I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my calsses. (I have not used his real name for personal reasons. As he requested.) But here is his real story as he told it before one of our adult – education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-old daughter, a child he adored. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said:“Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”
This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to doctors; one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip. He tried both, but neither helped. He said:“My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤)——if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪)by sorrow, you know what he meant.
But thank God, I had one child left ——a four —year— old son. He gave me the solution to my problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked; ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent little fellow! I had to give in.
Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.
The following night, I went from room to room in the house, making a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired: bookcase, stair steps, storm windows, window-shades, locks, leaky taps. Amazing as it seems, in the course of two weeks I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention.
“During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am busy now that I have no time for worry.”
No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said :“I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to .
| A．having lost a loved one | B．having lost a valuable article |
| C．having lost a profit-making business | D．having lost a well-paid job |
Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because .
| A．he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family |
| B．he was suffering from sleeplessness disease |
| C．he couldn’t get out of mental pressure |
| D．he felt tired of adult-education classes |
Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because .
| A．he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them |
| B．he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them |
| C．the items had actually been broken and needed attention |
| D．repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind |
At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to .
| A．prove that he followed Churchill’s example |
| B．support his student’s solution to his problem |
| C．show that he was successful in his career |
| D．clarify how his conclusion was reached |
The dams① aimed at saving Venice from the waves have been backed greatly. After eight years of argument, it plans to build 79 gates across three channels connecting the lagoon around Venice with the Adriatic Sea. The gates would be open most of the time but would be closed if there is a danger to the city.
The project, though, has run into fears that it could worsen Venice’s problems. The city throws waste into the lagoon, and environmentalists fear the dams will cause this pollution to become worse if there is no tide to wash it out regularly. But if there is a tide, the flow can wash away about 550 million cubic meters of the lagoon in a single day, which means that by leaving the dam open for only a few hours, the waste should be cleaned out.
Another piece of good news is that British scientists are confident that the dams will be able to face an expected rise in sea levels caused by global warming. The gates are designed to stand a 22-centimetre rise in sea levels, but many scientists expect a global rise in sea levels of 31cm by 2100.
However, Trevor Davies and Isabel Trigo from University of East Anglia believe the dams are unlikely to broken. Climate change will weaken the local storms in the Adriatic that are the main cause of flood risk. Floodwaters are also a seasonal danger in Venice, usually because of a combination of spring tides and strong winds.
Venice, which rests on wooden piles driven into boggy③ ground, has been sinking for centuries, worsening the encroachment by the sea.
Notes:
① dam n. 大坝
② lagoon n. 泻湖
③ boggy adj. 泥泞的
④ encroachment n. 蚕食
Choose the best answers according to the above:
1. Which of the following is the main idea of the text?
A. Venice will not disappear into the sea.
B. Dams are designed to protect Venice.
C. Venice are facing dangers from the tides.
D. Global warming makes Venice worse and worse.
2. If the project comes into use, the waste in the lagoon ______.
A. will be washed away by the tides B. will be sent to the higher places
C. will be carried away by workers D. will have to be reused by humans
3. According to the idea of Trevor Davies, the dams won’t be broken because ______.
A. the dams are higher than the buildings in Venice
B. there will be no tides or floods in the future
C. the climate all over the world will soon be cold
D. the storms in the Adriatic will be weaker in the future
4. According to the text, we can infer that Venice ______.
A. has been sinking for hundreds of years
B. may suffer from spring tides and strong winds
C. will be under the sea sooner or later
D. will be a city with dams around except 78 gates
Only about half of this year’s high school graduates have the reading skills they need to succeed in college, and even fewer are prepared for college-level science and math courses, according to a yearly report from ACT, which produces one of the nation’s leading college admissions tests.
The report, based on scores of the 2005 high school graduates who took the exam, some 1.2 million students in all, also found that fewer than one in four met the college-readiness benchmarks①in all four subjects tested: reading comprehension, English, math and science.
ACT sets its college-readiness benchmarks — including the reading comprehension benchmark, which is new this year—by correlating②earlier students’ ACT scores with grades they actually received as college freshmen. Based on that data, the benchmarks indicate the skill level at which a student has a 70 percent likelihood③ of earning a C or better, and a 50 percent chance of earning a B or better.
Among those who took the 2005 test, only 51 percent achieved the benchmark in reading, 26 percent in science, and 41 percent in math; the figure for English was 68 percent. Results from the new optional ACT writing test, which was not widely taken this year, were not included in the report.
About 40 percent of the nation’s 2005 high school graduates took the ACT, and the average overall score was unchanged from the year before. Minority students make up 27 percent of all ACT test takers. Besides, there are also other worrying trends in the ACT report as well, including a continuing decline in the percentage of students planning to major in engineering, computer science and education.
Notes:
① benchmark n. 基准
② correlate v. 联系
③ likelihood n. 可能性
1. The report from ACT mainly tells readers the problem that ______.
A. few minority students graduates took ACT
B. many who intend to go to college are not ready
C. the college-readiness benchmarks is high this year
D. the tests for some subjects are too difficult
2. According to the benchmarks in 2005, about how many students will not earn C?
A. 30 percent. B. 70 percent. C. 50 percent. D. 26 percent.
3. Which of the following pictures can correctly show the numbers of the students who achieve the benchmark in different subjects?
A. 
B.
C.
D. 
4. Which of the followings can be found in the report from ACT in 2005?
A. The report about the writing test is very objective.
B. More boy students are not good at science and math.
C. The percentage of students majoring science declined.
D. The average score of 2005 ACT participants changed greatly.
The peoples of the Scandinavian countries share a lot in common for geographical reasons. But there are more of differences than similarities between them in all ways，including their drinking customs.
A superficial① observer might think that no one in Norway drinks wine. Meals eaten in restaurants or at home are usually washed down with tea, coffee or milk. Occasionally however，pale or dark ale② is drunk. It can be ordered only in restaurants, where it is served only with food.
Excellent quality beers are made in Jutland and consumption is high. After beer, brandy is the favorite drink. Aalborg schnapps made from corn and potatoes, is famous for its high alcoholic content. For the Danes, brandy is also an aperitif③ and is often drunk before meals. For a foreigner, the practice of surrounding toasts here can be uncomfortable. If he accepts one toast then he will have to accept all others, and it is difficult to drink six or seven glasses of brandy unless one is used to it. Ladies are fortunately excluded from these rounds and they drink only a grape juice with almost no alcoholic content.
It is milk instead of liquor that is the principal④ Finnish table drink. More milk is drunk by the Finnish people than in any other nation. In Finland the sale of alcohol is a state behavior and a check is kept on consumption by recording purchases on special card issued to all customers.
As there is a difference between Swedish cooking in the south and that in the north because of the difference in soil and climate, their drinking habits are also different. In the north alcoholic beverages⑤ are considered a necessity because they keep out the cold. While in the south people have milder drinks. But generally speaking, too much drinking is rare in Sweden, partly because it is against the law.
Sale of spirits is controlled, the Swedes drink much coffee and tea. Many people still prefer the old-fashioned coffee served in large cups with cakes. Tea is so popular in Sweden that it has been called the Swedish national drink.
Notes:
① superficial adj. 表面上的
② ale n. 麦牙酒
③ aperitif n. 开胃酒
④ principal adj. 最重要的；主要的
⑤ alcoholic beverage n. 烈酒
1. The passage mentions the following subjects EXCEPT ______.
A. drinking habits B. table manners C. sales of spirits D. drinking time
2. According to the passage, which of the following is the Swedish national drink?
A. Tea. B. Brandy. C. Aperitif. D. Grape juice.
3. Which of the following people like milk more than other drinks?
A. The German people. B. The American people.
C. The Finish people. D. The French people.
4. It can be inferred that if a foreigner isn’t good at drinking brandy, he ______.
A. would like to invite ladies to have a party
B. is unwilling to have a surrounding toast
C. would like to accept others’ toasts
D. will often drink milk instead of brandy
Tilly Smith, the 11-year-old British girl, who was called as “Angle of the Beach”, saved 100 tourists from a Thai beach hit by the tsunami① in 2004 and has been named Child of the Year by readers of a French children’s newspaper.
She came ahead of a South African Aids orphan, a six-year-old girl who survived a kidnapping②and a young Parisian pop singer to win the Mon Quotidien award. Tilly had studied tsunamis with her geography teacher, Andrew Kearney, shortly before flying to Thailand for a holiday with her parents and younger sister last year. As she watched the waves suddenly begin to move back, and the sea was bubbling③, she warned her mother, Penny, that the beach was about to be struck by a tsunami. Mrs Smith and her husband, Colin, warned other holidaymakers and hotel staff and scores of people were cleared from Maikhao beach at Phuket.
Tilly, now 11, and back in Thailand for anniversary commemorations④of the disaster, said: “It’s really good, just to know about tsunamis or any natural disaster in case you are in one. I’m very glad that I was able to say on the beach that a tsunami was coming. And I’m glad that they listened to me.”
Tilly is unaware of her great popularity among French children. Her picture appears on the front page of Mon Quotidien, which is read by 10 to 14-year-olds.
“Our readers chose Tilly because they could identify with her,” said Francois Dufour. “To be a pop star at 11 seems impossible, and the idea of having Aids or being kidnapped is far from their lives.”
1. The passage mainly wants to tell readers that ______.
A. a little girl saved 100 tourists out of a tsunami
B. British “Angle of the Beach” was named Child of the Year
C. many people came for anniversary commemorations
D. the tsunami was able to be avoided
2. The underlined words “Mon Quotidien” (in Paragraph 4) should be the name of ______.
A. a magazine B. a book C. a novel D. a newspaper
3. Which of the following about Tilly Smith is TRUE?
A. She could make full use of her knowledge from books.
B. She was ever kidnapped by a pop singer.
C. She visited Thailand by boat with her parents.
D. She had expected to attract the French children.
4. According to the Tilly Smith’s knowledge, when there is a tsunami, ______.
A. the sea water will not be clear B. the sea will be bubbling when moving back
C. the sea water will make great noise D. the sea will be bubbling when moving forward
The weight-loss world is full of assertions①, rarely proved, that some pill can help you “burn calories while you sleep.” But a recent Dutch study reports that it can be done – simply by eating more lean protein②.
Researchers report for the first time that consuming nearly a third of daily calories as lean protein – for example, lean meats without the skin – speeds up a person’s metabolism③ during sleep and that higher protein intake increases the burning of calories and fat during the day. Plus, when the study’s participants, who were all women of healthy weight, ate more protein, they felt fuller, more satisfied and less hungry than when they consumed a diet with the amount of protein, about 10 percent of calories.
The findings suggest that adding lean protein to your daily food “enables you to reach the same level of satiety④that you are used to with about 80 percent of your normal energy intake,” notes Margriet Westerterp-Plantenga. “That means you can eat about 20 percent less and still have the same satiety.”
What gives protein its caloric edge? It’s more difficult for the body to metabolize protein than either fat or carbohydrates⑤. The body also doesn’t store protein as efficiently as it does carbohydrates or fat. So protein is more likely to be burned and that in turn requires more oxygen and helps you feel satisfied in the hours after eating.
But the latest findings don’t mean it’s time to dust off those high-protein diet books. The current study limited fat to about 30 percent of daily calories, and included 40 percent of calories as healthy carbohydrates, including fruit and vegetables. For example, lunch included bread, soy milk, fruit yogurt, tuna in water, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and salad dressing.
1. According the first paragraph, we know that ______.
A. there’re few studies on weight-loss in the world
B. many studies on weight-loss only cheat customers
C. only few studies are useful for weight-loss
D. there’re few studies about lean protein
2. According to the passage, lean protein can help burn calories while you sleep because ______.
A. it can slow down a person’s metabolism B. it’s difficult for the body to metabolize
C. it will not make you feel full D. it’s easy to be stored in the body
3. The underlined phrase “dust off” in the last paragraph means ______.
A. get rid of B. put away C. get ready to rewrite D. get ready to reuse
4. The passage is mainly to tell readers ______.
A. there is a good diet for weight-losers
B. you can burn your calories in your sleep
C. high-protein diet books will be popular
D. choosing right food is of great use
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