Vanilla is my best friend. She is a lovely girl with two big, beautiful eyes. But she always hides them behind a pair of black glasses.
One day, though, I nearly ended our friendship. I remember that day clearly. We were sitting in class. The teacher was giving us our results for a Chinese test. I had done badly. I felt so sad that I wouldn’t talk to anyone. At lunchtime, I even stayed in the classroom alone. Suddenly, I heard a voice. It was Vanilla. “You look very unhappy,” she said. “What’s wrong?” I looked up at her, but said nothing. I knew Vallina had got a good mark in the test. I thought she was making fun of me. I stayed silent(沉默), but Vallina didn’t go away. She kept asking me questions: “Is it because of the exam? Do you want me to show you the right answers?” I looked away from her. When I looked up again, Vanilla had gone. And so had my exam paper! I didn’t know what to do. I looked everywhere for me paper, but couldn’t find it.
In the afternoon, Vanilla came up to my desk and gave me my exam paper back. I looked at it and got a big surprise. Vanilla had written the right answer next to every one of my mistakes. My face went red. Vanilla had been trying to help me all along. How mean I had been to her when she was being so nice. I wanted to hug （拥抱）her, but all I did was to hold her hands and say, “Thank you.” That afternoon, Vanilla and I walked home together. I felt so happy that I had to thank her again. We were still best friends.
【小题1】The sentences “ But she always hides them behind a pair of black glasses.” Really means _________.

Aunt Ma sees an ad(广告)in a newspaper for a nice bed in a shop. It costs 600 yuan. Aunt Ma likes it, so she goes to the shop. The shopkeeper (店主) shows one to her. Aunt Ma has a look at it and says, “There aren’t any beautiful pillows (枕头) on this bed, but there are many on the bed in your ad.”

“Yes, that is an ad,” answers the shopkeeper. “If you want a bed the same as the one in the ad, you need to pay 60 yuan more.”

Aunt Ma isn’t happy. Then she says, “That’s dishonest.”

“Well,” answers the shopkeeper. “Look, there is a girl on a bike in an ad in your newspaper too, but can you buy the bike with the girl?”

1.How does Aunt Ma know about the bed?

2.How much is the bed with the pillows?

3.What does “dishonest” mean?

4.What does Aunt Ma want to do?

5.What else is in Aunt Ma’s newspaper?

Mrs.. Green sees an ad（广告） in a newspaper for a nice bed in a shop. It costs 100 dollars. Mrs.. Green likes it, so she goes to the shop. The shopkeeper shows one to her. Mrs.. Green has a look at it and says, “There aren’t any beautiful pillows(枕头)on this bed, but there are many on the bed in your ad.”
“Yes, madam, that is an ad,” answers the shopkeeper. “If you want a bed the same as the one in the ad, you need to pay 10 dollars more.”
Mrs. Green isn’t happy. Then she says, “That’s dishonest.”
“Well, madam,” answers the shopkeeper. “Look, there is a girl on a bike in an ad in your newspaper too, but can you buy the bike with the girl?”
【小题1】How does Mrs. Green know about the bed?

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.
During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.
Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.
There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.
【小题1】While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.

When women sit together to watch a movie on TV, at the same time they usually talk about a lot of subjects, including children, men, careers and what’s happening in their lives. When groups of men and women watch a movie together, the men usually end up telling the women to shut up. Men can either talk or watch the screen---they can’t do both---and they don’t understand that women can. Besides(此外), women think that the point of all getting together is to have a good time and develop relationships--not just to sit there like couch potatoes staring (盯着) at the screen.

During the ad breaks, a man often asks a woman to explain the plot(the story that is told in a novel or play or movie etc.) and tell him where the relationship between the characters is going. He is unable, unlike women, to read the small body language signals that show how the characters are feeling emotionally(情绪上). Since women originally spent their days with the other women and children in the group, they developed the ability to communicate successfully because they want to keep relationships. For a woman, speech continues to have such a clear purpose: to build relationships and make friends. For men, to talk is to connect to the facts.

Men see the telephone as a communication tool for sending facts and information to other people, but a woman sees it as a way of keeping relationship. A woman can spend two weeks on vacation with her girlfriend and, when she returns home, telephone the same girlfriend and talk for another two hours.

There is no convincing(令人信服的)evidence that social conditioning, the fact that girls’ mothers talked them more, is the reason why girls talk more than boys. Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Lewis, author of Social Behaviour and Language Acquisition, conducted experiments that found mothers talked to and looked at baby girls more often than baby boys. Scientific evidence shows parents reply to the brain differences of their children. Since a girl’s brain is better organized to send and receive speech, we talk to them more. As a result, mothers who try to talk to their sons are usually pointed to receive only short complaints in reply.

1.While watching TV with others, women usually talk a lot because they ___________.

2.After a vacation with her girlfriend, a woman would talk to her again on the phone for hours so as to ___________.

3.What does the writer want to tell us most?

4.Which of the following would be the BEST title for the passage?