I really hadn’t meant to yell（吼叫）at them．But that grey afternoon saw it just as my son and daughter were making a terrible mess on the floor in the kitchen．
With a tiresome report to write，I felt bothered at my desk．Suddenly, it occurred to me that my kids were at fault．A voice inside me insisted that I do something quickly．
“OK，you two here．but what an awful thing you are attempting!” shouting angrily, I made for them, while it became evident that the boy wanted no part of me．“Get away from us!” he shouted back，there being expression of support from his sister．
All of a sudden，I found the fault in myself．Quickly I shaped my hands into pincers（螃蟹螯）and crawled towards them，“Crabby（似螃蟹的）Daddy is here Ha，Ha，Ha，he likes to yell at children，and then eat them!” My son continued to keep me away，but now he was laughing and crying at the same time．My mission to repair the damage caused by my yelling seemed to work well．Still，I regretted not having controlled myself first in a right way that my children could do after．
Need I let them know how badly they were acting by blaming? This is a lesson that serves myself．It only shows just how to get rid of something（ill-feelings，responsibility）by blaming others．It’s not my “best self”．
We have to search for our “best self” when with our children．They don’t need perfect parents，but they do need parents who are always trying to get better．Here，I’m reminded of the words of a great thinker，“When a man lives with God，his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook…” Then，in our lifetime，couldn’t we always speak to our kids in such a sweet voice since，most of us consider them as the most precious in the world? And before we reach this level，what should we do when we come across various difficult cases with our children?  
【小題1】The author couldn’t help yelling at his kids this time probably because______．

A．the weather was so unpleasant	B．a Daddy has his right to do so
C．the kids didn’t ask him to join them	D．he was tired of his boring work

【小題2】Which of the following made the author aware of his fault?

A．No obvious reason．	B．The children’s reaction．
C．His self-control．	D．The mess made by the children．

【小題3】According to the passage the author will   in another similar situation．

A．play a crab again like this time	B．apologize to kids in a sincere way
C．avoid blaming kids in a hurry	D．beat them up about such things

【小題4】What will the writer go on to write about in the next paragraph（s）?

A．How to behave ourselves properly when kids are at fault．

B．How to blame our children in a more interesting way．

C．How to deal with the terrible mess made by our kids．

D．How to persuade children to do what they are told to．

    Collections were the inspiration(靈感) for a project at Thomas Tallis School, which formed part of the Imagine Children's Literature Festival last autumn. Each child (aged 12-13) beatified a box and wrote a story on the subject of collections to throw inside it. The boxes were spread within the Royal Festival Hall's Ballroom. Some were left empty to encourage

    The subject chosen by Luren was an imaginative one. "It's a sort o f Cinderella (灰姑娘) story," she told me, inspired by a collection of letters from her cousin, ha the story these become love letters, burned by a creel stepmother. Lauren's best friend Charlotte is the stepmother. "I'm in Charlotte's story too," says Lauren, "and I get run over." Charlotte's tale was inspired by the girls' coin collection. "We've collected foreign coins for years since our families went on holiday to Tenerife." she explains. "That was before the Euro, so we put pesetas in." Lauren continues: "I fred a coin in the road, go to get it and get run over. I'm in hospital and then I die." Charlotte adds: "Or she might not die. I haven't decided yet."

     Millie Murray, who is a tea-novel author, thinks that setting the subject of collections was a useful inspiration to their creativity rather than a restriction(限制). "In the beginning I thought, 'Will the children be able to do it?'" she says. "But it's been fruitful. Some have their own collection, some have parents who do, and some have wlstten complete stories. It's made them think about something they wouldn't have otherwise, winch can only be a good thing."

59. What were the children asked to do in the project?

      A. To meet friends at Thomas Tallis School

      B. To write stories on the subject of collections.

      C. To encourage visitors to write their own stories.

      D. To have their friends for characters in the stories.                      

60. The underlined word "pesetas" in Paragraph 2 is a kind of _____.

      A. story       B. collection      C. inspiration     D. foreign coin      

61. From the stories by Lauren and Charlotte, we know that _____ .

      A. Charlotte hurt herself when getting a coin

      B. both of them developed their imagination

      C. both of tram will die in each other's stories

      D. Latwen's cousin posted her some love letters                            

62. Millie Murray thinks ________.

      A. collections could inspire writing creativity

      B. it was good for parents to have collections

      C. inspirations were very useful in writing stories

      D. setting collection subjects restricted inspirations                

You've heard of the fat suit and the pregnancy suit；now meet AGNES—the old person suit．
AGNES stands for “Age Gain Now Empathy(換位體驗) System” and was designed by researchers at MIT's AgeLab to let you know what it feels like—physically—to be 75 years old．“The business of old age demands new tools，”said Joseph Coughlin，director of the AgeLab．“While focus groups and observations and surveys can help you understand what the older consumer needs and wants，young marketers never get that‘Ah ha!’moment of having difficulty opening a jar, or getting in and out of a car．That’s what AGNES provides．”
Coughlin and his team carefully adjusted the suit to make the wearer just as uncomfortable as an old person who has spent a lifetime eating poorly and not doing much exercise．Special shoes provide a feeling of imbalance，while braces on the knees and elbows limit joint mobility．Gloves give the feeling of decreased strength and mobility in the hands and wrists，and earplugs make it difficult to hear high—pitched sounds and soft tones．A helmet with straps(帶)attached to it presses the spine(脊柱)，and more straps attached to the shoes decrease hamstring flexibility, and shortens the wearer's step．
AGNES has been used most recently by a group of students working on a design of an updated walker．By wearing the suit they could see for themselves what design and materials would make the most sense for a physically limited older person．Coughlin said the suit has also been used by clothing companies，car companies and retail goods companies to help them understand the limitations of an older consumer．
“AGNES is not the destiny of everybody,” he said．“She is a badly behaved lady who didn't eat and exercise very well．A secondary benefit we’ve found with AGNES is that it has become a powerful tool to get younger people to invest in their long-term health．”
【小題1】AGNES has been developed to       ．

A．make the users more comfortable

B．1et us understand old people better

C．help old people move more quickly

D．produce new tools for the old-age business

【小題2】“An updated walker”(underlined)most likely refers to    ．

A．someone who travels a lot

B．a physically limited old person

C．some equipment that helps old people walk

D．a company whose service involves old people

【小題3】Which may be a fact resulting from the “secondary benefit” of AGNES?

A．Young people respect old people．

B．Old-age business improves their service

C．Old people eat and exercise well．

D．Young people eat and exercise well．

It was a beautiful day at the beach—blue sky, gentle wind, calm sea．I knew these things because a man sitting five feet from me was shouting them into his mobile phone, like a play-by-play announcer （實況解說員）.

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY,” he shouted．“THE SKY IS BLUE, AND THERE’S A GENTLE WIND, AND THE WATER IS CALM, AND…”

Behind me, a woman, her mobile phone pressed to her ear was walking back and forth.

“She DIDN’T,” she was saying．“No．She DIDN’T．She DID? Really? Are you SERIOUS? She did NOT．She DID? No she…”

And so on．This woman had two children, who were playing in the sea．I found myself watching them, because the woman surely was not．A huge squid could have caught and snatched the children, and this woman would not have noticed．Or, if she had noticed, she’d have said, “Listen．I have to go, because a huge squid just……No! She didn’t ! She DID? No! She……”

And next to me, the play-by-play man would have said: “…AND A HUGE SQUID JUST ATE TWO CHILDREN, AND I’M GETTING A LITTLE SUNBURNED, AND …”

It used to be that the major trouble at the beach was the fellow who brought a boom box （便攜式錄音機） and turned it up so loud that the bass notes caused seagulls to explode．But at least you knew where these fellows were; you never know which beachgoers have mobile phones．You’ll settle next to what appears to be a sleeping sunbather, or even （you hope） a corpse , and you’ll lie happily on your towel, and you’ll get all the way to the second sentence of your 467-page book before you fall asleep to the hypnotic surge of the surf （催人入夢的潮聲）, and …

BREEP! BREEP! The corpse sits up, feels urgently for its mobile phone, and shouts “Hello! I’m at the beach! Yes! It’s nice! Very peaceful! What? She did? No, she didn’t! She DID? No, she…”

Loud mobile-phoners never seem to get urgent calls．Just once, I’d like to hear one of them say, “Hello? Yes, this is Dr．Johnson．Oh, Dr．Smith．You’ve opened the abdominal cavity （腹腔）? Good! Now the appendix should be right under the … What? No, that’s the liver．Don’t take THAT out, ha ha! Oh, you did? My God! OK, now listen carefully…”

From the passage we can know that the writer of the passage _____.

       A．had a wonderful holiday at the beach

       B．must have suffered a lot because of the terrible weather

       C．is only interested in talks by doctors about operation

       D．experienced an unhappy holiday at the beach

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

       A．The writer often spends his holidays at the beach.

       B．A huge squid ate two children while their mother was not watching.

       C．Some people used to play boom box while spending their holidays at the beach.

       D．Some people often make loud mobile phone calls without caring for others.

The underlined word“ corpse”in this passage has the closest meaning to________.

       A．a dead body           B．a loud mobile phone        

       C．a sound sleeper        D．a sleep lover

In the past the fellow who brought a boom box_________.

       A．turned it up to make the seagulls happy

       B．turned it up to cause the seagulls to explode

       C．might cause less trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

       D．might cause more trouble than the beachgoers with mobile phones

We can infer from the passage that _______.

     A．the writer is interested in mobile phone.

     B．the writer hates people using mobile phone

     C．the writer hates to be disturbed while enjoying holidays on the beach.

     D．the writer seldom finishes reading a book before going to sleep.

 

第二節(jié) 完形填空（共20小題；每小題1分，滿分20分）

請認真閱讀下面短文，從短文后各題所給的A、B、C、D四個選項中，選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。

What is it about maths, anyway? Why is it that a ___36___ who would rather die than ___37___ they found reading difficult at school will happily say he is brain-dead when it ___38___ to numbers?

“I was ___39___ at maths at school,” they say. “still am. Can’t ___40___ up to save my life. My little girl takes after____41___. Thinks take-aways are something to do with fish and chips. Ha-ha!” Oh, how we all laugh.

But how many of us remember it being ___42___ at the time? How many of us remember the blind panic of the Monday morning maths test when the ___43___ we could hope for was a miracle(奇跡) to make the numbers we ___44___ without thinking as answers somehow ___45___ the questions?

On the face of it, today’s children can ___46___ be considered happier and more satisfied. They have a daily numeracy lesson ___47___ to improving their maths skills. But if that sounds like hell to you, you may ___48__ find that your child surprises you by actually quite ___49__ it.

One of the __50___ is that over the last ten years or so, there has been a ___51___ in the way maths is taught. And many of those who teach it feel it’s been a ___52__ for the better. There’s generally much more emphasis now on __53___ arithmetic, getting children used to doing calculations without forever having a pen in one hand and a calculator in the other. Often the first question a teacher will ask is: can you do this in your___54___? And if they can, they do.

The whole approach is more___55___, the goal to get children understanding numbers, not just putting them through the uninteresting process of learning something by repeating it until they remember it.

36     A.     teacher    B.     parent      C.     pupil          D.     teenager

37     A.     understand      B.     admit        C.     observe    D.     pretend

38     A.     add  B.     relate       C.     comes      D.     reject

39     A.     good         B.     expert      C.     special      D.     rubbish

40     A.     add  B.     make        C.     look  D.     pick

41     A.     stranger  B.     me   C.     herself      D.     somebody

42     A.     funny        B.     easy C.     attractive         D.     remote

43     A.     worst        B.     prize         C.     best D.     surprising

44     A.     missed     B.     lost  C.     found        D.     chose

45     A.     get   B.     foresee    C.     fit     D.     evaluate

46     A.     however  B.     frequently         C.     mostly      D.     hardly

47     A.     suggested        B.     devoted   C.     intended  D.     adapted

48     A.     well  B.     sometimes       C.     seldom     D.     extremely

49     A.     enjoying   B.     hating       C.     objecting D.     mastering

50     A.     consequences B.     reasons    C.     findings    D.     incidents

51     A.     mistake    B.     program  C.     policy        D.     revolution

52     A.     preparation      B.     reputation        C.     requirement    D.     change

53     A.     difficult     B.     general    C.     mental     D.     basic

54     A.     class         B.     head         C.     textbook  D.     own

55     A.     logical       B.     unbelievable    C.     direct        D.     conservative