Have you ever heard the story of the four-minute miles? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human Being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proved it wrong in 1954.
What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when someone, who doesn't know how to swim, falls in deep waters? They drown. If an animal who has not learnt swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal doesn't.
Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. Most people never question it. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts would jam（堵塞） if the operator typed too fast.
These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful directing force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers command to your nervous system.
I used a snake in my workshops for children to show them how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India, said snakes are slippery and slimy and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they handled my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.
Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change?In the author’s opinion, if a person in deep water doesn’t know how to swim, he will drown because______.
| A．he is afraid of water. |
| B．he believes he will drown. |
| C．he hasn’t learnt to swim before. |
| D．he don’t want to live in the world. |
The author thinks that the letters organized in a particular order on your keyboard in order to ______
A. save more space
B. satisfy the operator
C.reduce one’s typing speed
D increase one’s typing speedThe author’s experiment shows that____
| A．snakes are dry and clean |
| B．snakes can be caught easily |
| C．snakes are slimy and poisonous |
| D．snakes in India aren’t poisonous |
According to the passage, we know that_____
| A．students from India have unrealistic beliefs on how to live a better life |
| B．an animal who hasn’t learnt how to swim will drown if you put it in pond. |
| C．most people don’t like the order the letters are arranged on your keyboard |
| D．Roger Banister was the first person who ran a mile in less than four minutes. |
The main idea of this passage should be that______.
| A．Beliefs are very powerful. |
| B．Beliefs make us seem stupid. |
| C．Changing your beliefs now is necessary. |
| D．People should always believe in themselves. |
| Book Introductions |
| The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling This is the story of a child who is found and brought up by Mr. Allworthy. The child, Tom Jones, has a good life at first but then gets into trouble. His life has a series of adventures and difficulties but eventually he becomes a good and happy man. |
| The Picture of Dorian Bray Young Gray has his picture painted by an artist who is impressed by his beauty. But after he realizes the shortness of youth, he wishes that he would remain young and untouched as years go by. He threw himself into a life of degradation(堕落) and crime. The story ends with the death of young Gray. |
| Dombey and Son Dombey, the owner of a shipping house, is a rich , proud, and heartless man, whose concern in life is his good name in connection with his firm. He doesn’t take good care of his daughter and lays all his hopes on his son, Paul, who will carry on his business. But Paul dies in childhood because of poor health. Having lost both his pride and wealth, his business goes from bad to worse. Dombey lives alone, and finally is taken care of by his daughter. |
| Vanity Fair The central character, Becky Sharp, is an orphan. In order to climb up into the upper class, she tries to marry the fat brother of her schoolmate Amelia Sedley, a daughter of a rich man. And then she remarries. Becky and her husband spend their time in Paris and London, living comfortably. She ends up as a “respected” member of society. |
In The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Tom __________.
| A．becomes a successful businessman |
| B．lives a poor and troubled life |
| C．lives alone and has no friends |
| D．becomes a happy man |
In Dombey and Son, we can learn that Dombey __________.
| A．loves his son more than himself |
| B．shares his wealth with his family |
| C．feels sorry for his poor health |
| D．suffers a series of losses in his life |
Which book centers on a young man of great beauty?
| A．The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. |
| B．The Picture of Dorian Bray. |
| C．Dombey and Son. |
| D．Vanity Fair. |
According to Vanity Fair, __________desires to live an upper-class life.
| A．Becky Sharp | B．Becky Sharp’s second husband |
| C．Amelia Sedley | D．Amelia Sedley’s brother |
In my twenty-six years as a free writer, I have worked for newspapers, magazines and the Internet sites.
I have reviewed the famous people, and criticized the political characters. Yet along my journalistic journey there have been several interviews that remain deeply in my memory. For not only did the characters of those specific people impress me, they actually influenced my life.
Lynn R. Taylor is such a special person.
Born in Buffalo, New York, on May 2, 1962, Lynn Taylor was just like all the other kids in her neighborhood. At the age of three she was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a cancer of the kidneys. Given a “no-chance” prediction, doctors completely removed one of Lynn’s kidneys and part of another. They then predicted that if she survived to the age of five, she might possibly make ten.
In the decade that followed, Lynn Taylor met and surpassed all medical experts’ gloom-and-doom predictions. At the age of fourteen she was in full remission(缓解), and by seventeen, she was considered cured. Yet in this case, Lynn’s medical history was far from closed.
Over the next twenty-three years, Lynn earned her undergraduate degree and master’s degree in economics. Then she was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Sussex in England. There she was invited to teach and earned her second master’s degree. Upon returning to Buffalo, the successful young woman engaged in a variety of high level jobs, including head of Multicultural Affairs at a local college.
Recently Lynn has added a new activity to her schedule----that of a cancer hospital volunteer. It is her wish to provide living proof for patients that cancer is not necessarily a death sentence but rather, as she has proved, something to overcome.When Lynn Taylor was diagnosed with cancer, the doctors __________.
| A．tried their best to make her live until then |
| B．thought it was a wonder that she could live to three |
| C．thought that she couldn’t live long |
| D．believe that she could survive |
Lynn is working as a cancer hospital volunteer mainly to __________.
| A．help the cancer patient to recover |
| B．encourage the patients to fight cancer bravely |
| C．help the doctors and nurses as a reward |
| D．entertain the cancer patients |
What can we learn about Lynn’s condition now?
| A．she is still not strong enough to do much work. |
| B．she is learning medicine at a college. |
| C．she still can’t do without medicine. |
| D．she is fully recovered. |
The purpose of the writer is to tell us __________.
| A．his experience as a free writer. |
| B．a special person who influenced his life. |
| C．there is a cure for Wilms Tumor. |
| D．how Lynn Taylor fought against cancer. |
Something as simple as a smile can mean friendliness in one culture, but impatience in another. Even silence means different things in different places.
When trying to communicate in a foreign language, it’s natural to use gestures as a way of explaining your points.
Tapping your finger to your temple is a gesture to show memory in North America, but suggests insanity（精神失常）in Russia. Even nodding one’s head to show “yes” or shaking one’s head to show “no” can be misunderstood abroad. The yes-no gestures are different in countries like Bulgaria and Albania. In Turkey, “no” is gestured by nodding the head up and down.
It’s not just individual gestures that can cause miscommunication, but the rate of gesturing can also cause miscommunication. Some countries, like Italy and Spain, are known for talking with their hands. Others use few body movements as a form of politeness. In parts of East Asia, the gesture is considered unpleasant behavior, and even rude.
Britain, along with many countries of northern Europe and the Far East, is classed as a “non-contact”culture, in which there’s very little physical contact in people’s daily communication. Even accidentally touching someone’s arm is considered rude. By comparison, in the high-contact cultures of the Middle East, Latin America, and southern Europe, physical touch is a big part of socializing.
Naturally, these different standards of contact can lead to misunderstanding. An Argentinian may see a Scandinavian as cold, while the Scandinavian may see the Argentinian as impolite.
In most Western countries, frequent eye contact is a sign of confidence and attentiveness. But in many Asian, African, and Latin American countries, however, unbroken eye contact would be considered rude. These cultures tend to pay more attention to hierarchy（等级制度）, and avoiding eye contact is a sign of respect for bosses and elder. In these parts of the world, children won’t look at an adult who is speaking to them, and nor will employees to their bosses.What will Turkish people do when they don’t agree on something?
| A．Keep silent for a while. |
| B．Shake their heads. |
| C．Tap their fingers to the temple. |
| D．Nod their heads up and down. |
Where is physical touch considered impolite or rude?
| A．In Britain. | B．In Russia. |
| C．In Turkey. | D．In Bulgaria. |
What will happen when an Argentinian meets a Scandinavian?
| A．They will try to keep each other at a distance. |
| B．The Argentinian will try to contact the Scandinavian. |
| C．The Scandinavian will try to contact the Argentinian. |
| D．They will try to touch each other as much as possible. |
What does the writer intend to tell us in the passage?
| A．Most body language means the same in different cultures. |
| B．It’s natural to make mistakes in learning body language. |
| C．Body language can be confusing in different cultures. |
| D．There is no short cut to learning body language. |
A man wakes up with a big hangover(过量饮酒后的不适反应) the morning after attending his company’s annual Summer Party. He can’t even remember how he got home from the party, let alone how he got so drunk and is deathly afraid of what he may have done or said the night before to make his wife angry.
The man forces his eyes open and the first things he sees are two headache tablets next to a glass of water on his table, and, next to them, a single red rose! He sits up with difficulty and sees his clothing hung on the back of his chair all clean and pressed and the rest of the house all in perfect order.
Incredulous(不能相信的), the man takes the tablets and sees a black eye looking back at him from the bathroom mirror. Then he finds a note next to the red rose on the table, “Sweetie, breakfast is waiting for you on the stove. I left early to buy the cooking materials to make your favorite dinner tonight. I love you, darling! ” The note was signed, “Your loving wife.”
The man then walks into the kitchen. His daughter Jessie is at the table, eating. “Jessie…what happened last night?” The man asks, with great fear.
“Well, you came home around four o’clock in the morning, drunk and out of your mind. You tripped and fell onto the coffee table and broke it, and got this black eye when you crashed into the table’s edge.”
Puzzled, the man asks Jessie, “Then why is there a rose on my table and breakfast on the stove waiting for me?”
“Oh that,” Jessie replies, “well, Mom pulled you into your bedroom, and when she tried to undress you, you yelled, ‘Leave me alone; I’m married and I love my wife!’”Why did the man have a black eye?
| A．He had a terrible headache. |
| B．He didn’t sleep well the night before. |
| C．He was hit in the eye by his wife. |
| D．He fell over and crashed into the table. |
The wife did so much for her husband that morning probably because __________.
| A．she took it for granted |
| B．her husband got drunk |
| C．she was moved by his words |
| D．she wanted to give her husband a surprise |
The passage is intended to __________.
| A．tell us a funny story |
| B．show us how to take care of a person who is drunk |
| C．tell us how bad it is to be drunk |
| D．suggest we shouldn’t get drunk |
What should college life be like? Easy, joyful and fun? Unfortunately, facing heavy pressure from a flagging job market, many students know that they are facing an even more uncertain future and they are beginning to feel lost, according to a survey. The research, conducted by the Social Survey Institute of China, covers more than 2,000 college students from big cities.
The report shows that about 75 percent enjoy their lives on campus. However, there are still 16.7 percent “lost ones” who think life is boring and aimless, while 8.3 percent complain that they have too much to study.
Around half of the participants have no clear career plan after graduation and 41.7 percent say that they have not thought about it. Only 8.3 percent have a clear blueprint (蓝图) and believe that they can realize their dreams.
58.3 percent of the participants gave a sure answer to the question “Are you a popular guy?”, leaving 41.7 percent as unsure. 91.7 percent of the students thought they could get along very well with others, the final 8.3 percent finding it difficult to choose a particular answer.
Answers such as “doing things your own way” and “forget other people’s opinions” seemed to be popular among modern college students, with 75 percent agreeing with this attitude. 25 percent said that they worried about opinions of other people.
Objecting to the feeling in Suicide is Painless, most students criticize suicide on campus. 58.3 percent urged school leaders to discover hidden social reasons behind suicide, thus helping to prevent it. 33.3 percent thought students who did suicide couldn’t face life’s bigger challenges in the future even if they survived. Surprisingly, 8.3 percent admitted that they once wanted to kill themselves, but finally decided against it.The underlined word “flagging” in the first paragraph means “________”.
| A．weak | B．active |
| C．good | D．promising |
Which of the following questions is NOT included in the survey?
| A．Do you enjoy your life on campus? |
| B．Do you have a clear career plan after graduation? |
| C．Are you a popular guy? |
| D．Do you have a boy friend or girl friend? |
Which of the following opinions has the biggest percentage among the participants?
| A．College life is boring and aimless. |
| B．It is easy to get along very well with others. |
| C．There is no need to worry about comments from others. |
| D．School leaders should discover hidden social reasons behind suicide. |
This article is written to give a report on ________.
| A．what the job market really is |
| B．the results of a survey of college students |
| C．how students think about suicide |
| D．why the students like to go to college |
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