"Mummy, I don't know what to play with." Steve stops his mother, who is talking to a friend, for the fourth time. “You've got a room full of toys!" his mother says, impatiently. In fact it is the jumble of toys which is to blame for four-year-old Steve's having no interest in his dolls, cars and animals. Each morning he pours three washing baskets of toys all over his floor, pulls out something and shortly after that, he is standing at his mother's desk or following her into the kitchen saying, "Mummy, I am bored."

A family therapist(心理醫(yī)生) explains why children lose interest when they have a whole “toy shop” at home. “According to their brain development, little children are not in a position to judge the quality of different kinds of things at once. There is always just one favorite toy for the moment. All the rest are left lying about." What can parents do to stop their children from being oversupplied with toys? Simply make something disappear without the child's knowledge. If he/she takes no more notice of a toy, a parent can ask if it can be stored or given away. Of course the child will always say he/she wants it then!

Lyn is the mother of four-year-old Jessie, and we like her way. A small set of shelves in her child's room holds the toys and books that are the new favourites. When it seems to her that her daughter is tired of these toys, they put them away in a box together and select some other toys from a cupboard in another room. The box of “old” toys goes into the cupboard. When her child says she is "bored", they also get something from her cupboard -- it may be something she has had for some time but because she hasn’t seen it for a while it is almost like a new toy.

Some favourite toys stay out all the time, and there is a collection of dolls which sits in the comer, but in this way Lyn has found that she has fewer toys to put away at the end of the day and her daughter always has something “fresh” to play with.

57. Steve stops his mother several times because______.

　 A. he felt uninterested in his toys　　　　　 B. he disliked his mother's friend

　 C. he didn't have enough toys to play with D. he hoped his mother would play with him

58. According to the therapist, children often say they have nothing to play with because______.

　 A. they can't play alone for a long time

　 B. they are too young to play with so many toys

　 C. they are too lazy to pick out their favourites

　 D. they don't have the ability to value too many things at a time

59. What does the underlined word "jumble" mean in Chinese?

　 A. 單一的選擇　 B．雜亂的一堆　 C．普通的外觀　 D．相同的形狀

60. Which is the advice given to parents in the text?

　 A. Buy fewer toys for their children.

　 B. Form good habits for their children.

　 C. Put some toys away without telling their children.

　 D. Spare some time to play with their children.

One night I was sitting in my room half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy fought with my 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn’t pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face.
About 20 minutes later, as I was walking upstairs I heard Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey Kevin, do you want to talk?”
No answer.
I tried again, “Why don’t you come out of there?”
Again, no answer.
So, joking around, I grabbed a stack of （一摞）cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to talk, we can write notes to each other.”
An hour later I was still sitting on the floor outside the bathroom with two stacks of cards in front of me. One was blank and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his yucky feelings into words for me. As I read one of Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes. It said, “Nobody in this family cares about me. I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest. Tommy thinks I’m silly and Dad wishes he had the other Kevin as a kid because he’s better at basketball. And you’re never around to even notice me.”
Tears came to my eyes as I wrote back to him. “You know Kevin, I really do love you and I’m sorry I don’t always show it. I am here for you and you are loved in this family.”
There was no answer for a while, but then I heard a tearing sound coming from inside the bathroom. Kevin, who had run out of cards wrote on a torn paper cup. “Thanks.”
I wrote back “For what?” it returned to me with “Loving me” on it.
Since then, I try my best to never only half-notice my family members any more. Kevin and I have a closer relationship now. And sometimes when one of us notices that the other is upset, we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup.”
【小題1】The underlined word “yucky” most probably means ____.

A．upset

B．exciting

C．terrible

D．a(chǎn)mazing

【小題2】What could be the reason that Kevin’s Dad doesn’t like him?

A．Kevin is not as clever as his brother.

B．He is neither the youngest nor the oldest.

C．Kevin doesn’t like to make friends with others.

D．Kevin is not good at playing basketball.

【小題3】What do we know about the writer?

A．She has two children in her family.

B．She didn’t pay enough attention to Kevin before.

C．She used to show her love to Kevin.

D．She has a closer relationship with Tommy after that.

【小題4】What does the writer want to tell us?

A．Everyone should show how they love their family members.

B．It’s hard to get on well with family members.

C．It’s important to keep peace in the family.

D．We should try our best to stop our children from fighting.

One night I was sitting in my room half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy fought with my 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn’t pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face.
About 20 minutes later, as I was walking upstairs I heard Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey Kevin, do you want to talk?”
No answer.
I tried again, “Why don’t you come out of there?”
Again, no answer.
So, joking around, I grabbed a stack of （一摞）cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to talk, we can write notes to each other.”
An hour later I was still sitting on the floor outside the bathroom with two stacks of cards in front of me. One was blank and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his yucky feelings into words for me. As I read one of Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes. It said, “Nobody in this family cares about me. I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest. Tommy thinks I’m silly and Dad wishes he had the other Kevin as a kid because he’s better at basketball. And you’re never around to even notice me.”
Tears came to my eyes as I wrote back to him. “You know Kevin, I really do love you and I’m sorry I don’t always show it. I am here for you and you are loved in this family.”
There was no answer for a while, but then I heard a tearing sound coming from inside the bathroom. Kevin, who had run out of cards wrote on a torn paper cup. “Thanks.”
I wrote back “For what?” it returned to me with “Loving me” on it.
Since then, I try my best to never only half-notice my family members any more. Kevin and I have a closer relationship now. And sometimes when one of us notices that the other is upset, we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup.”
【小題1】The underlined word “yucky” most probably means ____.

A．upset

B．exciting

C．terrible

D．a(chǎn)mazing

【小題2】What could be the reason that Kevin’s Dad doesn’t like him?

A．Kevin is not as clever as his brother.

B．He is neither the youngest nor the oldest.

C．Kevin doesn’t like to make friends with others.

D．Kevin is not good at playing basketball.

【小題3】What do we know about the writer?

A．She has two children in her family.

B．She didn’t pay enough attention to Kevin before.

C．She used to show her love to Kevin.

D．She has a closer relationship with Tommy after that.

【小題4】What does the writer want to tell us?

A．Everyone should show how they love their family members.

B．It’s hard to get on well with family members.

C．It’s important to keep peace in the family.

D．We should try our best to stop our children from fighting.

One night I was sitting in my room half-listening as my 15-year-old brother Tommy fought with my 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn’t pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face.

About 20 minutes later, as I was walking upstairs I heard Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door and asked, “Hey Kevin, do you want to talk?”

No answer.

I tried again, “Why don’t you come out of there?”

Again, no answer.

So, joking around, I grabbed a stack of （一摞）cards and a pencil and wrote, “If you don’t want to talk, we can write notes to each other.”

An hour later I was still sitting on the floor outside the bathroom with two stacks of cards in front of me. One was blank and one was cards from Kevin on which he had translated all his yucky feelings into words for me. As I read one of Kevin’s notes, tears came to my eyes. It said, “Nobody in this family cares about me. I’m not the youngest, and I’m not the oldest. Tommy thinks I’m silly and Dad wishes he had the other Kevin as a kid because he’s better at basketball. And you’re never around to even notice me.”

Tears came to my eyes as I wrote back to him. “You know Kevin, I really do love you and I’m sorry I don’t always show it. I am here for you and you are loved in this family.”

There was no answer for a while, but then I heard a tearing sound coming from inside the bathroom. Kevin, who had run out of cards wrote on a torn paper cup. “Thanks.”

I wrote back “For what?” it returned to me with “Loving me” on it.

Since then, I try my best to never only half-notice my family members any more. Kevin and I have a closer relationship now. And sometimes when one of us notices that the other is upset, we’ll smile and say “Write it on a paper cup.”

1.The underlined word “yucky” most probably means ____.

     A. upset     B. exciting     C. terrible     D. amazing

2.What could be the reason that Kevin’s Dad doesn’t like him?

A.Kevin is not as clever as his brother.

B.He is neither the youngest nor the oldest.

C.Kevin doesn’t like to make friends with others.

D.Kevin is not good at playing basketball.

3.What do we know about the writer?

A.She has two children in her family.

B.She didn’t pay enough attention to Kevin before.

C.She used to show her love to Kevin.

D.She has a closer relationship with Tommy after that.

4.What does the writer want to tell us?

A.Everyone should show how they love their family members.

B.It’s hard to get on well with family members.

C.It’s important to keep peace in the family.

D.We should try our best to stop our children from fighting.

 

    One night l was sitting in my room half-listening when my 14-year-old son Tommy fought with his 12-year-old brother Kevin. I didn't pay attention when Kevin rushed up the stairs with the hurt on his face.

    About 20 minutes later, when l was walking upstairs I hear Kevin crying inside the bathroom. I knocked on the door and asked, "Hey, Kevin, do you want to talk?"

    No answer.

    I tried again, "Why don't you come out of there?"

    Again, no answer.

    So, looking around, I took a stack of（一摞）cards and a pencil and wrote, "If you don't want to talk, we can write notes to each other."

An hour later I was still sitting on the floor outside the bathroom with two stacks of cards in front of me. One was blank and one was cards from Kevin on which he expressed all his terrible feeling into words for me, One of Kevin's notes said, "Nobody in this family cares about me. I am not the youngest, and I am not the oldest. Tommy thinks I am silly and Dad wishes he had the other

    Kevin as a kid because he's better at basketball. And you're never around to even notice me."

My eyes became wet as I wrote back to him. "You know, Kevin, I really do love you and I'm sorry I don't always show it. I am here for you and you are loved in this family."

There was no answer for a while, but then l hear a tearing（撕）sound coming from inside the bathroom. Kevin who had run out of cards wrote on a torn paper cup, "Thanks."

I wrote back "For what?"

It returned to me with "Loving me" on it.

Since then, I try my best to never only half-notice my family members any more. Kevin and I have a closer relationship now. And sometimes when one of us notices that the other is unhappy,  we'll smile and say "Write it on a paper cup."

46. Why did Kevin stay inside the bathroom alone crying?

     A. Because he thought he was the worst boy in the family.

     B. Because he hurt his face when rushing up the stairs.

     C. Because he felt no love from the family members.

     D. Because he thought Mum only half-noticed him.

47. What makes Kevin think that Dad doesn't like him?

     A. He is much sillier than Tommy is.

     B. He isn't good at playing basketball.

     C. He doesn't like to make friends with others.

     D. He always refuses to answer others' questions.

48. Which of the following is true about the writer?

     A. She has two children.

     B. Kevin is the child who she loves best in her family.

     C. She didn't love Kevin at all in the past.

     D. She didn't pay enough attention to Kevin before.

49. What's the main idea of the passage?

     A. Writing words on a paper cup is a good way of communication.

     B. It's hard to get on well with family members.

     C. People should show how they love their family members.

     D. It's important to keep peace in the family.