It was the summer of 1936．The Olympic Games were being held in Berlin．I had trained, sweated and disciplined myself for 6 years on the running broad jump．A year before, as a college student at the Ohio State, I'd set the world's record of 26 feet 8 1/4 inches．Nearly everyone expected me to win．
I was in for a surprise．When the time came for the broad-jump trials(选拔赛), I was shocked to see a tall boy hitting the pit （坑） at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps．He turned out to be a German named Luz Long．He had easily qualified for the finals on his first attempt．
A nervous athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes．I fouled （犯规）twice on my qualifying jumps．Walking a few yards from the pit, I kicked at the dirt disgustedly．Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder．I turned to look into the friendly blue eyes of Luz Long．"Hi, I'm Luz Long．I don't think we've met．" "Glad to meet you," I said．Then, trying to hide my nervousness, I added, "How are you?" "I'm fine．Something must be eating you．You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed．" He said．
He seemed to understand my nervousness, and took pains to reassure me．Finally, seeing that I had calmed down somewhat, he said, "What does it matter if you're not the first in the trials? Tomorrow is what counts．" All the tension left my body as the truth of what he said hit me．Confidently I qualified with almost a foot to spare．
Luz broke his own record and pushed me on to a peak performance．The instant I landed from my final jump—the one which set the Olympic record of 26 feet 5 1/16 inches—he was at my side, congratulating me．The author said "I was in for a surprise" because he _____．
| A．beat Luz Long | B．met a great competitor |
| C．qualified for the final | D．joined in the Olympic Games |
What can we learn about the author from the passage?
| A．He remained confident in the Olympic Games． |
| B．He had qualified for the finals on his first attempt． |
| C．He broke the world record of the running broad jump． |
| D．He had prepared for Berlin Olympics in Ohio State． |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A memorable experience in the Olympics． |
| B．A reliable man in the Olympic Games． |
| C．A surprising result in the Olympic Games． |
| D．A good suggestion on how to win in the Olympics |
Riding School:
You can start horse-riding at any age. Choose private or group lessons any weekday between 9 a.m and 8:30 p.m (3:30p.m on Saturday). There are 10 kilometers of tracks and paths for leisurely rides across farmland and open country. You will need a riding hat.
Opening hours: Monday through Friday:9:00a.m—8:30 p.m.
Phone: (412) 396—6754 Fax: (412)396—6752
Sailing Club:
Our Young Sailor’s Course leads to the Stage 1 Sailing qualification．You’ll learn how to sail safely and the course also covers sailing theory and first aid．Have fun with other course members , afterwards in the clubroom．There are 10 weekly two-hour 1essons (Tuesdays 6 p．m．—8 p．m．)．
Opening Hours：Tuesdays：6：00 p．m．—8：00 p．m．
Phone：(412)396—6644 Fax：(412)396—6644
Diving Centre:
Our experienced instructors offer one-month courses in deep-sea diving for beginners. There are two evening lessons a week, in which you learn to breathe underwater and use the equipment safely. You only need swimming costume and towel. Reduced rates for couples.
Opening Hours: Monday and Friday: 6∶30 p. m.—8∶30 p. m.
Phone: (412) 396—6312 Fax: (412) 396—6706
Medical Center:
The staff of the Medical Center aim to provide convenient and comprehensive medical care to students and staff of the university．The center is well equipped and the staff here are trained to deal with a broad range of medical problems．Both female and male doctors as well as nursing staff are available for consultation．Also，all kinds of medicines are sold here and are cheaper for students than other drugstores．
Opening Hours：24 hour from Monday to Sunday
Phone：(412)396—6649 Fax：(412)396—6648
Watersports Club:
We are a two-kilometer length of river for speedboat racing, and water-skiing, A beginners’ course consists of ten 20-minute lessons. You will learn to handle boats safely and confidently, but must be able to swim. The club is in a convenient central position and is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with lessons all through the day.
Opening Hours: Monday through Friday: 9:00a.m. —4:00 p.m.
Phone: (412)396—6899 Fax: (412)396—6890If you want to swim and enjoy activities which are fast and a bit dangerous, you should join _____ ．
| A．Watersports Club | B．Diving Centre | C．Sailing Club | D．Riding School |
If you want to experience a new activity in the countryside in the mornings, you may fax _____ ．
| A．(412)396-6648 | B．(412)396-6754 | C．(412)396-6752 | D．(412)396-6890 |
You want to do an activity one evening a week and get a certificate in the end, you can go to _____ .
| A．Watersports Club | B．Diving Center | C．Sailing Club | D．Riding School |
Which is NOT the convenience that the Medical Center provides?
| A．Good equipment |
| B．Well trained staff members |
| C．Various less expensive medicines |
| D．Nursery for newly-born babies |
It is not unusual for people to speak two or three languages; they’re known as bilinguals or trilinguals. Speakers of more than three languages are known as polyglots. And when we refer to people who speak many languages, perhaps a dozen or more, we use the term hyper-polyglot.
The most famous hyper-polyglot was Giuseppe Mezzofanti, a 19th century Italian cardinal, who was said to speak 72 languages. This claim sounds absurd. If you assume each language had 20,000 words, Mezzofanti would have to learn a word a minute, six hours a day, for eleven years—an impossible task. But Mezzofanti was tested by critics, and they were all impressed.
Did Mezzofanti have an extraordinary brain? Or are hyper-polyglots just ordinary people with ordinary brains who manage to do something extraordinary through hard work?
U.S. linguist Stephen Drashen believes that outstanding language learners just work harder at it and then they acquire unusually strong language ability. As an example, he mentions a Hungarian woman who worked as an interpreter during the 20th century. When she was 86, she could speak 16 languages and was still working on learning new languages. She said she learned them mostly on her own, reading fiction or working through dictionaries or textbooks.
Some researchers argue to the contrary. They believe that there is such a thing as a talent for learning languages. In the 1930s, a German scientist examined parts of the preserved brain of a hyper-polyglot named Emil Krebs, who could speak 60 languages fluently. The scientist found that the area of Krebs’s brain called Broca’s area, which is associated with language, looked different from the Broca’s area in the brains of men who speak only one language. However, we still don’t know if Krebs was born with a brain ready to learn dozens of languages or if his brain adapted to the demands he put on it.
Although it is still not clear whether the ability to learn many languages is in born, there’s no doubt that just about all of us can acquire skills in a second, third, or even fourth language by putting our mind to it. What does the underlined sentence imply?
| A．Mezzofanti could remember 360 words a day. |
| B．Mezzofanti had a special way to learn languages. |
| C．Mezzofanti’s achievement was ridiculous. |
| D．Mezzofanti language ability was astonishing. |
The Hungarian woman became a hyper-polyglot mainly because of her __.
| A．good memory | B．unique brain | C．hard work | D．learning methods |
The German scientist’s findings showed that Krebs ___.
| A．had an unusual brain |
| B．was born with great talent |
| C．had worked hard at languages |
| D．expected too much of himself |
The author seems to agree that ___.
| A．it is not hard to learn foreign languages |
| B．hard work plays a part in language learning |
| C．there is no such thing as a talent for languages |
| D．hyper-polyglots have an inborn talent for language |
Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. 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 hospitable(好客的)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 basement，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(封口) the wall so he wouldn’t find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed，the angel of death(死神) came for his wife. I asked God if the angel could take the cow instead. Things aren’t always what they seem.”The underlined part “the pair” in the second paragraph two refers to .
| A．the poor couple | B．the rich couple | C．the angels | D．the guests |
The younger angel was very angry because .
| A．the older angel killed the farmer’s cow |
| B．the older angel treated the two families unfairly |
| C．the wealthy man gave them a bad place to live |
| 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 was sympathetic to the rich. |
| D．Because she wanted to save the farmer’s wife. |
The story tries to tell the reader that .
| A．sometimes things are not what they seem |
| B．angels are always ready to help the poor |
| C．angels are always ready to help the rich |
| D．the young should always learn from the old |
I met him first in 1936. I rushed into his ugly little shop to have the heels of my shoes repaired. I waited when he did it. He greeted me with a cheerful smile. “You’re new in this neighborbood, aren’t you?”
I said I was. I had moved into a house at the end of the street only a week before.
“This is a fine neighborhood,” he said. “You’ll be happy here.” He looked at the leather covering the heel sadly. It was worn through because I had failed to have the repair done a month before. I grew impatient, for I was rushing to meet a friend. “Please hurry,” I begged.
He looked at me over his spectacles. “Now, lady, we won’t be long. I want to do a good job. You see, I have a tradition to live up to.”
A tradition? In this ugly little shop that was no different from so many other shoe repair shops on the side streets of New York?
He must have felt my surprise, for he smiled as he went on. “Yes, lady, I inherited a tradition. My father and my grandfather were shoemakers in Italy, and they were the best. My father always told me, ‘Son, do the best job on every shoe that comes into the shop, and be proud of your fine work. Do that always, and you’ll have both happiness and money enough to live on.’”
As he handed me the finished shoes, he said: “These will last a long time. I’ve used good leather.”
I left in a hurry. But I had a warm and grateful feeling. On my way home I passed the little shop again. There he was, still working. He saw me, and to my surprise he waved and smiled. This was the beginning of our friendship. It was a friendship that came to mean more and more to me as time passed.
Every day I passed his shop, we waved to each other in friendly greeting. At first I went in only when I had repair work to be done. Then I found myself going in every few days just to talk with him.
He was the happiest man I’ve ever known. Often, as he stood in his shopwindow, working at a pair of shoes, he sang in a high, clear Italian voice. The Italians in our neighborhood called him la luce alla finestra—“the light in the window”.
One day I was disappointed and angry because of poor jobs some painters had done for me. I went into his shop for comfort. He let me go on talking angrily about the poor work and carelessness of present-day workmen. “They had no pride in their work,” I said. “They just wanted to collect their money for doing nothing.”
He agreed. “There’s a lot of that kind around, but maybe we should not blame them. Maybe their fathers had no pride in their work. That’s hard on a boy. It keeps him from learning something important.” He waited a minute and said “Every man or woman who hasn’t inherited a prideful tradition must start building one.”
“In this country, our freedom lets each of us make his own contribution. We must make it a good contribution. No matter what sort of work a man does, if he gives it his best each day, he’s starting a tradition for his children to live up to. And he is making lots of happiness for himself.”
I went to Europe for a few months. When I returned, there was no “light in the window”. The door was closed. There was a little sign: “Call for shoes at shop next door.” I learned the old man had suddenly got sick and died two weeks before
I went away with a heavy heart. I would miss him. But he had left me something—an important piece of wisdom I shall always remember: “If you inherited a prideful tradition, you must carry it on; if you haven’t, start building one now.” The shoemaker looked sadly at the shoes because __________
| A．they were of poor quality. |
| B．he didn’t have the right kind of leather |
| C．he thought they were too worn to be repaired |
| D．the author hadn’t taken good care of them. |
The author was surprised when she heard that the shop had a tradition because the shop ________.
| A．looked no different from other shoe repair shops |
| B．had a light in the window |
| C．was at the end of a street |
| D．was quite an ugly and dirty one |
What does the underlined word “inherit” mean in paragraph 6 mean?
| A．develop | B．receive | C．learn | D．appreciate |
The author later frequently went into the little shop __________.
| A．to repair her worn shoes |
| B．only to chat with the shoemaker |
| C．to look at the new shoes there |
| D．only to get comfort from the shoemaker |
Why was the shoemaker called “the light in the window” by his neighbors?
| A．Because he always worked late at night. |
| B．Because he always put a light in the window. |
| C．Because he was always guiding the others. |
| D．Because he was always happy and cheerful. |
What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．A Proud Shoemaker | B．A Prideful Tradition |
| C．The Light in the Window | D．Treasure Your Shoes |
Mom was right! If you say thank you, for even the smallest gift or slightest show of kindness, you’ll feel happy.
Gratitude, says Robert A. Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California, is an important element of happiness. In his recent book, Thanks!, Emmons uses the first major study on gratitude to prove mom’s point.
As one of the leading scholars of the positive psychology movement, he admits gratitude may be difficult to express. He advises you to begin by admitting that life is good and full of events and elements that make daily existence a wonder. Second, recognize that the source of life’s goodness is more than just you. That source may be your mom, a friend, partner, child, colleague at work or play.
Gratitude is always other-directed, notes Emmons. You can be pleased or angry with yourself and feel guilty about doing something wrong, but you can never be grateful to or for yourself.
Expressing gratitude shouldn’t be a reaction; it should be a state of mind. To feel grateful when life is a breeze and you have more than you need is easy. To feel grateful in time of crisis—anger, hatred and bitterness—is easier. Also, too many people are aware of life’s blessings only after these are lost.
It’s crisis and chaos—danger, disease, disability and death—that bring many individuals to realize just how dependent they are on others. Yet it’s the way each of us begins life and ends it. It’s too bad that so many people waste those decades in between laboring under the illusion(幻觉) they are self-sufficient, says Emmons.
The abundance of voices expressing gratitude from his studies of individuals with chronic health problems is many. But Emmons goes beyond his “groundbreaking” science to make his case for gratitude by including the inspirational writings of philosophers, novelists and saints, as well as the beliefs of various religious and their respective scripture(经文). Taken together, these observations are summed up quite nicely by famous humanist Albert Schweitzer, who said the secret of life is “giving thanks for everything”.
To enable and embrace gratitude, Emmons encourages the readers of Thanks! to keep a gratitude diary. He even provides easy-to-follow directions on how to practise and develop gratitude.
I’m not a reader or advocate of self-help books, but I am thankful for the reference I found in a newspaper article to the research Emmons was conducting on gratitude involving organ donors and recipients. The chance discovery led me to this book.
Mom implied that kindness seems to find its way back to the giver because life really is all about giving, receiving and repaying. So I’ll pay attention to her professional advice and say: Thank you, professor Emmons. . What is the text mainly discussed?
| A．There are many ways of being thankful. |
| B．Gratitude is important to happiness. |
| C．Mom is great for her being thankful. |
| D．Being thankful will keep you fit. |
. The author mentions Robert A. Emmons’ book Thanks! in order to prove that __________.
A. Professor Emmons supports mom’s study on psychology.
B. mom is as great a psychologist as Professor Emmons.
C. Professor Emmons is a famous psychologist.
D. mom is right about her viewpoint on gratitude.. It will be easier for you to feel grateful when___________.
| A．you live a comfortable life |
| B．you receive gifts on your birthday |
| C．you get help during your hard times |
| D．you are congratulated on your success |
What is the opinion of Professor Emmons?
| A．It is enough to thank others orally |
| B．Whether you are thankful is always up to you |
| C．Remember to be thankful anytime and anywhere |
| D．It is easier to be thankful for yourself than for others. |
In the writer’s opinion, Emmon’s book Thanks! On gratitude is________.
| A．one-side | B．reasonable | C．puzzling | D．helpful |
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