The skirt ______ she spent 50 yuan is very beautiful on her．

On numerous drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle (甲虫) from certain tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.
Though Mother’s Day follows Earth Day, for me, they have always been related. My mom has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, Mom saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and re-uses her plastic bags.
Mom creates a kind of give-and-take relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to fend off the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it’s likely they’ll be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house are captured (捕获) in a juice glass and set loose in the garden.
I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for spent (开败的) dandelions (蒲公英) to parachute; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mom didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came compassion and an instinct (本能) for preservation.
I am slowing down and it isn’t because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and re-use packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other through the palm (棕榈树) leaves above my porch (门廊).
Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness I immediately wanted to share with my mom.
【小题1】Why does the author say Earth Day is connected with Mother’s Day?

When Callie Rogers won almost 1.9 million pounds on the lottery(彩票) at 16, she hoped it would help her put her troubles behind her. The teenager came from a broken home, had dropped out of school and was living in local authority care.
Rogers, from Cumbria, England, won the National Lottery in 2003. Then she began spending her money wildlly, buying four homes for her family, flash cars and designer clothes, partying and having some cosmetic (整容的) surgery. Two weeks after her win, she married and had two children. But then she spent 250, 000 pounds on cocaine (可卡因) and suffered depression. Earlier this year she lost the right to take care of her children because of her mental state.
She became addicted to drugs and attempted suicide three times as her life unraveled. She says the money brought her only misery. Now she is down to her last 100 000 pounds, but she has never been happier.
Now 22, she said：“Just a few months ago I was taking too many drugs and hated myself. I simply did not want to live any more. But now I have a new man and am finally becoming the woman I want to be. And it's only after I've spent most of my fortune that this has finally happened.”
“I need to get my act together and make my kids proud, and for the first time I really do think that's possible.” She credits her new boyfriend with giving her the stable home life she has always longed for and she now hopes to go to college and eventually become a counselor. “After all I've experienced, I think I have a lot of advice to offer，” she said.
【小题1】Why was Rogers not allowed to look after her children?

Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten,and ,as is conventional, I wished her every success ,But part of me didn’t.
I actually wanted her to fail in some ways because I believe that failure can be good for our learning process, Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do , First –time success is usually a fluke （侥幸）,First-time failure ,by contrast,is expected ;it is the natural order of things Failure is how we learn.
In Africa they describe a good cook as “she who has broken many bots”,If you’ve spent enough time in the kitchen to break a lot of pots ,probably you know a lot about cooking ,I once had dinner with a group of cooks and they spent a lot of time comparing knife wounds and burn scars ,They Knew how much their failures gave them.
I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column, Each week I am aware that one column I write lill be my sores , I don’t set out to write it ; I try my best every day. I have learned to cherish that column ,A good column usually means that I am discussing a familiar topic, writing in a style I am used to or saying the same things as someons else but in fancy way.
Ny younger daughter is a trapeze artist（杂技荡秋千演员），She spent three years putting together a show and she did it successfully for years ,There was no reason for her to change it-but she did anyway, She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was boued; and if she was bored ,there was no point in subjecting her body to all that stress
My granddaughter is a perfectionist She will feel her failures ,and I will want to comfort her, But I sill also ,I hope ,remind her of what she learned ,and how she can do better next time ,I hope I can tell her ,though ,that it’s not the end of the world ,Indeed,  with juck ,it is the beginning.
【小题1】Why did the author want his granddaughter to fail?

Once in a television interview, I was chatting with the host about stay – at – home athers. I made the point that one reason why we’re seeing more stay – at – homw dads may be hat it’s no longer definite that a man makes more money than his wife. Many families now ake earning power into account when deciding which parent will stay home.
At that point, one of the male crew members pointed out, almost to himself but loud nough for my benefit, “It should be the better parent who stays home.” A lot of guys say hings like that. Usually it’s a code for “My wife, or any woman is the better parent.”
I was a stay – at – home father for 8 years, so his words made me excited. It implied that our family’s choice could only have been correct if I was a “better” parent than my wife.
I suppose an argument could have been made that when I began staying home my wife was the “better” parent if she spent more time with Jack. She would be able to read him wetter and calm him more quickly. But as the more employable one, my wife went out to work and I looked after our son.
because of the increased time I spent with Jack. I soon knew him well, understood that he needed and could look after him more or less as well as my wife could. Actually, he experience helped me unlock one of the world’s great secrets; Women are good at booking after children because they do it. It is not because of any innate (先天的) female talent. It is because they put in the time and attention required to become good at the job.
Woman obviously get a biological head starting from giving birth and nursing, but ever the long term experience is more important. When I got the experience myself. I was people are able to look after them as well besides their moms.
【小题1】The first paragraph implies          .

A．A man can take better care of children than his wife.

B．A man with experience can take good care of children.

C．A child prefers to stay with his or her mother.

D．A child prefers to stay with his or her father.