Several different stories are told about the origin（由来） of Saint Valentine's Day（情人节）. One legend(传奇) dates as far back as the clays of the Roman Empire, according to the story, Claudius, the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of the army. He knew that it would be easier to get young man who were not married to join. Therefore he made a rule that no young man could marry until he had served a certain number of years in the army.

A priest（牧师） named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great many young people. Finally, Claudius found out about Valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on February 14.

After his death, Valentine was made a saint, and the day of his death was named Saint Valentine's Day. It became the custom for lovers to send each other message on this day. Now Saint Valentine's Day is a time for people to send one another greeting of many kinds.

February 14, Valentine's Day, is a sweethearts' day, on which people in love with each other express their tender emotions. People sometimes put their love message in a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons. Words of letters may be written on the flower covered card, or something else. Whatever the form may be, the message is almost the same "will you be my Valentine?"

Valentine was put in prison because ________.

A. he secretly got married                                        

B. he didn't serve in the army

C. he married many young people secretly              

D. he broke the laws

According to the rule ________.

A. no young men could get married unless they were old enough

B. young men could marry if they served in the army for several years

C. no one could get married without the emperor's permission

D. young could marry only in the army

This passage mainly tells us about _________.

A. how Valentine died                                             

B. the Emperor of Rome

C. how Valentine's Day is celebrated                    

D. the origin of Valentine's Day

February 14 is chosen Valentine's Day because __________.

A. lovers express their tender emotions on this day   

   B. people want to remember Valentine

C. people send one another greetings of many kinds on this day

D. people want to fix a date for lovers to express their emotions

I break off a piece of candy and take pleasure in its sweet outside and the bitter, dark chocolate inside, thinking of my own life. Being raised by a single parent was a bitter-sweet 36 , which gave me motivation and ambition.

There were several years that have left a(n)  37   bitter taste in my mouth —those when my mother married a man and moved my sister, Emily, and me several states away from our hometown. The first few months were  38  : baseball games, family trips to the mall, dinners and movies together. Then things changed. Baseball became too expensive, and trips to the mall were  39  by days Emily and I spent isolated (孤立的) in our rooms under our stepfather’s    40   . Moreover, screaming matches between him and our mother always  41  dinner. We spent five years living in a family that had  42  a war zone. Emily and I almost grew used to this situation . Then one evening, after another argument had erupted , we left home. I was 14, my sister 11, and we were  43  .A friend of my mother let us stay with her.

Instead of focusing on our economic instability, my mother selflessly pushed me to struggle for success. She wanted me to lead a more  44  life than hers. She worked long hours every night to pay her bills.  45   , she would find time to read and play with Emily and me. Mom taught me the  46  of perseverance (坚持不懈) and education. We finally settled in Texas. And now, writing this essay with my favorite candy close at hand, I realize my family and I are at the best points of our lives. I haven’t let the trying times stop me from making  47   , both academically and personally. I know that a bitter environment can provide good learning experiences, and that success, even more than candy, is the sweetest treat of all.

1.A. behavior                B. habit                    C. activity                  D. experience

2.A. hardly                        B. extremely      C. potentially           D. Gently

3.A. sweet                    B. bitter                     C. boring                  D. terrible

4.A. concerned           B. associated    C. accompanied       D. replaced

5.A. sympathy              B. reminder    C. orders                  D. requests

6.A. separated             B. interrupted           C. harmed                 D. Adjusted

7.A. turned into           B. turned up     C. turned down        D. turned on

8.A. homeless             B. lucky                      C. educated              D. wealthy

9.A. interesting      B. comfortable    C. simple                  D. typical

10.A. Instead              B. Otherwise      C. Meanwhile          D. Therefore

11.A. value                 B. cost                C. price                               D. theme

12.A. emotions                    B. expectations           C. fortunes                        D. achievements

 

Laugh and Smile Your Way to Health

How much do you laugh and smile during the day? Do you take your life and your illness or injury so   36    that there is no room for joy to fill you? Want a totally free, simple way to increase your    37     and your health with no medicine needed? Then laughing and smiling is   38   to you

So laugh your way to happiness.   39    it takes to put a smile on your face is what you should be doing.  

Research shows that laughing can increase the immune system,   40    the body to stay disease free and fight colds and the flu.

If you are facing an illness , having a positive life opinion and a   41    of humor will keep your body open to healing. If you are healthy, laughing will help to make sure you stay that way, and can    42     enjoyment to your work and home life and   43   your daily stress.

Certainly, it can be   44   to keep a positive opinion of life all the time. Simply taking the time to   45   on the positive and treat for the good things    46   in your life can help   47   , but if you are struggling with negative emotions that you just can’t seem to    48    , there are tools that can help.

There are so many things out there to smile about and   49   you have to do is find   50   . Practice looking for the bright   51   of every situation. Avoid the negative：don't   52    yourself with your own problems—or    53    others for their "shortcomings." And don’t pay no attention to the joy in everyday things. Create your own "Laugh for Health"   54    —anything to add to your collection and to give you fresh materials that   55   to you.

36.A. proudly               B.seriously                   C.carefully                   D.freely

37. A.burdens               B.spirits                       C.loads                         D.values

38. A.beneficial             B.changeable                C.suitable                     D.harmful

39. A.However              B.Whenever                  C.Whatever                  D.Whichever

40.A.helping            B.making                            C.letting                       D.causing

41. A.taste                   B.sense                         C.knowledge                 D.joy

42. A.adjust                  B.adapt                        C.apply                        D.add

43. A.improve              B.arise                         C.cancel                       D.reduce

44. A.hard                    B.awful                        C.energetic                   D.helpful

45. A.concentrate          B.put                           C.focus                        D.interview

46. A.carefully                 B.thankfully                 C.particularly                D.differently

47..A.remarkably          B.accidentally               C.frequently                 D.purposefully

48.A.seek                   B.stress                        C.accept                       D. overcome

49. A.all                       B.that                           C.how                          D.why

50. A.it                        B.that                           C.this                           D.one

51. A.side                         B.plan                         C.aspect                  D.future

52.A.depend                 B.abandon                    C.load                          D.ban

53.A.praise                   B.miss                          C.approve                     D. blame

54. A.ambition                 B.summary                   C.message                    D.collection

55.A. appeal                 B.apply                        C.center                       D.assume

Franz Kafka wrote that “A book must be the ax(斧子)for the frozen sea inside us.” I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, and it didn’t seem to require any explanation.

We’d just finished John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men. When we read the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little, and so did I. “Are you crying?” one girl asked, as she got out of her chair to take a closer look. “I am,” I told her, “and the funny thing is I’ve read it many times.”

But they understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that we realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I’ve taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless; kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. They understand, more than I ever will, the novel’s terrible logic—the giving way of dreams to fate (命运).

For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature(文学) with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school—one that often attracts the literary-minded (有文学头脑的) children of Manhattan’s upper classes—into a less competitive school. The daughter of immigrants (移民), with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates. I thought additional “cultural capital” could help students like her develop better in high school, where they would unavoidably meet, perhaps for the first time, students who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph.D.’s.

Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. The students didn’t always read from the expected point of view. About The Red Pony, one student said, “it's about being a man, it’s about manliness (男子气概).” I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth’s soliloquies (独白) read as raps, but both made sense; the interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck’s writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that “all these people hate each other, and they’re all white.” His historical view was broadening, his sense of his own country deepening. Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in their first year in college as a result of the classes.

Year after year, however, we are increasing the number of practice tests. We are trying to teach students to read increasingly complex texts, not for emotional punch (碰撞) but for text complexity. Yet, we cannot enrich the minds of our students by testing them on texts that ignore their hearts. We are teaching them that words do not amaze but confuse. We may succeed in raising test scores, but we will fail to teach them that reading can be transformative and that it belongs to them.

1.The underlined words in Paragraph 1 probably mean that a book helps to________.

A．realize our dreams

B．give support to our life

C．smooth away difficulties

D．awake our emotions

2.Why were the students able to understand the novel Of Mice and Men?

A．Because they spent much time reading it.

B．Because they had read the novel before.

C．Because they came from a public school.

D．Because they had similar life experiences.

3.The girl left the selective high school possibly because ________.

A．she was a literary-minded girl

B．her parents were immigrants

C．she couldn’t fit in with her class

D．her father was then in prison

4.To the author’s surprise, the students read the novels ________.

A．creatively         B．passively          C．repeatedly        D．carelessly

5.The author writes the passage mainly to ________.

A．introduce classic works of literature

B．advocate teaching literature to touch the heart

C．argue for equality among high school students

D．defend the current testing system

 

A major source of teen stress is school exams, and test anxiety is not uncommon. When you recognize your teen is under stress, how can parents help your teen stay calm before an exam?

Be involved. Parents need to be involved in their teen’s work. 1._ What they look for is your presence — to talk, to cry, or simply to sit with them quietly. Communicate openly with your teen. Encourage your teen to express her worries and fears, but don’t let them focus on those fears.

Help them get organized. 2.   Together , you and your teen can work out a time—table in which she can study for what she knows will be on the test.

Provide a calm setting. Help your teen set up a quiet place to study and protect his privacy. Give them a nutritious diet. It is important for your teen to eat a healthy, balanced diet during exam times to focus and do her best.  3.    If this happens, encourage your teen to eat light meals or sandwiches. A healthy diet, rather than junk food, is best for reducing stress.

4.    Persuade your teenager to get some sleep and /or do something active when she needs a real break from studying. Making time for relaxation, fun, and exercise are all important in reducing stress. Help your teen balance her time so that she will feel comfortable taking time out from studying to spend time with friends or rest.

Show a positive attitude.  5.   Your panic, anxiety and blame contribute to your teen’s pressure. Make your teen feel accepted and valued for her efforts. Most importantly, reassure your teen that things will be all right, no matter what the results are.

A．A parent’s attitude will influence their teen’s emotions.

B．Exam stress can make some teens lose their appetite.

C．They will only make the situation worse.

D．Encourage your teen to relax.

E. The best thing is simply to listen.

F. Help your teen think about what she has to study and plan accordingly.

G. Your teen may also make negative comments about themselves