山东省历年中考真题分类汇编：任务型阅读 （二）（2019年）

    No one wakes up feeling happy every day. Very happy people are not different. They never stop trying to be happy. Here are some of the habits of happy people.

    ◆They slow down.

    Sometimes we think too much. Happy people know how to enjoy the taste of their meal, enjoy the world's colors, even just step outside to enjoy fresh air.

    ◆

    Getting your body moving for as little as 10minutes can make you happy. Happy people exercise regularly and follow through on it because they know it will help them get in good mood (情绪) and stay in good mood.

    ◆They spend money on other people.

    Research shows that spending money on others makes you much happier than spending it on yourself. This is especially true of small things that show effort, such as going out of your way to buy your friend a book that you know he or she will like.

    ◆They get enough sleep.

    Your energy, attention and memory all go down when you don't sleep well. Happy people make sleep a first thing of all.

    ◆They have deep conversations.

    Happy people know that happiness and depth go hand-in-hand. They avoid saying mean things about people. They talk with others on a deeper level, because they know doing it feels good and is an interesting way to learn.

    The sun was falling behind the hills. Andrea was driving back home to Brockboune. Then she saw an old lady, standing by the toad, with a sign saying "Brockboune" in her hand.

    Andrea stopped the car. When the old lady got in, Andrea could see that she was not that little. She was in a long dress and had a hat pulled down low over her eyes. She put her big brown shopping bag down onto the floor.

    "Do you live in Brockboune?" asked Andrea. "No, dear," answered the old lady in a low voice, "I'm just going to visit a friend, but my car won't start, so I decided to hitchhike."

    Something in the way the lady spoke made Andrea uneasy, Andrea secretly studied the half-covered face, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hairs… Thick black hairs? Andrea's blood froze. This wasn't a woman. It was a man!

    Her heart was beating wildly and her mind raced. Then suddenly, an idea came up to her. She stopped the car in a sudden. "My God!" she shouted, "A child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her!" "I didn't see anything", the "old lady" said, "I don't think you hit anything." "I'm sure it was a child!" shouted Andrea. "Could you just get out and have a look?" The "old lady" slowly opened the car door, leaving her bag inside. As soon as "she" was out of the car, Andrea drove away as soon as possible.

    Several minutes later, Andrea thought about the "old lady's" bag and opened it carefully. There was only one thing in it—a shining knife.

    My work allows me to live in different countries. Reading books helps me to connect with my friends, family and my home country, the UK. Here are some books that I read a lot.

    Daddy Long Legs

    This book is about the story of a young girl, Judy, who goes to university and gets lots of new experiences. This book always makes me think of my mother because she used to read it to me when I was ill in bed.

    Harry Potter

    I'm sure many of you know Harry Potter books! I have read them many times since primary school. I really get lost in the stories. These days I'm reading them again in Germany.

    The Railway Children

    这是我最喜爱的书之一It was a gift for my 13th birthday from my best friend, so it still strongly makes me think of my childhood. It is about three children and their adventures(冒险经历)next to a railway.

Time Management

    Do you ever wish you had more time? Everyone gets the same amount of time each day. But here are some ways to use those hours better. As a popular saying says, "Work smarter, not harder."

    The most important way to manage your time is to set priorities（优先权）.Also, consider whether or not they are urgent—if they need to be done right away. It can be easy to forget important tasks that aren't urgent, so make time for them.

    Decide ahead of time what you're going to do at certain times each day. Schedule times not only to meet people but also to do things alone. Then you can make sure everything gets done.

    Are you smarter in the morning, afternoon or evening? Schedule difficult tasks for times you feel good, saving easy ones for when you're tired.

    Write down what you need to do and when. I keep two to-do lists: one for the present tasks and one for larger projects I'm working on. And I don't get discouraged by looking at a long list of items I can't finish. I focus on the shorter list of each day's tasks.

    When someone wants to give you a task, think carefully. Is it really important enough to spend your precious（宝贵的）time on? Could someone else do it instead?

    If you're in charge of running a meeting, keep it short. Reading articles or talking to friends online can also use up much of your time. Don't allow it.

    In the end, using time well is about making a good plan and sticking to it.

Notes: draw 抽奖；entry form报名表；receipt收据；claim认领

    If your children are learning to read, it's wonderful! Whatever they're reading, they're probably super-excited readers! But the fact is, reading is skill. 

    ◆Create a comfortable reading space.

    Choose a special place with right furnishings(装饰), blankets and pillows for your children and put a bookcase for your children's books.If your children feel like they have got their own special place for reading, they will probably spend time in their little space with all their new favorite books.

    ◆

    If you want your children to learn to love reading, set aside a few minutes every day to read together, no matter how busy you are. Plan to go to bed a few minutes earlier each night so your children have the time to choose a book to read. Besides, reading aloud to your children can make them more willing to read on their own.

    ◆Make the library and bookstore a special treat.

    Whether your kids are big readers or not, they are only children. They may be excited about new clothes and toys, but not books! Try to use that excitement to help your children love to read. Making a special treat of spending some time at the library or bookstore can be the perfect way to get your children excited about reading.

    Some bad habits are making you grow old fast. Cut down the following habits today for a more beautiful, healthier tomorrow.

    Waiting for you sadness to go away

    Sadness isn't just uncomfortable; it also makes you become older fast. Take your mental(精神的)health as seriously as your physical health. If you've been fighting with your sadness for more than two weeks, be sure to find professional help. Paying no attention to your sadness or just waiting without doing anything can do harm to your mental health and make you older.

    Having a cigarette or two on weekends

    If you smoke only when you are with your friends on weekends, can you keep away from the harmful effects of smoking? The answer is". Smoking can break down your skin's elasticity(弹性). Your smoking habit may even make your hair become gray. Changing your smoking habit is changing your life.

    Having a long to do list day after day

    It's natural to have a to-do list in our "go, go, go" daily life. But if you're always running from one thing to the next, and caught in too much business, you are turning older fast, because your too long to-do list makes you tired and under lots of stress. Stress can cause heart disease high blood pressure and other physical diseases. It can also cause mental health problems or make the problems worse and worse.

    Reading is fun! Besides for fun, we can also analyze (分析) texts to learn more from the texts and more about the texts. One way we can do this is by finding out the theme of the texts.

    The theme of a text is the "big idea" that runs through the text, connecting the characters and events. It is what the writer wants to tell us through the story. Usually the theme of a text isn't told directly, you have to use clues (线索) in the text to find it out. 83 Themes can be ideas like family, friendship, love and so on. The theme might not be just one word, but it might be an idea such as "Friendship is important." There may also be more than one theme in a story. How can we find out the theme of a text? The following steps may help you.

    Read through the whole text, usually characters change as the story goes on, so the theme you get at the beginning might not be true at the end! For this reason, you need to read through the whole text first.

    Find out the clue after reading the whole text, try to answer the following questions. What important events happened during the story? What was the problem? How did the problem get solved? How did the character(s) change? What did the character(s) learn? The answers may help you to get the clues.

    Get the big idea Read again for the writer's purpose of the text by answering the following questions. Was most of the plot(情节) around friendship? Did the characters solve problems with their families? Did the main character learn the importance of friendship? If one of the answers is "yes", you may get the big idea.

    Check the big idea out If you've found a "big idea", go through the text to find the evidence( 证 据 ) that supports this idea in the text. For example, if there was only one small problem with a character's family, then "family" might not be the theme of the text. You might find more evidence for other themes.

    Have you got the way to find out the theme of a text? 84 Get your favorite book quickly and see if you can find the theme out!

    Helen has always been interested in helping her community (社区). Her first volunteer experience was for the American Red Cross when she was in high school. When she was a school teacher, she also found time to volunteer.

    After she retired (退休), she started volunteering to help the old. When her father was older, he was not able to see as well as he used to, which made her sad because he had always enjoyed reading. She decided it would be fun to read to elderly people in her community.

    She also helped one woman write her stories. Ann was almost 100 years old, and Helen wrote down information about her life when she visited her. She put the information in a book and got it published (出版), Ann was very excited to share her life story with her children and grandchildren.

    After a strong storm hit some southern cities, Helen volunteered again for the American Red Cross. She prepared food and answered phones in a care centre.

    One day Helen read an article in the newspaper about refugees (难民) who needed to learn English. She met once a week with Sahra, a 38-year-old woman from Somalia. Helen gave Sahra a camera and asked her to take pictures of her daily life. In the end, they wrote a book together and used the photos in the book. This helped Sahra learn many new words about her everyday life.

    Helen says, "The real value of my volunteer work is becoming friends with the people I help. They enrich my life as well as I enrich theirs."

    I did not grow up in a family with books.My process of being a reader seemed amazing. I got lost in one book that opened up my world and changed my life. My primary school teacher always gave her pupils time to read for pleasure in school. She believed it would improve reading greatly. It was a biography(传记) of actress Greta Garbo. I picked it up and began to read from cover to cover. The words I read attracted(吸引) me and I was excited. I realized that there were other women like Greta who had made great efforts and changed their lives. I recognized(认识) myself in her. 

    From then on, my teacher had a hard time keeping me supplied(提供) with books. She dug up all the biographies of women that she could find.

    It has been a long road. I am now a physics professor in a university. Recently, someone gave me Justice Sonia Sotomayor's autobiography. Once again, I am encouraged and am imagining new possibilities for my life.