Two travelling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was impolite and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold underground room. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very kind farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had, the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning, the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their only income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was very angry and asked the older angel, "How could this happen? Why did you not watch out for the cow? The first man had everything, yet you watched over his house," she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you did not help."
"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied. "When we stayed in the underground room , I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so greedy and unwilling to share his good fortune, I asked God if I could seal the wall so he couldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. You see, things aren't always what they seem. "Why did the older angel repair the hole for the rich family?
| A．Because she didn't like the greedy owner. |
| B．Because she wanted to save the gold for the poor. |
| C．Because the underground room was too cold to stay in. |
| D．Because she believed that one should always be ready to offer help. |
The younger angel was very angry because ________.
| A．the older angel killed the farmer's cow |
| B．the older angel treated the two families differently |
| C．the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live in |
| D．the angel of death took the cow away |
Why did the older angel let the farmer's cow die?
| A．Because God wanted the older angel to take the cow. |
| B．Because she wanted to teach the younger angel a lesson. |
| C．Because she wanted to save the farmer's wife. |
| D．Because she was sympathetic to the rich. |
The story tries to tell readers that ________.
| A．angels are always ready to help the poor |
| B．sometimes things are not what they seem |
| C．angels are always ready to help the rich |
| D．the young should always learn from the old |
When Jeff Sparkman draws his cartoon superheroes with colored pencils, he often has to ask other people to tell him what color his masked men turned out to be because he's color-blind. Now, a new smart phone application (app) can help him figure out what colors he's using and how the picture looks to most everyone else.
The DanKam app, available for iPhone and Android for $2.99, is an application that turns the vague colors that one percent of the population with color-blindness sees into the "true" colors as everyone else sees them. In America, an estimated 32 million color-blind Americans—95% are males—can soon have their life improved.
“DanKam takes the stream of data coming in through the phone's camera and changes the colors slightly so they fall within the range that people who are color-blind see,”developer Dan Kaminsky told CNET. He came up with the idea after watching the 2009 film Star Trek with a color-blind friend.
It was then that he got to know more about colorblindness like its varying types and degrees. A vast majority, for instance, have trouble seeing red or green due to a genetic defect(遗传缺陷). Blue-yellow colorblindness, however, is rarer and develops later in life because of aging, illness or head injuries, etc. He started experimenting with one of the most common representations of points in the RGB color model. What the DanKam app attempts to do is to clean up the color space of the image or video signal so that colors can be visible to those suffering from viewing problems. “You can adjust the app to fit your needs. There is a range and not everyone who is color-blind sees things the same.” Says Kaminsky.
Sparkman, a copy editor at CNET, tried out the app and was pleased with the results. "It would be useful for dressing for a job interview," he said. But using it for his art is “the most practical application." It worked well on LED and other lights on electronic gadgets, which means Sparkman can now identify the power light on his computer display as green.According to the first two paragraphs, we can know that DanKam ___________.
| A．is designed to help people with colorblindness |
| B．can turn vague colors into real ones |
| C．is a phone used to help drawing pictures |
| D．appeared in the movie Star Trek |
How does DanKam’s app work?
| A．It puts LED and other lights on electronic gadgets. |
| B．It shows common representations of points in the RGB color model |
| C．It checks color-blind people’s types of degrees of colorblindness. |
| D．It changes the colors so that color-blind people can see them. |
It can be inferred from the passage that colorblindness __________.
| A．cannot be cured by any methods |
| B．is not necessarily inborn disease |
| C．is more commonly seen in women |
| D．makes people unable to tell any colors |
The underlined word visible in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to _________.
| A．recognizable | B．enjoyable |
| C．adjustable | D．Portable |
Which of the following is NOT included in the things that DanKam helps Sparkman with?
| A．Choosing clothes. |
| B．Playing computer games |
| C．Drawing his pictures. |
| D．Handling electronic gadgets. |
Regarded as one of the English language's most gifted poets, John Keats wrote poetry that concentrated on imagery, human nature, and philosophy. Although Keats didn't receive much formal literary education, his own studies and passion brought him much success. Additionally, his own life situation influenced his poetry greatly.
Growing up as a young boy in London in a lower, middle-class family, the young John didn't attend a private school, but went to a public one. His teachers and his family's friends regarded him as an optimistic boy who favored playing and fighting much more than minding his studies. After his father's death in the early 1800s, followed by his mother's passing due to tuberculosis (肺结核), he began viewing life differently. He wanted to escape the world and did so by reading anything he could get his hands on.
At around the age of 16, the teenage John Keats began studying under a surgeon so that he too might become a doctor. However, his literary appetite had taken too much of his fancy, especially with his addiction to the poetry of Ehmund Spenser. He was able to have his first full poem published in the Examiner in 1816, entitled O Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell. Within two months in 1817, Keats had written an entire volume of poetry, but was sharply criticized by a magazine. However, the negative response didn't stop his pursuit of rhythm.
John Keats' next work was Endymion, which was published in May 1818. The story involves a shepherd who falls in love with the moon goddess and leads him on an adventure of one boy's hope to overcome the limitations of being human. Following Engymion, however, he tried something more narrative-based and wrote Isabella. During this time, John Keats began seeing his limitations in poetry due to his own limit in life experiences. He would have to have the "knowledge" associated with his poems. His next work was Hyperion that would attempt to combine all that he learned. However, a bout (发作) with tuberculosis while visiting Italy would keep him from his work and eventually take his life in 1821.John Keats' attitude towards life changed because of________.
| A．his early education from school |
| B．the criticism of a magazine |
| C．Edmund Spenser's poetry |
| D．the deaths of his parents |
What is the common thing between John Keats and his mother?
| A．They read many books. |
| B．They died of the same disease. |
| C．They had a bad childhood. |
| D．They showed strong interest in poetry. |
What do we know from the passage?
| A．Keats once had a chance of becoming a doctor. |
| B．Keats received little education at school. |
| C．In 1816 Keats spent two months writing a poem. |
| D．Endymion was about a real love story. |
While pursuing his dream of becoming a poet at first, John Keats was________.
| A．knowledgeable | B．experienced |
| C．determined | D．impatient |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The poem Hyperion wasn't completed by Keats. |
| B．Edmund Spenser was the greatest poet in Keats' time. |
| C．It is likely that Keats rewrote his poem Isabella. |
| D．Keats' family must have been very poor when he was young. |
Before we start a voyage, we usually try to find out more or less definitely where we are bound and how we are supposed to get there.
I happen to have the “Concise Oxford dictionary” on my desk and that will do as well as any other. The word I am looking for appears at the bottom of Page 344. edition 1912.
“Geography: the science of the earth's surface, form, physical features, natural and political divisions, climate, productions and population.”
I could not possibly hope to do better, but I still stress some of the aspects of the case at the expenses of others, because I intend to place man in the centre of the stage. This book of mine will not merely discuss the surface of the earth and its physical features, together with its political and natural boundaries. I would rather call it a study of man in search of food and shelter and leisure for himself and for his family and an attempt to his background or has reshaped his physical surroundings in order to be comfortable and well nourished and happy with his limited strength.
Among the two million human beings in the world, there is of course the widest possible range for all sorts of experiments of an economic and social and cultural nature. It seems me that those experiments deserve our attention before anything else. For a mountain is after all merely a mountain until it has been seen by human eyes and has been walked on by human feet and until its and slopes and valleys have been occupied and fought over and planted by a dozen generation of hungry settlers.
The Atlantic Ocean was just as wide and deep and as wet and salty before the beginning of the 13th century as after, but it took the human touch to make it what it is today—a bridge between the New World and the Old, the highway for the commerce between East and West.
For thousands of years the endless Russian plains lay ready to offer their abundant harvest to whoever should take the trouble to sow the first grain. But the aspect of that country today would he a very different one if the hand of a German or a Frank, rather than that of a Slav, had guided the iron-pointed stick that plowed the first furrows (犁沟).
The island of Nippon would shake and quake just as continually, whether they happened to be settled by Japanese or by the Tasmanian race, but in the latter case they would hardly be able to feed 60,000,000 people.
Generally speaking, I have paid more attention to the purely “human” side of geography than to the commercial problems which are so important in a day and age devoted to mass production.In the first four paragraphs, the author wants to share with the readers ______.
| A．his approach to planning a voyage |
| B．his emphasis on using a dictionary |
| C．his definition of the word “geography” |
| D．his altitude to the earth's physical features |
Which of the following will the author NOT consider to be on experiment according to Paragraph 5?
| A．Exploring a mountain. |
| B．Climbing a mountain. |
| C．Planting on slopes and valleys. |
| D．Becoming hungry. |
Which of the following is implied about the Atlantic Ocean?
| A．It is wide, deep, wet and salty. |
| B．Human touch makes it important. |
| C．There is a bridge over it. |
| D．The highway is busy there. |
The author mentioned the Russian plains and the island of Nippon to show that _____.
| A．they both feed a lot of people |
| B．they enjoy very good natural conditions |
| C．different people may make the same place different |
| D．their natural conditions haven't changed for many years |
“The really big concern over the last decade,” according to Dr. David Whitehead, “is the relative loss of opportunities for children to engage in child-led play.” That's true. One of the exhausting aspects of modern parenting is that everything, even doing nothing, has to be purposeful. Now that “parenting” has become a verb — a state of doing, rather than simply being — it can fed unnatural to leave your children to their own devices. Yet it creates spaces in which good things can happen. The psychology lecturer is responding to a survey showing that 80 percent of parents of small children feel under pressure to fill their days with “structured” activities. This, says Dr. Whitehead, is a mistake. Leaving your children to play on their own or with their peers enables them to develop “self-regulation abilities”, which in turn leads to better academic achievement.
One afternoon last autumn, sitting on a bench doing no parenting at all, I suddenly felt I was getting the hang of it.
That afternoon, my sister and I took our children to the park. We had lots to talk about, so we sat down on a bench and drove the children away. After briefly complaining, the cousins wandered off and started jumping into puddles (水洼).
They jumped and jumped, and then one of them kicked some muddy water at the others. My sister and I, deep in conversation, didn't notice this. So my nephew became more adventurous. He scooped up a handful of mud and threw it on my son's head. My son caught his breath happily, wiped the mud out of his eyes, and threw one back. My nephew, who has a talent for naming things, puffed out his tiny chest and roared: “Let's play Muddikins!”
The rules of Muddikins are simple. You run around throwing mud at each other until everyone is so thickly coated that you can no longer be sure which child is whose. Nothing is learnt from it; nobody is improved. It is pure fun, of the sort that can only happen when parents drop the reins (缰绳). They did it. “ Whoa, that's so cool,” said one. “I wish my mum was like you.”What is stressed in Paragraph 1?
| A．Child-led play matters in the development of children. |
| B．Parents' concern over their children is unnecessary. |
| C．Children's activities should be well organized. |
| D．Parenting is everything in a family. |
What does the author think of the behavior of the children in the puddles?
| A．Amazing. | B．Troublesome. |
| C．Adventurous. | D．Worthwhile. |
By saying “They did it” in the last paragraph, the author means that ______.
| A．The reins were dropped. |
| B．She failed to distinguish her child. |
| C．The children learned from the Muddikins. |
| D．She confirmed Dr. David Whitehead's theory. |
The text is mainly about the relationship between _____.
| A．parents and children |
| B．individual and group |
| C．play and acquisition |
| D．theory and practice |
In 1932 the warning of the British politician, Stanley Baldwin, that “the bomber will always get through” made a deep impression in Britain, the only state to make serious plans to evacuate civilians from large towns before the war started.
The British Government developed plans for evacuating 1 million children to the United States and Canada and other Commonwealth nations. It established the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) in May 1940. After the fall of France, many people thought the war was lost and some saw this as one way of ensuring that Britain could survive even if invaded.
The Germans eventually began bombing British cities in September. Some children were evacuated by ship to British Dominions, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. The CORB selections were not done on a first-come, first-served basis. CORB classified and prioritized the children. Charges soon appeared in the press that the well-to-do were being given priority. CORB arranged for the transportation. The Government paid the passages. Quite a number of children had already been evacuated. This tended to be children from rich families with money and overseas contacts. The British public eventually demanded the government pay so that less privileged children were also eligible.
World War II occurred before the beginning of trans-Atlantic air travel. Liners were used to transport the children and this proved to be dangerous because the U-boats quickly emerged as the greatest threat. And this put the evacuee children trying to cross the Atlantic to safety in danger. Two ships carrying child evacuees were torpedoed (破坏)in 1940. One was the Dutch liner Volendam with 320 children on August 30. The crew managed to get the life boats off and saved the children. They were returned to Glasgow. The other was the City of Benares, an ocean liner with 200 British and foreign civilian passengers and 93 British children with a guard of nurses, teachers, and a clergyman. It was torpedoed on September 13. The crew attempted to launch the life boats as Benares began to sink. The rough weather made this difficult, so many of the passengers in the life boats died in the extreme conditions. Only 15 children survived. Churchill, when he learned of the disaster, decided to end the overseas evacuation scheme.The whole passage is mainly about _____.
| A．bombing Britain |
| B．children evacuation |
| C．German U-boats |
| D．loss of children |
What can we learn about the British people according to the passage?
| A．They were concerned about their children. |
| B．They were threatened by Stanley Baldwin. |
| C．They were frightened by German invasion. |
| D．They longed to go to commonwealth nations. |
The underlined word “eligible” in the last sentence of Paragraph 3 probably means _____.
| A．qualified | B．accessible |
| C．hopeful | D．popular |
Churchill decided to end the evacuation scheme mainly because _____.
| A．so many people needed evacuating |
| B．the weather in the Atlantic was rough |
| C．the crew were inexperienced in saving people |
| D．liners easily became the targets of the German U-boats |
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