As a parent you might never guess all the ways a good imagination benefits your child. It helps a preschooler(学龄前儿童)：

Develop social skills

As children play pretend, they explore relationships between family members, friends and co­workers and learn more about how people interact. Playing doctor, they imagine how physicians care for their patients. Playing house, they learn more about how parents feel about their children. Imaginative play helps develop empathy(同情) for others. If children can imagine how it feels to be left out of a game or to lose a pet, they are better able to help those in need. They become more willing to play fair, to share, and to cooperate.

Build self­confidence

  Young children have very little control over their lives. Imagining oneself as a builder of skyscrapers(摩天大楼) or a superhero defending the planet is empowering to a child. It helps them develop confidence in their abilities and their potential.

Boost intellectual growth

  Using the imagination is the beginning of abstract thought.Children who can see a king's castle in a mound(堆) of sand or a delicious dinner in a mud pie are learning to think symbolically(象征性地). This skill is important in school where a child will have to learn that numerals symbolize groups of objects, letters symbolize sounds, and so on.

Practice language skills

Kids who play pretend with their friends do a lot of talking.This helps boost their vocabulary, improve sentence structure and promote communication skills.

Work out fears

  Playing pretend can help children work out their fears and worries. When children role­play about the big, bad monster under the bed, they gain a sense of control over him and he doesn't seem quite so big or so bad. Imaginative play also helps kids vent(发泄) confusing feelings they might have, such as anger toward a parent or compete with a new sibling(兄弟姐妹)．

To encourage your youngster's imagination, read to him every day. Books offer children the opportunity to visit other worlds and create new ones of their own.

  For generations children have enjoyed reading the story of Peter Pan because Peter takes them on fascinating adventures.Reader's Digest Young Families offers a beautiful typical Disney edition of Peter Pan, which is an iParenting Media Award winner. Click here to find out how you can get this classic story along with 2 free books-Bambi and Pinocchio.

1.What's NOT the advantage of children having a good imagination?

A．Understanding the other people's feelings and problems.

B．Expressing their feelings like anger.

C．Having a strong faith in their own abilities and potential.

D．Helping them form a good habit of reading stories.

2.What does the underlined word “Boost” mean?

A．Improve.  B．Limit.C．Push.  D．Praise.

3.From the last paragraph we can learn that ________．

A．Reader's Digest Young Families wins an iParenting Media Award

B．Disney edition of Peter Pan can be got online for free

C．the story of Peter Pan has been popular with kids

D．Bambi and Pinocchio are offered for free because of bad sales

4.What's the purpose of writing the article?

A．To tell readers the benefits of encouraging children's imagination.

B．To introduce some wonderful Disney stories to readers.

C．To provide ways of helping make kids more imaginative.

D．To persuade parents to buy the Disney edition of Peter Pan.

When Christina Brouder was five years old, a drunk driver ran over her as she and her father were crossing the street in front of their home．Hurt badly, the young girl was forced to spend a long time in a full-body cast（石膏） to recover from her injuries．Mostly, she traveled between the hospital and her home．Once out of the cast, Brouder sat in a wheelchair for almost a year.
In spite of the horrible accident, Christina was grateful for her recovery．She was so grateful, in fact, that she and her four talented siblings（兄弟姐妹）（ three sisters and a brother） started a music group, Gilbride．The group performed at local hospitals and nursing homes, performing for the patients．Among them, the children could sing, dance and play about 20 different musical instruments．At their first show in 1988, held at Montefiore Hospital, the kids were 2,3,6,8 and 9 years old．That year alone, the group made over a hundred appearances．
From the local public entertainment places, the group expanded to charity performances．They also entertained people at Disney World, Radio City Music Hall, and even the White House．
Christina balanced her happy and successful musical career with academics．First graduating from New York City’s High School of Music and Art，and then from Fordham．In 2000，as t he youngest graduate from Fordham，1 8一year—old Christina and her siblings went on tour for a year．Not pleased with the applause she received from the audience, she entered Pace University Law School．On May 19，Christina Brouder realized part of her dream when at only 22，she received Health Law Certificate（文凭）．
【小题1】What happened to Christina when she was five years old?

    When I was about ten years old, I spotted a mouse running across our living room floor. My four younger siblings（ 兄弟姐妹） heard me screaming 16 and joined me on the couch， 17 my father found us standing, yelling and pointing.

   Dad grabbed 18  and chased that mouse all over the place. We followed him in hot pursuit,  19  him on，“Get it, Dad. Get it!”

   Finally, the mouse was  20 , but when Dad pushed the broom into it, the mouse  21  a little squeal (尖叫). All  22  of us jumped our father. We  23  his arms and legs, “Don't hurt him. Let him go！”

   Dad dropped his head 24 .He pulled the broom away and the mouse scampered off(奔逃). “Run.” we yelled.

   My father looked at us like we'd turned into numskulls(傻瓜). He bought a trap the next day.

   Ray, my husband, and I live in the country. Our garage is kept free of field mice by our outdoor cat, Snickers. Her mother was a great mouser and 25 her baby well. I was in the garage one day, 26 a mouse ran across the floor. I 27. Snickers was sleeping, so I  28  her name to get her attention. She had the mouse  29  a nanosecond.

   Then…I heard 30 . “Let it go,” I yelled. When she refused, I ran into the house to 31 my husband to save it.

     I watched  32 a crack in the door as my husband donned (戴上) a pair of work gloves, took the mouse out of the cat's mouth, walked it out to the field. When he came back, he bent down to pet the cat and told her she was a good girl for 33  the mouse.

  Opening the door 34, I thanked him. Both my husband and the cat looked up at me. They had a 35 look on their faces. I'd seen that look before. It was the same one my father had on his face, all those years ago...

Head held high, hands firmly gripping her walker, Mary Arnott, 99, walks slowly with dignity through the women’s changing room at the Etobicoke Olympium pool, past the teenage girls who have been blow-drying their hair for half an hour, into the mist of the showers, then out the door and first one into the heated pool. She jumps over to the shallow end, stopping to talk to friends—everyone knows Arnott here;she swims twice a week and treats it as a job—about their children, the viciousness（谬误）of bridge and their health.

 In fact, Arnott is an exception to the exception. Not only has she lived 20 years past the average lifespan for Canadians, she’s healthy, her mind is sharp and she lives independently.

Born in Brooklyn on May 28, 1909, Arnott was raised on Staten Island. She survived scarlet fever（猩红热）, helped bring up four siblings（兄弟姐妹）after her mother died in 1923 and worked as a secretary in New York City for 12 years, earning＄35 a week and a＄150 bonus at Christmas.

 Now she’s happy living in a one-room apartment with a kitchen and a bathroom in her daughter’s house. She wears a hearing aid, does the cryptic crossword（有隐义的纵横字谜）with a magnifying glass, and can’t really explain why she has lived so well so long.

Until recently, she has still liked to drink red wine—she used to drink two glasses before supper each day. It’s more likely genes, she admits. Her interest in other people and life in general may have had something to do with it. Asked if a star photographer can take her picture at the pool, Arnott seems cheerful.

“I look good in a swimsuit, ” she says, nodding her head firmly. “I look better in a swimsuit than I do in pants. ”

31. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A. Mary Arnott likes to swim and is known to the local people.

B. Mary Arnott is afraid to swim at the swimming pool.

C. Mary Arnott can’t swim but she likes water.

D. Mary Arnott just likes to talk to her friends at the bank of the swimming pool.

32. Which of the following is TRUE as for Mary Arnott as an exception to the exception?

A. She has lived 30 years past the average lifespan for Canadians.

B. She’s healthy and her mind is sharp.

C. She lives with her daughter.

D. She likes to live with her children and has a happy life.

33. What happened when Mary Arnott was 14?

A. She had a disease called scarlet fever but survived.

B. Her mother died and she had to help her father to bring up her sisters and brothers.

C. She found a job as a secretary in New York City.

D. She was born in Brooklyn.

34. What may Mary Arnott think of her living alone?

A. Bitter.                        B. Happy.

C. Meaningless.               D. Boring.

35. If someone asks about swimming, Mary Arnott may ________.

A. like pants                  B. like swimsuit better

C. like to sit at the bank         D. like to swim with girls