Sometimes life makes more sense when you look at it in reverse (相反). That's certainly been true for me.
Last Christmas, at 39, I caught a disease which attacked my knees and eyes. At its worst I could hardly walk or see. For months I' d have to crawl (爬) across the floor to use the bathroom or get a drink of water when my husband wasn't home. For a while I could only see shapes and colors so I couldn't drive.
My parents kept begging me to let them come out to stay with me in Los Angeles, but our apartment is small and I knew there was nothing they could really do to help me. For the excellent health insurance my husband had through his job, I was receiving the best medical care possible.
My only problem was that I couldn't drive to my doctors' appointments and I didn't want my husband to keep missing work to drive me. Three days after I explained this to my parents, a check came from them with a note saying this was "taxi money". Several months later another check showed up from my brother to help make up our income since I wasn't able to work. It probably goes without saying that I was extremely grateful to have family members who could and would support me during the hard time.
In terms of my day-to-day existence, I live in a village within Los Angeles called Brentwood so I was able to walk to the local post office, market, bank, and library. But once there, I had to depend on the kindness of strangers to help me. Los Angeles is a big city, but I lived in a village with a wonderful community (社区) of people who were kind and patient.
Slowly I became well. Life was good again and I thought I had a clear understanding of the blessings (恩惠) this illness has provided.When the author's husband was at home, he __________.
| A．was still busy working |
| B．often had a good rest |
| C．often helped her a lot |
| D．taught her to drive a car |
Why did the author not want her husband to drive her to her doctors' appointments?
| A．Her husband didn't drive well. |
| B．Her husband was too busy. |
| C．She didn't want to affect his work. |
| D．Her doctor was far away from her. |
What is the fourth paragraph mainly about?
| A．The help that the author received from her family members. |
| B．The influence of the author's disease on her family. |
| C．The author's thanks to her family members. |
| D．The way the author saw her doctors. |
What did the author feel about Brentwood?
| A．She thought it was small but convenient. |
| B．She felt it was hard to live there. |
| C．She thought it was small and strange. |
| D．She felt warm and comfortable there. |
A new study has been carried to test the role of story telling in lowering blood pressure．Dr．Thomas Houston,
a professor of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, led a group of scientists that investigated how pre-recorded videos of hypertension （高血压） patients' talking about their medical histories helped another group of patients with high blood pressure to control their condition over several months．
Houston was surprised by their studies that suggested that communication can be a powerful tool in medicine．They showed that those who had had similar experiences, when talking to someone with a similar background, could help change their behavior to become healthier．Hypertension is difficult to control, since it is dependent on diet, exercise and mental state．Medical treatments with drugs, and lifestyle therapies（疗法） have been relatively ineffective because people find it hard to follow those medical requirements．
In the test, his team carefully chose their story-tellers from 230 members of a patients' community with whom they could most easily relate．Next, they divided their study population into two groups．One received three interactive （互动） DVDs containing the tellers' stories of their experiences in living with and treating their hypertension．The other were given educational discs on an unrelated health topic．The study volunteers reported that they had listened to the DVDs, and after three months, those who heard the stories of the hypertensive patients lowered their blood pressure．
While the study did not address how the story-telling influenced the patients' behavior, Houston suspects that watching patients of similar backgrounds who had a similar medical experience helped to motivate them to seek medical help to their hypertension．They found that after six months the difference in blood pressure between those who watched the story-tellers and those who observed the unrelate
d videos remained, suggesting that the story-telling continued to have an effect．We can learn from the text that the pre-recorded videos _________．
| A．tell medical histories of hypertension patients |
| B．introduce some medical treatments of hypertension |
| C．introduce a good lifestyle for hypertensive patients |
| D．tell scientific discoveries of the scientist group |
Houston was surprised to find that _______．
| A．hypertension is really difficult to control |
| B．communication has some medical effects |
C．medical treatments have  no effect at all |
| D．people don't follow the medical requirements |
Which of the following is true about the study?
| A．The scientists chose 230 patients from a hospital． |
| B．Both the groups used the same videos about health topic． |
| C．The two groups lowered blood pressure in different degrees． |
D．The story-tellers were hypertension pat ients as well． |
Which of the following could be the best title of the text?
| A．The stories of some hypertension patients． |
| B．Medical treatments of blood pressure． |
| C．Storytelling may help lower blood pressure． |
| D．Suggestions about how to lower blood pressure． |
The story begins with fishing.
Once a boy and his father went fishing before bass (a kind of special fish) season opened. They were fishing ea
rly in the evening, catching other fish with worms. Then the boy tied on a small silver lure (鱼饵) and put it into the lake. Suddenly he felt that something very big pulling on the lure. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully brought the fish beside the bank. Finally he lifted the tired fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but it was a bass(the special fish).
The boy and his father looked at the big fish. The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 pm – two hours before the bass season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy. “You’ll have to put it back, son,” he said.
“Dad!” cried the boy, “There will be other fish,” said his father. “Not as big as this one,” cried the boy. He looked around the la
ke. No other fishermen or boats were in sight in the moonlight. He looked again at his father.
Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he had caught the fish, the boy could tell from his father’s voice that the decision couldn’t be changed. He threw the huge bass into the black water. The big fish disappeared. The boy thought that he would never again see such a big fish.
That was 34 years ago. Today the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He often takes his own son and daughters to fish at the same place.
And he was right. He has never again caught such a large fish as the one he got that night long ago. But he does see that same fish … again and again … every time he has an ethical decision to make. For, as his father had 
taught him, ethics (伦理道德)are simple matters of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult. What happened when the big fish turned out to be a bass?
| A．The boy threw the bass back into the water willingly. |
| B．The boy and his father discussed what to do with the big fish. |
| C．The father lit a match in order to check the time. |
| D．They worried other fishermen may discover what they had done. |
From the text we know that the father _____.
| A．disliked the huge fish | B．was firm and stubborn |
| C．didn’t love his son | D．always disagreed with his son |
The successful architect went fishing with his children at the same place because _____.
| A．they might catch a big fish there |
| B．he was taught a moral lesson there |
| C．it was a most popular fishing spot |
| D．their children enjoyed fishing there |
What does the story imply?
| A．An ethical decision is always easy to make. |
| B．It is easy to say something, but difficult to do. |
| C．It’s hard to tell right from wrong sometimes |
| D．Fishing can help one to make right decisions |
What kind of the person the father is?
| A．kind | B．honest | C．optimistic | D．satisfied |
Father Maurice Chase used a special way to celebrate his 90th birthday. The Catholic priest（神父） took $ 15,000 in cash to Los Angeles’ Skid Row (贫民区) and gave it away. Twenty wheelchair – bound peop
le received $100 bills, while the rest received $1to $ 3 each．
“I come out here to tell them that God loves them and I love them and that some one is concerned about them,” Chase said．
Chase has given away cash and blessings every Sunday at the same corner for 24 years．Several hundred people wait for him every week．
He makes a point of coming on Thanksgiving and Christmas, too, but this is the first year he spent his birthday in the downtown neighborhood where people live mainly in shelters and on dirty sidewalks．
“ It’s the place that makes me the happiest．I just love it,” said Chase. “I look forward to coming here.”
The money comes from donations he receives from rich and famous people he met during his work as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University．
The crowd broke into choruses of “Happy Birthday” several times. Some people presented him birthday cards, to his delight．
Travis Kemp, a 51 – year – old disabled man with long black hair, was one of the lucky 20 to receive $ 100. He said he had no special plans for spending the money. “He has a lot of respect from me,” Kemp said. “I know I couldn’t do it.”On his 90 th birthday, Chase ．
| A．handed out cash to the needy |
| B．collected money for poor people |
| C．visited poor people’s homes with gifts |
| D．held a party at Los Angeles’ Skid Row |
Which of the following makes Chase feel the happiest?
| A．Celebrating his birthday with his neighbours． |
| B．Working in Loyola Marymount University． |
| C．Celebrating Christmas with the people he has helped． |
| D．Going to Los Angeles’ Skid Row to help people there． |
What’s the source of the money Chase used to help people?
| A．All his savings． |
| B．His earnings as a Catholic priest． |
| C．Donations from the wealthy and celebrities(名人)． |
D．Donations from Loyol a Marymount University． |
Travis Kemp is mentioned in the text to show ．
| A．he was the luckiest person on that day |
| B．the disabled need to be taken care of |
| C．Chase is greatly appreciated by the needy |
| D．even old people came to celebrate Chase’s birthday |
Which statement is CORRECT according to the passage?
| A．Every recipient could get $100 in cash from Father Maurice Chase． |
| B．Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away not only on his birthday but also on other occasions． |
| C．Although Father Maurice Chase gave the cash away on his birthday, he didn’t receive anything in return． |
| D．Father Maurice Chase earned a lot of money as assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University． |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are 
happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the United States. The Gallup(民意调查) Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young 
children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all age
s reported more sadness, stress and worry than men. What can be the best title of the text?
| A．Happiness Varies with Ages |
| B．Experience More, Worry Less |
| C．The Older, the Wiser |
| D．Being Young, Being Happy |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older will they feel happier |
| B．stress levels among the youngest are the highest |
| C．older people tend to be grateful |
| D．older people usually have no worries |
According to the research, when people get older, _________.
| A．they miss the old days |
| B．they are physically weak |
| C．they have better self-control |
| D．they are more emotional |
What would the author probably talk about next?
| A．What influences happiness. |
| B．How to live better. |
| C．How to keep happier. |
| D．Why women are less happier. |
The author is intended to _________.
| A．advise how to reduce stress |
| B．introduce a scientific finding |
| C．describe how to do research |
| D．talk about human emotions |
To us it seems so natural to put up an umbrella to keep the water off when it rains, But actually the umbrella was not invented as protection against the rain, Its first use was as a shade against the sun!
Nobody knows who first invented it, but the umbrella was used in very ancient times . Probably the first to use it were the Chinese in the 11th century B C.
We know that the umbrella was used in ancient Egypt and Babylon as a sunshade. And there was a strange thing connected with its use: it became a symbol of honor. In the Far East in ancient times, the umbrella was allowed to be used only by those in high office.
In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. And the umbrella was in commonly used in ancient Greece. But it is believed that the first persons in Europe to use the umbrella as protection against the rain were the ancient Romans.
During the Middle Ages, the use of the umbrella practically disappeared. Then it appeared again in Italy in the late sixteenth century. And again it was considered as a symbol of power. By 1680, the umbrella appeared in France and later in England.
By the eighteenth century, the umbrella was used against rain throughout most of Europe.
Umbrellas have hot changed much in style during all this time, though they have become much lighter in weight. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women’s umbrellas began to be made , in a whole variety of colors.According to this
passage, the umbrella was probably first invented in ancient_______.
| A．China | B．Egypt | C．Greece | D．Rome |
Which of the following statements is not true about the umbrella?
| A．No one exactly knows who the inventor of the umbrella was |
| B．The umbrella was first invented to be used as protection against the sun. |
| C．The umbrella changed much in style in the eighteenth century |
| D．In Europe, the Greeks were the first to use the umbrella as a sunshade. |
A strange feature of the umbrella’s use is that it was used as__________.
| A．protection against rain | B．a shade against the sun |
| C．a symbol of honor and power | D．women’s decoration (装饰) |
In Europe, the umbrella was first used against the rain_______________.
| A．during the Middle Ages | B．by the 18th | C．in Rome | D．in Greece |
This passage talks mainly about_______________.
| A．when and how the umbrella was invented |
| B．why the umbrella was so popular in Europe |
| C．the development of the umbrella |
| D．The history and use of the umbrella |
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