A small ,white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree and it has been there for the past ten years or so.
It all began because my husband Justin hated Christmas—oh, not the true meaning of Christmas.Overspending was one thing, but compared to the difficult experience of choosing gifts—running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and a pair of gloves for Grandma…,spending money is nothing. I felt too tired to think of any special gifts.
Knowing Justin felt the same way, I decided one year not to buy the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so on. I reached for something special just for Justin. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling （摔跤）at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored (赞助) by an inner-city church.These youngsters, dressed in such worn-out shoes that shoe strings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, while our boys were in their blue and gold uniforms and new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was shocked to see that the other team were wrestling without wearing helmets (头盔) to protect their ears. Well, our boys ended up defeating them. We took every weight class.
Justin, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot potential (潜力) , but losing like this could take the heart out of them.” Justin loved kids—all kids, and he knew them, having coached little league football and baseball. That’s when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought different kinds of wrestling helmets and shoes. I sent them to inner-city church without leaving my name.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Justin what I had done and that was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and since then the envelope has become the highlight of our Christmas.
【小题1】Justin hated Christmas because _____.

Though the ways of teaching have come a long way, the ways of communicating between teachers and students are almost the same. But now, a European country is trying to change that by building schools that have no classrooms, no subject lessons and best of all, no grades.
The idea behind the special school is that children are creative. And researchers also think that kids’ learning and ideas are as important as those of the CEO of Google, so why not give them a similar environment? Kids may be successful in such an environment.
To make kids more creative, the schools are built with special learning areas instead of traditional classrooms. And even the lessons are taught in a special way, with mobile phones and computers.
There is no “right” or “wrong” kind of education. The school believes that everything is a learning experience, whether it is about a serious science project or making a movie inside the school’s recording studio.
One of the special schools opened in August, 2011. It has five learning areas. The Cave is a secluded place where students fix their attention on individual (个人的) projects without being bothered (打扰). The Lab is a place where students can do all kinds of experiments and test their ideas. Kids can work in groups in the same projects in The Camp Fire. The Show Off is where kids can show their inventions. And if the kids need a rest, they can visit The Watering Hole, which has all kinds of fun activities.
Sounds great? And the coolest thing is that the school is free! I hope more schools like this will appear in the world!
【小题1】What is the idea behind the special school?

If you have failed in the past to try to make big changes in life，try again now，one tiny step at a time．

Every year it's the same．As December comes to an end，you think about the new year and all the ways you want to improve your life．But as you start to write down your hopes for the new year，you think about the last year．You excitedly write down all the changes you are going to make，but by the end of January those ideas get lost in your busy life．

Here's a suggestion：Forget the too big，hard-to-achieve goals and just think about the small ones．“We often think that we have to do everything in big steps, even though it's so hard for us to reach it．” said Robert Maurer，who recently wrote the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life．“What we try to do is to begin with such a small step that we can’t find any excuse not to do it．”

“Kaizen”，a Japanese word，is used to mean to change behavior and attitudes（态度）．During World War Il，American factory managers were able to increase productivity by trying small，continuous improvements instead of sudden changes．After the war，the idea was brought to a rebuilding（重建）Japan．It made Japan develop fast．The Japanese called it “kaizen”，which means “improvement”．

Maurer studied the idea and did some experiments with it．“Kaizen” could possibly help people succeed in doing everything．

1．At the end of December，people usually         ．

A．fail to make big changes                              B．plan for the last year

C．think about the new year                             D．try to lose their ideas

2．Robert Maurer wrote a book to tell us         ．

A．we should do everything in big steps

B．how to change one’s life with one small step

C．we should try a lot of sudden changes

D．how to find a small step without any excuse

3．The underlined part “increase productivity” in the passage means “        ”．

A．提高生产率         B．增加成本                C．增加出口量         D．提高待遇

4．The writer of the passage suggests we should         ．

A．make changes at the end of the year             B．do few experiments with “kaizen”

C．do things with hard-to-achieve goals             D．take a tiny step to achieve big goals

5．Which of the following is TRUE from the passage?

A．You can achieve your goals if you are not too busy．

B．Robert Maurer studied “kaizen” and found it helpful．

C．You can't find any excuse not to reach a big goal．

D．“Kaizen” was brought to Japan during World WarⅡ．