In the kitchen of my mother’s houses there has always been a wooden stand（木架）with a small notepad（记事本）and a hole for a pencil.

I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can’t be the same pencil? The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.

“I’m just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these year.” I say to her, walking bank into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”

My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I’ve always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen in these days.”

Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”

This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is, as a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible（看不到的）exhibits at every meal.

1．Why has the author’s mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?

A．To leave messages.                      B．To list her everyday tasks.

C．To note down maths problems.             D．To write down a flash of inspiration.

2. What is the author’s original opinion about the wooden stand?

A. It has great value for the family.

B. It needs to be replaced by a better one.

C. It brings her back to her lonely childhood.

D .It should be passed on to the next generation.

3. The author feels embarrassed for_______.

A. blaming her mother wrongly.

B. giving her mother a lot of trouble.

C. not making good use of time as her mother did.

D. not making any breakthrough in her field.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A .The mother is successful in her career.

B. The family members like traveling.

C. The author had little time to play when young.

D. The marks on the breadboard have disappeared.

5. In the author’s mind ,her mother is_________.

A. strange in behavior.             B. keen on her research.

C. fond of collecting old things.      D. careless about her appearance.

 

从A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

Everyone needs water and a diet  36   healthy foods. These foods should    37  some fat, some fiber, a little salt and so on.

   People need energy to live. They eat all kinds of foods   38    change into energy. Our bodies use different   39  of energy. The energy is measured in calories(卡路里). The more  40  we take, the more calories we burn.  Even when you are   41  , you are using energy---about 65 calories an hour. While you are at school, or walking home, your body is  42  up 100 calories an hour. When playing football or basketball, you might be using 400 calories an hour. On  43  Day, during the relay race, you will use most of all, perhaps as   44  as 650 calories an hour.

   The Chinese diet is considered to be the healthiest in the world.  It contains a lot of fruit and green vegetables. It is   45  in fiber and low in sugar and fat. The Chinese eat less sugar than many   46  countries in the world. That is   47  lots of people in China have white teeth.

   People in the Western world do not eat   48  healthy foods. They eat too much fat and sugar and don’t take   49  exercise. Because of this, they  50  very easily. In order to   51  with the quick pace(步伐) of their life and work, they eat a lot of fast food. They eat a lot of sweets, soft drinks, potato crisps, chocolate, butter and ice cream and so on,  52  are called  53  food by some epicureans（美食家）. The result is that many of them become fat. In order to avoid    54__ fat and   55  it is advisable(明智的) to eat a balanced diet and not eat too many foods that have a high calorie rating.

1.A. above                           B. of                   C. at                            D. over

2.A. include                   B. hold                        C. contain    D. make up

3.A. which                           B. what                       C. where           D. it

4.A. numbers                B. amounts                C. plenty           D. deal

5.A. exercise                 B. exercises               C. sport             D. game

6.A. sleepy                     B. running                  C. working        D. asleep

7.A. running                  B. adding              C. burning         D. wasting

8.A. Children                 B. Work                      C. Sports           D. Sport

9.A. much                            B. many                      C. few                D. little

10.A. poor                           B. low                          C. rich                D. plenty

11.A. more                          B. other                      C. rest               D. others

12.A. Why                           B. because                 C. because of   D. since

13.A. so                          B. very                        C. much             D. such

14.A. a number of        B. too much               C. masses of    D. enough

15.A. lose weight         B. put on weight    C. die                 D. stay healthy

16.A. keep up                B. carry on                 C. keep on        D. go on

17.A. as                          B. these                      C. which            D. they

18.A. bad                       B. diseased                C. healthy         D. junk

19.A. to get                        B. becoming              C. to become   D. get

20.A. keep thin                  B. keep fit                  C. stay calm     D. fall ill

 

For years I wanted a flower garden. I spent hours and days thinking of different things I could plant that would look nice together.

    But then we had Matthew. And Marvin. And the twins, Alisa and Alan. And then Helen. Five children. I was too busy raising them to grow a garden.

    Money was tight, as well as time. Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I’d have to say, “Do you see a money tree outside? Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know.”

    Finally, all five children got through high school and college and were off on their own. I started thinking again about having a garden.

I wasn’t sure, though. I mean, gardens do cost money, and after all these years I was used to living on a pretty poor, no-frills budget (预算).

Then, one spring morning, on Mother’s day, I was working in my kitchen. Suddenly, I realized that cars were tooting their horns as they drove by. I looked out of the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard. I thought it must be a weeping willow, because I saw things blowing around on all its branches. Then I put my glasses on—and I couldn’t believe what I saw. There was a money tree in my yard!

I went outside to look. It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, tied all over the tree. Think of all the garden flowers I could buy with one hundred dollars! There was also a note attached: “IOU eight hours of digging time. Love, Marvin.”

Marvin kept his promise, too. He dug up a nice ten-by-fifteen foot bed for me. And my other children bought me tools, a trellis (绷架), a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.

That was three years ago. My garden’s now very pretty, just like what I wanted. When I go out to weed or tend my flowers, I don’t seem to miss my children as much as I once did. It feels like they are right there with me.

I live up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where winters are long and cold, and summers are too short. But every year now, when winter sets in, I look out of my window and think of the flowers I’ll see next spring in my little garden. I think about what my children did for me, and I get tears in my eyes---every time.

I’m still not sure that money grows on trees. But I know love does.

 

1.By saying “Do you see a money tree outside?”, the mother actually means _____.

  A. Observation is the best teacher            B. Seeing is believing

  C. The outsider sees the most of the game     D. It is not easy to gain money

2.The underlined word “no-frills” in the fifth paragraph is similar in meaning to _____.

  A. wasteful       B. tight        C. deserted     D. helpful

3.From the last two paragraphs we can infer that the mother is _____.

A. divorced when she was young          B. not caring for her kids any longer

C. alone but not at all lonely          D. prouder with her garden than with her kids

4.The best title for the passage would probably be _____.

  A. My flower garden                       B. Marvin helps to realize my dream

  C. Love in Michigan                       D. Money grows on trees

 

In most situations, light helps us see. But when it comes to looking at the night sky, light is actually a kind of pollution. It prevents our view of some of life’s most striking sights: stars, planets, and even galaxies.

“When I was a little boy, I loved the night sky. I remember looking up and the sky was filled with stars. I became an astronomer because I was amazed by their beauty,” says Robert gent, “Now in most big cities kids can’t see the stars like I did.”

Normally, about 2,500 individual stars are visible to the naked eye without using any special equipment. But because of light pollution, you actually see just 200 to 300 and fewer than a dozen from some cities. Only one in three Americans can see our own galaxy (星系) with the naked eye. Those people live far away from the lights of big cities, office building, and shopping malls.

Fortunately, there’s an inexpensive and useful way. If we shine lights down at the ground instead of up into the sky, and use lower brightness levels, we can save big amounts of energy and keep the beauty of the night skies. Many cities and towns have passed laws limiting lights at night, making sure enough shine for safety without creating much light pollution.

Light pollution affects more than our view of the heavens and can harm wildlife. Migrating (迁移) birds sometimes fly over cities and become confused by the brightness, flying in circles until they drop from exhaustion. Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and won’t approach bright lights. Too much light at night may even affect human health. For all these reasons, researchers are working on ways to use light only when and where they are truly needed. Everyone deserves to look up at the sky.

1.According to the text, using our naked eyes, ______________.

A．people in remote areas can see more stars than those in big cities

B．over one third Americans can see our own galaxy

C．about one in three Americans in big cities can see our own galaxy

D．Americans can only see 200 to 300 stars

2.Many cities and towns have passed laws limiting lights at night mainly to _________.

A．save the electricity	B．make sure of cities’ safety
C．let you count the number of stars	D．avoid much light pollution

3.In how many ways will the light pollution do harm?

A．One

B．Two

C．Three

D．Four

4.The underlined word “exhaustion” in the last paragraph means “_________”.

A．air pollution

B．tiredness

C．breath

D．brightness

 

With all these attractions ,it's ___ that tourism is increasing wherever there is a Disneyland.

A.no doubt           B.no wonder         C.no need          D.no possibility