The mother of the 13-year-old Dutch girl Laura Dekker, whose plans to make a solo sailing trip around the world have recently made world headlines, has spoken out against the trip. “It breaks my heart to think that because of this I could lose contact with my daughter,” she said in an interview. “I have never before made such a difficult decision. But I must accept the consequences. I would rather have a live daughter who I will never see again than a dead daughter.”

It is the first time that Laura’s mother, Babs Müller, has spoken out against the trip. Laura’s parents are divorced and the girl has lived with her father since she was six. Her father Dick Dekker supports Laura’s plans. However, the Dutch Child Protection Board has decided to place the girl under supervision (监督) for two months to ascertain whether she is mentally and physically capable of undertaking the journey.

Ms Müller says she is confident that Laura is technically capable of making the journey. “She can sail like the devil. That’s not the problem.” However, she is afraid of the problems a 13-year-old girl can encounter in the harbors of Third-World countries and of the psychological (心理上的) pressure of being alone for such a long period on the ocean. “The most important thing, in my eyes, is that she is not yet an adult.”

Ms Müller says she told Laura once before that she was opposed to the idea. Her daughter replied, “If you forbid me, you will have ruined my entire life. Then I’ll never want to see you again.” However, Laura’s mother says that reports that a camera team is planning to follow her around the world could change her opinion about the trip.

1.Laura Dekker’s plans to sail solo around the world .

A. made her parents divorce

B. have attracted wide attention

C. made her father unhappy

D. were a difficult decision to make

2.It can be inferred that Laura Dekker and her mother .

A. are angry with Dick Dekker

B. had a quarrel

C. lost touch with each other

D. are all good sailors

3. We can learn that the Dutch Child Protection Board .

A. will train Laura for two months

B. will help Laura realize her dream

C. cares about Laura’s safety

D. doesn’t believe in Laura at all

4.What does the underlined part “opposed to” mean?

A. Against. B. Shocked by.

C. Beyond. D. Satisfied with.

 

Americans do many different things during their vacations. Some people stay at home and enjoy time with their families. They may go to a local swimming pool, zoo or museum. Other people travel to enjoy large national parks, the mountains, the ocean, or large amusement parks. Many people visit interesting American cities or historic areas. Some people visit family members in other states. Still other Americans visit foreign countries.

Recently there is a new use for vacation time — learning about a new kind of job. This program is called Vocation Vacations. People pay between six hundred and five thousand dollars to work at a job for a few days or a week.

Brian Kurth of Portland, Oregon, started Vocation Vacations. He says it serves a valuable purpose. It gives people a chance to try out a job they always wanted without leaving their present job.

People use Vocation Vacations to try many kinds of jobs around the United States. These are jobs that anyone can learn to do. For example, they can learn how to make beer, wine, cheese or cakes. They can help train dogs or horses. They can learn how to be a hunting and fishing guide or a gardener. They can work with a sports announcer, television producer, wedding planner or photographer. Or they can learn how to operate a very small hotel, called a “bed and breakfast”.

Vocation Vacations recently added several new jobs. They include comedians, dog-sled (雪橇) drivers and hair stylists. The company says the most popular job so far is winemaking.

The Vocation Vacations Website recently asked visitors what prevents them from working at their dream job. More than two thousand people answered. Forty-two percent said the main block is money. Lack of the right education or experience was the answer given by twenty-five percent. Other answers included fear of failure and lack of family support.

1.From the first paragraph we can learn that on holiday .

A. Americans often try out new jobs

B. Americans prefer to travel

C. what Americans usually do

D. how Americans enjoy themselves at home

2.What is “Vocation Vacations” according to the passage?

A. The best way of enjoying time with one’s family.

B. A program of learning a new job on holiday.

C. A chance to learn how to operate a hotel.

D. The most popular jobs around the US.

3.It seems that most of the jobs in Vocation Vacations are .

A. difficult B. boring

C. expensive D. enjoyable

4. When people take the jobs in vocation vacations, .

A. they can choose many kinds of them

B. they can get some money for their work

C. they must have much experience

D. they must have a lot of money

 

A 400-pound adult male gorilla (大猩猩) escaped from his cage at the Buffalo Zoo on Monday. He bit a female zookeeper before being caught. The 24-year-old gorilla came out of his living quarters through an unlocked door on Monday morning. He ran into the space which was used by zoo workers but closed to the public.

A keeper who has cared for Koga since he arrived in 2007 was bitten on her hand and leg. Zoo officials said it was an act of excitement. “He was probably just as surprised coming face to face with her as she was with him,” Buffalo Zoo President Donna Fernandes said.

The keeper took refuge (庇护) inside the habitat of a female gorilla and her newborn baby. The keeper’s decision to lock herself inside the separate habitat likely kept her from being further harmed. The keeper had a good relationship with the mother who, like Koga, is a west lowland gorilla, native to West Africa and the Congo River Basin, according to Fernandes.

Several locked doors prevented Koga from running wildly through the zoo and beyond. The police sent in a team to make sure the area was safe while a vet (兽医) used a pipe to sedate (给……服镇静剂) Koga. The gorilla was dragged by the zoo staff back to his cage once the drugs took hold.

Visitors to the zoo were moved indoors and stayed there for about 45 minutes while the team was trying to catch the gorilla and send it back to his cage. “That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my career,” said the team’s captain Mark Maraschiello. “It’s a 400-pound gorilla. Nobody knew what harm he could do to us. He could have bitten my arm off easily,” Maraschiello added.

1.What is the main idea of this passage?

A. A zoo keeper was injured while working at the zoo.

B. A zoo keeper forgot to lock the door of a gorilla’s cage.

C. A 400-pound gorilla ran wildly in the zoo after breaking his cage.

D. A 400-pound gorilla bit a zoo keeper after escaping from his cage.

2.According to Donna Fernandes, the gorilla bit the zoo keeper because .

A. he was too angry to see the zoo keeper

B. he was too excited to see the zoo keeper

C. he didn’t want to be sent back to the cage

D. he wanted to find some delicious food

3.What did the zoo keeper do after being bitten by the gorilla?

A. She asked another gorilla to protect her.

B. She tried her best to comfort him.

C. She locked herself in a cage of another gorilla.

D. She called the police and asked them to rescue her.

4.According to the last paragraph, how did Mark Maraschiello feel when he was trying to catch the gorilla?

A. Excited. B. Calm.

C. Angry. D. Frightened.

 

I'm not so sure I like my friends any more. I used to like them—to be honest. We'd have lunch,talk on the phone or exchange e-mails,and they all seemed normal enough. But then came Facebook and I was introduced to a sad fact:many of my friends have dark sides that they had kept from me.

Today my friends show off the unpleasant aspects of their personalities via Facebook. No longer hidden,they're thrown in my face like TV commercials—unavoidable and endless advertisements for the worst of their personalities.

Take Fred. If you were to have lunch with him,you'd find him warm,and down-to-earth. Read his Facebook and you realize he's an unbearable,food-obsessed bore. He'd pause to have a cup of coffee on his way to save a drowning man—and then write about it.

Take Andy. You won't find a smarter CEO anywhere,but now he's a CEO without a company to run. So he plays “Mafia Wars” on Facebook. He's doing well-level 731.Thanks to Facebook,I know he's playing about 18 hours a day. Andy,you've run four companies—and this is how you spend your downtime? What happened to golf? What happened to getting another job?

Take Liz. She is positive that the H1N1 vaccine will kill us all and that we should avoid it. And then comes Chris who likes to post at least 20 times a day on every website he can find,so I get to read his thoughts twice,once on Facebook and once on Twitter.

In real life,I don't see these sides of people. Face to face,my friends show me their best. They're nice,smart people. But facing Facebook,my friends are like a blind date which goes horribly wrong.

I'm left with a dilemma. Who is my real friend? Is it the Liz I have lunch with or the anti-vaccine lunatic(狂人) on Facebook? Is it the Fred I can grab a sandwich with or the Fred who weeps if he's at a party and the wine isn't up to his standards?

1.According to the text,Facebook tends to ________.

A.present another side of people

B.offer some food for free

C.show endless advertisements

D.get you to attend more parties

2.The text is developed mainly by ________.

A.giving examples B.following the time order

C.listing figures D.raising questions

3.The author focuses on the question of “________”.

A.what is Facebook? B.what happened to golf?

C.who is my real friend? D.who can help me?

 

Why Exercise is Cool?

1. Exercise Strengthens Muscles

Did you ever do a push-up or swing across the monkey bars at the playground? __1._ By using your muscles to do powerful things, you can make them stronger. For older teens and adults, this kind of workout can make muscles bigger, too.

2. 2.__

Can you touch your toes easily without yelling ouch? Most kids are pretty flexible, which means that they can bend and stretch their bodies without much trouble. Being flexible is having “full range of motion,” which means you can move your arms and legs freely without feeling tightness or pain.

3. Exercise Keeps the Balance

__3._ Your body needs a certain amount of calories every day just to function, breathe, walk around, and do all the basic stuff. _4.__ If you’re not very active, your body won’t need as many calories.

Whatever your calorie need is, if you eat enough to meet that need, your body weight will stay about the same. If you eat more calories than your body needs, it may be stored as extra fat.

4. Exercise Makes You Feel Good

It feels good to have a strong, flexible(灵活的) body that can do all the activities you enjoy — like running, jumping, and playing with your friends. It’s also fun to be good at something, like scoring a basket, hitting a home run, or perfecting a dive.

But you may not know that exercising can actually put you in a better mood. _5._ It’s just another reason why exercise is cool!

A. So you want to do some aerobic (有氧的) exercise right now?

B. Food gives your body fuel in the form of calories, which are a kind of energy.

C.When you exercise, your brain releases a chemical, which may make you feel happier.

D. Those are exercises that can build strength.

E. Exercise Makes You Flexible

F. Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy

G. But if you’re active, your body needs an extra measure of calories or energy.

 

When I was in primary school, I got into a major argument with a boy in my class. I can’t what it was about, but I have never forgotten the I learned that day.

I was that I was right and he was wrong--and he was sure that I was wrong and he was right. The decided to teach us a very important lesson. She both of us up to the of the class and him on one side of her desk and me on . In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could see that it was black. She asked the boy what the object was. “White,” he answered.

I couldn’t believe he said the object was white, it was obviously black! Another started between my classmate and me, this about the color of the object.

The teacher told me to go and stand where the boy was standing and told him to come and stand where I had been. We changed , and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I answer, “White.” It was an object with two colored sides, and from his side it was white. from my side was it black.

My teacher taught me a very important lesson that day: You must in the other person’s shoes and look at the through their eyes in order to understand their view.

1.A. think B. suppose C. remind D. remember

2.A. lesson B. lecture C. class D. text

3.A. told B. wished C. convinced D. allowed

4.A. officer B. teacher C. doctor D. parent

5.A. told B. came C. brought D. woke

6.A. back B. front C. middle D. side

7.A. planted B. placed C. had D. fixed

8.A. the other B. another C. other D. others

9.A. happily B. fortunately C. clearly D. nearly

10.A. width B. shape C. color D. size

11.A. when B. unless C. until D. if

12.A. fight B. argument C. conversation D. game

13.A. time B. year C. month D. day

14.A. places B. seats C. attitudes D. glasses

15.A. needed to B. was able to C. hoped to D. had to

16.A. similarly B. differently C. beautifully D. surprisingly

17.A. Still B. Since C. Only D. Also

18.A. seat B. stand C. lie D. put

19.A. situation B. movement C. condition D. behavior

20.A. unexpectedly B. suddenly C. quietly D. truly

 

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