A great French writer said that we should help everyone as much as possible because we often need help ourselves. The small even can help the great. To this effect, he tells a simple story.
An ant was drinking at a small river and fell in. She tried hard to reach the side, but made no progre
ss at all. The poor ant, almost tired out, was still bravely doing her best when a bird saw her. Moved with pity, the bird threw her a blade (叶片) of grass, which supported her like a boat, and thus she
reached the bank again. While she was resting and drying herself in the grass she heard a man coming near. He was walking along barefooted and carrying a gun in his hand. As he saw the bird he wished to kill her, and he would certainly have done so, but the ant bit him in the foot just before he raised his gun to 
fire. He stopped to see what had bit him, and the bird immediately flew away. It w
as an animal much weaker and smaller than herself that had saved her life. According to the French writer, we often need help from others, therefore we should________.
| A．not help others | B．help those who may be helpful to us |
| C．get as much help as possible | D．help others as much as we can |
The ant finally got on the bank _______.
A．when t he water pushed her |
B．with the help of a piece of wood |
| C．with the help of a blade of grass | D．when the bird reached out a leg for her |
The French writer tells the story in order to show _______.
| A．how an ant saved a bird | B．how brave the ant is |
| C．how clever the bird is | D．even the small can help the great |
Every day we go to school and listen to teachers, and the teacher will ask us some questions. Sometimes, the classmates will ask your opinions of the work of the class. When you are telling others in the class what you have found out about these topics, remember that they must be able to hear what you are saying. You are not taking part in a family conversation or having a chat with friends --- you are in a situation where a large group of people will remain silent, waiting to hear what you have to say. You must speak so that they can hear you loudly enough and clearly enough but without trying to shout or appearing to force yourself.
Remember, too, that it is the same if you are called to an interview whether it is with a professor of your school or a government official who might meet you. The person you are seeing will try to put you at your ease in ordinary conversation but the situation is somewhat different from that of an ordinary conversation. You must take special care that you can be heard.When you speak to the class, you should speak __________.
| A．as loudly as possible | B．in a low voice | C．loudly | D．forcefully |
The situation in the class is _________ that in your house.
| A．not very different from | B．sometimes the same as |
| C．sometimes not the same as | D．not the same as |
If you are having a conversation with an official, the most important thing for you is _____________.
| A．to show your ability | B．to be very gentle |
| C．to make sure that you can be heard | D．to put the official at ease |
The main idea of this passage is __________.
| A．that we must use different ways at different situations |
| B．that we must speak loudly |
| C．that we must keep silent at any time |
| D．that we must talk with the class |
The most frightening words in the English language are “our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.” I looked down at the counter and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do you do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s right, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There is no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down, it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup computer, I said, “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They are still flying, aren’t they?”
“I can’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington.” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the desk screen. “Only IT knows. It can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in line. The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.The word “down” in the sentence ‘Our computer is down.’ means _____________.
| A．falling | B．downcast | C．drop | D．dead |
The best title of the article is _________.
| A．Asking the Computer |
| B．The Computer of the Airport |
| C．The Most Frightening Words |
| D．When the Computer Is Down |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could answer the passengers’ questions |
| B．She could do nothing. |
| C．She could sell a ticket. |
| D．She could write out a ticket. |
“Slow City” — a recently launched project focused on preserving the traditional quality of life enjoyed in some of Italy’s smaller cities and towns. The project was born from the idea of the “Slow Food” movement — started in Italy in the 1980s — which promotes leisurely eating and the growing of local, healthy products to fight against the American fast-food style.
“The American urban model has invaded our cities, making Italian towns look the same. We want to stop this kind of globalization,” says Paolo Saturnini, an Italian mayor.
The “Slow City” project plans to emphasize the rich, cultural, culinary(厨房的) and artistic local traditions of each community.
Walking areas will be enlarged and squares and parks will be made greener with more plants. Car alarms and other noise that disturbs the peace will be banned, and ugly TV aerials(天线), advertising posters, and signs will be taken down.
City councils will also insist on the use of recycling and renewable energy sources, and will also introduce ecological transport systems. Parking will be made stress-free by creating more public parking areas, and easily accessible walkways and bike lanes will cross the city. But in the “Slow City” way, all improvements will probably come about slowly.
Thirty-two Italian city councils, which joined the “Slow City” program, have decided to take further steps in this direction by increasing the numbers of traditional family-style eating establishments, reducing noise pollution, and concentrating on making their towns friendlier for people to live in.
Organic local produce will be promoted in all restaurants and genetically modified foods(转基因食品) will be banned. “We can’t stop large, fast-food chains from coming here, but we hope that people who come to our towns will not want to eat exactly the same hamburger they can eat in Melbourne, London or Paris, but want something genuine and different,” said Saturnini.According to the passage, the “Slow City” project aims at _____.
| A．preventing Italy from being affected by America |
| B．beautifying the environment of small Italian cities and towns |
| C．calling on Italians to enjoy stress-free life |
| D．protecting the traditional Italian lifestyle |
From Paragraphs 4-5, we can infer that ______.
| A．cars in “Slow City” will have to go slowly |
| B．people can park their cars free of charge in “Slow City” |
| C．“Slow City” will take on an environmentally friendly look |
| D．advertising in “Slow City” will be banned |
Further measures will be included in the “Slow City” program EXCEPT _____.
| A．cutting down noise pollution |
| B．stop genetically modified foods |
| C．getting more towns involved in the project |
| D．building more family-style restaurants |
In Saturnini’s opinion, when traveling in “Slow Cities”, visitors_____.
| A．aren’t provided with fast food |
| B．will see few fast-food chains |
| C．can enjoy themselves like in London |
| D．can enjoy real Italian-style healthy food |
Whenever my dog, Barney, comes into the house after having been for a ride in the car, he runs to the pen(围栏) we have set up for him by the back door. It’s not something we intentionally trained him to do. The habit came simply because my husband tended to put him in his pen whenever they came in. After doing it a few times, Barney just figures that’s what you do when you come inside after a car ride.
It’s the same with your thinking. You get into the habit of thinking a certain way and then you’ll rarely question it after that.
This is especially true when you were growing up. You developed habits that just made things easier for you. You probably didn’t even think about them. That’s just the way it was and that’s what you did. Just like Barney thinks he has to go into his pen, you do things automatically as well.
For example, when you were a kid, you may have been told not to “talk back” and to just keep quiet about things that were bothering you. These are habits that might have worked to keep you safe and out of trouble when you were young.
Now that you're grown up, you may be finding that these previous strategies are actually causing you problems. In a relationship, not communicating isn't going to work as your partner can’t read your mind. What works when you're a child may not work when you become an adult.
When you decide you need to change your thoughts, your brain may at first feel that it's not a safe thing to do. Lots of practice and years of experience says it’s not. Also, you don’t know to question the thought. It’s a truth for you. The trick is to look at your results and see if your thoughts are the cause. Be willing to question your thinking and ask yourself if there are thoughts that are hindering (妨碍) you. As you are now in a different phase of your life, different strategies may be needed.As with the dog Barney, people _______.
| A．think in a habitual way |
| B．enjoy having a car ride |
| C．usually behave in a friendly way |
| D．have a good memory |
According to the passage, as a kid, one tends to _________.
| A．be afraid to make mistakes |
| B．have the experience of playing with a dog |
| C．learn much from adults like his/her parents |
| D．form a habit which can keep his/her out of trouble |
In the writer’s opinion, adults should _______.
| A．not“talk back” |
| B．avoid causing any problem |
| C．change the habit which will bring troubles |
| D．value their habits formed in their childhood |
It can be concluded from the passage that ________.
| A．the author’s husband must be good at training dogs |
| B．childhood is the best time for developing good habits |
| C．one can change his/her life by changing his/her thoughts |
| D．you should change all your childhood habits when you grow up |
When I first saw the book Alice in Lace, I thought I was going to like it. And as it turned out, I love it! I love books about life and being a kid. And Alice in Lace is just that kind. It’s a humorous book about being thirteen and the problems kids might face. Alice and her friends get a strange assignment from their totally cool teacher, Mr. Everett. It was like playing the game of “Life,” but you had to act it out.
So Pamela is pregnant, Elizabeth buys a car and Alice gets married. Well, of course, Pamela wasn’t really pregnant, but she walked around with a pillow under her shirt to get people’s reactions. Elizabeth didn’t really buy a car, but she went to the car lot and made the sales guy think she was. The whole class got assignments like these! I would love to do something like that for school.
In the book Alice has a lot to think about. “Getting married is hard!” Alice says. She has to plan the ceremony, the honeymoon, find a place to live, pay for furniture and two months’ rent and food. Maybe she and her “husband” could work it out — if they were getting on fine!
Although this book was funny, it really made me think about how problems like these could really mess up your life. Take teenage pregnancy for example. How could you have a baby and stay in school? You couldn’t find a babysitter every day to stay with your kid. A child really consumes your life. I understand what the teacher was trying to do. He was trying to discourage the class from getting into these problems by giving them a glimpse of life. As someone about to become a teenager myself, I can say sometimes a story makes you think about what’s up ahead.
Overall, I would say this book is wonderful. My favorite part of the book is discovering that if I like it, there are seven other Alice books I can check out at my local library. I love this book, and I hope you will too.We can infer from the passage that Pamela, Elizabeth and Alice _______.
| A．turn out to be the author’s classmates |
| B．are characters in Alice in Lace |
| C．get along quite well |
| D．become dismissed from school |
By saying “getting married is hard” in the paragraph 3, Alice means ______.
| A．life isn’t easy as expected |
| B．it is hard to deal with her husband |
| C．she regrets getting married |
| D．it’s fun to get married |
Why did Mr. Everett give his students such assignments?
| A．To encourage them to enjoy a meaningful life. |
| B．To prevent them getting into those troubles at an early age. |
| C．To make them realize the hardship of life. |
| D．To teach them how to make a living. |
The author writes the passage mainly to _____.
| A．advise us to buy Alice in Lace |
| B．tell us how wonderful Mr. Everett’s idea is |
| C．share her inspiration from Alice in Lace |
| D．show off her reading ability |
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