How to become a Good Santa

There are good Santas and there are bad Santas. The good Santas all realize one thing: In the mind of a child, Santa Claus is perfect.

That’s difficult. And so they come from around the world to attend the Charles W. Howard School in Midland, Mich. The school offers a three-day, 40-hour course for Santas hoping to be excellent. There’s a real range to what Santas earn, from big bucks for large events to no pay for charities. One thing for them all is a pure love for children.

A former Macy’s Santa named Charles Howard founded the Michigan school in 1937. “Many people will think if you have a suit and you’re a Santa,” said Tom Valent, the school’s current dean. “It’s more than that.” So with a pet reindeer驯鹿), his properly named wife Holly and a workshop full of wonder.

The school teaches everything from breathing techniques for carol singing to the beard maintenance. There are lessons in child psychology, sign language and even media training for talk-show appearances and call-in shows. Santas also need to make sure they know all the names of the reindeer. What’s harder to deal with, however, is children who ask for Christmas gifts like bringing daddy home or making mommy happy again.

After spending time in the classroom, Weir went to the mall to test his training. However, at one point, his hat fell off, and he was unsure how to react. “You’re the real Santa,” Valent said. “Pick that hat up, slip it back on, keep smiling and do your job. You’ve got to stay on top of your game. Even the last one at night, when you’re tired, you’ve got to remember: This one’s forever, so do a good job.”

 

60. According to the passage, good Santas should be the ones that ________.

A. can offer the children some gifts               B. help adults look after their children

C. have ability to make children happy           D. should be perfect in the mind of children

61. The underlined words “big bucks” should refer to ________.

A. lots of money         B. many gifts            C. loves for children          D. gifts from children

62. The Michigan school was founded by Charles Howard with the purpose to ________.

A. train the pet reindeer for the Santas          B. earned money from its students

C. train perfect Santas for the world            D. show the world’s concern to the poor

63. According to Weir’s performance, we can conclude that ________.

A. Weir was short of experience                 B. Weir was not fit for the job as a Santa

C. Weir did very badly in the game             D. Weir was not a good student in school

I started to love running at a young age. I loved to  36  my father and my sister around the backyard. I couldn’t  37  to get older so that I could run in the Olympics and win lots of  38

One day my mother saw a(n)39  for a race in a newspaper. “Would you be 40  in entering this race ?” she asked me, pointing to the advertisement.

“Yes, of  course!” I answered.

I spent the next few days practicing for my big race. My sister  41  a table in the backyard so she could supply me with water and  42  me.

Just before the race began, my dad  43  in my ear. “Don’t use up all your energy at the beginning of the race. You need to have energy  44   you can speed up at the end.”

Following Dad’s  45  , I didn’t run as fast as I could. Then the other runners started passing me, which made me  46  . I began to feel tired, and started slowing down and  47   harder.

“Coming on, Kelly! You can do it! Keep running.”

Out of the corner of my  48  I saw Dad running beside me around the outside of the track.

“I can’t do it!” I  49   to say.

“You can! Don’t give up! Keep running!” he called back.

I took a deep breath and tried to  50  forward. Dad continued running beside me, shouting encouraging words.

I came fifth, but I felt like a(n) 51  . I’d done my best, and I hadn’t   52   .

I felt thankful that my dad had  53   left my side. He always  54   me when I feel like giving up. He runs alongside me  55   my life.

 

36.

A. bother

B. show

C. race

D. amuse

37.

A. help

B. stop

C. wait

D. compete

38.

A. money

B. gifts

C. flowers

D. medals

39.

A. story

B. report

C. advertisement

D. introduction

40.

A. interested

B. frightened

C. excited

D. surprised

41.

A. asked for

B. set up

C. brought back

D. thought of

42.

A. time

B. respect

C. watch

D. teach

43.

A. replied

B. smiled

C. whispered

D. shouted

44.

A. until

B. because

C. so that

D. if

45.

A. advice

B. step

C. voice

D. guide

46.

A. silent

B. angry

C. surprised

D. nervous

47.

A. running

B. breathing

C. thinking

D. suffering

48.

A. track

B. competitors

C. audience

D. eye

49.

A. continued

B. decided

C. managed

D. remembered

50.

A. speed

B. step

C. look

D. walk

51.

A. commander

B. winner

C. owner

D. actor

52.

A. broken down

B. fallen behind

C. run away

D. given up

53.

A. hardly

B. never

C. always

D. often

54.

A. comforts

B. encourages

C. educates

D. punishes

55.

A. through

B. for

C. about

D. with

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