Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17,1706 in Boston，America. In his life he built a successful printing and publishing business in Philadelphia；he conducted scientific studies of electricity and made several important discoveries；he was a diplomat (外交官) and statesman；he helped establish Pennsylvania’s first university and America’s first city hospital；he also organized the country’s first subscription library (收费图书馆)．
Franklin was also unequaled in America as an inventor until Thomas Edison. Ben had poor eyesight and needed glasses to read. He got tired of always taking them off and putting them back on，so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of glasses cut in half and put half of them together. Today，we call them bifocals (双光眼镜)．Another invention of his，an iron stove，allowed people to warm their homes.
He loved to learn about new things. He also thought it was important to make life better with the things that he invented. Electricity was one of the things he experimented with when he retired from his business. Ben discovered that lightning (闪电) and electricity were the same thing. The lightning rod was an important invention that we still use today to protect buildings and ships from lightning damage.
Franklin preferred to have his inventions used freely for the comfort and convenience of everyone. Thomas Jefferson，the third president of America，called Benjamin Franklin “the greatest man of the age and country in which he lived”．To Benjamin Franklin there was no greater purpose in life than to “live usefully”．Benjamin Franklin was NOT a________.
| A．diplomat | B．scientist |
| C．businessman | D．president |
The underlined word “unequaled” in Paragraph 2 means________.
| A．better than any other | B．worse than any other |
| C．the same as others | D．confident as others |
Which of the following is NOT Benjamin’s invention?
| A．Bifocals. | B．The iron stove. |
| C．Printing. | D．The lightning rod. |
What was Benjamin Franklin’s purpose in life?
| A．To live comfortably every day. |
| B．To be useful to others. |
| C．To be a famous person in the world. |
| D．To earn a lot by inventing things. |
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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Special activity time: 24/09/2013-04/01/2014.You can learn about the credit of an online store by________.
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| C．the independent tick rating | D．the varieties of goods |
If you've chosen some items from all the four websites above, the earliest date for special sale is_________.
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| C．September 24, 2013 | D．December l, 2013 |
If you want to buy sportswear with a school name on it, you may visit_________.
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If you have chosen your themed gift for graduation, you'll enter code _________ for your discount.
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Many Chinese kids, known as "left-behind" children, hardly ever see their parents, because their parents are migrant workers.
Li Ling, 11, is a left-behind child. Her parents have been working in Zhejiang for 10 years, while she lives with her grandparents in Guangdong. She was reunited with her parents last Spring Festival. As the number of migrant workers in China increases, the number of left-behind children is rising fast. Li is one of the 61. 02 million left-behind children under 17. They account for 37. 7 percent of rural children and 21. 88 percent of all Chinese children
The large number of left-behind children has already become a social issue. If left unsolved, it will cause serious problems, Wang Zhenyao, director of the China Philanthropy Research Institute, told China Daily. The education level of adults supervising（监管） these children is generally not that high. They can only take care of the children's personal safety and daily living, being unable to care for their educational and spiritual needs. Meanwhile, the absence of parental support will make some left-behind children lack self-confidence. They may be slower in physical and emotional growth than their peers. Others may even become "problem youths".
To solve this problem, the government is taking action. For instance, 30 provinces and cities have allowed certain children to attend school and take the college entrance exam in the city where their parents are. However, Wang suggested that the country do more, such as making policies encouraging migrant workers to work in their hometowns. He also said that a well-balanced child welfare system is needed. "These children are the future of the nation, so they deserve our loving care and protection," Wang said.Left-behind kids hardly see their parents because _______.
| A．they are poor and in rural areas |
| B．they are brought up by their grandparents |
| C．their parents are making a living in other cities |
| D．their parents don't go back home on Spring Festival |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Li Ling hasn't seen her parents for about 10 years. |
| B．Left-behind children have become problem youths. |
| C．There are 61. 02 million left-behind children in China. |
| D．Much remains to be done to settle the left-behind kids issue. |
The purpose of the passage is _______.
| A．to criticize the migrant workers who leave their children at home |
| B．to focus on the present situation of the left-behind children |
| C．to worry about the present situation of left-behind children |
| D．to call on the government to educate the migrant workers |
In which column of a newspaper can we most probably find this passage?
| A．Education. | B．Society. | C．Entertainment. | D．Employment. |
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