I really hadn’t meant to yell at them. But that grey afternoon saw it just as my son and daughter were making a terrible mess on the floor in the kitchen.

    With a tiresome report to write, I felt bothered at my desk. Suddenly, it occurred to me that me kids were at fault. A voice inside me insisted that I do something quickly.

“OK, you two here, but what an awful thing you are attempting!” Shouting angrily, I made for them, while it became evident that the boy wanted no part of me. “Get away from us!” he shouted back, there being expression of support from his sister.

    All of a sudden, I found the fault in myself. Quickly I shaped my hands into pincers （螃蟹鳌） and crawled towards them, “Crabby Daddy is here. Ha, Ha, Ha, he likes to yell at children, and then eat them!” My son continued to keep me away, but now he was laughing an crying at the same time. My mission to repair the damage caused by my yelling seemed to work well. Still, I regretted not having controlled myself first in a right way that my children could do after.

Need I let them know how badly they were acting by blaming? This is a lesson that serves myself. It only shows just how to get rid of something （ill-feeling, responsibility…） by blaming others. It’s not my “best self”.

    We have to search for our “best self” when with our children. They don’t need perfect parents, but they do need parents who are always trying to get better. Here, I’m reminded of the words of a great thinker. “When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook…” Then, in our lifetime, couldn’t we always speak to our kids in such a sweet voice since most of us consider them as the most precious in the world? And before we reach this level, what should we do when we come across various difficult cases with our children?

1．The author couldn’t help yelling at his kids this time probably because ______.

       A．the weather was so unpleasant

       B．he was tired of his boring work

       C．the kids didn’t ask him to join them

       D．a Daddy has his right to do so

2．Which of the following made the author aware of his fault?

       A．No obvious reason.

       B．The boy’s yelling back.

       C．His self-awareness.

       D．The girl’s expression.

3．According to the passage, the author will ______ in another similar situation.

       A．play a crab again like this time

       B．apologize to kids in a sincere way

       C．avoid blaming kids in a hurry

       D．beat them up about such things

4．What will the writer go on to write about in the next paragraph（s）?

       A．How to behave ourselves properly when kids are at fault.

       B．How to blame our children in a more interesting way.

       C．How to deal with the terrible mess made by our kids.

       D．How to persuade children to do what they are told to.

No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change over time. Yet there is a surprising uniformity （一致） in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.

    What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.

    Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. Gone with the Wind has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or Don Quixote. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.

    Great books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.

Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.

Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified （加强）, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.

1．Which is NOT the criterion in the following when evaluating a great book?

       A．Although not a best seller, it must be the most widely read.

       B．A great book can be read without any effort.

       C．Great books are never out of date.

       D．Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well.

2．According to the author, Gone With the Wind is ______.

       A．a best seller        

       B．disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare

       C．read more often than Don Quixote

       D．a great book

3．After reading the passage, we can infer that ______.

   A．different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for

      people to choose from

   B．if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an

      advanced one

   C．Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out

   D．great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have

      confidence in settling them

4．The best title for this passage is ______.

       A．Great Books in Your Life                      B．Great Books in Your Specialty

C．How to Find a Great Book?          D．What Is a Great Book?

1．The old lady s________ her husband by three years.

2．That will cost you 750 yuan in t________.

3．O_____ to the show, the baseball game was put off.

4．Where can I e___________ my dollars for RMB?

5．When the position finally became v_______, they offered it to Fiona.

6．She is a ___________（自愿的，义务的） worker at the hospital.

7．When did you take the _______ （课程）of French?

8．We are ___________（印象深刻的）with the standard of the children’s works.

9．It is one ________（度）below freezing today.

10．Train services are back to _________（正常）again after the strike.

In _____ world of uncertain energy prices, light rail looks like___ smart choice.

A．the, the                   B．/, a                  C．a, a                   D．a, the  

----Why doesn’t he turn up yet? It’s almost time for meeting.

---- It’s no ________ that he didn’t come.

A．difference           B．importance           C．relation           D．matter  

____ her so excited last night?

A．What do you imagine making                   B．What do you imagine made

C．Do you imagine what made                     D．Do you imagine what had made

I wonder what will become of my daughter. _______endless homework, she also bears

other leading loads such as revision and recitation.

A．As well as               B．With                C．Except              D．Rather than

I _____ my son _____ a doctor, but he wasn’t good enough at science.

A．hoped; would become                              B．had hoped; would become

C．had hoped; will become                D．hope; will become 

----The weather isn’t good enough for an outing, is it

----Not in the least. We can’t have_____ at this time of the year.

A．a nicer day            B．a worse day              C．such a bad day           D．so fine a day 

The teacher went up to the sleeping student and patting him on the head, _____.

A．walking him up                      B．to wake him up  

C．woke him up                                    D．waken him away