—To be frank，it didn't________me much．（ ）
我发现一周内完成我们的工作很难。
建议他们早点动身。
覆水难收。
去医院走路需要两个小时。
自从我们上次见面以来已过了两周。
我花了一周时间才看完这本书。
你是否知道在北京奥运会上是谁为中国奥运队赢得第一枚金牌？
—You think so? My grandmother ________ it for me. （ ）
A father is very worried about his son, acts like a coward. So his father paid a visit to the master and (ask) him to train his son.
The master said, “I promise I'll be able to train your child into real man in three months.”
Three months later, his father came (pick) the child. The master arranged a match the child and his coach to show the three-month training result.
At Round One, the child was knocked down and fell to the ground. He stood up to meet the challenge. But he was knocked down again, and once again he stood up to fight... this (repeat) six times.
The master asked his father, “Do you think your child's (perform) is that of a man？” The father said, “I feel ashamed for ！ I never expected that he would be so weak after three (month) training.” The master said, “I don't agree with you, and I regret you only see the surface of things. You have not seen the courage and perseverance in your son. This is the very spirit of a man！”
A long-term American study shows the importance of early education for poor children. The study is known as the Abecedarian Project. It involved more than one-hundred young children from poor families in North Carolina.
Half of the children attended an all-day program at a high-quality child-care center. The center offered educational, health and social programs. Children took part in games and activities to increase their thinking and language skills and social and emotional development. The program also included health foods for the children.
The children attended the program from when they were a few weeks old until the age of five years. The other group of children did not attend the child-care center. After the age of five, both groups attended public school.
Researchers compared the two groups of children. When they were babies, both groups had similar results in tests for mental and physical skills. However, from the age of eighteen months, the children in the educational child-care program did much better in tests.
The researchers tested the children again when they were twelve and fifteen years old. The tests found that the children who had been in the child-care center continued to have higher average test results. These children did much better on tests of reading and mathematics.
A few years ago, organizers of the Abecedarian Project tested the students again. At the time, each student was twenty-one years old. They were tested for thinking and educational ability, employment, parenting and social skills. The researchers found that the young adults who had the early education still did better in reading and mathematics tests. They were more than two times as likely to be attending college or to have completed college. In addition, the children who received early education were older on average, when their first child was born.
The study offers more evidence that learning during the first months and years of life is important for all later development.
The researchers of the Abecedarian Project believe their study shows a need for lawmakers to spend money on public early education. They believe these kinds of programs could reduce the number of children who do not complete school and are unemployed.
结合语境，根据汉语或首字母提示用单词的适当形式填空。
—I agree with you. Nobody can p the change of situation.
—It's just (典型的) of him to spend all that money on the equipment and then lose interest halfway through the course.
One early morning, I went into the living room to find my mother reading a thick book called Best Loved Poems to Read Again and Again. My interest was aroused only by the fact that the word ＂Poems＂ appeared in big, hot pink letters.
＂Is it good?＂ I asked her.
＂Yeah,＂ she answered. ＂There's one I really like and you'll like it, too.＂ I leaned forward.
＂‘Patty Poem,'＂ she read the title. Who is Patty? I wondered. The poem began:
She never puts her toys away,
Just leaves them scattered①where they lay,… ①散乱的
The poem was just three short sections. The final one came quickly:
When she grows and gathers poise②, ②稳重
I'll miss her harum-scarum③ noise, ③莽撞的
And look in vain④ for scattered toys. ④徒劳地
And I'll be sad.
A terrible sorrow washed over me. Whoever Patty was, she was a mean girl. Then, the shock.
＂It's you, honey,＂ My mother said sadly.
To my mother, the poem revealed a parent's affection when her child grows up and leaves. To me, the ＂she＂in the poem was horror. It was my mama who would be sad. It was so terrible I burst out crying.
＂What's wrong?＂my mother asked.
＂Oh Mama,＂I cried.＂I don't want to grow up ever!＂
She smiled.＂Honey, it's okay. You're not growing up anytime soon. And when you do, I'll still love you, okay?＂
＂Okay,＂I was still weeping. My panic has gone. But I could not help thinking about that silly poem. After what seemed like a safe amount of time, I read the poem again and was confused. It all fit so well together, like a puzzle. The language was simple, so simple I could plainly understand its meaning, yet it was still beautiful. I was now fascinated by the idea of poetry, words that had the power to make or break a person's world.
I have since fallen in love with other poems, but ＂Patty Poem＂ remains my poem. After all, ＂Patty Poem＂ gave me my love for poetry not because it was the poem that lifted my spirits, but because it was the one that hurt me the most.
When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China.
When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now.
Still, her answer surprised me, “Green tea.”
As long as I can remember she didn't even drink Indian tea.
I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story. My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses.
At the turn of the century，China was not really familiar to the average Indians. It was a strange country.
How things change! And how soon!
Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”. And everyone is talking about China.
The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done. A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investments(投资) and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．
But it's a two way street. I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software. Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China.
No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago，was expected to hit about $15 billion for last year and $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments.
No wonder，my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino－Indian(中印) century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino－Indian Friendship Year.
But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.
Many facts suggest that children are overweight (超重的) and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. I feel there are a number of reasons for this.
Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream, at low prices. This has turned out a whole generation of grown-ups who seldom cook a meal for themselves. If there were fewer of these restaurants, then probably children would buy less take-away food.
There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If children are given fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, or are always allowed to choose what they eat, they will go for sweet and salty foods every time, and this will carry on throughout their lives.
There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime (消遣), it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.
The above are the main reasons for this problem, and therefore we have to encourage young people to be more active, as well as steering them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.
