I made a pledge (发誓) to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical (圣经) passage about husbands being thoughtful of their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.”
“Oh, Tom, you noticed,” she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled.
After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new pledge to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “do you know something I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… that checkup I had several weeks ago… our doctor… did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me… am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to sink in. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”In the first paragraph, “No ifs, ands or buts” probably mean ________.
| A．unnecessarily | B．unconditionally | C．impossibly | D．unintentionally |
From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ________.
| A．alone | B．with his family | C．with Evelyn | D．with his children |
During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ________.
| A．she looked lovely in her new clothes |
| B．she was seriously ill |
| C．he was determined to be a good husband |
| D．he had made a lot of money in Wall Street |
By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ________.
| A．he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before |
| B．he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change |
| C．he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life |
| D．he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband |
Valencia is in the east part of Spain(西班牙). It has a port on the sea, two miles away on the coast. It is the capital of a province that is also named Valencia.
The city is a market centre for what is produced by the land around the city. Most of the city’s money is made from farming. It is also a busy business city, with ships, railways, clothes and machine factories.
Valencia has an old part with white buildings, colored roofs, and narrow streets. The modern part has long, wide streets and new buildings. Valencia is well known for its parks and gardens. It has many old churches and museums. The University in the centre of the city was built in the 13th century.
The city of Valencia has been known since the 2nd century. In the 8th century it was the capital of Spain. There is also an important city in Venezuela(委内瑞拉)named Valencia.From the text, how many places have the name Valencia?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
What is the main difference between the two parts of the city?
| A．The color of the buildings. | B．The length of the streets. |
| C．The age of the buildings. | D．The color of the roofs. |
When was Valencia the most important city in Spain?
| A．2nd century. | B．8th century. | C．13th century. | D．20th century. |
What is Valencia famous for?
| A．Its seaport. | B．Its University. |
| C．Its churches and museums. | D．Its parks and gardens. |
The main income of the city of Valencia is from its_____.
| A．markets. | B．business. | C．factories. | D．farming. |
Florence Nightingale（南丁格尔） was born in a rich family. When she was young she took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She also traveled a great deal with her mother and father.
As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them.
At last mind was made up. “I’m going to be a nurse,” she decided.
“Nursing isn’t the right work for a lady,” her father told her.
“Then I will make it so, “she smiled. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France. When she returned to England, Florence started a nursing home for home. During the Crimean War in 1854 she went with a group of thirty eight nurses to the front hospitals. What they saw there was terrible. Dirt and death were everywhere to be seen — and smelled. The officer there did not want any woman to tell him how to run a hospital, either. But the brave nurse went to work.
Florence used her own money and some from friends to buy clothes, beds, medicine and food for the men. Her only pay was in smiles from the lips of dying soldiers. But they were more than enough for this kind woman.
After she returned to England, she was honored for her services by Queen Victoria. But Florence said that her work had just begun. She raised money to build the Nightingale Home for Nurses in London. She also wrote a book on public health, which was printed in several countries.
Florence Nightingale died at the age of ninety, still trying to serve others through her work as a nurse. Indeed, it is because of her that we honor nurses today. When she was a child, Florence ____ .
| A．loved to travel very much |
| B．knew what her duty in life was |
| C．loved to help the sick people |
| D．was most interested in music and drawing |
What made Florence make up her mind to become a nurse？
| A．Her father’s support. |
| B．Her desire to help the sick. |
| C．Her education in Germany and France. |
| D．Her knowledge from reading great books. |
During the Crimean War in 1854, Florence served in the front hospital where ____ .
| A．she earned a little money |
| B．work was very difficult |
| C．few soldiers died because of her work |
| D．she didn’t have enough food or clothes |
Why was Florence honored by Queen Victoria？
| A．She built the Nightingale Home for Nurses. |
| B．She wrote a book on public health. |
| C．She worked as a nurse all her life. |
| D．She did a great deal of work during the Crimean War. |
The passage can best be described as ____ .
| A．the life story of a famous woman | B．a description of the nursing work |
| C．an example of successful education | D．the history of nursing in England |
In most languages, a greeting is usually followed by “small talk”. Small talk means the little things we talk about at the start of a conversation. In English-speaking countries people often make small talk about the weather. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Terrible weather, isn’t it?” But there is something special about small talk. It must be about something which both people have the same opinion about. The purpose of small talk is to let both people agree on something. This makes meeting people easier and more comfortable. People usually agree about the weather, so it is a safe topic for small talk. But people often disagree about religion(宗教) or politics(政治) so these are not suitable topics for small talk. The topics for small talk also depend on where the conversation is taking place. At football matches, people make small talk about the game they are watching. “Great game, isn’t it?” At bus-stops, people may comment on the transport system. “The bus service is terrible, isn’t it?”Small talk is _______________.
| A．a kind of conversation with short words |
| B．a greeting used when people meet each other |
| C．to let people disagree about something |
| D．something we talk about to start a conversation |
The favorite topic of small talk for English people is _________.
| A．the weather | B．politics | C．games | D．languages |
The passage suggests that when we learn a language _________.
| A．we should learn about the transport system of the country |
| B．we should only master the grammar and the vocabulary |
| C．we should learn the culture of the country |
| D．we should understand the importance of the language |
When we say “Great game, isn’t it?”, we are in fact __________.
| A．asking a question | B．having a conversation |
| C．greeting each other | D．making small talk |
What we learn from the passage is that __________.
| A．different languages have different grammar |
| B．small talk is an important part of a language |
| C．small talk depends on the purpose of the conversation |
| D．in English-speaking countries we should talk about the weather |
When building houses, people used to think about not only the climate of the areas but also the building materials and the fashions for their houses. However, since electricity became more and more expensive , people began to pay much more attention to the energy they could get for their houses and the new ways they could find to protect their houses from both cold and heat.
Now, houses of an old yet new type have been widely built. In some parts of the world, people share their houses with their livestock. During cold weather, they gather their cows, goats, or other animals and keep them on the first floor of their houses. The reasons are that the animals can be protected from the cold and that they can help to heat the houses as well. The body heat given off by the animals rises to the second floor of the houses, where people live. By sharing their houses with their livestock, people gain a source of heat.
People who live in or near cities do not usually keep livestock. However, home builders use the fact that heat rises. This natural law can be used in building houses in these areas, instead of keeping livestock on the first floor builders fill it with large rocks. As they are open to the sun’s rays during cold weather, these rocks take in heat. They also give off the heat, and, of course, the warm air rises into the living areas of the houses. So these houses are energy saving.
House building becomes a great challenge to building designers and energy engineer. They try to meet this challenge by learning from old traditions and by using modern technology. And someday in the future, people will be able to live in more energy saving houses.What did people begin to consider as electricity was no longer cheap?
| A．The climate of their areas. | B．The energy for their houses. |
| C．The fashions for their houses. | D．The building materials for their houses. |
People in some areas gain a source of heat by _________.
| A．keeping their livestock downstairs |
| B．protecting their livestock from the cold |
| C．sharing their houses only with their cows |
| D．living on the second floor with their livestock |
The underlined words “natural law ” in the third paragraph refer to the fact that ________.
| A．heat raises the temperature in the houses |
| B．heat goes in the upward direction |
| C．heat goes up if temperature is raised |
| D．heat increases the temperature of rocks |
From the passage, we can conclude that _______ .
| A．people will no longer consider building materials in the future |
| B．energy saving buildings will become more popular in the future |
| C．almost all people will move into the houses heated by large rocks |
| D．energy engineers will devote themselves only to modern technology |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “livestock” ? _______ .
| A．animals raised especially for economical benefits | B．furniture |
| C．plants kept in the house | D．general appearance of the whole family |
I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, midlife for an elephant, and ancient for a sportsman. Fifty is a nice number for the states in the US or for a national speed limit but it is not a number that I was prepared to have hung on me. Fifty is supposed to be my father’s age, but now I am stuck with this number and everything it means.
A few days ago, a friend tried to cheer me up by saying, “Fifty is what forty used to be.” He had made an inspirational (有灵感的) point. Am I over the hill ? People keep telling me that the hill has been moved, and I keep telling them that the high-jump bar has dropped from the six feet I once easily cleared to the four feet that is impossible for me now.
“You are not getting older, you are getting better.” Says Dr. Joyce Brothers. This, however, is the kind of doctor who inspires a second opinion.
And so as I approach the day when I cannot even jump over the tennis net, I am moved to share some thoughts on aging with you, I am moved to show how aging feels to me physically and mentally. Getting older, of course, is obviously a better change than the one that brings you eulogies(悼词). In fact, a poet name Robert Browning considered it the best change of all:
Grow old along with me !
The best is yet to me.
Whether or not Browning was right, most of my first fifty years have been golden ones, so I will settle for what is ahead being as good as what has gone by. I find myself moving toward what is ahead with a curious blend(混合) of both fighting and accepting my aging, hoping that the philosopher(哲学家) was right when he said , “old is always fifteen years from now.”The author seems to tell us in Paragraph 1 that ______.
| A．time alone will tell | B．time goes by quickly |
| C．time will show what is right | D．time makes one forget the past. |
When the author turned fifty, people around him ________ .
| A．tried to comfort him | B．got inspiration with him |
| C．were friendlier with him | D．found him more talkative |
The author considers his fifty years of life _________.
| A．peaceful | B．ordinary | C．satisfactory | D．regretful |
We can infer from the passage that ________ .
| A．the old should lead a simple life |
| B．the old should face the fact of aging |
| C．the old should take more exercise |
| D．the old should fill themselves with curiosity |
Which of the following statements is WRONG?_______.
| A．It’s hard for the author to jump over the six-feet high-jump bar now. |
| B．The author is optimistic about his future. |
| C．the author used to think 50 was far away from him. |
| D．Most elephants live less than 50 years. |
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