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.

 

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(目标) 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 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.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

2.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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 If parents bring up a child with the aim of turning the child into a genius（天才）, they will cause great damage to him. According to several leading educational experts, this is one of the biggest mistakes that some parents make. Generally, the child will understand very well what the parents expect. and will fall. Unrealistic（不现实）expectations of the parents can cause great damage to children.

    However, if parents are not unrealistic about what they expect their children to do, but are hopeful in a sensible（明智）way, the child may succeed in doing very well—especially if the parents are very supportive（支持的）to their children.

    Michael Li is very lucky. He likes music and his parents help him a lot by taking him to concerts and let him attend piano and violin lessons. Although Michael's mother knows very little about music, his father is a good musician. However, he never makes Michael enter music competitions if he is unwilling.

    Michael's friend, Winston Chen, however, is not so lucky. Although both his parents are successful musicians, they set too high a standard（水平）for Winston. They want their son to be as successful as they are and so they enter him in every piano competition held. They are very unhappy when he does not win. “When I was your age I used to win every competition I enter.” Winston's father tells him. Winston is always afraid that he will disappoint his parents and now he always quiet and unhappy.

1.The main idea of the passage is _________.

A. how parents should make a child a musician

B. how parents should bring up a child

C. what differences there are between the two boys

D. what aim is easier for a child to reach

2.Winston's parents set so high a standard for him that _______.

A. he has to do his best to win every competition

B. he has made greater progress in music

C. he is afraid he may disappoint them

D. he often wants to kill himself someday

3.It is one of the parents’ worst mistakes if ______.

A. they want their child to be a musician

B. they help their child to win music competition

C. they don't care for their child's education much

D. they make their child try to achieve too much

4. According to the writer's opinion, _________.

A. it's unimportant to let the children develop（=grow）in the way they want

B. sensible parents can train their children to succeed in everything

C. parents should be realistic and supportive to their children

D. unrealistic parents should arrange（安排）private lessons for their children

 

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(目标) 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 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
【小题1】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

【小题2】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

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE from the passage?

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

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

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

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

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　　Here is an interesting experiment. Hold a postcard in your left hand. your right hand is ready to catch the postcard, but the fingers are not touching it. If you let the postcard go, you’ll catch it without difficulty with your right hand before it falls down. If you haven’t got a postcard, you can use something like that instead. It can work well, too.

　　Now see if your classmate can catch the postcard when you let it go. Let your classmate hold his fingers Oil each side of the postcard, as you did before. Let the postcard go. His fingers will not catch it. You can try this as often as you want. He will not catch the postcard!

1．The passage is about ________.

[　　]

2．If you let the postcard in your left hand go, you’ll find it ________ to catch it before it falls down.

[　　]

3．Let your classmate do this as you did before, he will surely ________.

[　　]

4．If we haven’t got a postcard we can use ________ instead.

[　　]

A．something like a postcard

B．something to do with a postcard

C．everything to see

D．anything we can find

5．We can learn something about ________ from the passage.

[　　]