In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.

Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product-the television set.

By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners-meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.

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The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by        

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In the past, Americans tended to          .

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The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to        .

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. The best title for this passage might be       

It is common to consider learning as something that takes place in school, but much of human learning occurs outside the classroom, even from birth and people continue to learn throughout their lives.

Even before they enter school, young children learn to walk, to talk, and to use their hands to use toys, food, and other objects. They use all of their senses to learn about the sights,sounds,tastes, and smells in their environments. They learn how to communicate with their parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and other people important to their world. When they enter school, children learn basic academic subjects such as reading, writing, and mathematics, They also continue to learn a great deal outside the classroom. They learn which behaviors are likely to be rewarded and which are likely to be punished. They learn social skills for communicating with other children. After they finish school, people must learn to deal with the many major changes that affect their lives, such as getting married, raising children, and finding and keeping a job.

Because learning continues throughout our lives and affects almost everything we do, the study of learning is important in many different fields. Teachers need to understand the best ways to educate children. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and other human-service workers need to understand how certain experiences change people’s behaviors. Employers, politicians, and advertisers make use of the principles of learning to affect the behavior of workers, voters, and consumers.

Learning is closely related to memory, which is the storage of information in the brain. Psychologists who study memory are interested in how the brain stores knowledge, where this storage takes place and how the brain later outputs knowledge when we need it. In contrast, psychologists who study learning are more interested in behavior and how behavior changes as a result of a person’s experiences.

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The author thinks “Learning” in the passage most refers to       .

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The underlined “siblings” in the second paragraph probably means    

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Which period of children’s life do they begin to learn how to behave well according to the passage?     .

Do you know Australia? Australia is the largest island in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth.  1 The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.  2 The cities in Australia have got little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can

clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in western Australia, and went to a wild flowers’ exhibition  3 We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. In spring every year Perth has the wild flowers’ exhibition.

After visiting Perth, we spent the day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves. Suddenly we heard bells ringing at the top of the hill. 4  There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path.  5  After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere are sheep.

E. What we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to the car as quickly as we could.

F. There we saw a large number of wild flowers we had never seen before.

G. The people of Australia are very hardworking.

I’m going to see what Dad is________. Two hours is a long time to take over a coffee.

After graduating from college, I took some time off to go travelling, ________turned out to be a wise decision.

For many years, people________ electric cars. However, making them has been more difficult than predicted.

Teachers recommend parents________ their children under 12 to ride bicycles to school for safety.

That day I was later for school, so Mom offered me a   36 . I sat beside her in our car, daydreaming about my  37 . I’d be graduating from high school in a few months. I’d leave high school behind and do whatever I wanted. What  38 I do? Go to college? Or get a job in an office where I could  39 my way up?

Mom interrupted my thoughts.“Kassandra, do you  40  that?’’She asked just as we were  41  the railroad tracks. She stopped the car on the other side and   42  the window. “It looks like a child.’’  43 ,I saw a small boy walking by himeself. The warning lights on the train tracks flashed  44 .The boy stayed where he was right in the middle of the   45 .The whistle sounded. There’s no  46  that train can stop in time!The boy jumped up and down and   47  at the engineer.

I took off running. My shoes flopped(松动) against my feet as I   48 , so I kicked them off. I ran faster. Stones crunched(发出刺耳的碎裂声) and flew under my   49  feet. The ground shook. God, let me get to him! The train was almost on top of him. I   50 the boy in my arms. Keep running! But something   51  

me. I fell backward, away from the train. I pulled the boy with me onto safe ground. The train barreled(高速行驶)past. The noise was  52 . The wheels were so close that I could have reached out and touched one.

Once the train was out of  53 , I stood up. Mom ran up and hugged me. “Kassandra, I didn’t think you were going to  54 it !’’

I got ready for bed that night  55 looking forward to school the next day. I wanted to enjoy every moment in life.

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Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water! This is just one of the hundreds of tips you might get if you have the hiccups(打嗝). Hiccups are so mysterious. We really don’t know why they start and why they stop.

Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups. Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well. Others eat a teaspoon of sugar. Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it.

An American man named Jack O’Leary claimed to have hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years. He tried 60,000 cures, but none of them worked. Finally he prayed to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately.

It took a British plumber eight months to cure his hiccups. People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well. He tried them all, but the hiccups continued. Finally, he drank a “secret’’mixture someone had sent him. By that evening his hiccups were gone. Why did these cures work for these two men? No one really knows. But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea. Hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure.

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________might be the best cure for hiccups.

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The plumber spent________in stopping his hiccups.

3.

According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

4.

What is the main idea of this passage?

Most people who experience bad service while traveling, shopping, or dining out do no complain. They accept bad services or products without making a sound. Why? Many feel complaining won’t do any good. In fact, they’re wrong, because companies don’t want their customers unhappy. Not sure you can do it? Here are some ways to use when things go wrong.

1.If you have a complaint, do something about it right away. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get your complaint solved.

2.First, complain to the servers. If they are not going to solve your problem, then ask politely to speak to a manager. And if that doesn’t work, you can always request to speak to the manager’s manager!

3.Demand a discount(折扣). Let’s say you were promised a hotel room with an ocean view, but got a view of a brick wall instead; if you were promised a seat in the front of a plane, but got a seat in the back. You should do something about both of these situations. Ask a special discount.

4.Don’t be passive. Offer ways you think the company can satisfy you.

5.Insist on the price you were told. If you are refused, get a manager’s name and telephone number, and promise to follow up with a letter and a telephone call.

6.If all else fails, wait until you get home and take action. Call the company’s head office, and speak to the most powerful person possible. Then follow up your call with a letter of complaint. If necessary, call the customer protection office in your city and complain.

1.

According to the text, people don’t complain because________.

2.

To complain about something, you should________.

3.

What might be the best title for the text?