

If you had to _  _ what a good person would be like, could you fit the description? I hope you’re a good reflection.

1.A. cool        B. hot        C. strong         D. cold

2.A. schedule    B. weather    C. calendar       D. experience

3.A. start       B. change     C. worsen         D. disappear

4.A. chair       B. table      C. restaurant     D. station

5.A. height      B. weight     C. accent         D. age

6.A. night       B. afternoon  C. evening        D. morning

7.A. sat         B. settled    C.  calmed        D. lay

8.A. distantly   B. nearby     C. comfortably    D. alone

9.A. passing by  B. giving up  C. thinking over  D. walking off

10.A. designer    B. thinker    C. painter        D. writer

11.A. interest    B. secrete    C. trust          D. patience

12.A. shouting    B. working    C. smiling        D. looking

13.A. busy        B. scenic     C. wide           D. peaceful

14.A. career      B. situation  C. history        D. advantage

15.A. Originally  B. Actually   C. Really         D. Recently

16.A. report      B. consider   C. remember       D. study

17.A. record      B. decorate   C. monitor        D. reflect

18.A. watching    B. waiting    C. living         D. traveling

19.A. funny       B. important  C. truthful       D. numerous

20.A. copy        B. describe   C. draw           D. guess

 

We live in a fast-paced and anxiety-filled world that oftentimes seems to shift beneath our feet. Thus we are sometimes affected by fears or anxiety impacting our life. For as long as I could remember I had struggled with anxiety. After I left university, I made friends with a Moroccan woman at work. One day she invited me to     her and her family back home. I wanted to, but I would have to travel there     and I knew we would be in a very rural area. How would I cope with my    ?

    Then one day it     to me that I had a life to live. I could choose to let anxiety     me or I could go to Morocco and     something different. I was 23 years old and had never been out of the UK alone. The journey to Morocco     something inside me. I managed to cope with my anxiety. The sense of     was overwhelming and still to this day when I get afraid of going somewhere alone, I remember how     it felt when I arrived in Morocco.

Upon arrival I was so     for the generous welcome I received. My friend’s family had arranged a welcome party. The people were so loving toward me. As a moment of     felt in a faraway village, this reminded me that I was “good enough”, which helped to     my anxiety.

Waking up the next day, in the morning light, I saw the area where we were. I was     by how rural it was – and the realization that these people had very few     .

    In the days afterwards, I traveled around Morocco. We went to Marrakesh and     the Atlas mountains. We had the most amazing food – lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

    At the end of my     something inside me had changed. I realized I had not felt anxious for nearly two weeks.

Experiencing a different culture far away from home helped me to realize what is important in life, what really    , and with that my anxiety    . When I returned home I was much more active in     my anxiety. Working with people, helping them     their anxiety, is how I can share the love I found in Morocco.

1.A. send                                      B. consult                           C. call                                   D. visit

2.A. alone                                     B. soon                                C. free                                  D. safe

3.A. work                             B. curiosity                          C. homesickness                D. worries

4.A. appeared                    B. hit                                    C. struck                               D. occurred

5.A. impress                       B. control                            C. reach                               D. persuade

6.A. enjoy                                     B. experience                     C. take                                D. experiment

7.A. changed                      B. moved                             C. supported                       D. impressed

8.A. achievement              B. fear                                  C. disappointment             D. embarrassment

9.A. good                                      B. ashamed                         C. afraid                               D. proud

10.A. sorry                                   B. confused                        C. confident                        D. thankful

11.A. doubt                                  B. luck                                  C. love                                  D. surprise

12.A. improve                    B. hold                                 C. protect                            D. reduce

13.A. inspired                    B. moved                             C. pleased                           D. shocked

14.A. lands                                   B. difficulties                      C. resources                       D. friends

15.A. discovered                        B. explored                         C. examined                        D. recognized

16.A. opportunity                       B. rush                                 C. stay                                  D. life

17.A. rules                                   B. exists                               C. matters                            D. hurts

18.A. disappeared                      B. expanded                       C. remained                        D. removed

19.A. expressing                         B. challenging          C. forgetting                        D. remembering

20.A. drop                                    B. notice                    C. pass                                  D. overcome

 

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own, some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.

My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six-week period, to be written every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make a joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.

So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.

1.The passage mainly discusses ________.

A. teaching                     B. literature                    C. humor                D. knowledge

2.The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means ________.

A. funny                B. tiring                          C. inspiring                       D. brilliant

3.The English teacher the writer disliked most ________.

A. was not able to make students laugh                   B. hurt his student’s feelings

C. didn’t let his students do the grading                  D. had no sense of humor

 

We can make mistakes at any age. Some mistakes we make are about money. But most mistakes are about people. "Did Jerry really care when I broke up with Helen?" "When I got that great job, did Jim really feel good about it as a friend? Or did he envy my luck?" "And why didn’t Paul pick up that he was friendly just because I had a car?" When we look back, doubts like these can make us feel bad. But when we look back, it’s too late.

Why do we go wrong about our friends – or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don’t really listen we miss the feelings behind the words. Suppose someone tells you,"You’re a lucky dog." that’s being friendly. But "lucky dog"? There’s a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn’t see it himself. But bringing in the "dog" bit puts you down a little. What he may be saying is that he doesn’t think you deserve your luck.

"Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for" is another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn’t important. It’s telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven’t got a date for Saturday night.

How can you tell the real meaning behind someone’s words? One way is to take a good look at the person while talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people say to you may save another mistake.

1.In the first paragraph, the writer recalls some things that happened between some friends and they __________.

A.think it was a mistake to have broken up with their girl friends

B.feel happy, thinking of how nice their friends were to them in the past

C.feel very sorry that their friends didn't help them and let them down

D.feel they may not have "read" their friends' true feelings correctly

2.In this passage, the writer tries to tell us how to __________.

A.avoid mistakes about money and our friends

B.avoid mistakes in understanding what people really want to tell us

C."size up" people in a more scientific and meaningful way

D.keep people friendly without trusting them any more

3.While we are listening to a person, the important thing for us is __________.

A.to check his words against his manner, tone of voice and posture

B.to notice his tone of voice, his posture, and the look in his eyes

C.to listen to how he pronounces his words in front of you

D.not to believe what he says in any situation or any time

4.According to this passage, the underlined phrase "puts you down" can be replaced by another phrase "__________".

A.reduces you to silence                   B.presses you down

C.makes you humble                      D.makes you sad

 

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