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

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

2.Robert Maurer wrote a book to tell us ___________ .

A. we should do everything in big steps

B. how to find a small step without any excuse

C. we should try a lot of sudden changes

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

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

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

4. The writer of the passage suggests we should ___________ .

A. take a tiny step to achieve big goals

B. make changes at the end of the year

C. do few experiments with “kaizen”

D. do things with hard-to-achieve goals 

5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

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

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

C. ”Kaizen” was brought to Japan during World WarⅡ.

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

My twin brother is called Daniel, and he is four_1__younger than me. Our birthdays are __2__ on the 5th of January. We have the same eyes and noses. Most people say we __3__ the same, but Daniel looks a little __4__than me. We aren’t in the same class at school, __5__ my parents want us to be a bit different. We often ___6__ the same way, but we choose different___7___ .I like red and he likes blue. I think we are very___8___ .He is really, really active, and he__9___ every day. He also plays computer games a lot but I don’t.  At school I always come top, but he hardly ever does well___40__ the exams. So teachers often say we are very different .

Mr. Smith is an Englishman. He teaches English well. His English classes are very interesting. He likes us and we like him, too.
Mr. Smith has two children---Tom and Lucy. Tom is seven and his sister Lucy is four. Tom goes to school but Lucy doesn’t. Mr. Smith likes to wear a T-shirt and Jeans. Football is his favorite sport. After school, we often have a basketball game. Sometimes Mr. Smith watches and joins us. He plays basketball just for fun.
【小题1】Mr. Smith is ________.