“Sending thank-you notes is becoming a lost art,” mourns May Mitchell, a syndicated columnist known as “Ms Demeanor” and author of six etiquette(礼节) books. In her view, each generation, compared with the one before, is losing a sense of consideration for other people. “Without respect,” she says, “you have conflict.”

       Ms. Demeanor would be proud of me: I have figured out a way to ensure that my children always send thank-you notes. And such a gesture is important, says Ms. Demeanor, because “a grateful attitude is a tremendous life skill, an efficient and inexpensive way to set ourselves apart in the work force and in our adult lives. Teach your children that the habit of manners comes from inside---it’s an attitude based on respecting other people.”

       A few years ago, as my children descended like piranhas (一种南美淡水鱼，喜吞食或攻击) on their presents under the Christmas tree, the only attitude I could see was greed. Where was the appreciation of time and effort?

       A thank-you note should contain three things: an acknowledgement of the gift (Love the tie with the picture of a hose on it); a recognition of the time and effort spent to select it (You must have shopped all over the state find such a unique item!); a prediction of how you will use your gift or the way it has enhanced your life (I’ll be sure to wear it to the next Mr. Ed convention!).

       So, five years ago, in one of my rare flashes of parental insight, I decided that the most appropriate time to teach this basic courtesy is while the tinsel (装饰用光亮金属) is hot. To the horror of my children, I announced that henceforth every gift received will be an occasion for a thank-you note written immediately, on the spot.

       I have reluctantly given my kids the green light to send e-mail thank-you notes; though hand-lettered ones (at least to me) still seem friendlier. But pretty much any thank-you makes the gift giver feel special—just as, we hope, the recipient feels. It’s a gesture that perfectly captures the spirit of the holidays.

41. in Ms. Demeanor’s point of view, children born in the ______ is probably the least respectful generation.

       A. 1960s        B. 1970s         C. 1980s         D. 1990s

42. The phrase “set oneself apart” (Para. 2) means _______.

       A. to reserve to a particular use            B. to put to one side

       C. to make noticeable or outstanding    D. to determine to purse

43. According to the passage, a thank-you note may contain the following information EXCEPT “_______”.

       A. I love the pearl necklace you bought me for my birthday

       B. it must have taken you a long time to find just the right thing for me

       C. is it very expensive         D. I promise I will wear it on my wedding day

44. How did the author feel when she saw her children searching under the Christmas tree for their presents?

       A. Greedy.      B. Cheerful.           C. Laughable.        D. Disheartened.

45. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about the author?

       A. She feels hand-written letters are friendlier than word-processed ones.

       B. She does not allow her children to sent email thank-you note.

       C. She thinks the best time to teach her children the basic etiquette of  

appreciation is to strike while the iron is still not.

       D. She thinks a thank-you note can make the gift giver feel special just as the   

recipient does.

How to protect children Web fans from unsuitable material on-line while encouraging them to use the Internet has long been discussed in the U.S.

For some parents, the Internet can seem like a jungle, filled with danger for their children. But jungles contain wonders as well as dangers and with good guides, some education, and a few precautions(预防措施), the wilds of the Internet can be safely navigated(航行). “Kids have to be on-line. If we tell our kids they can’t have access(机会) to the Internet, we’re cutting them off from their future,” said an expert.

Most kids have started to use search engines. Many of them are great for finding tons of interesting Internet sites, and they can also locate places where you might not want your kids to go. There are search engines designed just for kids. A certain software contains only sites that have been selected as safe. The most popular way to limit access would be to use what is known as a “content screener(过滤器)”. But this can’t be wholly reliable(可靠), and the best thing parents can do is to talk to their kids and let them know what is OK or not OK to see or do on the Internet. Another way is that mum or dad is nearby when the child is surfing(浏览) the Internet.

A few other tips

●Don’t put the PC in a child’s room but keep it in an area where mum or dad can keep an eye on things. That also makes the Internet more of a family activity.

●Ask your child what he or she has been doing and about any friends they make on-line.

●Tell your child not to give on-line strangers personal information, especially like address and phone number.

●And tell your children never to talk to anyone they meet on-line over the phone, send them anything, accept anything from them or agree to meet with them unless you go along.

The passage is mainly about the subject of _______.

A. American children going on-line             B. Internet in America

C. appreciating Internet                              D. opposing children’s on-line

The best way to protect children from improper material is _______.

A. to install (安装) a content screener on the computer

B. to buy some search engines for the children

C. to be nearby when they are surfing the Internet

D. to talk to the children and persuade them to tell right from wrong

Which of the following is right according to the passage?

A. Surfing the Internet is the best method of educating children

B. Children’s not having access to Internet may have effect on their progress.

C. Using a content screener is most reliable for keeping children having access to Internet.

D. Searching engines can help children to select materials fit for them.

According to the passage, we can infer that _______.

A. soft wares fit for children want programming

B. a child who is on-line is in danger

C. Internet is a jungle full of danger

D. Internet contains a lot of harmful sites

Girls really prefer pink and boys prefer blue, recent research shows.

The reasons could have its origins in the hunt for food on the African savannah(稀树草原) thousands of years ago. Evolution may have developed women’s preference for pink, perhaps because it helped to find ripe fruit and healthy men with reddish faces, while both men and women have a natural desire for blue, according to scientists at Newcastle University.

“ Everyone in today’s western culture, from parents to toy manufactures, seems to assume that little girls like pink.” Said Prof. Anya Hulbert, who wanted to find out whether the reason was cultural or to do with biology.

A love of salmon, fuchsia and coral does seem to be rooted into females, rather than picked up from their mothers.

The participants in the study were Chinese and British. The Chinese students showed a marked preference for red, “ Culture may contribute to this natural female preference,” said Pro. Hulbert.

In her experience, 208 young adult men and women were asked to select, as rapidly as possible, their preferred color. Hulbert and her colleague Dr. Yazhu Ling marked the results and found that while men preferred blue, women tended to choose pink.

Hulbert said she could only prefer about the preference for blue: “ Here again, I would favor evolutionary arguments. Going back to our savannah days, we would have a natural preference for a clear blue sky, because it signaled good weather. Clear blue also signals a good water source.”

51. The passage mentions “ the African savannah” to show that_____.

   A. the ancient Africa was a a beautiful place

   B. human beings lived in Africa at first

   C. women and men have different color preference

   D. color preference has its historical origins

52. It can be inferred that the underlined word “ fuchsia”_____.

   A. is probably a kind of toy

   B. is probably pink in color

   C. can be only found in Africa

   D. hardly causes men’s interest

53. By saying “ the Chinese students for red.” In Para. 5, the writer means_____.

   A. red is the Chinese students’ favorite color

   B. the Chinese prefer red more than the British

   C. culture influences people’s color preferences

   D. the study was carried out by two nations

54. What can we know from the last paragraph?

   A. Hulbert thinks evolution explains why people prefer blue.

   B. Hulbert has a strong desire for “savannah days”.

   C. Blue is a natural signal of many good things

   D. While boys like blue, girls like pink.

Bexley Middle School eighth-graders won the grand prize at the 2009 National Engineers Week Future City Competition (TM) on Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C. They competed with 37 other schools across the country.

The students qualified for the national competition by winning a regional competition on Jan. 17 in Columbus. By winning the national event, the students earned an all-expenses paid trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., according to a Bexley school district news report.

Future City aims to stir (激发) interest in science, technology, engineering and math among young people. Bexley team members were Tom Krajnak, Abby Sharp, Wyatt Peery, Elizabeth Maher, Aaron Hutchinson and Truman Haycock. They work in teams under the guidance of a teacher, Margaret Englehardt, and a volunteer engineer, Mark Sherman, design and build a city of tomorrow. Mayor John Brennan presented the students during a recent Bexley City Council meeting. Each team in the Future City competition plans its city using Sim City software and creates a model to show a physical representation of one section of the city. Team members must write both an essay about the yearly theme and an abstract about their city. They also must make a presentation to judges.

Focusing on eco-responsibility, the Bexley team built “Novo-Mondum,” an Icelandic city in the year 2171. Krajnak said the team’s project included a new water system for each resident unit and a 500-word essay on using bacteria to purify water. “We used our essay and abstract (摘要) to build a model,” he said. “It was hard to organize which building would go where, what each building does and how to make it look good.”

Englehardt said her students did a good job answering impromptu (即席) questions during the regional competition. “They can think on their feet,” she said. Principal Harley Williams said the school is very proud of the students’ performance.

1... From the passage we can learn that the grand prize winners will _________.

A. receive scholarship for further studies          

B. get a free trip to Space Camp in Huntsville

C. earn a large sum of money for their designs     

D. be admitted to universities without exams

2..The goal of the Future City competition is to _________.

A. make the Sim City software popular            

B. test the students’ knowledge of city planning

C. select future engineers from young students     

D. make students become interested in engineering

3.. Each team must do the following EXCEPT _________.

A. write brief abstracts describing their city        

B. present and defend their designs before judges

C. build a future city in Iceland by themselves      

D. create model cities using the Sim City software

4.. According to Margaret Englehardt, the students _________.

A. always stand still in the competition            

B. react very quickly to the questions

C. prepare for the questions in advance        

D. take pride in the advisers’ performance

5.

“Birds are not as loyal to their partners as you might think, with divorce, child abandonment and remarriage a common part of birds’ life,” a new book has shown. Author and biology professor Bridge Stutchbury, dispels the love-bird belief that birds pair up for life. “In terms of the top 10 beliefs about birds, the lasting pair bonds that we think about, do occur in some birds, but in most of the little songbirds that we studied, no,” the professor from York University in Toronto said. The divorce rate among greater flamingos is 99 percent.

Stutchbury’s book, The Private Lives of Birds, based on 20 years of research from radio filming and DNA testing shows male Acadian flycatchers fertilize(使受孕) females far away from their home nests, “ The main discovery is that so many birds do divorce for what humans would describe as selfish reasons,” Professor Stutchbury said. She noted that females may seek out males that are more colorful and better singers, or look to “step up in the world” and move to areas that are safer and have more food. “Females are looking for the highest quality male so that their children will be of high quality,” she added.

Professor Stutchbury said shorter summers may drive females to leave their nests before their young are fully grown up so they can quickly find new mates（配偶） and lay more eggs, leaving the males to feed the hungry chicks on their own.

Males can double their success in producing children by fertilizing neighboring females, but only “mates” care for the young, and some are none the wiser. “  They can’t tell when the egg comes out and whether it’s theirs or not,” She said. “They have no way to know.”

Divorce is surprisingly common among birds, and most live with one partner for only a few months or years. Divorce rates range from 99 percent in the greater flamingo to zero in the wandering albatross(信天翁).

1.What does the underline word “dispels” mean?

A. States                      B. Doubts             C. Confirms          D. Removes

2.The book The Private Lives of Birds_____.

A. shows the kind of male birds females seek out.             

B. indicates the wandering albatross is the most faithful.

C. is based on Professor Stutchbury’s 20 years’ research.

D. suggests that female birds select males near their home.

3.According to the passage, we can infer that________.

A. young birds’ quality depends on their feather.

B. some male birds care for others’ young as their own.

C. female birds go to find males as soon as autumn comes.

D. female birds are responsible for feeding the hungry babies.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A. A book about love-birds.

B. Birds’ living habits and love life

C. The fact that birds don’t love their mates forever.

D. The factors that influence birds to look for another mate.