“The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato．Self-control is at the root of all the advantages．Let a man give in to his impulses （冲动） and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom．
A single angry word has lost many a friend．When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself．If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger．Many a person has dropped dead in great anger．Fits of anger bring fits of disease．“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad．” “Keep cool”, says George Herbert, “for fierceness makes error a fault．”
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself．“Anger,” says Pythagoras, “brings with folly（愚蠢） and ends with regret．” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him．
Self-control is man’s last greatest victory．
If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything．Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling．If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also．What does the reader learn from the first paragraph?
| A．The greatest victory for a man is to conquer everything except himself． |
| B．One’s moral freedom is based on the control of himself． |
| C．To control oneself is the most difficult in one’s life． |
| D．If a person is too stubborn, he will feel most shameful． |
What does the underlined sentence “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” mean ?
| A．If the gods want to kill you, they make you crazy first． |
| B．If you are mad, you will be punished by the gods． |
| C．If you cannot control yourself, you will become crazy． |
| D．If you always lose your temper, you will soon be finished． |
If a man lacks self-control, he lacks all of the following EXCEPT _______．
| A．the very backbone and nerve of character |
| B．the patience and power to control himself |
| C．strong feelings |
| D．self-confidence |
The author’s main purpose in writing this article is to _______．
| A．explain that self-control is the key to success |
| B．teach people how to control everything in order to make a great success |
| C．distinguish all kinds of self-control and suggest ways for keeping it |
| D．advise people not to lose temper so as to make and keep more friends |
My father’s playing the violin lights up any room. To him, it is an instrument of faith, hope and charity. My mother used to joke, “Your papa would play his violin if the world was about to blow up.”
Once_Dad_came_about_as_close_to_that_as_could_ever_be_possible.
In the early years of the 20th century, the boll weevil (棉铃象鼻虫) began destroying the cotton farms in the southern USA.
In May 1910, folks all over the nation were talking about Halley’s Comet (哈雷彗星). There were all sorts of frightening stories about it, the main one being that the world would pass through its tail, said to be millions of miles long.
Between the threats of the comet and weevils, the farmers were running low on optimism. One night, they gathered at our farm to discuss what to do. Will Bowen, a local man, suggested, “Charley, how about giving us a little music?”
“I don’t think anybody’d want to hear me tonight,” Dad replied.
“Come on, Mr. Nordyke,” one of the younger women urged. “Play for us!”
Dad got the hang of getting people in the mood for his music. He played church songs, and then switched to war songs. By the time he had finished performing, people were stamping their feet, clapping their hands and yelling.
All of our neighbors went home whistling. Very few remembered to look to see whether the comet was still around.
Another evening, Will Bowen called Dad on the telephone and said, “Charley, I'm downhearted and blue. Could you play a tune or two for me through the phone?”
Dad handed the receiver to me and then set about playing the songs he had performed that night. I could hear Mr. Bowen whistling and yelling.
By the time the tune was finished there were half a dozen neighbors on the line. They talked about how wonderful the music sounded over the telephone. They made numerous requests; I relayed them to Dad and he played.
Our broadcasts became regular features of community life. When the weather was bad in winter and farmers were forced to remain in the house, someone would ring us and ask Dad to play. Usually it developed into a network affair. Our phone kept ringing with requests for music until radio came into fashion. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that the author’s mother ________.
| A．believed that her husband had the ability to save the world by playing the violin. |
| B．complained that her husband loved the violin more than her. |
| C．thought that her husband could always get strength from his violin. |
| D．showed that she loved music as much as her husband |
The underlined sentence “Once Dad came about as close to that as could ever be possible.” functions as ________.
| A．a conclusion of the first paragraph |
| B．an introduction of a story |
| C．an example of my father's love of music |
| D．the topic sentence of this passage |
From the last three paragraphs, we could see that Mr. Nordyke was ______.
| A．generous and optimistic | B．popular and creative |
| C．sensitive and determined | D．energetic and humorous |
All the following statements are FALSE except ________.
| A．The neighbors often dropped in to hear Mr. Nordyke’s performance. |
| B．Mr. Nordyke’s music entertained and comforted people in the community. |
| C．The farmers knew listening to music would help them avoid being destroyed by Halley’s Comet. |
| D．At that time people loved all sorts of music deeply. |
Some people make art with paint, and others use pencil or clay. But Italian artist Maurizio Savini prefers to use bright pink gum—after it has been chewed.
Savini makes huge sculptures of bears and even people out of used chewing gum. Each sculpture requires thousands of pieces of gum.
“I like to use chewing gum because it seemed to me a material that can be used in many ways compared with those used by the conventional arts such as painting,” Savini says.
How does he do it? The process is a lot like working with clay. “I work the chewing gum when it is warm and shape it with a knife,” says Savini. Then, he puts a chemical onto each gum sculpture to make the gum stay in place.
Savini’s sticky art has been shown in cities like London, Paris, and Rome, where he lives today.
Savini isn’t the only artist to work with gum. His pink sculptures have inspired artists all over the world to get creative with the sticky matter.
London artist Ben Wilson paints small paintings onto flat pieces of chewed gum he finds stuck to streets and sidewalks. In Canada, Jason Kronenwald uses different colored gum to make portraits of famous people.
Kronenwald seldom chews gum himself. Instead, his friends help chew gum for him while he’s working. “At times it can make me disgusted, but I just pay attention to the colors I need and get the sculpture going,” he says.
In America, Jamie Marraccini’s art depends on color, so he tests different kinds of gum before using them. To find out what color the chewed gum will become once hardened, he lets it age for up to six months.
“I’ve created 30 works totaling more than 35,000 pieces of gum,” says Marraccini. That’s a lot of gum!
So think twice the next time you throw away a wad of gum. Maybe what seems like trash could actually be the beginning of a great piece of art.The underlined word “disgusted” in the eighth paragraph probably means ________.
| A．excited | B．feel tired and sick |
| C．unhappy | D．energetic |
Marraccini stores the gum for six months in order to ______.
| A．judge how hard it will be |
| B．know whether it is still sweet |
| C．examine what chemicals it contains |
| D．see what color it will become |
The best title for the passage is ________.
| A．Sticky sculptures | B．Creative artists |
| C．A new form of art | D．Chewing gum |
Savini’s works of art can be seen in all the cities EXCEPT _______.
| A．London | B．Rome | C．New York | D．Paris |
This is an excerpt(节选)from a speech by Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, delivered to graduates of Stanford University on June 12, 2005.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired.
How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions(远见) of the future began to diverge(to be different) and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was destructive.
I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs(企业家)down. I even thought about running away from the valley(硅谷). But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated(动画) feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance.
I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.Which of the following is TRUE about Apple?
| A．It rejected one of its founders when he turned 30. |
| B．It once fell apart due to different visions of the future. |
| C．NeXT became its parent company and made a great comeback. |
| D．It has survived after it had a destructive blow. |
The underlined phrase could be replaced by ______.
| A．a complete change | B．a huge debt |
| C．a quarrel | D．a race |
Steve Jobs probably values _____ most according to his speech.
| A．patience | B．faith | C．inspiration | D．luck |
Throughout this long, tense election, everyone has focused on the presidential candidates and how they’ll change America. Rightly so. But selfishly, I’m more fascinated by Michelle Obama and what she might be able to do, not just for this country, but for me as an African-American woman. As the potential First Lady, she would have the world’s attention. And that means that for the first time people will have a chance to get up close and personal with the type of African woman they so rarely see.
Usually, the lives of black women go largely unexamined. The widespread theory seems to be that we’re all hot-tempered single mothers who can’t keep a man. Even in the world of make-believe, black women still can’t escape the stereotype (模式化的形象) of being eye-rolling, oversexed females raised by our never-married, alcoholic mothers.
These images have helped define the way all black women are viewed, including Michelle Obama. Before she ever gets the chance to commit to a cause, charity or foundation as First Lady, her most urgent and perhaps most complicated duty may be simply to be herself.
It won’t be easy. Because few mainstream publications (出版物) have done in-depth features on regular African-American women, little is known about who we are, what we think and what we face on a regular basis. For better or worse, Michelle will represent us all.
Just as she will have her critics, she will have millions of fans who usually have little interest in the First Lady. Many African-American blogs have written about what they’d like to see Michelle bring to the White House — mainly showing the world that a black woman can support her man and raise a strong black family. Michelle will have to work to please everyone — an impossible task. But for many African-American women like me, just a little of her poise (沉着), confidence and intelligence will go a long way in changing an image that’s been around far too long.Why does Michelle Obama hold a strong fascination for the author?
| A．She serves as a role model for African-American women. |
| B．She possesses many admirable qualities becoming a First Lady. |
| C．She will present to the world a new image of African-American women. |
| D．She will pay close attention to the interests of African-American women. |
What is the common stereotype of African-American women according to the author?
| A．They are victims of family violence. |
| B．They are of an inferior social group. |
| C．They use quite a lot of body language. |
| D．They live on charity and social welfare. |
What do many African-Americans write about in their blogs?
| A．Whether Michelle can live up to the high expectations of her fans. |
| B．How Michelle should behave as public figure. |
| C．How proud they are to have a black woman in the White House. |
| D．What Michelle should do as wife and mother in the White House. |
What does the author say about Michelle Obama as a First Lady?
| A．However many fans she has, she should remain modest. |
| B．She shouldn’t disappoint the African-American community. |
| C．However hard she tries, she can’t expect to please everybody. |
| D．She will concern herself with African-American women’s welfare. |
The purpose of keeping fit is to avoid illness, avoid the mental and physical fatigue（疲劳）, and above all to feel more pleasure in being alive. Research has shown the value of a balanced diet, fresh air, sunshine, enough rest and some forms of regular exercise for everyone. If everyone followed this plan, the number of people visiting the doctor and going to hospital would be reduced.
Unfortunately, although most people acknowledge the importance of physical fitness, not enough of us put this into practice. We spend too much time watching others from the comfort of an armchair or a seat in the stand at a sports stadium.
One reason why people who are physically fit to live longer is that they do not put the heart under excessive strain（过度劳累）and so they reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel（血管）diseases. They also avoid suffering weakened muscles, which are the cause of a great deal of trouble.
All in all, sensible exercise, suited to each person and properly undertaken on the advice of a doctor, is the best insurance of meeting these requirements. Why do people want to keep fit?
| A．Because they want to avoid health. |
| B．Because they want to add mental and physical fatigue. |
| C．Because they want to feel happier and live longer. |
| D．Because they want to obtain much more money. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Everyone knows the importance of this plan. |
| B．Not all people do what the plan tells them to do. |
| C．Most people put the plan into practice. |
| D．No one wants to do with this plan. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Balanced diet is the most important. |
| B．People who are physically fit live longer. |
| C．Most people can live longer. |
| D．People always do not put the heart under excessive strain. |
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