Ginny Ruffner is one of the best-known glass artists in the United States. Her one-of-a-kind pieces are colorful, detailed and often humorous. Over the years, she became famous for a method called lamp working, also known as flame working. It involves using a torch to melt and shape the glass instead of blowing on it.
Ginny Ruffner almost died in a three-car accident in 1991. No one thought the Seattle-based artist would ever walk or talk again. An award-winning(优等的) film documentary explores that period of her life. "It's scary when you can't talk, you can't do... all your life." said Ruffner.
Ms. Ruffner was in a coma(昏迷) for five weeks and a wheelchair for five years. But she overcame her injuries. And although she still has difficulty walking and talking, she has willed herself back to work. Now, she has a team that helps bring her dream to life.
Her team recently finished an eight point five meter-high flowerpot made of steel and aluminum. It is now in downtown Seattle. Ms. Ruffner was recently honored in Washington, DC. The Renwick Gallery presented a special showing of the film, "A Not So Still Life, the Ginny Ruffner Story."
Ms. Ruffner says “it has been a long battle, but the hardest part has not been the physical problems. I hate being taken for granted, being ignored. The way I talk, people assume that I'm either really old, or kind of retarded(智力迟钝的), and that is so frustrating."
But she is firm. She says "Fortunately I've done a lot of stuff in my life, so I know that the best thing is to be open to the mystery, who knows what great things will happen. I'm sure they're many more to come."
Ginny Ruffner's art can be seen in more than forty museums around the world. Her work and her life continue to motivate people of all ages.Within five years after a car accident, Ginny Ruffner _____.
| A．was unconscious of everything |
| B．had trouble walking and talking |
| C．got over injuries completely |
| D．went back to her work |
From this passage we can learn _____.
| A．Ginny Ruffner finished an eight point five meter-high flowerpot made of steel and aluminum himself |
| B．The Renwick Gallery made him a the film documentary , "A Not So Still Life, the Ginny Ruffner Story." |
| C．Ginny Ruffner's art is shown in more than forty museums in the United States |
| D．Ginny Ruffner’s story has encouraged people to do what they want to |
What was the most difficult to accept for Ginny Ruffner?
| A．The physical disabilities |
| B．Being considered old andstupidity |
| C．Being looked down upon |
| D．Being mistaken as a useless man |
The best title of this passage is _____.
| A． A New Exhibit of Bright Life |
| B．The Life of a Glass Artist |
| C． A New product of a glass artist |
| D．The Introduction of a Great Glass Artist |
From this passage we can know Ginny Ruffner is _____.
| A．determined and optimistic |
| B．ambitious and stubborn |
| C．hopeful and energetic |
| D．devoted and active |
Some expectations are good to have and some are unhealthy. Here’s a list of expectations that if you have, you need to change. By changing certain expectations in your life, you are opening yourself up to new experiences, new ways of thinking and even a greater sense of accomplishment that you otherwise could not have received.
1. Stop Expecting People to be Perfect:
If you have this mindset, you will always be disappointed. People will never live up to your expectations. There’s nothing wrong with having high expectations for people, but understand that when they fail, and they will, they still tried. Be understanding and don’t expect perfection.
2. Stop Expecting the Worst from People:
On the flip side, if you’re always expecting people to fail, you’re not giving them the chance to succeed. Encourage those around you. Help them, teach them. That’s how they will grow and be able to accomplish hard things.
3.______________________________:
Your finances are your responsibility. You shouldn’t expect people to pay for your entertainment, your bills or even your groceries. Get in control of your money. Once you have a budget, stick to it. Just because all your friends go out to lunch doesn’t mean you have to. There are differences between needs and wants—if you want something, save up for it; don’t expect your friends or family to pitch in and get it for you.
4. Stop Expecting Things to Always Go Wrong:
Whatever streak of bad luck you may think you’ve been having, you shouldn’t come to expect that out of everything. Learn to stay positive. If you look for the good in things you will find them, and it’s the same with bad things. If your whole focus is on situations never turning out how you want them to, they never will.
Having expectations is about finding balance in life. You have to know when you’re asking too much and when you can ask for more. It can be hard but we all need to let go of our unrealistic expectations and learn to live a healthier, happier life.Why shouldn’t we expect people to be perfect？
| A．It’s wrong to have high expectations for people. |
| B．People are disappointing. |
| C．No one can do as well as you expect. |
| D．When they fail they still tried. |
Fill in the blanks with a correct sentence________.
| A．Stop Expecting Something for Nothing |
| B．Stop Expecting People to Change |
| C．Stop Expecting Fairness in Everything |
| D．Stop Expecting People to Pay for You |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．We shouldn’t give others the chance to succeed |
| B．We shouldn’t expect to live a healthier, happier life. |
| C．If you look for the bad in things you will find them. |
| D．If you want something, expect your friends to pay for you. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Live up to your expectations |
| B．Change your expectations |
| C．Accomplish your expectations |
| D．Believe your expectations |
You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It’s the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search exposes plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart’s music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.
The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked(激发) real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we’ll become more intelligent.
The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to Mozart’s music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce better milk.
I’ll leave the debate on the effect on milk yield to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of sixteen different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn’t make us more intelligent.What can we learn from paragraph 1?
| A．Mozart composed many musical pieces for children. |
| B．Children listening to Mozart will be more intelligent. |
| C．There are few products on the Internet about Mozart’s music. |
| D．There is little scientific evidence to support Mozart effect. |
Why did many people believe in the idea of Mozart Effect?
| A．Because a study described it in the journal Nature. |
| B．Because Mozart himself was a genius. |
| C．Because Mozart’s music is enjoyable. |
| D．Because Mozart’s music makes people relaxed. |
The underlined sentence in paragraph3 suggests that .
| A．people were strongly against the idea |
| B．the idea was accepted by many people |
| C．Mozart played an important part in people’s life |
| D．the US government helped promote the idea |
What is the author’s attitude towards the Mozart effect?
| A．Favorable | B．Objective |
| C．Doubtful | D．Positive |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Listening to Mozart, necessary? |
| B．What music is beneficial? |
| C．What is the Mozart effect? |
| D．To be or not to be? |
Dear Maya Shao-ming,
To me, June 6, 1990 is a special day. My long-awaited dream came true the minute your father cried, "A girl!" You are more than just a second child, more than just a girl to match our boy. You, little daughter, are the link to our female line, the legacy of another woman's pain and sacrifice 31 years ago.
Let me tell you about your Chinese grandmother. Somewhere in Hong Kong, in the late fifties, a young waitress found herself pregnant (怀孕) by a cook, probably a co-worker at her restaurant. She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth, and kept the little girl for the first three months of her life. I like to think that my mother—your grandmother—loved me and fought to raise me on her own, but that the daily struggle was too hard. Worn down by the demands of the new baby and perhaps the constant threat of starvation, she made the painful decision to give away her girl so that both of us might have a chance for a better life.
More likely, I was dropped at the orphanage (M JLR) steps or somewhere else. I will probably never know the truth. Having a baby in her unmarried state would have brought shame on the family in China, so she probably kept my existence a secret. Once I was out of her life, it was as if I had never been born. And so you and your brother and I are the missing leaves on a family tree.
Do they ever wonder if we exist?
Before I was two, I was adopted by an Anglo couple. Fed three square meals a day, I grew like a wild weed and grasped all the opportunities they had to offer—books, music, education, church life and community activities. In a family of blue-eyed blonds, though, I stood out like a sore thumb. Whether from jealousy or fear of someone who looked so different, my older brothers sometimes teased me about my unpleasing skin, or made fun of my clumsy walk. Moody and impatient, burdened by fears that none of us realized resulted from my early years of need, I was not an easy child to love. My mother and I conflicted countless times over the years, but gradually came to see one another as real human beings with faults and talents, and as women of strength in our own right. Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own. The Asian American community has helped me regain my double identity.
But part of me will always be missing: my beginnings, my personal history, all the delicate details that give a person her origin. Nevertheless, someone gave me a lucky name "Siu Wai." "Siu" means "little," and "Wai means "clever." Therefore, my baby name was "Clever little one." Who chose those words? Who cared enough to note my arrival in the world?
I lost my Chinese name for 18 years. It was Americanized for convenience to "Sue." But like an ill-fitting coat, it made me uncomfortable. I hated the name. But even more, I hated being Chinese. It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin and work up the courage to take back my birth-name. That, plus a little knowledge of classroom Cantonese, is all the Chinese culture I have to offer you. Not white, certainly, but not really Asian, I try to pave(铺) the way between the two worlds and bridge the gap for you. Your name, "Shao-ming," is very much like mine—"Shao" means "little." And "ming" is "bright," as in a shining sun or moon. Whose lives will you brighten, little Maya? Your past is more complete than mine, and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years. When I pat you, I comfort the lost baby inside me who still cries for her mother.
Sweet Maya, it doesn't matter what you "become" later on. You have already fulfilled my wildest dreams.
I love you,
Mommy Why is June 6. 1990 a special day for Mommy?
| A．Her dream of being a mother came true. |
| B．She found her origin from her Chinese mother. |
| C．She wrote the letter to her daughter. |
| D．Her female line was well linked. |
How does Mommy feel about her being given away?
| A．It is bitter and disappointing. |
| B．It is painful but understandable. |
| C．She feels sorry but pitiful. |
| D．She feels hurt and angry. |
What does "I stood out like a sore thumb" in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．I walked clumsily out of pains. |
| B．I was not easy to love due to jealousy. |
| C．I was impatient out of fear. |
| D．I looked different from others. |
What can be inferred from Mommy's Anglo family life?
| A．She used to experience an identity crisis. |
| B．She fought against her American identity. |
| C．She forgot the pains of her early years. |
| D．She kept her love for Asia from childhood. |
Why did Mommy name her daughter "Shao-ming?"
| A．To match her own birth-name. |
| B．To brighten the lives of the family. |
| C．To identify her with Chinese origin. |
| D．To justify her pride in Chinese culture. |
By "Your past is more complete than mine," Mommy means .
| A．her past was completed earlier than Shao-ming's |
| B．Shao-ming has got motherly care and a sense of roots |
| C．her mother didn't comfort her the way she did Shao-ming |
| D．her past was spent brokenly, first in Asia, then in the US |
Why do Americans struggle with watching their weight, while the French, who consume rich food, continue to stay thin? Now a research by Cornell University suggests how life style and decisions about eating may affect weight. Researchers concluded that the French tend to stop eating when they feel full. However, Americans tend to stop when their plate is empty or their favorite TV show is over.
According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, a health expert, the French see eating as an important part of their life style. They enjoy food and therefore spend a fairly long time at the table, while Americans see eating as something to be squeezed between the other daily activities. Mercola believes Americans lose the ability to sense when they are actually full. So they keep eating long after the French would have stopped. In addition, he points out that Americans drive to huge supermarkets to buy canned and frozen foods for the week. The French, instead, tend to shop daily, walking to small shops and farmers’ markets where they have a choice of fresh fruits, vegetables, and eggs as well as high-quality meats for each meal.
After a visit to the United States, Mireille Guiliano, author of French Women Don’t Get Fat, decided to write about the importance of knowing when to stop rather than suggesting how to avoid food. Today she continues to stay slim and rarely goes to the gym.
In spite of all these differences, evidence shows that recent life style changes may be affecting French eating habits. Today the rate of obesity — or extreme overweight — among adults is only 6%. However, as American fast food gains acceptance and the young reject older traditions, the obesity rate among French children has reached 17% — and is growing.In what way are the French different from Americans according to Dr. Joseph Mercola?
| A．They go shopping at supermarkets more frequently. |
| B．They squeeze eating between the other daily activities. |
| C．They regard eating as a key part of their lifestyles. |
| D．They usually eat too much canned and frozen food. |
This text is mainly the relationship between _____.
| A．Americans and the French |
| B．life style and obesity |
| C．children and adults |
| D．fast food and overweight |
The text is mainly developed _____.
| A．by contrast | B．by space |
| C．by process | D．by classification |
Where does this text probably come from?
| A．A TV interview | B．A food advertisement |
| C．A health report | D．A book review |
It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth (收费站). “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”
It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random(随意的) kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.
Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.
Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.
“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies(想象) include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”
The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?
| A．She knew the car drivers well. |
| B．She wanted to show kindness. |
| C．She hoped to please others. |
| D．She had seven tickets. |
Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she .
| A．thought it was beautifully written |
| B．wanted to know what it really meant |
| C．decided to write it on a warehouse wall |
| D．wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom |
Who came up with the phrase according to the passage?
| A．Judy Foreman. | B．Natalie Smith. |
| C．Alice Johnson. | D．Anne Herbert. |
Which of the following statements is closest in the meaning to the underlined sentence above?
| A．Kindness and violence can change the world. |
| B．Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior. |
| C．Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves. |
| D．Kindness and violence can shape one’s character. |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．People should practice random kindness to those in need. |
| B．People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others. |
| C．People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet. |
| D．People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver. |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号