It was getting dark and snow was coming down. Joe was driving home. He'd been unemployed since the factory closed. Most of his friends had left, but he stayed on. After all, he was born here. Suddenly he saw a lady standing on the side of the road and then he pulled up. She was worried. No one had stopped to help her. Was he going to hurt her? He looked poor and hungry. Joe knew how she felt and said, “My name is Joe and I'm here to help you.” All she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Joe changed the tire, but he got dirty and his hands were hurt.
She wanted to pay Joe and said any amount would have been all right. Joe never thought twice about the money and there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way. He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance that they needed. Later the lady went in a small restaurant to take a bite to eat. The cash register was like the telephone of an out-of-work actor-it didn't ring much. The waitress, who was nearly eight months pregnant (怀孕) brought a clean towel to her with a sweet smile. The old lady remembered Joe. After the waitress brought the change from a 100-dollar bill, she found the lady gone and something written on a piece of paper “Someone once helped me out-the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, don't let the chain of love end with you.” That night the waitress gave her sleeping husband a soft kiss and whispered, “Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Joe.” What did Joe do that dark snowy evening?
| A．He drove to work. | B．He helped an old lady with a flat tire. |
| C．He gave an old lady a lift. | D．He helped an old lady push her car. ． |
The underlined sentence “she wanted to pay Joe and...”suggests that ________.
| A．the old lady was very grateful to Joe's timely aid |
| B．the old lady cared little about money |
| C．the old lady didn't have money on hand to pay Joe |
| D．the old lady wanted to pay Joe less |
We can learn from this passage that ________.
| A．the old lady knew the waitress was Joe's wife |
| B．the old lady had a big meal in the small restaurant |
| C．Joe would have a baby soon |
| D．Joe helped a lot of people in the past |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Acts of luck | B．A warm-hearted man | C．A well-off lady | D．The chain of love |
Whenever people think of charity, the first word that jumps into their mind may be money donated to the needy. However, Wugging, or web-use giving, describes the act of giving to charity at no cost to the user. By using Everyclick. com, which is being added to a number of university computers across the UK, students can raise money every time they search, but it won’t cost them a penny.
Research shows that students are extremely enthusiastic about supporting charity--88% of full time students have used the Internet to give to charity. This figure is high considering this age group is often the least likely to have their own income. 19% of 22 to 24 year olds have short-term debts of more than & 5, 000. With rising personal debt levels in this age group, due to university tuition fees or personal loans and a lack of long-term savings, traditional methods of donating to charity are often not appealing or possible.
Beth Truman, a 21-year-old recent university graduate, has used Everyclick. com to donate to her chosen charity, the RSPCA, for two years and has seen the "Wugging" grow in popularity with students. "When you’re at university you become more socially aware, but it’s sometimes hard to give to others when you have little money yourself," says Beth. "Wugging is great for people in this age group as it allows them to use the technology on a daily basis to give to charity, without costing them a single penny."
Wugging is perfect for people who want to be more socially aware and supportive but don’t feel they have the means to do so. Students using the web can raise money for causes they care about without costing them anything in terms of time or money, and charities get a valuable source of funding.
Everyclick. com works like any other search engine, allowing users to search for information, news and images but users can decide which of the UK’s 170, 000 charities they would like to support through their clicks. Everyclick. com then makes monthly payments to every registered charity. Launched in June 2005, Everyclick. com is now the eighth largest search engine and one of the busiest charity websites in the UK.According to the passage, "Wugging" is actually____.
| A．a charity-related action |
| B．a website |
| C．a school organization |
| D．a student movement |
In the case of charity, Everyclick. com____.
| A．receives much money from students |
| B．frees students of the financial worries |
| C．offers valuable information to students |
| D．praises students for their money-raising |
From the passage, we can conclude that____.
| A．most full time students do charity on the Internet every day |
| B．Everyclick. com is the busiest charity website in the UK |
| C．Everyclick. com helps students pay for further education |
| D．"Wugging" is a win-win idea for both students and charities |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．"Wugging", a popular term on the Internet |
| B．Students collect money for charity by "Wugging" |
| C．More British charities benefit from the Internet |
| D．Charity enjoys increasing popularity with the British |
People laugh and people cry. But it is thought that emotions such as anger, or joy, typically make Americans feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. The shedder of tears(落泪者) is likely to apologize, even when a great tragedy was the cause. The observer of tears is likely to do everything possible to put an end to the emotional tears. But judging from recent studies of crying behavior, both those responses to tears are often inappropriate and may even be counterproductive (适得其反).
Humans are the only animals clearly known to shed emotional tears. Since evolution has given rise to few purposeless physiological responses, it is logical to assume that crying has one or more functions that increase survival.
Although some observers have suggested that crying is a way to ask for assistance form others (as a crying baby might from its mother), the shedding of tears is hardly necessary to get help. Vo-cal (出声的) cries would have been quite enough, more likely than tears to gain attention. So, it appears that there must be something special about tears themselves.
Indeed, the new studies suggest that emotional tears may play a direct role in easing stress. University of Minnesota researchers who are studying the chemical composition of tears have recently separated two important chemicals from emotional tears. Both chemicals are found only in tears that are shed in response to emotion. Tears shed because of exposure to cut onion would contain no such substance.
Other researchers are looking into the usefulness of tears as a means of diagnosing human ills and monitoring drugs. At Tulane University’s Teat Analysis Laboratory Dr. Peter Kastl and his colleagues report that they can use tears to detect drug abuse, to study the causes of "dry eye" syndrome(综合症) and the effects of eye surgery, and perhaps even to measure exposure to environmental pollutants.What does the phrase "both those responses" in Paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．Crying out of sorrow and shedding tears for happiness. |
| B．The embarrassment and unpleasant feelings of the observers. |
| C．Linking illness with crying and finding the chemical composition of tears. |
| D．The tear shedder’s apology and the observer’s effort to stop the crying. |
It is known from the first paragraph that____.
| A．shedding tears gives unpleasant feelings to Americans |
| B．crying may often result in tragedy |
| C．crying usually wins sympathy from other people |
| D．one who sheds tears in public will be blamed |
What does the author say about crying?
| A．It is a pointless physiological response to the environment. |
| B．It must have a role to play in man' s survival. |
| C．It is meant to get attention and assistance. |
| D．It usually produces the desired effect. |
From the passage we can infer that____.
| A．it is unnatural for people to shed tears |
| B．we can reduce our stress by shedding tears |
| C．shedders of tears can' t get help by crying loudly |
| D．unlike animals, humans can shed tears for survival |
My old digital camera broke down, so I wanted to buy a new one. Being the cautious type, I fancied a reliable brand. So I went on the Net, spent 15 minutes reading product reviews on good websites, wrote down the names of three top recommendations and headed for my nearest big friendly camera store. There in the cupboard was one of the cameras on my list. And it was on special offer. Oh joy. I pointed at it and asked an assistant, "Can I have one of those? " He looked perturbed(不安). "Do you want to try it first?" he said. It didn’t quite sound like a question. "Do I need to?" I replied, "There’s nothing wrong with it." This made him look a bit offended and I started to feel bad. "No, no. But you should try it," he said encouragingly, "compare it with the others.
I looked across at the others: shelves of similar cameras placed along the wall, offering a wide range of slightly different prices and discounts, with each company selling a range of models based around the same basic box. With so many models to choose from, it seemed that I would have to spend hours weighing X against Y, always trying to take Z and possibly H into account at the same time. But when I had finished, I would still have only the same two certainties that I had entered the store with: first, soon after I carried my new camera out of the shop, it would be worth half what I paid for it; and second, my wonderful camera would very quickly be replaced by a new model.
But something in the human soul whispers that you can beat these traps by making the right choice, the clever choice, the wise choice. In the end, I agreed to try the model I had chosen. The assistant seemed a sincere man. So I let him take out my chosen camera from the cupboard, show how it took excellent pictures of my fellow shoppers... and when he started to introduce the special features, I interrupted to ask whether I needed to buy a carry-case and a memory card as well. Why do we think that new options still offer us anything new? Perhaps it is because they offer an opportunity to avoid facing the fact that our real choices in this culture are far more limited than we would like to imagine.The shop assistant insisted that the writer should ____.
| A．trust him and stop asking questions |
| B．try the camera to see if there was anything wrong with it |
| C．get more information about different companies |
| D．compare the camera he had chosen with the others |
What does the writer mean by "it would be worth half what I paid for it"(Paragraph 2)?
| A．He should get a 50% discount. |
| B．The price of the camera would soon fall. |
| C．The quality of the camera was not good. |
| D．The price of the camera was unreasonably high. |
The writer decided to try the model he had chosen because he _______.
| A．knew very little about it |
| B．wanted to make sure the one he chose would be the best |
| C．didn't trust the shop assistant |
| D．had a special interest in taking pictures of his fellow shoppers |
It can be inferred from the passage that in the writer’s opinion, _______.
| A．we waste too much money on cameras |
| B．cameras have become an important part of our daily life |
| C．we don’t actually need so many choices when buying a product |
| D．famous companies care more about profit than quality |
Though the Web is becoming increasingly popular, the TV never fails to attract people. Do you know which television network is the largest in America? It is not ABC, CBS, or Fox. Nor is it one of the cable net-works such as CNN, which carries only news and news stories. It is not ESPN, the all-sports cable net-work, or even MTV, which is famous for its music videos. Rather it is PBS, Public Broadcasting System, a non-profit public broadcasting TV service. PBS has 349 member television stations in the U. S. and some member stations by cable in Canada.
PBS only attracts a minority of all TV viewers, about 2 percent. The industry leader, NBC, however, attracts 11 percent of viewers. But the growth of public television in the past two decades has been dramatic. This is especially noteworthy(值得关注) when one considers that public television stations must often survive on very limited budgets, on viewers’ donations, and on private foundations and some governmental funding.
The level of quality of PBS programs, whether in national and international news, entertainment, or education, is excellent. Almost a whole generation of children throughout the world is familiar with Sesame Street and the characters of The Muppet Show. PBS is especially well known for the quality of its many educational TV programs. Over 95 percent of all public television stations have tele-courses. These courses are accepted and supported by more than 1, 800 colleges and universities throughout the US. Each year, over a quarter of a million students take courses this way.According to this article, PBS received part of its funding from___.
| A．the audience |
| B．public schools |
| C．advertising agencies |
| D．other television stations |
What is PBS most famous for?
| A．Cable services. |
| B．Generous donations. |
| C．Tele-courses. |
| D．Live news broadcasts. |
Which of the following is TRUE about public television stations?
| A．The majority of their viewers are minority people. |
| B．Ninety-five percent of their programs are tele-courses. |
| C．They are shrinking in number because they make no profits. |
| D．Their courses are accepted by many universities in America. |
Which of the following has the highest percentage of viewers?
| A．ABC | B．PBS |
| C．NBC | D．Fox |
Long long ago, there lived in England a king named Midas. He was a greedy(贪婪的) man and loved gold(金子) better than anything else in the world.
One day, he asked a god to give him more gold. The god decided to punish him and said, “Your wish is granted already. Everything you touch will turn to gold.”
Midas was very happy when he heard this. The next morning, he got up early to test his skills. When he touched his bed, it turned to gold. “Gold!” cried Midas, laughing like a little boy, “It works.”
Not only stones, flowers, and the furniture in his house turned to gold, but, when he sat down to table, so did the food he ate and the water he drank. He was unhappy now. Just then his daughter ran up to him. Midas touched her hand. At once she became a gold statue(雕像)！
A last, he begged the god to free him from his wish. “Go to the river and bathe in it.” said the god. So Midas did, and the water took away his golden touch.Where did the king live?
| A．Greece | B．China |
| C．England | D．India |
The god decided to punish Midas because he was_______.
| A．greedy | B．proud |
| C．unhappy | D．lazy |
The unlined word “granted” in Paragraph 2 can be replaced by “_________”.
| A．satisfied | B．finished |
| C．discussed | D．expected |
Which is the correct order according to the story?
a. Midas became the king of the England
b. His daughter turned to gold
c. Midas was happy with his skill
d. The god freed him from his wish
e. Midas asked god for more gold
| A．d-e-c-b-a | B．a-e-c-b-d |
| C．a-e-b-c-d | D．e-a-c-d-b |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．It is the early bird that catches the worm. |
| B．Do not put all your eggs in one basket. |
| C．God does not always bring happiness. |
| D．A bird in hand is worth two in the forest. |
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