Nobody likes home economics (家政學(xué)). But restoring the program could help us in the fight against obesity and chronic (慢性的) diseases today.
The home economics movement was founded on the belief that housework and food preparation were important subjects that should be studied scientifically. The first classes occurred in the agricultural and technical colleges that were built in the 1860s. When most departments of universities rejected women, home economics was a back door into higher education.
Indeed, in the early 20th century, home economics was a serious subject When few people understood germ (微生物) theory and almost no one had heard of vitamins, home economics classes offered vital information about washing hands regularly, eating fruits and vegetables and not feeding coffee to babies.
However, today we remember only the fixed ideas about home economics, forgetting the movement’s most important lessons on healthy eating and cooking. Too many Americans simply don’t know how to cook. Our diets, consisting of highly processed foods made cheaply outside the home, have contributed to many serious health problems. In the last decade, many cities and states have tried to tax junk food heavily or to ban the use of food stamps (食品券) to buy soda. Clearly, many people are doubtful about any governmental steps to promote healthy eating. But what if the government put the tools of obesity prevention in the hands of children themselves by teaching them how to cook?
My first experience with home economics happened two decades ago when I was a seventh grader in a North Carolina public school. A year later, my father’s job took our family to Wales, where I attended a large school for a few months. It was the first time I had ever really cooked anything. I remember that it was fun, and with an instructor standing by, it wasn’t hard. Those lessons stuck with me when I first started cooking for my husband and myself after college and they still do. Teaching cooking in public schools can help solve some problems facing Americans today. The history of home economics shows it’s possible.
【小題1】Home economics______.

A．is a subject becoming more and more popular with Americans

B．is often used to help fight against obesity and chronic diseases

C．once offered women a. special approach to university education

D．was first taught in the agricultural and technical colleges in the early 1900s

【小題2】The third paragraph mainly tells us______ .

A．the importance of regular hand washing

B．the health benefits of fruits and vegetables

C．the contents of home economics classes in the early 20th century

D．the significance of teaching home economics in the early 20th century

【小題3】 In the opinion of the author, how should we fight against childhood obesity?

A．Children should be taught how to cook.

B．A heavy tax should be put on junk food

C．Healthy eating should be promoted at school

D．Using food stamps to buy soda should be banned

【小題4】What does the author imply in the last paragraph?

A．Her family moved frequently in her childhood.

B．Cooking classes have a far-reaching influence on her later life.

C．To receive a better education, she went to a large school in Wales.

D．Teaching cooking is the key to solving Americans’ health problems.

My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau（衣櫥）and picked out a wonderful skirt. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago .She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion.” Well, I guess this is the occasion.
He took the skirt from me and put it on the bed. His hands touched the soft material for a moment, then he shut the drawer and turned to me, “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”
I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my attitude to life. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to enjoy, not suffer. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and treasure them.
“Someday” and “one of these days” are being lost from my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now . I’m not sure what my sister would have done if she had known she wouldn’t have tomorrow.
I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend her fences for past things. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food.
If I knew that my hours were limited, those little things left undone would make me angry. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday. Angry and sorry because I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.
I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that every day, every minute, and every breath truly, is…a gift from God.
【小題1】What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Every day is a gift

B．My poor sister

C．Value friendship every day

D．Every day is an important occasion

【小題2】Jan bought the wonderful skirt but didn’t wear it, because(   )

A．She wanted to wear it on special occasions

B．She kept it as a special gift for someone else

C．She saved it until she grew older

D．She wanted to keep it as a sweet memory

【小題3】Which of the following is not the writer’s attitude to life?

A．Spending more time staying with family every day.

B．Attending social activities as often as possible

C．Enjoying life and valuing every day.

D．Trying to get along well with friends

I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows(誓約) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends，and they to me. Without them，there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I want to tell you today：get a life. A real life，not a desire of the next promotion(提升)，the bigger paycheck and the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love，and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure(休閑) but work. Pick up the phone. Send an e­mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives，our days，our hours，and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of living. I learned to live many years ago. Something really，really bad happened to me，something that changed my life. If I had my choice，it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what，today，seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey，not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and tried to give some of it back because I believed in it，completely and totally. And I tried to do that，in part，by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this：read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness，because if you do，you will live with joy and passion(激情) as it ought to be lived.
【小題1】The best title of this passage probably is “________”．

A．Love Your Friends	B．Live a Real Life
C．Don’t Waste Time	D．Be a Good Mother and Wife

【小題2】How did the author form her view of life?

A．Through social experience.

B．By learning from her friends.

C．Through an unfortunate experience.

D．From her children and husband.

【小題3】By the underlined sentence “It is so easy to exist instead of living.” in the fifth paragraph，the author really means that people tend to________.

A．make a living rather than live a real life

B．work rather than enjoy life

C．waste a lot in life

D．forget the most important lesson in life

【小題4】It can be inferred from the passage that________.

A．the author is a success in personal life

B．the author doesn’t try her best to work well

C．the author spends all her time caring for her children

D．the author likes traveling very much

While success is surely sweeter than failure, it seems failure is a far better teacher, and organizations that fail miserably often flourish (繁榮) more in the long run, according to a new study by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Researchers have found that people missing their goals perform much better in the long run. That is because they gain more knowledge from their failures than their successes and the lessons are more likely to stay longer in their minds.
“We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years,” said professor Desai, who led the study. “But companies often ignore failure. Managers may fire people or turn over the whole workforce while they should treat the failure as a learning opportunity.”
Prof Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the Atlantis flight last year, a piece of insulation (絕緣體) broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster (助推火箭) but didn’t influence the program. There was little investigation. The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven–person crew were destroyed. The disaster led to a major investigation resulting in 29 changes to prevent future disasters.
The difference in response in the two cases came down to this: Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.
“Despite crowded skies, airlines are extremely reliable,” he said. “The number of failures is extremely small. And past researches have shown that older airlines, those with more experience in failure, have a lower number of accidents.”
Prof Desai doesn’t recommend finding out failure in order to learn. Instead, he advises organizations to analyze small failures to collect useful information rather than wait for major failures.
【小題1】Why did experts pay little attention to the problem of Atlantis?

A．Because it worked perfectly.

B．Because the right booster was still OK.

C．Because nothing serious happened then.

D．Because fewer people died in the flight.

【小題2】Fewer accidents happen to older airlines in that ________.

A．their planes couldn’t fly high in the sky

B．they gained much from experience in failure

C．their planes were often checked by the experts

D．they were unpopular among passengers

【小題3】 The passage is written mainly to ________.

A．show failure is a better teacher than success

B．explain why Challenger failed

C．introduce something about Prof Desai

D．tell managers how to achieve success

【小題4】Which writing strategy is NOT used in developing the passage?

A．Giving definitions.	B．Making comparisons.
C．Analyzing causes.	D．Providing different examples.

The sun is shining when I get on No. 151 bus. We passengers sit jammed together in heavy clothes. No one speaks. That’s one of the unwritten rules of Chicago commuting. Although we see the same faces every day, we prefer to hide behind our newspapers. The phenomenon is striking: people who sit so close together are using those thin sheets of newsprint to keep their distance.
As the bus approaches the Magnificent Mile, a voice suddenly rings out: “Attention! Attention!” Papers rattle (發(fā)出細(xì)小聲). Necks crane (伸長). “This is your driver speaking.”
We look at the back of the driver’s head. His voice has authority.
“All of you put your papers down.”
The papers come down, an inch at a time. The driver waits. The papers are folded and placed on our laps.
“Now, turn and face the person next to you. Go ahead.”
Amazingly, we all do it. Still, no one smiles.
I face an older woman, her head wrapped tightly in a red scarf. I see her nearly every day. Our eyes meet. We wait, unblinking, for the next order from the driver.
“Now, repeat after me…” It is a command, delivered in the tones of a drill sergeant (操練軍士). “Good morning, neighbor!”
Our voices are weak and timid. For many of us, these are the first words we have spoken today. But we say them at the same time, like schoolchildren, to the strangers beside us.
We smile and can’t help it. We have said it; the barrier has been broken. Good morning, neighbor. It is not so hard after all. Some of us repeat it. Others shake hands. Many laugh.
The bus driver says nothing more. He doesn’t need to. Not a single newspaper goes back up. I hear laughter, a warm sound I have never heard before on bus No. 151. This day is starting off better than most.
【小題1】On hearing the sudden utterance of “Attention!”, the passengers ___________.

A．stopped reading and put down their newspapers immediately

B．looked up from the newspapers to see who was speaking

C．sat still without response

D．were frightened

【小題2】The underlined word “commuting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means ___________.

A．daily traveling between home and work

B．long-distance ride

C．communication technology

D．behavior patterns

【小題3】 Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．The passengers on the crowded bus were so absorbed in reading their newspapers that no one spoke.

B．The passengers were physically close together but mentally they kept each other at a terrible distance.

C．The passengers didn’t follow the driver’s instruction at first.

D．When the bus driver said nothing more, the passengers picked up and read their newspapers again.

【小題4】What would be the best title for the text?

A．The Warmth of Communication	B．The Exchange of Information
C．The Power of Observation	D．The Attitude to Loneliness

How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演）and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In  America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day” they speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing） as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的） mental state. How could anyone turn his back on  Fleet Street in central London for a small local area？I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.
【小題1】The first paragraph of the passage tells us that  _______ .

A．we always try to find some time to write a book

B．we always make plans but seldom fulfil them

C．we always enjoy many of life's best moments

D．we always do what we really want to do

【小題2】The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6） most probably means      .

A．leave for

B．return to

C．give up

D．rely on

【小題3】 The man ( paragraph 6） left his first job partly because he was ______.
A. in an abnormal mental state     B. under too much pressure
C. not well paid                not respected
【小題4】What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Provide Homes For Our Family	B．Take Up Horse-riding
C．Value This Very Day	D．Stay Alive

Childhood was an illusion (錯覺）and the illusion was this: everything was bigger. No, I mean everything, not just houses and shops and grown-ups, but colors and flowers and journeys, especially journeys which seemed endless. “Are we there yet, Daddy?”
Funfairs (游樂場） were huge things that spread for miles around you with noise and lights and exciting danger. Rainy days at home when you were ill seemed to last for ever. Being a grown-up yourself was an unthinkable distant possibility. Every sound was louder, every game was grander, every pain unbearable.
As I’ve grown old, life has become smaller. Tastes have dulled. Surprises have turned into shocks. Days go by unnoticed. How can I regain childhood when it was an illusion?
I have only one repeatable and wonderful way and even in this way I can regain only part of that larger world. I can play upon the stage like a child and make the crowd laugh and laugh with them, sometimes helplessly like a child, and then, even though I’m a sixty-one-year-old man, I can almost catch the colors and sounds and stillness of those bigger years when I was little.
【小題1】How does the author feel about his childhood?

A．It was endless.	B．It was unpleasant.
C．He is glad that it is over.	D．He misses it as a grown-up

【小題2】The author thinks that everything was bigger in childhood because ________

A．children could not make proper judgments.

B．children were curious and eager about life

C．things appeared really big in children’s eyes

D．to grow up seemed so long for children

【小題3】The world seems to have become smaller to the author because _______.

A．life is disappointing	B．time goes by too fast
C．he has had too many surprises	D．foods no longer taste delicious

【小題4】The author enjoys playing on the stage so as to _______.

A．a(chǎn)ct like a child	B．live an unusual life
C．make the crowd laugh	D．regain his childhood

I remember the first time that I was extremely happy, I was about 8 years old when for the first time, there was a computer in the classroom. I remember that my teacher allowed each student to take turns to play various educational games on the computer. One day, I found the source code for one of these games. Without knowing or being taught any programming language, I was able to figure out some of the BASIC code. I just gave myself a limitless number of lives in the game, so I could continue playing it forever. This was also my first introduction to algebra, and I didn’t even know it at the time. This was a decisive moment in my life. I was quite excited because of what I was learning and what I was able to do. As a result, I was enthusiastic for the rest of my life about self-learning and computers, and I was quite happy doing them too.
I’ve noticed that people who are truly content with life are enthusiastic about what they do. This enthusiasm, along with good health, is the key to being happy. It also leads to self-confidence and content in life too. It may also lead to success, wealth and achievements.
Success, wealth or achievements can also bring some people happiness, yet I know plenty of rich people who are unhappy. I know many people with successful businesses that are not happy with what they are doing. I know people who continuously buy themselves new toys, such as cars, computers, and televisions, yet never seem content for too long. Please remember, happiness is the journey of life, not the destination.
【小題1】What can we know from Paragraph 1?

A．The author has a great talent for algebra.

B．Creative thinking is necessary for every child.

C．The BASIC code of the computer is not difficult.

D．The author’s experience in his childhood changed his life.

【小題2】The author wants to tell us through the first paragraph that____.

A．interest is the best teacher

B．children are the hope of the future

C．young people are fearless

D．where there’s a will , there’s a way

【小題3】What is the secret of happiness in the author’s opinion?

A．Success and wealth.

B．Gifts and self-confidence.

C．Enthusiasm and good health.

D．Knowledge and achievements.

【小題4】We can infer from the last paragraph that ______.

A．rich people generally feel unhappy

B．wealth can’t bring people any happiness

C．one will feel unhappy once he has gained all the things he wants

D．being enthusiastic about what you are doing is more important than wealth

Sam, an unemployed piano tuner, said it was only the second thing he had ever won in his life. The first thing was an Afghan blanket at a church raffle when he was 25 years old. But this was much bigger: it was $120,000! He had won the Big Cube, a state lottery game. To win, a contestant must first guess which number a spinning cube will stop on. The cube has six numbers on it: 1X, 10X, 50X, 100X, 500X, and 1000X. If he is correct, the contestant must then guess which of two selected variables is going to be greater. So, just guessing which number appears on the cube does not guarantee that you will win any money. Sam correctly guessed 1000X, but he still had to choose between two variables. One variable was the number of cars that would run the stop sign at Hill Street and Lake Avenue in six hours. The other variable was the number of times that a teenage boy would change TV channels in a three-hour period. This was a tough decision.
Finally, Sam flipped a coin. It came up heads, so Sam picked the teenager. He picked right. The stop sign was run only 76 times, but the teen clicked 120 times. Sixty-year-old Sam jumped for joy, for he had just won 1000 times 120, or $120,000. Sam dreamily left the lottery studio. Talking excitedly on his cell phone while crossing the street, he got hit by a little sports car.
Sam is slowly getting better. He was in the hospital for a month. His hospital bill was $110,000. And the insurance company for the little sports car's owner sued Sam for $9,000 worth of repairs. Also, Sam still has to pay federal taxes on his winnings. Sam doesn't play the state lottery any more. He says it's better to be unlucky.
【小題1】When Sam won the second thing that he’d won in his life, he was ______.  

A．25 years old

B．six years old

C．76 years old

D．sixty years old

【小題2】To win the game, the contestants had to make ______ guesses.    

A．three

B．two

C．six

D．four

【小題3】Sam won the lottery because ______.

A．he was lucky	B．he was good at math
C．he was smart	D．he was tough

【小題4】Sam’s experience shows that ______

A．everything has its time and that time must be watched.

B．he who risks nothing, gains nothing.

C．everything comes to him who waits.

D．he who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.

It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why.
First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things. It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing. If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”. Look around you. With very few exceptions (例外), either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new.
Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning. Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work.
Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success. Why?
Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeed. Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer.
But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences(結(jié)果) of a mistake. Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again.
We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem. Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate(分配) these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again. Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career.
There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.”
So go forth and make mistakes. And learn. And grow. And prosper(成功).
【小題1】The underlined word “eliminate” means _______.

A．a(chǎn)void

B．remove

C．a(chǎn)ccept

D．solve

【小題2】According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is _______.

A．a(chǎn)voiding making the same mistakes

B．a(chǎn)ccepting the punishment willingly

C．taking consequences into consideration

D．trying things out one by one

【小題3】The article is mainly about _______.

A．how to deal with mistakes

B．what benefits mistakes bring

C．how to achieve success

D．how to make use of your mistakes

【小題4】What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?

A．Never mind, I can always try again.

B．I’d better stay out of trouble.

C．Now I can learn something new.

D．Look at this mess. Anyone would be upset.