I start to wonder what else had changed since I’d been gone. My parents are in an awkward puzzle, wondering how to treat me now----whether to treat me—still their daughter—as one of them, an adult, or as the child they feel they sent away months earlier.
I run into two of my best friends from high school; we stare at each other, expressionless. We ask the simple questions and give simple answers. It’s as if we have nothing to say to each other. I wonder how things have changed so much in such a small amount of time. We used to laugh and promise that no matter how far away we were, our love for each other would never change. Their interests don’t interest me anymore, and I find myself unable to relate my life to theirs.
I had been so excited to come home, but now I just look at it all and wonder: Is it me? Why hadn’t the world stood still here while I was gone? My room isn’t the same, my friends and I don’t share the same promise, and my parents don’t know how to treat me—or who I am, for that matter.
I get back to school feeling half-satisfied, but not disappointed. I sit up in my bed in my dorm room, surrounded by my pictures, dolls. As I wonder what has happened, I realize that I can’t expect the world to stand still and move forward at the same time. I can change and expect that things at home will stay the same. I have to find comfort in what has changed and what is new; keep the memories, but live in the present.
A few weeks later, I’m packing again, this time for winter break. My mom meets me at the door. I have come home accepting the changes, not only in my surroundings, but most of all in me.
What can we infer about the writer?
| A．She is a high school student. | B．She is a college student. |
| C．She is a clerk in a school. | D．She is a traveler. |
. What surprises the writer most?
| A．The living conditions of her parents. |
| B．The decorations in her room. |
| C．The meeting with her best friends. |
| D．The things still staying the same. |
What is this passage mainly about?
| A．The writer’s curiosity about the changes. |
| B．The changes in the writer’s surroundings and in herself. |
| C．The writer’s disappointment about the changes. |
| D．The writer’s refusal to accept the changes. |
It was a comfortable sunny Sunday. I was going to meet an old university friend I hadn't seen for years, and was really excited to hear all his news.
My train was running a little late, but that was no big problem - I could text him to say I would be delayed. He would understand. But… where was my mobile phone? I had that familiar sinking feeling. Yes, I'd forgotten it at home.
No mobile phone. I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling anxious, on edge and worried when I don't have my phone with me. In fact, I know I'm not alone: two-thirds of us experience ‘nomophobia’, the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
That's according to a study from 2012 which surveyed 1,000 people in the UK about their relationship with mobile phones.
It says we check our mobile phones 34 times a day, that women are more ‘nomophobic’than men, and that 18-24 year-olds are the most likely to suffer fear of being without their mobiles: 77% of them say they are unable to be apart from their phones for more than a few minutes.
Do you have nomophobia ?
· You never turn your phone off
· You obsessively check for texts, missed calls and emails· You always take your phone to the bathroom with you· You never let the battery run out
It's funny to think that around 20 years ago the only people with mobile phones would be businessperson carrying their large, plastic ‘bricks’. Of course, these days, mobile phones are everywhere. A UN study from this year said mobile phone subscriptions would outnumber people across the world by the end of 2014.
And when there are more phones than people in the world, maybe it's time to ask who really is in charge? Are you in control of your phone, or does your phone control you?
So, what happened with my university friend? When I arrived a few minutes late he just laughed and said: "You haven't changed at all – still always late!" And we had a great afternoon catching up, full of jokes and stories, with no interruptions and no nagging(唠叨的) desire to check my phone.
Not having it with me felt strangely liberating. Maybe I'll leave it at home on purpose next time.What does the passage talk about ?
| A．The history of mobiles. |
| B．The story of meeting an old university friend. |
| C．The addiction of playing mobile phone. |
| D．The terrible feeling of being without their mobiles. |
The underlined phrase “ on edge ”in the third paragraph probably means_______.
| A． nervous | B．energetic | C．crazy | D．surprised |
Which word is used to describe old mobile phones according to the passage?
| A．digital phone | B．cell phone | C．bricks | D．smart phone |
According to the passage, who is most likely to be addicted to mobiles ?
| A．a successful manager | B．a 21-year-old girl |
| C．a 21-year-old boy | D．a lonely middle-aged person |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the using mobiles ?
| A．Worried | B．Favorable | C．Neutral | D．Critical |
For their nick-of-time acts, Toby, a 2-year-old dog, and Winnie, a cute cat, were named Dog and Cat of the Year by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
As Amy Paul choked(哽住) on a piece of apple at her home, her dog jumped up, landing hard on her chest and forcing the piece in her throat out. When the Keesling family of Indiana was about to be killed by carbon monoxide, their cat clawed at the wife Cathy’s hair until she woke up and called for help.
No one could explain their timely heroics.
Both pets were rescued by their owners in infancy---Toby as a 4-week-old thrown into a garbage bin to die, and Winnie as a week-old orphan hiding under a barn, so helpless that Cathy’s husband, Eric, had to feed her milk with an eyedropper.
As the Keeslings recalled it, a gas-driven pump being used broke down, spreading carbon monoxide through the house. By the time Winnie went to rescue, the couple’s 14-year-old son was already unconscious. “Winnie jumped on the bed and was clawing at me, with a kind of angry sound,” Cathy Keesling said. The state police responding to her 911 call said the family was only minutes from death, judging by the amount of poisonous gas in the house.
Amy Paul’s husband was at his job when she took a midday break from making jewelry and bit into an apple. “Normally I peel them, but I read in Good Housekeeping Magazine that the skin has all the nutrients, so I ate the skin, and that’s what caused me to choke,” she recalled. “I couldn’t breathe and I was in panic when Toby jumped on me. He never does that, but he did, and saved my life.”
Both Toby and Winnie accompanied their owners to the awards luncheon.Why did Amy Paul choke on a piece of apple?
| A．She was too young to care for herself. |
| B．She didn’t peel the skin as usual. |
| C．The apple was too hard. |
| D．She had a big bite. |
Winnie saved the lives of its owner’s whole family in an accident by __________.
| A．jumping onto its owner |
| B．calling for help |
| C．clawing at Cathy’s hair |
| D．making some strange noises |
Which of the following has the similar meaning to the underlined word “infancy” in Paragraph 4?
| A．middle age | B．youth | C．babyhood | D．agedness |
What caused the carbon monoxide spreading through the house?
| A．A pump breaking down. |
| B．A driver breaking into the house. |
| C．The burning gas. |
| D．The poisonous gas. |
What would be the suitable title for the passage?
| A．So Smart Animals Are |
| B．Great Honors for Cat and Dog |
| C．Unforgettable Experiences |
| D．Dog and Cat Honored for Saving Their Masters |
When Hurricane Phailin hit India in late 2013, it became the largest storm to strike the subcontinent in over a decade. The storm affected more than 12 million people in India and neighboring countries, and damaged or destroyed many houses. However, good news is that cleverly-designed beach house created by architect Ray Huff can survive such strong winds and storm waves.
Located on the shore of an Indian island, Huff’s award-winning cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane Phailin.
Huff pointed out that many houses built along shoreline were poorly constructed, and enforcement(执行) of building codes wasn’t strict. After Phailin’s attack, all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced codes. The new beach house should be able to stand a Category 3 hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometers per hour.
At first sight, Huff's house looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be misleading. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced(加固) with long steel rods to give it extra strength.
To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on pilings---long columns of wood anchored(固定) deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they are strong enough to support the weight of the house. They also balance the house above storm waves. The pilings allow the waves to run under the house instead of running into it. “These swells of water come ashore at great speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.
Huff designed the wooden pilings to be partially hidden by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs pulled up,” said Huff. In case of a storm wave, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained. After Hurricane Phailin, new houses built along shore line are required_____.
| A．to be easily reinforced |
| B．to look smarter in design |
| C．to meet stricter building standards |
| D．to be designed in the shape of cubes |
The award-winning beach house is quite strong because____.
| A．it is made of redwood |
| B．it is in the shape of a shell |
| C．it is strengthened by steel rods |
| D．it is built with wood and stones |
Huff raised the house 2.7 meters off the ground on wooden pilings in order to _____.
| A．support the weight of the house |
| B．allow the waves to run through the house |
| C．anchor stronger pilings deep in the sand |
| D．prevent water from rushing into the house |
The main function of the shell is_____.
| A．to give the house a better appearance |
| B．to strengthen the pilings of the house |
| C．to protect the wooden frame of the house |
| D．to slow down the speed of the swelling water |
Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony.
The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.
The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes(音符) to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they found the notes unfamiliar they also found the sound unpleasant. This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive.
The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn’t find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培养) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.
Depending on their training, a strange chord(和弦) sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt.
To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played.
The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder(观看者)”, a researcher said. According to the study, people find foreign music quite unpleasant because_____.
| A．they hear the music much too often |
| B．they don’t like the person playing it |
| C．they have no idea about how to listen |
| D．they have no born musical ability at all |
Although non-musicians were less sensitive to music, they can still_____.
| A．be trained to like particular music |
| B．make friends with real musicians |
| C．find the beauty of chords without training |
| D．enjoy the beauty of music when played by musicians |
The 19 non-musicians were trained in order to show_____.
| A．the brain likes particular combinations of notes |
| B．not a strange note was pleasant to all musicians |
| C．how the chords were played was very important |
| D．people’s ability to hear a musical note can be learnt |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Love of musical harmony can’t be taught. |
| B．Love of music is not natural but nurtured. |
| C．Listening to music can improve your brain. |
| D．You can be a musician without being trained. |
J.K. Rowling set children’s imaginations on fire. Can the creator of Harry Potter do the same for a grown-up audience? The British author will find out on September 27, when more than 2 million hardcover(精装书) copies of her first novel for adults hit bookstores in the UK and the US, along with the digital edition. Set in a little English town, The Casual Vacancy is about an election held after an unexpected death.
Michael Pietsch, Rowling’s US publisher, says the novel reminded him of Dickens “because of the humanity, the humor, the social concerns, the intensely real characters”. No magic though, apparently: “This book isn’t Harry Potter”, says Pietsch. “It is a completely different concern”. As with Harry Potter, there are no advance copies for the media, no early reviews. To date, the seven-book series has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, and it became one of the most successful movie franchises in July 21, 2007.
Back then, fans could buy books at midnight parties hosted by bookstores. But recent years have seen a great challenge for brick-and-mortar(实体的) bookstores. People are still buying books, indeed more books than in 2007, according to figures released by the Association of American Publishers. But they are reading them in a new format(样式)—the e-book. The Harry Potter series just became available digitally for the first time in April. It will be different for The Casual Vacancy, with the publisher simultaneously releasing an e-book. For Rowling fans who once queued up for Harry Potter, this means that instant satisfaction is now only a click away.
Moving from children’s books to adult literature is a big transition. Will Rowling’s new book be successful? Arthur Levine, the US co-editor of the Harry Potter books, seems confident: “If you read or re-read the Harry Potter books, you can see that Rowling has all the strengths she needs for great success as a fiction writer –you have great characters, an involving plot, a sense of humor and great empathy”.In Paragraph 2, what Michael Pietsch says means that_____.
| A．Dickens’ works are too impressive to forget. |
| B．J.K. Rowling has all the strengths of Dickens. |
| C．The new book is similar to Dickens’ works in some way. |
| D．The new book is quite different from the works of Dickens. |
The underlined word “simultaneously” has the closest meaning with“______”.
| A．willingly | B．meanwhile | C．especially | D．eventually |
What’s the main purpose of Paragraph 3?
| A．To explain why the new book will have a digital edition. |
| B．To show the Harry Potter series are popular with readers. |
| C．To compare J.K. Rowling’s old books and her new book. |
| D．To clarify the great challenges for brick-and-mortar bookstores. |
What do the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy have in common?
| A．They are both intended for children. |
| B．They both show the author’s great talent. |
| C．Their characters both have magical power. |
| D．Both of them won’t be read on the Internet. |
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