Maybe tenyearold Elizabeth put it best when she said to her father,“But, Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead.”
Dad, in a hurry to get home before dark so he could go for a run, had forgotten to wear his safety belt—a mistake 75% of the US population make every day. The big question is why.
There have been many myths about safety belts ever since their first appearance in cars some forty years ago. The following are three of the most common.
Myth Number One:It's best to be “thrown clear ”of a serious accident.
Truth:Sorry, but any accident serious enough to “throw you clear” is also going to be serious enough to give you a very bad landing. And chances are you'll have traveled through a windshield (挡风玻璃) or door to do it. Studies show that chances of dying after a car accident are twentyfive times greater in cases where people are “thrown clear”.
Myth Number Two:Safety belts “trap” people in cars that are burning or sinking in water.
Truth: Sorry again, but studies show that people knocked unconscious(昏迷)due to not wearing safety belts have a greater chance of dying in these accidents. People wearing safety belts are usually protected to the point of having a clear head to free themselves from such dangerous situations ,not to be trapped in them.
Myth Number Three:Safety belts aren't needed at speeds of less than 30 miles per hour(mph).
Truth:When two cars traveling at 30 mph hit each other, an unbelted driver would meet the windshield with a force equal to diving headfirst into the ground from a height of 10 meters.
1.Why did Elizabeth say to her father,“But，Dad, you can't be healthy if you're dead?”
A. He was driving at great speed. B. He was running across the street.
C. He didn't have his safety belt on. D. He didn't take his medicine on time.
2.The reason Father was in a hurry to get home was that he ________.
A. wasn't feeling very well B. hated to drive in the dark
C. wanted to take some exercise D. didn't want to be caught by the police
3.According to the text, to be “thrown clear” of a serious accident is very dangerous because you ________.
A. may be knocked down by other cars
B. may get seriously hurt being thrown out of the car
C. may find it impossible to get away from the seat
D. may get caught in the car door
4.Some people prefer to drive without wearing a safety belt because they believe ________.
A. the belt prevents them from escaping in an accident
B. they will be unable to think clearly in an accident
C. they will be caught when help comes
D. cars catch fire easily
5.What is the advice given in the text?
A. Never drive faster than 30 miles an hour.
B. Try your best to save yourself in a car accident.
C. Never forget to wear the safety belt while driving.
D. Drive slowly while you're not wearing a safety belt.
Have you ever wondered why birds sing? Maybe you thought that they were just happy. After all, you probably sing when you are happy.
Some scientists believe that birds do sing some of the time just because they are happy. However they sing most of the time for a very different reason. Their singing is actually a warning to other birds to stay out of their territory.
Do you know what a ‘territory’ is? A territory is an area that an animal, usually the male, claims as its own. Only he and his family are welcome there. No other families of the same species are welcome. Your yard and house are your territory where only your family and friends are welcome. If a stranger should enter your territory and threaten you, you might shout. Probably this would be enough to frighten him away.
If so, you have actually scared the stranger away without having to fight him. A bird does the same thing. But he expects an outsider almost any time, especially at nesting(筑巢) season. So he is screaming all the time, whether he can see an outsider or not. This screaming is what we call a bird’s song, and it is usually enough to keep an outsider away.
Birds sing loudest in spring when they are trying to attract a mate and warn others not to enter the territory of theirs.
You can see that birds have a language of their own. Most of it has to do with attracting mates and setting up territories.Some scientists believe that most of the time bird’s singing is actually _____________.
| A．an expression of happiness | B．a way of warning |
| C．an expression of anger | D．a way of greeting |
What does the underlined word“territory”mean?
| A．A place where families of other species are not accepted. |
| B．A place where a bird may shout at the top of its voice. |
| C．An area for which birds fight a against each other. |
| D．An area which a bird considers to be its own. |
Why do birds keep on singing at nesting season?
| A．Because they want to invite more friends. |
| B．Because their singing helps frighten outsiders away. |
| C．Because they want to find outsiders around. |
| D．Because they want to express their happiness. |
| Looking for Teens Interested in Child Care This is a chance for teens to accompany a child through projects and activities, play with them indoors and outdoors, help with arts and crafts, deliver flyers to homes in the neighborhood，and so on. When: We welcome teen volunteers whenever they are available. How often: Our volunteers determine the amount of time they give and their schedule. Where: Wilder Child Development Center, 911 Lafond Ave. St. Paul |
| Library Intern （实习生） Part-time, Temporary $12.48一$13 .87 /per hour Program: Wilder Research Responsibilities: Help with moving to new buildings, record reports and other documents using a specialized library database, get items from area libraries, help library users, help with literature searches, other everyday library chores, and so on. Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree with some library experience or a current Master of Library and Information Science student. Strong attention to detail, good search skills and customer service skills. How to apply: Send resume to Wilder Research, 1295 Bandna Blvd, or send an e-mail to jobs@wilder.org. |
| Site Responder Part-time, Regular $9.46一$10.52/per hour Program: Jackson St. Village Responsibilities: Work at night to handle emergencies, provide services such as lawn care and snow removal, support the needs of residents and take care of the property and buildings. Qualifications: Must have good communication skills and must be able to solve the problems and concerns of the residents, their visitors, and staff. Individuals or teams are encouraged to apply. How to apply: Send resume to Wilder Foundation, 516 Humboldt Avenue, St.Paul, MN 55107 or a fax to （651） 223-7273, or an e-mail to jobs@wilder.org. |
As a volunteer in the child center, __________
| A．you should follow the schedule of the center strictly |
| B．you must keep the child you look after indoors |
| C．you will earn some money for what you have done |
| D．you yourself can decide how long to stay there |
What may NOT be needed if you apply to Wilder Research program?
A college degree and library experience.
B. Having knowledge of the Internet.
C. Being willing to help others
D. Being able to handle emergencies.From the third advertisement, we can learn that __________．
| A．only individuals can apply for the job |
| B．applicants should pay close attention to detail |
| C．applicants are required to do some physical work |
| D．applicants will deliver flyers homes in the neighborhood. |
The three advertisements _________．
| A．are not all for part-time opportunities |
| B．are not all chances to make some extra money |
| C．all can be communicated on the Internet |
| D．are offered by the same organization |
Everyone gets sick of hearing. “Put on your seat belt!”But it’s good advice. People who wear seat belts are 45 percent less likely to be killed while riding in the front seat of a car.
The US government wants more seat belt laws. It says children aged 4 to 15 are often killed in car accidents. In 2005, there were 1,627 children aged 4 to 15 killed in car accidents. More than 1,000 of those children were not wearing seat belts. If they had been wearing seat belts, 500 of those children could be alive today.
These children are too old to be in car seats, but they often sit in the back seat. Seat belt laws in many states, including Wisconsin, only require people in the front seat to wear seat belts. Children who aren’t wearing seat belts can be thrown from the car. The risk of dying in an accident is three times greater if the person is thrown from the car.
New laws could require children aged 4 to 8 to be in booster seats in the car. Booster seats help seat belts fit children properly. Right now, only 5 percent of children aged 4 to 8 are seated in booster seats.
While parents have the choice of whether wearing seat belts or not, children are too young to make that choice. Even if you decide not to wear a seat belt, make sure you children are in seat belts and car seats. It’s the law and it will save their lives.The underlined sentence “Everyone gets sick of hearing”in the first paragraph means“________”.
| A．there is something wrong with everyone’s ears |
| B．all people fall ill when they hear something |
| C．many people don’t pay attention to wearing seat belts |
| D．none of the people knows it is a piece of good advice |
More than two-third of 1,627 children were killed because ___________.
| A．they weren’t using seat belts |
| B．they were too careful when they walked on the road |
| C．they were not old enough to sit in the car |
| D．they wore seat belts |
You must get your children to put on seat belts in order to ________.
| A．keep them comfortable in the car seat | B．keep them safe |
| C．keep them awake in the car all the time | D．prevent all kinds of traffic accidents |
What would be the best title of this passage?
| A．Children Should Put on Seat Belts. |
| B．Too Many Traffic Accidents Happened Recently. |
| C．Traffic Laws Are Very Important. |
| D．Parents Are Important to Children. |
When I was 15, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my short-comings(缺点). Week by week her list grew. I was skinny(瘦的), I talked too loud, I was too proud, and so on. I put up with(忍受)her as long as I could. At last, I ran to my father in tears and anger. He listened to my outburst quietly. They he asked, “Are the things she says the true or not?”True? I wanted to know how to strike back. What did truth have to do with it?
“Mary, didn’t you ever wonder what you are really like? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. ”Go and make a list of every thing she said and mark the points that are true. You needn’t pay attention to the other things she said.
I did as he told me and discovered to my surprise that about half the things are true. Some of them I couldn’t change(like being skinny), but a good number I could and suddenly wanted to change. For the time in my life I began to get a quiet clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy, but he wouldn’t take it.“That’s just for you,”he said.“You know better than any else the truth about yourself, once you hear it. But you’ve got to learn to listen, not close your ears in anger or hurt. When someone says something about you, you’ll know if it’s true or not. If it is ,you’ll find it will echo(共鸣)inside you.”
“I still don’t think it very nice of her to talk about me in front of everybody.”
“Mary, there is one way you could stop others talking about you ever again, and criticizing(批评) you—just say nothing and do nothing. But then, if you do that, you’d find you were nothing. You wouldn’t like that now, would you?”“No, I admitted(承认)”One day the writer ran to her father in tears and anger because__________.
| A．she found she talked too much. | B．she found she was too proud. |
| C．her classmates were not friendly to her. | D．a girl pointed out many of her shortcomings. |
The writer’s father asked her ____________.
| A．to pay attention to all that her“enemy”said about her. |
| B．not to pay attention to what her“enemy”said about her. |
| C．to pay attention only to the points that were true about her. |
| D．to pay attention only to the points that were not true about her. |
The writer found that___________.
| A．about half the things her“enemy”said were true. |
| B．most of the things her“enemy”said were true. |
| C．few of the things her“enemy”said were true. |
| D．none of the things her“enemy”said were true. |
The writer’s father thinks__________.
| A．if one says nothing and does nothing, people will praise him. |
| B．one should not do anything because others will talk about him. |
| C．it is not good to talk about others. |
| D．everyone is talked about by others. |
I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence (吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased (已故的) woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow , she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”
You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.
A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because .
| A．he wanted to comfort the two families | B．he was an official from the community |
| C．he had great pity for the deceased | D．he was priest of the local church |
People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because .
| A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow |
| B．they believe that they were responsible |
| C．they had neglected the natural course of events |
| D．they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction |
According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that .
| A．everything in the world is predetermined |
| B．the world can be interpreted in different ways |
| C．there’s an explanation for everything in the world |
| D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery. |
| B．Every story should have a happy ending. |
| C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault. |
| D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away. |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号