In 1971 a young man who grew up very poor was travelling across the country, trying to make a new start for himself.Along the way he had completely run out of（用光） money and was forced to spend the night in his car.This continued until one morning, after a week of sleeping in his car, he walked nervously into a restaurant and ordered a big breakfast.
After eating his first good meal in weeks, he found himself lying to the waiter, telling him he had lost his wallet.The waiter, who was also the owner, walked behind the chair where the young man had been sitting.He bent down, and came up with a $20 bill that looked as if it had fallen on the floor and said, “Son, you must have dropped this,” the owner said.The young man couldn’t believe his luck! He quickly paid for the breakfast, left a tip, bought gas with the change, and headed West.
On the way out of town, he began to understand what the owner did.Maybe nobody dropped the money at all.“Maybe that fellow just knew I was in trouble and he helped me in a way that didn’t embarrass(使尴尬)me.So I just made a promise to help other people if I can.”
Later, he worked very hard and became a rich man.Now he lives near Kansas City.Each year he gives away thousands of dollars.He is known as the “Secret Santa” because at Christmas time each year, he personally hands money out to those on the street and at restaurants.Last year, he gave more than $50,000 away in Kansas City.The young man was travelling cross the country in 1971 to______.
| A．look for a good restaurant | B．improve his life |
| C．show his new car to others | D．hand out dollars |
The underlined sentence implies(暗示) that the young man got to know that______.
| A．it was vey lucky of him to get his lost money back |
| B．it was very honest of the owner to return his money |
| C．the owner helped him in a way that didn’t hurt his feelings |
| D．another person who had breakfast in the restaurant lost the money |
From the end of the passage we can learn that ______.
| A．the man did carry out his promise |
| B．the man was not successful in the end |
| C．the owner was paid back the money |
| D．Santa gives the man money each year |
The message of the story is “______”.
| A．One good turn deserves another |
| B．Where there is a will there is a way |
| C．He who travels far knows much |
| D．Give love wings (翅膀) and it may fly higher |
These days everyone is worried about the size of their carbon footprint. In order to reduce global warming we need to make our carbon footprints smaller. But how much CO2 are we responsible for?
A new book by Mike Berners Lee, an expert, might be able to help. The carbon footprint looks at the different things we do and buy, and calculates the amount of CO2 all of the following created: the ingredients, the electricity, the equipment, the travel and commuting of the beer, and the packaging. It’s amazing how many different things need to be included in each calculation. And it’s frightening how much carbon dioxide everything produces.
This can help us decide which beer to drink. From Berners Lee’s calculations, it’s clear that a pint (568ml) of locally brewed beer has a smaller carbon footprint than a bottle of imported beer. This is because the imported beer has been transported from far away, and it uses more packaging. The local beer only produces 300g of CO2, but the imported beer produces 900g! So, one pint of local beer is better for the environment.
Berners Lee has even calculated the carbon footprint of cycling to work. Nothing is more environmentally friendly than riding a bike, surely? Well, it depends on what you’ve had to eat before. To ride a bike we need energy and for energy we need food. So if we eat a banana and then ride a kilometer, our footprint is 65g of CO2. However, if we eat bacon before the ride, it’s 200g. In fact, bananas are good because they don’t need packaging, they can be transported by boat and they grow in natural sunlight.
So, does this mean that cycling is bad for the environment? Absolutely not, for a start, if you cycle, you don’t use your car, and the fewer cars on the road, the fewer traffic jams. And cars in traffic jams produce three times more CO2 than cars traveling at speed. Cycling also makes you healthy and less likely to go to hospital. So maybe it’s time for us all to start making some changes. Pass me a banana and a pint of local beer, please.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Everything produces carbon dioxide equally. |
| B．The imported beer is much better than the local beer in quality. |
| C．Actually bananas are good in general because they produce less CO2. |
| D．To make our carbon footprints smaller, we should often drink more beer. |
The underlined word “brew” in Paragraph 3 most probably means “___________”.
| A．make | B．put | C．look after | D．take place |
What’s the main purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To tell the differences among bikes, beer and bananas. |
| B．To call on us to take action to make carbon footprint smaller. |
| C．To introduce what CO2 really is in our life. |
| D．To remind us to start healthy eating habits. |
Where can we probably read this passage?
| A．In a science fiction story. | B．In a newspaper advertisement. |
| C．In a science research report. | D．In a travel magazine. |
As the semester(学期) ended, students had a chance to turn the tables on their teachers.
They got to grade me anonymously(匿名地), assessing the ability of my thinking, my organizational skills and the depth of my knowledge. Such evaluations keep me alert to what works and what doesn’t. Students reflect my performance back to me, and I’m glad to learn what they think of my teaching so that I might try to improve.
This system reflects many aspects of my work. There is, of course, nothing wrong with it. But this system assumes that what students need is the same as what they want. Reading my evaluations every semester has taught me otherwise. Actually many students’ expectations for their courses have already changed, reflecting, in part, the business model many universities are following: classes are considered services, and parents are eager to get their money’s worth from their children’s education. Students feel pressure from their parents to get practical use from their courses.
This could make sense for an engineering course, but in my field, creative writing, which rarely trains up excellent 21-year-old writers, it is more difficult to provide the results that the career-minded students desire. Then I tried some teaching techniques to change the criticism of those unhappy students to the opposite and improve my student evaluations. My record would accurately reflect a smart, attentive, encouraging teacher. However, I would admit that they loved me simply because I agreed writing should be easy.
I know other teachers have done the same thing: teach your heart out to the teachable but be sure to please the unteachable; keep your ratings high, like a politician trying to improve his poll(民意调查) results. I believe in the struggle. But I still can’t help wincing(退缩) when I read, “The instructor is mean.” “Marcus is not committed to my work.” “This class sucks.” The business model has taught me that customers are always right. And maybe a few more dissatisfied customers would mean a better learning experience.What can we know from the underlined phrase “turn the tables on their teachers”？
| A．Students get a chance to have dinner with their teachers. |
| B．Students judge and grade their teachers. |
| C．Students begin to criticize and punish their teachers. |
| D．Students take action to praise their teachers. |
Why have the students’ expectations for their courses changed?
| A．Because students want to improve other abilities. |
| B．Because students feel great pressure from universities. |
| C．Because students have to satisfy their parents. |
| D．Because the business model has changed. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Parents don’t care about their money spent on their children’s education. |
| B．The writer adopted some teaching methods so that he improved his student evaluations. |
| C．Similar to other teachers, the writer struggled to work as politicians. |
| D．The students intended to punish their teachers by giving comments. |
What is the author’s attitude towards being graded by his students?
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Satisfied. | D．Scared. |
He was a hero that saved two children from the jaws of a cougar(美洲狮). Standing barely 1.7 meters, the 22-year-old with black-frame glasses might pass more for a Chinese Harry Potter. Yet Shen Huigang is now getting recognition for his bravery in fighting off a cougar on Vancouver Island, Canada, during a family outing. Shen, also known as Ian, was then an exchange student. With him was a friend, Myles Hagar, and Hagar’s two grandchildren. Silently and suddenly a cougar appeared out of nowhere. By the time they spotted the cat, it already had the head of 18-month-old Julien in its mouth.
“At first, my brain was nothing but blank,” Shen recalled. “But I believed I could get the child back.” He gestured as if he were ready for a fight, and tried to scare the beast off with his bag. Hearing the noise Shen made, the animal dropped the baby and Hagar rushed to grab his grandson. But the animal didn’t run, instead turned toward 3-year-old Iris standing beside Shen. “Had Ian not been there, shouting at the cougar, remaining calm and standing firm, it would certainly have attacked Iris.” Hagar recalled.
They chased the animal back into the woods. “We moved slowly to our vehicle as we waved our fists and bags, pretending to wrestle it,” Shen said. “The vehicle wasn’t far away but it felt like it took us a century to travel the short journey.” As Hagar drove for help, Shen held the heavily-bleeding boy in the passenger seat and calmly kept him awake by hugging and kissing him in case he would go into a coma(昏迷). The boy was flown to a hospital nearby. Doctors later said his little skull had been punctured(刺穿) through to his brain in two places. Luckily, Julien made a full recovery.
“Any hesitation, even a second delay, would have resulted in certain death for Julien, but Ian was there…” Hagar said. Following the incident, the story appeared on Canadian TV networks in every city, and in many small town newspapers---plus many US Internet news sites. The Royal Canadian Humane Association planned to give Shen a Canada Bravery Award, but it couldn’t reach him because he had returned to China.Why did the cougar drop the baby?
| A．Because it was scared by the noise made by Ian’s shouting. |
| B．Because Hagar rushed to grab the baby from its jaws. |
| C．Because it wanted to attack Iris and took her away. |
| D．Because Hagar and Ian were chasing it back into the woods. |
Which of the following statements about Shen Huigang is TRUE?
| A．He was called Chinese Harry Potter because he was very brave. |
| B．His deed was spread both in Canada and the US. |
| C．He was better at fighting and wrestling compared with Hagar. |
| D．He was too shocked to move to the vehicle in the incident. |
What did Ian do in the car to keep the baby awake?
| A．He held, hugged and kissed the baby in the passenger seat. |
| B．He drove the car as quickly as possible to find a hospital. |
| C．He encouraged the baby telling him to be awake. |
| D．He held the heavily- bleeding wound of the baby. |
Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
| A．Saving Lives From the Jaws of Death |
| B．Experiencing a Family Outing |
| C．Taking Care of Two Children |
| D．Interviewing a Clever Young Student |
It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage. Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr. Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood go through a machine. The machine cooled the blood. Then the machine sent the blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10°C, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them.The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that _______.
| A．the time is too short for doctors |
| B．the patients are often too nervous |
| C．the damage is extremely hard to fix |
| D．the blood-cooling machine might break down |
The brain operation was made possible mainly by _______.
| A．taking the blood out of the brain |
| B．trying the operation on monkeys first |
| C．having the blood go through a machine |
| D．lowering the brain’s temperature |
With Dr. White’s new idea, the operation on the damaged brain _______.
| A．can last as long as 30 minutes |
| B．can keep the brain’s blood warm |
| C．can keep the patient’s brain healthy |
| D．can help monkeys do different jobs |
What is the right order of the steps in the operation?
a. send the cooled blood back to the brain
b. stop the blood to the brain
c. have the blood cooled down
d. operate on the brain
| A．a, b, c, d | B．c, a, b, d | C．c, b, d, a | D．b, c, d, a |
London: It’s well known that Charles Darwin’s famous theory of evolution annoyed many people because it was against the Biblical view of creation. But few know that it also created problems for Darwin at home with his deeply religious wife, Emma.
“Darwin held back the publication of On the Origin of Species to avoid offending (触怒) his wife,” says Ruth Padel, the naturalist’s great – great – granddaughter. “Emma told him that he seemed to be putting God further and further off”, Padel says in her north London home. “But they talked it through, and Emma once said, ‘Don’t change any of your ideas for fear of hurting me.’”
As the world celebrates the 200th birthday of the man who changed scientific thought forever and the 150th anniversary of his book today, even his opponents admitted he was a giant figure.
Though opposition to his theory continues, it is the elegant explanation of how species evolutes through natural selection that makes his 200th birthday such a major event.
More than 300 celebrations have been planned in Britain alone, where Darwin's face graces (使增光)the 10-pound bill along with that of Queen Elizabeth II.
Shrewsbury, the central England town where Darwin was born and raised, is holding a month-long festival for its most famous son. Down House, his former home near London, will hold a permanent exhibition recreating some of his most famous experiments.
Many more events have been planned all over the world.
What would he be doing if he were alive today? Padel thinks he would properly be studying DNA and the immune system.The main purpose of the author is .
| A．to say something about Darwin and his wife |
| B．to introduce Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution |
| C．to sing high praise for the book On the Origin of Species |
| D．to report some celebrations of Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his books |
Which of the statements is NOT true based on the passage?
| A．Everyone agrees with Darwin now. |
| B．Darwin was brought up in Shrewsbury. |
| C．Emma was not really fond of his theory. |
| D．Darwin was very interested in living things. |
The underlined phrase “held back” in the second paragraph probably means .
| A．prevented from | B．kept a secret | C．cared about | D．put off |
It can be inferred that the passage is most probably .
| A．a scientific report | B．a news report |
| C．an English composition | D．a text |
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