Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.

My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very   36   life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would   37   my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”

At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never   38   again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I didn’t want to be bad enough. She   39   that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school-walking on my own!

When the Great Depression（大萧条）  40  , my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support（支撑） both of us. At that moment, I decided never to be   41   again.

Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real   42   point happened on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1916. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels for families and was angry that they charged（收费）an extra $2 for each child. That was too   43   for most American families. I told my wife that I was going to open a hotel for families that would never charge extra for   44  . There were plenty of doubters at that time.

Not   45  , mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of hard time. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my heart, I   46   doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world­ - Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.

You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a   47   in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.

1.A. quiet          B. boring               C. hard          D. strange

2.A. accept         B. change               C. disturb           D. check

3. A. study         B. speak                C. listen            D. walk

4.A. drove              B. expected        C. explained        D. covered

5.A. did            B. hit             C. cut           D. fit

6.A. excited       B. brave                C. patient           D. poor

7.A. leading            B. breaking         C. turning      D. celebrating

8. A. expensive     B. fantastic            C. different        D. special

9.A. husband        B. parents          C. children          D. wife

10.A. successfully     B. surprisingly          C. interestingly     D. importantly  

11.A. always           B. sometimes            C. almost       D. never

12.A. task              B. hotel               C. company      D. wor

 

If you go to Finland, you’ll be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.

Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high class Benz with a fare (票价) of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then get off without paying your fare. And the driver would not show the least sign of worry.

The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends and dine free of charge.

With so many loopholes (漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “pretty advantages”. But the strange things is, all the taxi-passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. As the Finns always act on good faith and always show an attitude of “which is which” and “what is what” in everything they do, so to live in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”. In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to take precautions (预防措施) against others?

1.The word “foolish” probably means _____________.

A．friendly

B．careful

C．strange

D．funny

2.Why wouldn’t the driver show the least sign of worry? Because _________.

A．he is sure that the passengers always act on good faith

B．he is afraid to make the passengers angry and unhappy

C．he thinks the passengers may be too poor to pay him

D．he is sure that the passengers are really in trouble

3.The dining rooms in all big hotels ___________.

A．check the guests’ registration card carefully

B．give people meals without paying

C．serve their guests free of charge

D．only serve their guests free breakfast

4.What’s FALSE according to the passage?

A．No one takes advantages although there are many loopholes.

B．All the taxi-passengers come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business.

C．Not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms.

D．Finland is heaven for immoral people because they can always take advantages freely.

5.The sentences “which is which” and “what is what” show that __________.

A．the Finns are foolish

B．the Finns take things seriously

C．the Finns are busy making money for the family

D．the Finns never take precaution against others

 

Have you ever stayed in a hotel ? Most Chinese hotels often provide guests with things like disposable(一次性的) toothbrushes , toothpaste , shampoo, and slippers. Many guests like the idea because they don’t have to bring their own . But , if you travel to Beijing , remember to bring your own things. Starting from now on , some hotels in Beijing will no longer provide guests with these disposables. They want to ask people to use less disposable things.
Many disposable things are made of plastic. People throw them away after only using them once. It is a waste of natural resources and is very bad for the environment . Do you know , one Chinese person makes as much as 400Kg of waste a year! Most of that waste comes from disposable things. In Beijing , people throw away about 19,000 tons of plastic bags and 1,320 tons of plastic lunch bowls every year! Plastic can take between 100 and 400 years to break down. So the less plastic we throw out, the better. So, wherever you travel , bring your own things and use them again and again .
Back at home and school, you can also do something to make our world a better place .Try to do these things in your daily life: Use cloth shopping bags , not plastic ones. After using a plastic bag , wash it out and let it dry. Then you can use it over and over again. Do not use paper cups. At your school canteen(食堂), use your own bowl and chopsticks instead of disposable ones.
【小题1】Why do many hotels provide guests with some disposable things ?

A．Let their guests be convenient during their travelling .

B．Hope their guests use less disposable things.

C．Wish their guests to save money.

D．Want their guests to use more disposable things .

【小题2】From the passage we learn that some Beijing hotels will no longer provide guests with __________________.

A．cheap food and drink

B．disposable things

C．good service

D．free TV programs

【小题3】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage ?

A．Many disposable things are made of plastic.

B．Throwing disposable things away is a waste of natural resources .

C．Plastic is very bad for the environment .

D．Plastic can be broken down easily.

【小题4】What can we do to make our world a better place at home and school ?

A．Use shopping bags made of plastic

B．Use disposable plates , bowls and chopsticks .

C．Do not throw away paper cups.

D．Do not forget to reuse daily necessities (必需品).

【小题5】We can learn from the passage that _________________________________.

A．people don't like disposable things at all.

B．we can't use paper or plastic bowls at school

C．We should use less plastic things and protect our environment

D．hotels won’t provide disposable things because they want to save money

请阅读下面关于宠物的材料，给A—E选择恰当的标题。

A. Many people like animals and take them as their pets. Pet hospitals are very busy. Kind persons who love animals are needed to work in busy animal hospitals. They will teach you the job.

B. Scientists think that pets will probably be much smaller, because people in the future will be living in much smaller spaces. Scientists are already working on making very small farm animals. The same things might be done to make smaller cats and dogs.

C. It's said that some day you might own a panther (豹) as a pet. Some scientists believe that they might have to start turning wild animals into pets, since this might be the only way to save them from dying out.

D. What about a robot（机器人）for a pet? This may sound silly, but it could become true. Robot dogs have been made to get things, to bark like real dogs. These “pets” might become more and more popular in the future. After all, robots don’t lose hair or eat things the way real pets do.

E. Lots of people miss their pets while they are on holiday. One hotel in Minnesota has solved this problem. They lend cats to their guests. Many experts（专家）believe this idea will become more and more popular. It is very possible that in the future you will be able to have a pet while in a hotel.

1.Pet Hotels.

2.Smaller Pets.

3.Robots for Pets.

4.A Panther for Pet.

5.People Needed in Pet Hospital.

 

Welcome to Hotel Fun 4 Kids! Do you know what hotels are friendly to children or even your pets? We rate(评估) the hotels for you. You’ll decide on the right hotel if you know the meanings of these symbols when you travel. You can find more information on our website(网页) on www.hotelfun4kids. com.

1.What words of the following can help you find a pet-friendly hotel?

A. No Pets!      B. Pets Too!     C. Pets Are Not Welcome!    D. Without Your Pets!

2.Mrs Black has to leave her 5-year-old son Tom in the hotel for a while. So, she’d better go to the hotel with the symbol       .

3.If Mrs Black’s 5-year-old son Tom stays in the hotel with the fourth symbol, he can         .

A. play with his pet      B. play in the game room

C. do many activities     D. spend no money there

4.Hotel Fun 4 Kids is a         .

A. school for kids     B. park for kids     C. travel website     D. TV program

5.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Not all the hotels are friendly to pets. 

B. These four hotels are only for children.

C. The “5★” hotel is for both pets and children.

D. You can have a good time with your pets in the  “4★” hotel.