One day while shopping in a small town in southern California, it was my misfortune to be approached by a clerk．He seemed most unfriendly and not at all concerned about my intended purchase．I bought nothing, and marched angrily out of the store．
On the outside was a dark-skinned young man in his early twenties．His expressive brown eyes met and held mine, and in the next instant a beautiful, bright smile covered his face．I gave in immediately．The power of that broad smile dissolved all bitterness within me, and I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding．
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" I remarked, passing．Then I turned back．"I really owe you a debt of thanks," I said softly．
His smile deepened, but he made no attempt to answer．A Mexican woman and two men were standing nearby．The woman stepped forward and volunteered, "Sir, but he doesn't speak English．Do you want me to tell him something?" In that moment I felt transformed．The young man's smile had made a big person of me．My friendliness and good will toward all mankind stand ten feet tall．
“Yes,” my reply was enthusiastic and sincere, “tell him I said, ‘Thank you!’”
“Thank you?” The woman seemed slightly puzzled．
I gave her arm a friendly pat as I turned to leave．"Just tell him that," I insisted．"He'll understand．I am sure!"
Oh, what a smile can do! Although I have never seen that young man again, I shall never forget the lesson he taught me that morning．From that day on, I became smile-conscious, and I practice the art diligently anywhere and everywhere, with everybody．nWhy did the author leave the store angrily?
| A．He couldn't buy what he wanted． |
| B．The clerk treated him unkindly． |
| C．The clerk didn't speak English． |
| D．The store's goods were too dear． |
By saying "I felt the muscles in my own face happily responding"(in Para. 2), the author means _ _.
| A．he smiled back at the young man | B．he did not want to smile |
| C．he would thank the young man | D．he was still in a bad mood |
．The author asked the woman to say "Thank you!" to the young man because the young man .
| A．had helped the author before | B．taught the author how to smile |
| C．taught the author a valuable lesson | D．was a kind employee of the store |
．In the passage, the author seems to suggest that we should __ ___.
| A．be generous to strangers | B．practice smiling every day |
| C．help people in trouble | D．smile at other people |
| Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) (Monday Closed) As the best museum in New York City and with a balance of hands-on（实际操作的）activities and information, it’s the rare bird that can entertain and educate people of different ages. It’s a perfect destination for a family trip of a couple of hours. Pros--Excellent movie screenings. Easy subway access. Cons--Difficult to reach by car. |
| New York Hall of Science (NYHS) (Monday Closed) Being New York City’s only hands-on science and technology center, it is an interactive science museum focusing on its audience of children. It has the most hands-on exhibits in an NYC museum, and it’s a fun destination for ages 5 and up. Older folks might take great interest in the NASA rockets outside the museum, but don’t bother unless you’ve kids to keep you company. Pros--Cool interactive science exhibits, the rockets. Cons--Hard to reach by public transportation. |
| Queens County Farm Museum (QCFM) ( Year-round 7days a week ) It is an actual farm in New York City and home to animals your kids can feed and a yard full of a climbing plant whose fruit can be made into wine. Good chance to meet sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and cows! The animals are mostly readily accessible to visitors. And the museum sells food for young hands willing to get licked by sheep and goats. Pros--Outdoor fun. Cons--Expensive festivals, long bus ride, no subway. |
| Queens Museum of Art (QMA) ( Monday and Tuesday Closed) Opened in 1972 to serve as a cultural center for the borough(行政区), it exhibits art by local and international artists. Its best exhibits are on the two World’s Fairs, and of course, the Panorama of New York City, a giant, highly detailed diorama(透景画) of all five New York City boroughs. Pros--The Panorama, great gift shop. Easy subway access. Cons--Not much for kids. |
The least likely choice for 5-year-old Jack to make among the museums is __________.
| A．QMA | B．NYHS | C．MMI | D．QCFM |
According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?
| A．All the museums mentioned above lie in New York City. |
| B．No other museum in New York City is better than MMI. |
| C．NYHS has the most hands-on activities in America. |
| D．Lucky visitors can see grapes in one of the museums. |
In which museum can you enjoy outdoor fun?
A. MMI. B. QCFM. C. NYHS. D. QMA.
The time of year a baby is born can shape what profession they will embark on in later life, a new study has suggested. Being born in a certain month appears to indicate the possibility of what job a person will end up with, the study by the Office for National Statistics found.
Researchers have uncovered that the month in which babies are born could also affect everything from intelligence to length of life. A child born in December is more likely to become a dentist while someone whose birthday falls in January will tend to a debt collector, they found.
A February birth appears to increase the chances of being an artist while March babies appear to go on to become pilots. Meanwhile, April and May are said to have a fairly even spread of professions, births in the summer months mean a much lower chance of becoming a high-earning football player, doctor or dentist. The study was gained by researchers who analyzed the birth months of people in 19 separate occupations using information from the last census (人口普查), the Daily Mail reported. Although these trends may be difficult to explain, relations between birth months and specific health problems have a scientific basis.
Spring babies are at greater risk of illnesses including schizophrenia(精神分裂症), Alzheimer’s disease(早老性痴呆病), asthma(哮喘) and autism(自闭症). They may also be less clever than classmates born in other parts of the year.What does the underlined phrase “embark on” refer to?
| A．land on | B．keep in touch with |
| C．be engaged in | D．break from |
According to the researchers, a child born in March is likely to become_______.
| A．a debt collector | B．a pilot |
| C．a dentist | D．an artist |
We can learn from the text that______.
| A．the month babies are born could only affect his intelligence and length of life |
| B．People born in the summer months are more likely to get highly paid |
| C．Spring babies may have the bigger chance to get ill |
| D．the choice of profession for April and May is very narrow |
What can be included from the passage?
| A．There exist connections between birth date and occupations |
| B．The fate has been already decided when people are born |
| C．People born in Autumn would be more successful than those born in Spring |
| D．The time of year one is born decides which specific health problems one has |
As long as I can remember, I've always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn't encouraged very much. Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. Certain peer pressures encouraged little fingers to learn how to hold footballs rather than crayons.
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories began as fragments (片段) of pictures in my mind. I created a story by posing questions to myself. I called it the “what if” and “what then” approach. For example, for my book The Polar Express, I started out by thinking “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go？”
From the time I come up with the idea, write and illustrate the book, and deliver it to the printer, it takes about seven months. First, I begin thinking of the idea. Then I imagine the pictures and the story. A good picture book should have events that are visually arresting. I first consider scenes that are exciting to look at and then my challenge is to weave a story around those pictures. The next step is putting the illustrations and story down on paper.
When you first look at my illustrations, you see ordinary, everyday things. But if you look closer, things might not seem quite so simple. When I'm writing a book, I always try to create something strange or puzzling in each picture. By using artistic strategies, I can give the drawing a kind of mysterious quality.
All of my books are picture books, so they are generally thought of as books for children. But when I make them, I think of the books as being for everybody — for people of all ages. When I was a kid, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, but now I'm really glad I became an artist and a storyteller.Why does the author mention The Polar Express?
| A．To tell us an interesting story. |
| B．To introduce his famous work. |
| C．To make up a sentence with “what if”． |
| D．To show us how he designed his book. |
The underlined word “arresting” in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
| A．frightening | B．interesting |
| C．satisfying | D．worrying |
Which of the following is TRUE about the author?
| A．He did well when he was at school. |
| B．He only wrote something for children. |
| C．He tried his best to meet the readers' taste. |
| D．He regretted not working hard at drawing. |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Telling Stories by Drawing |
| B．“What if” and “What Then” |
| C．How to Tell Interesting Stories |
| D．Working as a Famous Storyteller |
Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142mile race in less than 10 hours. Teams and watchers knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key part — drivers.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, organized the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, just proved how difficult it is to get a car to speed across an unfamiliar desert without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area. Another began by throwing itself onto a wall. Another got tied up by bushes near the road after 1.9 miles.
One turned upside down. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote control. One went a little more than a mile and rushed into a fence; another managed to go for six miles but stuck on a rock. The “winner”， if there was any, reached 7.8 miles before it ran into a long narrow hole, and the front wheels caught on fire.
“You get a lot of respect for natural abilities of the living things，” says Reinhold Behringe, who helped design two of the carsize vehicles for a company called SciAutonics.“Even ants can do all these tasks effortlessly. It's very hard for us to put these abilities into our machines.”
The robotic vehicles, though with necessary modern equipment such as advanced computers and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the blocks ahead that a twoyearold human recognizes immediately. Sure, that very young child, who has just only learned to walk, may not think to wipe apple juice off her face, but she already knows that when there's a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up the table, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even months old, than any machine humans have designed.
Watchers doubted if any of the vehicles could finish the race because ________.
| A．they did not have any human guidance |
| B．the road was not familiar to the drivers |
| C．the distance was too long for the vehicles |
| D．the prize money was unattractive to the drivers |
From the passage we know “robotic vehicles” are a kind of machines that________.
| A．can do effortlessly whatever tasks living things can |
| B．can take part in a race across 142miles with a time limit |
| C．can show off their ability to turn themselves upside down |
| D．can move from place to place without being driven by human beings |
In the last paragraph, the author implies that there is a long way to go ________.
| A．for a robotic vehicle to finish a 142mile race without any difficulties |
| B．for a little child who has just learned to walk to reach the cookie on the table |
| C．for a robotic vehicle to deal with a simple problem that a little child can solve |
| D．for a little child to understand the importance of wiping apple juice off his/her face |
Fourteenyearold Richie Hawley had spent five years studying violin at the Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles when he took part in a violin contest. Ninetytwo young people were invited to the contest and Hawley came out first.
The contest could have been the perfect setup for fear, worrying about mistakes, and trying to impress the judges. But Hawley said he did pretty well at staying calm. “I couldn't be thinking about how many mistakes I'd make — it would distract me from playing.” he says. “I don't even remember trying to impress people while I played. It's almost as if they weren't there. I just wanted to make music.”
Hawley is a winner. But he didn't become a winner by concentrating on winning. He did it by concentrating on playing well.
“The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part，” said the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin. “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
A characteristic of high performers is their intense, pleasurable concentration on work, rather than on their competitors or future glory or money, says Dr. Charles Garfield, who has studied 1,500 achievers in business, science, sports, arts, and professions. “They are interested in winning, but they're most interested in selfdevelopment, testing their limits.”
One of the most surprising things about top performers is how many losses they've had — and how much they've learned from each. “Not one of the 1,500 I studied defined losing as failing，” Garfield says. “They kept calling their losses ‘setback’．”
A healthy attitude towards setbacks is essential to winning, experts agree.
“The worst thing you can do if you've had a setback is to let yourself get stuck in a prolonged depression. You should analyze carefully what went wrong, identify specific things you did right and give yourself credit for them.” Garfield believes that most people don't give themselves enough praise. He even suggests keeping a diary of all the positive things you've done on the way to a goal.What is common among high performers is that they tend to give priority to ________.
| A．glory | B．Wealth |
| C．pleasure | D．Work |
According to the passage, successful people concentrate on _______.
| A．challenging their own limits | B．learning from others |
| C．defeating their opponents | D．avoiding setbacks |
The passage tells us that “praise” in times of trouble ________.
| A．helps people deal with their disappointment |
| B．makes people forget their setbacks |
| C．makes people regret about their past |
| D．helps people realize their goals |
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