One year ago, when Fiona turned four, Sam and I decided to home-school her instead of sending her to pre-school．I have always felt that the 0-5 years are an irreplaceable dreamtime．As Fiona is an inventive, observant child, sensitive and funny and great company, it would be a tragedy to find school rubbing away her uniqueness and restricting the building of her personality．
I tried not to reproduce school at home．I never had the urge to get a chalk, or a blackboard．I didn’t go and search out a curriculum(课程表)．I felt that my children would learn best if I stayed accessible (易接近的)and stayed out of their way．
Every day we worked some, relaxed some, read some and played some, but Fiona did not seem particularly happy here．She lost her temper once in a while．
How strange it was that my child who was free from school didn’t want to be free at all．Her friends all went to pre-school．She felt left out of a major part of her friends’ shared lives and experiences．I thought she was not in school for very strong, clear reasons, one of which was that the quality of learning my child did at home would be good, even better than expected．
Well, here was a situation I hadn’t expected．When we first decided to do this, Sam and I agreed that we would reassess(再评价)the situation for each child as she turned seven．Meanwhile we would offer her non-school-based opportunities to give her plenty of time with other kids-ballet lessons and swimming classes．She seemed to be enjoying all．But at times she kept asking when she was going to school．Whenever she asked this question, we told her that there would be a family meeting about it when she turned seven．She nearly always responded, “That’s when I’m going to go, then．” A fair amount of her curiosity was about school and I was afraid she was dreaming of going to school before she turned seven．
Although the advantages of home-schooling, I think, far outweigh its disadvantages, it is important for me to respect my daughter’s feelings and allow her to direct her own education．If her curiosity leads her to school, isn’t that where she should go?
Next week I’ll drive Fiona to her school．I hope that Fiona will learn to read and discover something wonderful to pursue in the world that opens up for her．I hope she will find the school activities provide her with satisfactory kid-time．
1．The writer decided to home-school her daughter, Fiona, because she thought________．
A．children aged 0-5 were too young to go to pre-school
B．Fiona may not be accepted by schools for her bad temper
C．home-schooling was much better than school education
D．children at Fiona’s age were too young to have their characters formed by school
2．In home schooling her daughter the writer tried to_______．
A．make her home just like a school
B．teach with a pointer, a piece of chalk, and a blackboard
C．be there when her child wanted her but tried not to stand in her way
D．teach according to a curriculum, which was suitable for Fiona
3．What was the writer’s biggest problem in home schooling her daughter?
A．She couldn’t decide what to teach and how to teach her daughter
B．She was not sure whether her teaching was suitable for Fiona．
C．She could not make Fiona give up the thought of going to school．
D．She didn’t know how to control Fiona’s temper
4．We can learn from the text that_______．
A．Fiona always acted against her mother’s instructions
B．it was against Fiona’s wish that she was educated at home
C．home-schooling was popular some years ago
D．Fiona’s parents would ask her opinions about school education

In 1997, I found myself in a situation I never thought I'd be in: alone and begging for money in New York. My father had been separated from our family, and my mother had  recently died from complications related to AIDS. What I remember most about such nights is lying on the cold marble floor and using my backpack for a pillow.
Even though I had lost my family,  I made choices every single day to turn my life around. There was the haven for homeless teenagers called the Door, a non－profit organization that provided me with guidance, medical care and food, all of which kept me going while I completed my homework in train stations and under hallway lights. Perhaps the most surprising　help though, I did not seek out﹔it found me.  The New York Times told my story. In the weeks　that followed, dozens of strangers reached out to me from all across the United States. At my　high school, I began receiving handwritten letters of encouragement. Strangers showed up　bearing clothes, books, and even hugs. Since the article mentioned I was applying to Harvard, one woman knitted a blanket for me.  She attached this note to the box it was posted in: "It gets cold in those dorms. May you warm yourself knowing that people care about you".
With the help of these people, my life today bears no resemblance at all to my life then. I graduated not only from high school but also from Harvard University.
Before these people — some of them nameless— I just didn't realize how good people　could be. But now I do, and I can say that the people who helped me have forever changed me. They are the reason behind my decision to join the board at the Door so that I can be part of a small team of people opening a high school for homeless teenagers .They are the reason I dedicate my life to opening pathways for others. And they are the reason I travel around the　world helping people transform their own lives.
【小题1】According to the passage, the author______________.

He came into the room to shut the windows while we were still in bed and I saw he looked ill. He was shivering, his face was white, and he walked slowly as though it ached to move.

"What's the matter, Schatz?"

"I've got a headache."

"You better go back to bed."

"No. I'm all right."

"You go to bed. I'll see you when I'm dressed."

But when I came downstairs he was dressed, sitting by the fire, looking a very sick and miserable boy of nine years. When I put my hand on his forehead I knew he had a fever.

"You go up to bed," I said, "You're sick."

"I'm all right," he said.

When the doctor came he took the boy's temperature.

"What's is it?" I asked him.

"One hundred and two."

Downstairs, the doctor left three different medicines in different colored capsules（胶囊） with instructions for giving them. One was to bring down the fever, another a purgative(泻药), the third to overcome an acid condition. The germs of influenza（流感）can only exist in an acid condition, he explained. He seemed to know all about influenza and said there was nothing to worry about if the fever did not go above one hundred and four degrees. This was a light epidemic(传染病；传染性的) of flu and there was no danger if you avoided pneumonia（肺炎）.

Back in the room I wrote the boy's temperature down and made a note of the time to give the various capsules.

"Do you want me to read to you?"

"All right. If you want to, " said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas under his eyes. He lay still in the bed and seemed very detached（超然的；冷漠的）from what was going on.

I read aloud from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates（海盗）;but I could see he was not following what I was reading.

"How do you feel, Schatz?" I asked him.

"Just the same, so far," he said.

I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to be time to give another capsule. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.

"Why don't you try to sleep? I'll wake you up for the medicine."

"I'd rather stay awake."

After a while he said to me, "You don't have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you."

"It doesn't bother me."

"No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you."

I thought perhaps he was a little lightheaded and after giving him the prescribed capsules at eleven o'clock I went out with my gun and the young hunting dog….I killed two quail(鹌鹑), and missed five, and started back pleased to have found a covey of quail close to the house and happy there were so many left to find on another day.

At the house they said the boy had refused to let anyone come into the room.

"You can't come in," he said. "You mustn't get what I have."

I went up to him and found him in exactly the position I had left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks flushed（发红）by the fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.

I took his temperature.

"What is it?"

"Something like a hundred," I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.

"It was a hundred and two," he said.

"Who said so?"

"The doctor."

"Your temperature is all right," I said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"I don't worry," he said, "but I can't keep from thinking."

"Don't think," I said. "Just take it easy."

"I'm taking it easy," he said and looked straight ahead, He was evidently holding tight onto himself about something.

"Take this with water."

"Do you think it will do any good?"

"Of course it will."

I sat down and opened the Pirate book and began to read, but I could see he was not following, so I stopped.

"About what time do you think I'm going to die?" he asked.

"What?"

"About how long will it be before I die?"

"You aren't going to die. What's the matter with you? "

"Oh, yes, I am, I heard him say a hundred and two."

"People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two. That's a silly way to talk."

"I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees. I've got a hundred and two."

He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o'clock in the morning.

"You poor Schatz," I said. "Poor old Schatz. It's like miles and kilometers. You aren't going to die. That's different thermometer（温度计）. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's ninety-eight."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I said, "It's like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we make when we do seventy miles in the car?"

"Oh," he said.

But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack(松驰的) and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance.

1.The author writes about the doctor’s visit in order to _____.

A. show the doctor’s knowledge about influenza and its treatment

B. show the boy’s illness was quite serious

C. create a situation of misunderstanding around which to build a story

D. show the father was very much concerned about the boy’s illness

2.The pronoun “it” in “Papa, if it bothers you” (line 41) refers to _____.

A. the boy’s high temperature

B. the father giving the medicine to the boy

C. the father staying with the boy

D. the boy’s death

3.It can be inferred from the story that it is _____ by the time the father gets home from hunting.

A. early in the afternoon                            B. close to evening

C. at noon                                                      D. late in the morning

4.From the story we know that the boy kept tight control over himself because _____.

A. he did not want to be a bother to others

B. he wanted to recover quickly so that he could go hunting with his father

C. he was afraid that he would die if he lost control over himself

D. he thought he was going to die and he must show courage in the face of death

5.That the boy cried very easily at little things of no importance the next day suggests that _____.

A. he couldn’t control his emotions when he finally relaxed

B. his father would go out hunting without him if he didn’t cry

C. something went wrong with his brain after the fever

D. he often complained about unimportant things as a spoiled boy

6.The theme of the story is _____.

A. death is something beyond a child’s comprehension

B. to be calm and controlled in the face of death is a mark of courage

C. misunderstanding can occur even between father and son

D. misunderstanding can sometimes lead to an unexpected effect

★The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana(大麻). Psychologists say that sending/receiving messages or looking through the many menu options your mobile phone has, lowers a person’s IQ by almost 10 points. British researchers have named this situation “infomania”. Instead of fixed on what they are doing, people’s minds are constantly focused on reacting to the technology surrounding them. This means they don’t pay full attention to the work they are paid to do. The report also added that the brain can not do so many things at once. If you try to do too many things, mistakes begin to occur. And while modern technology can have huge benefits, too much use can be damaging not only to a person’s mind, but to their social life.
★The more televisions 4-year-old children watch, the more likely they are to become bullies later on in school, a newest U.S. study said. At the same time, children whose parents read to them, take them on outings and just generally pay attention to them are less likely to become bullies, said the  report from the University of Washington. Researchers also found gaps in learning and understanding such things as social skills early in life makes it more difficult for children to relate with other children. Watching violence on television leads to aggressive behavior.
★You could soon be able to add your favorite perfume to your e-mails. UK net provider Telewest Broadband is testing a system to let people send e-mails over the Internet with sweet smell. It has developed a kind of hi-tech air freshener that plugs into a PC and sprays a smell linked to the message. Telewest says it could be used by supermarkets to attract people with the smell of fresh bread or by holiday companies seeking to stir up images of sun-kissed beachers.
【小题1】.
What does “infomania” refer to according to the first part of the text?

One year ago, when Fiona turned four, Sam and I decided to home-school her instead of sending her to pre-school．I have always felt that the 0-5 years are an irreplaceable dreamtime．As Fiona is an inventive, observant child, sensitive and funny and great company, it would be a tragedy to find school rubbing away her uniqueness and restricting the building of her personality．

I tried not to reproduce school at home．I never had the urge to get a chalk, or a blackboard．I didn’t go and search out a curriculum(课程表)．I felt that my children would learn best if I stayed accessible (易接近的)and stayed out of their way．

Every day we worked some, relaxed some, read some and played some, but Fiona did not seem particularly happy here．She lost her temper once in a while．

How strange it was that my child who was free from school didn’t want to be free at all．Her friends all went to pre-school．She felt left out of a major part of her friends’ shared lives and experiences．I thought she was not in school for very strong, clear reasons, one of which was that the quality of learning my child did at home would be good, even better than expected．

Well, here was a situation I hadn’t expected．When we first decided to do this, Sam and I agreed that we would reassess(再评价)the situation for each child as she turned seven．Meanwhile we would offer her non-school-based opportunities to give her plenty of time with other kids-ballet lessons and swimming classes．She seemed to be enjoying all．But at times she kept asking when she was going to school．Whenever she asked this question, we told her that there would be a family meeting about it when she turned seven．She nearly always responded, “That’s when I’m going to go, then．” A fair amount of her curiosity was about school and I was afraid she was dreaming of going to school before she turned seven．

Although the advantages of home-schooling, I think, far outweigh its disadvantages, it is important for me to respect my daughter’s feelings and allow her to direct her own education．If her curiosity leads her to school, isn’t that where she should go?

Next week I’ll drive Fiona to her school．I hope that Fiona will learn to read and discover something wonderful to pursue in the world that opens up for her．I hope she will find the school activities provide her with satisfactory kid-time．

1．The writer decided to home-school her daughter, Fiona, because she thought________．

A．children aged 0-5 were too young to go to pre-school

B．Fiona may not be accepted by schools for her bad temper

C．home-schooling was much better than school education

D．children at Fiona’s age were too young to have their characters formed by school

2．In home schooling her daughter the writer tried to_______．

A．make her home just like a school

B．teach with a pointer, a piece of chalk, and a blackboard

C．be there when her child wanted her but tried not to stand in her way

D．teach according to a curriculum, which was suitable for Fiona

3．What was the writer’s biggest problem in home schooling her daughter?

A．She couldn’t decide what to teach and how to teach her daughter

B．She was not sure whether her teaching was suitable for Fiona．

C．She could not make Fiona give up the thought of going to school．

D．She didn’t know how to control Fiona’s temper

4．We can learn from the text that_______．

A．Fiona always acted against her mother’s instructions

B．it was against Fiona’s wish that she was educated at home

C．home-schooling was popular some years ago

D．Fiona’s parents would ask her opinions about school education