I am not just a successful architect（建筑师）. I also like to play the piano. In my spare time I often turn some dry musical symbols into beautiful music.
Many years ago, while I was in a university studying architecture, I worked in a workshop. During the break I found an old piano in the corner of the room. With the allowance of the boss I sat down to have a try. Following my fingers the keys danced brilliantly and at the same time beautiful music flew out and then to every part of the room. All my workmates suddenly stopped talking and made their ears ready for my music.
After graduation, I began to devote myself to my profession. All my musical talent was wasted into zero. Then one evening we went to a concert at which Mr. Stevenson, one of the ordinary workers in my company, sang us some beautiful songs. His musical talents made us all surprised. We all enjoyed ourselves with his beautiful voice so much that we even thought him a professional singer. I was also reminded of my musical talent.
I began to train in a training center. My teacher was strict with me. He encouraged me to train every weekend and each time he asked me to play better than the last. Now I can proudly say I am also a successful pianist because every time I played on the stage fresh flowers and warm clapping would come from my audience. So I say, my friends, don’t busy yourself with your work too much. Find some time to develop your potential talent（潜能） and your life will become more wonderful. What did the author do in his spare time?
| A．He played music. |
| B．He worked here and there. |
| C．He stayed at home practicing his lessons. |
| D．He read for his profession. |
After graduation, why did the author waste his music talent？
| A．He realized that his music talent was nothing at all. |
| B．His workmates did not like him to play music. |
| C．He went on with his further study. |
| D．He was too busy with his work. |
According to the passage, the author is not only a successful architect but also a good ___.
| A．worker | B．pianist | C．singer | D．basketball player |
What is the author’s aim in writing this passage？
| A．He wanted to tell us that he is successful both in work and life. |
| B．He wanted to tell us to develop our potential talent instead of busying ourselves with our work only. |
| C．He wanted to tell us that the concert is very important to his life. |
| D．He wanted to tell us that he was very welcome in his company. |
Why did the author have himself trained on piano?
| A．Because he lost his job. |
| B．Because his salary was too low. |
| C．Because he wanted to became a famous artist. |
| D．Because he was inspired by his workmate. |
When I was at University I studied very hard. But a lot of my friends did very little work. Some did just enough to pass exams. Others didn’t do quite enough. Fred Baines was one of them. He spent more time playing than working in the library.
Once at the end of the term, we had to take an important test in chemistry. The test had a hundred questions. Beside each question we had to write “True” or “False”. While I was studying in my room the night before the test, Fred was watching TV. Fred usually worried a lot the night before a test. But on that night he looked perfectly calm. Then he told me of his plan. “It’s very simple. There are a hundred questions and I have to get fifty correct to pass the test. I’ll just toss（掷）the coin to decide the answers. That way, I’m sure I’ll get half the questions right.”
The next day, Fred came happily into the exam room. As he sat tossing a coin for half an hour he marked down his answers. Then he left, half an hour before the rest of us.
The next day, he saw the chemistry professor in the corridor. “Oh, good,” he said to the teacher, “Have you got the result of the test?” The teacher reached into his pocket and took out a coin. He threw it into the air, caught it in his hand and looked at it.
“I’m terribly sorry, Fred,” he said, “You failed!”This story mainly wants to tell us .
| A．chemistry is really hard to learn |
| B．there are many questions for students to prepare. |
| C．good exam results really need studying hard |
| D．tossing a coin can not always decide the result |
Fred Baines was one of those who .
| A．did just enough to pass an exam |
| B．didn’t work hard enough for their studies |
| C．had more important work to do than study |
| D．were quite good at passing exams |
Fred came happily into the exam room because .
| A．he had got ready for the exam |
| B．he knew the answers already |
| C．one excellent student would help him |
| D．he had his special way to finish the exam |
Which of the following about the chemistry exam is TRUE?
| A．The chemisty exam was not very difficult at all. |
| B．It in fact took an hour to finish the chemisty exam |
| C．The chemisty exam had more than one hundred questions. |
| D．The chemisty exam needed to be done by tossing a coin. |
The professor tossed a coin to tell Baines that .
| A．he was satisfied with Baines’ way for the exam |
| B．he wanted to make friends with Baines |
| C．Baines’ way for the exam would never work |
| D．the exam result depended on the coin |
Once a great boxer （拳击家）, Tom Brown, went to a restaurant（饭馆）for dinner. He put his bag near the door, but he was afraid that someone would take it. So he got out a pen and a piece of paper and wrote on it: “The great boxer, Tom Brown, left his bag here. He’ll come back in a few minutes. ” He put the paper on his bag and went to have his dinner. When he came back, his bag wasn’t there. But he found a piece of paper on the ground. It said: “A great runner took away your bag, and he will not come back. ”Tom Brown went to the restaurant ________.
| A．for his bag | B．to see the runner |
| C．to have his meal | D．for his pen |
Mr Brown was afraid ________.
| A．to put down his bag near the door |
| B．he couldn’t find his pen |
| C．thieves would take his bag away |
| D．he couldn’t get enough food himself from the restaurant |
Mr Brown wrote the words on the paper because he ________.
| A．thought the thief would not steal （偷） his bag when he read the words |
| B．was a boxer |
| C．wanted to catch the thief |
| D．wanted to get to know the runner |
When Mr Brown came back he ________.
| A．found another piece of paper on the ground |
| B．found his bag wasn’t there |
| C．both A and B |
| D．saw the runner running after him |
Which is not right?
| A．Mr Brown was foolish． |
| B．The runner was a thief. |
| C．The runner made a joke on Mr Brown. |
| D．The boxer didn’t know the runner at all. |
Many people are aware of the beauty of a solar eclipse (日食), but are surprised to learn that lunar eclipses are often just as impressive. While total solar eclipse lasts only for a few minutes and can be seen only in a small area of a few kilometers, total lunar eclipse can last for several hours and can be seen over much of the planet. In fact, the beauty and stability of lunar eclipses make them a favorite of both amateur and professional photographers.
Lunar eclipses generally occur two or three times a year, and are possible only when the Moon is full. When we see the Moon, we are actually seeing sunlight reflected off the surface of the Moon When the Earth is positioned in between the Moon and the Sun, however, the Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, and a lunar eclipse occurs.
The type of lunar eclipse - total, partial, or penumbral (半影) - that occurs depends both on how much of the Moon passes through the Earth's shadow and through which part of the shadow it passes. A penumbral eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth's outer shadow. This type of eclipse is brief and frequently goes unobserved by all but astronomers. By contrast, total and partial eclipses occur when all or part, respectively, of the Moon passes through the umbra（本影） shadow of the Earth. These eclipses are quite easy to see and are widely observed.
Unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to watch. Solar radiation that occurs during an eclipse of the Sun can cause a form of burns of one's eyes known as eclipse blindness. In fact, the only way to safely view a solar eclipse is by using specially designed equipment. However, since the Moon's light is reflected sunlight, it is completely safe to watch a lunar eclipse without any special equipment, although a pair of binoculars can certainly help the viewer appreciate the beauty of this phenomenonThe underlined word "stability " most probably means_______.
| A．strength | B．position | C．steadiness | D．visibility |
According to the passage, a partial lunar eclipse occurs________.
| A．when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth |
| B．when all of the Moon passes through the Earth's umbra shadow |
| C．when only a part of the Moon passes through the Earth's outer shadow |
| D．when only a part of the Moon passes through the Earth's umbra shadow |
The passage implies that penumbral eclipses are________.
| A．longer-lasting than most solar eclipses |
| B．more common than partial or full lunar eclipse |
| C．the result of the shadow cast by the Moon onto the Earth |
| D．more difficult to observe than other types of lunar eclipse |
According to the passage, it is safe to watch a lunar eclipse, unlike a solar eclipse, because ________.
| A．moonlight is less strong than sunlight |
| B．a lunar eclipse is briefer than a solar eclipse |
| C．a lunar eclipse lasts much longer than a solar eclipse |
| D．special equipment can be employed to view a lunar eclipse |
"Gangnam Style" by singer Psy from Korea, is a popular song, but its extraordinary global success is really the result of its music video, which is a great piece of genius. On September 22nd, Guinness World Records listed "Gangnam Style" as the most-liked video in the history of YouTube. It's been performed at West Point (West-Point Style), and Google's CEO, has done the "Gangnam Style" horse dance at the company's office in Seoul. Even Samsung is trying to make Psy the new model for the latest type of fridge.
The song's global popularity is such that the vast majority of people who enjoy it don't speak Korean, and have no idea what it is about. That's fine --- part of what makes "Gangnam Style" so fun is, like international pop music, the difficulty in understanding it. When we sing along, "Hey, sexy lady", we don't really know what we're singing about.
The joy of incomprehensibleness is familiar to anyone who loves pop music from elsewhere. Anthony Lane, in his 2010 review of the Eurovision Song Contest, Only Mr. God Knows Why, used "Eurovision English" as one of its chief pleasures. It's "a complex tongue, spoken nowhere else, which raises the heartfelt poetry (诗意) but absolute nonsense to a level of what sci-fi writers could only have dreamed. " In similar ways, "Gangnam Style" is just an over-the-top video where a fat man does a funny dance and sings repetitive words that don't make sense to most of us.
But on the other, the magic of the song also lies in its funny dance, which reflects not just cultural morals specific to Korea, but cultural values easily recognizable to western viewers. This song's words may be in Korean, but its scenes are in clear American. The dance moves are simple enough to copy.
Nonsense, in other words, forces us to let down our guards. It makes us relax, and asks us to let in all sorts of feelings from which, otherwise, we might distance ourselves. "Gangnam Style" happens to be so interesting because of its incomprehensibleness.Some complex languages are used in pop music because _______.
| A．singers regard it as one of the chief pleasures at the concert |
| B．they make the music hard to understand but poetic and attractive |
| C．the music can sound more pleasant and beautiful to the audience |
| D．people like listening to the music which makes special sense to them |
What is true about the popularity of "Gangnam Style"?
| A．It was considered as the most popular video on the Internet. |
| B．It makes people amused and removes their emotional guards. |
| C．Its dance only reflects cultural and morals specific to Korea. |
| D．Psy, its singer, has been the new model for Samsung . |
What does the underlined word "incomprehensibleness" mean in Paragraph 3?
| A．Being interesting to listen to. | B．Being simple enough to copy. |
| C．Being complex and repetitive. | D．Being difficult to understand. |
The text is mainly about ________.
| A．how "Gangnam Style" becomes popular among the youths |
| B．why "Gangnam Style" is popular even if few people understand it |
| C．how Psy gains worldwide success through his talent and hard work |
| D．what emotions and cultural morals Psy wants to convey with his song |
Growing up, I knew I was different. My father had left and he never came back. As I later discovered, the abandonment triggered my anxiety attacks. I feared being alone, unwanted, unpopular, and unloved.
My first attack came in a ninth-grade class: The teacher asked me to walk in front of the class, but I couldn't do it- I was soaked in sweat, shaking. My symptoms began every morning from the moment when I stepped inside the school building.
Throughout my childhood, I was no stranger to the doctor's office. My mother tried everything she could in hope of a breakthrough. There were times I thought suicide could be the only way to make the pain stop.
By age 16, I had shut down socially. Most of my peers were going to parties, playing sports, and dating. But I was a prisoner in my own home.
Then one Sunday morning, my wake-up call came from a magazine article. Freddie Prinze, Jr. was on the cover. The article detailed the pain of losing his father at a young age. I felt as though I were reading my own life story. The only difference? He was now a success.
That article inspired me to explore a new treatment option for myself. I wanted to turn my life around as well. So I hit the library and the Internet, and I began to realize how my negative thoughts controlled my physical well-being.
Immediately, I made a plan to take charge of my life. Shortly after following the items I had listed, I was able to stop seeing a therapist. I never returned to high school, but I did go to college. After graduation, I pursued a career in television news. My relationships have changed for the better, too. I've made new friends and reconnected with many from my past
The anxiety isn't completely gone, but whenever it returns, I know the feeling will pass, and know I have the power to change my life, only if I will give myself a chance.The writer's anxiety attacks were mainly caused by .
| A．the high school which he attended | B．the teacher who asked him to walk |
| C．the writer himself who was fearful | D．the father who left in his childhood |
The breakthrough of the writer's treatment came when________.
| A．the mother took him to the doctor | B．the writer read a magazine article |
| C．the writer's pain finally stopped | D．the writer went to college |
What did the writer do after following the plan?
| A．He went to see therapists. | B．He returned to high school. |
| C．He contacted his old friends. | D．He didn't suffer any attacks. |
The writer wrote this story to tell us________.
| A．anxiety attacks are not lasting if we have proper treatment |
| B．we shouldn't keep ourselves away from the outside world |
| C．we can change our lives if we give ourselves a chance |
| D．fathers are not supposed to abandon their small kids |
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