How difficult change is depends a lot on your attitude towards it and your resistance to it. Your attitude to change can make the whole transformation process much easier.
Imagine change as a pair of shoes and this will help you understand change and how it works. I am sure that you have ever had a comfortable pair of shoes in your life. A pair of shoes is so comfortable that you really don’t want to get rid of them.
You know you need a new pair, and may even have them, but you don’t want to wear them because you are comfortable with your current pair. Besides, the new pair may hurt your feet, give you blisters(水疱) or be awkward to wear to start with. So, you resist the new shoes. However, you know that this new pair would be much better for your feet, and after the initial discomfort they would probably be even more comfortable, yet you still resist.
Do you know I’m doing this now? I’m wearing my comfortable shoes and they feel good. They have a hole in each heel, and the sole is starting to fall off, but I’m persisting in wearing them.
This describes change exactly; change of our habits, change of our thought patterns. We stick with the old patterns because they are comfortable. Yet once we get over the initial pain of the transformation, the new pattern will be comfortable and feel good until the time comes when we need another new pair of shoes.Why do people prefer old shoes to new ones?
| A．They have much emotion in the old ones. |
| B．They are more comfortable. |
| C．New shoes always harm the feet. |
| D．They look better than the new ones. |
According to the passage, we know that people ______.
| A．don’t realize the benefit of the new shoes very well |
| B．are positive and open-minded to accept new things |
| C．actually know the change will finally be good for them |
| D．don’t accept new patterns because they are not good |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Once we form a habit, it’s difficult to change it. |
| B．Most people pay more attention to the future life. |
| C．One’s attitude towards something is usually traditional. |
| D．The more often we change, the better our life will be. |
Many of us assume that with such a last name, Peter Buffett, 52, must enjoy a life of endless privilege. But the son of billionaire investor (投资人) Warren Buffett definitely doesn’t think so.
“People who are born with a silver spoon in their mouth can fall victim (受害者) to what my father has called a silver dagger (匕首) in your back,” Buffett told Reuters in an interview. “It leads to a sense of entitlement (特权) and a lack of personal achievement.”
Entitlement, he believes, is the worst thing ever. “Anybody who acts like they deserve (应得) something ‘just because’ is a disaster,” he said.
In his new book, Life Is What You Make It: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment, Buffett says that the only real inheritance (遗产) handed down from his parents was a philosophy (价值观): Forge your own path in life. It is a belief that has allowed him to follow his own passions, establish his own identity, and reap (收获) his own successes.
Did his father ever want him to go into finance? “It was encouraged for a moment when I was open to the idea,” he told Reuters. But as he grew older, it became clear the financial world “was not speaking to my heart.”
His father accepted his choice to become a musician. He began his 
musical career by writing music for TV commercials (广告). He then released his own albums.
“I am my own person and I know what I have accomplished in my life,” he told Reuters. “This isn’t about wealth or fame or money or any of that stuff, it is actually about values and what you enjoy and finding something you love doing.”
Along with the book, Buffett has begun a “Concert & Conversation” tour in which he plays the piano, talks about his life and warns against consumerist (消费主义) culture and damaging the environment.
“Economic prosperity (繁荣) may come and go; that’s just how it is,” he writes in the book. “But values are the steady currency (硬通货) that earn us the all-important rewards.” What does “It” in the second paragraph refer to?
| A．A life of a top investor. | B．A silver spoon in the mouth. |
| C．Being born to a wealthy family. | D．The victim of a silver dagger in the back. |
What does the article tell us?
| A．Peter Buffett is a born musician. |
| B．Peter Buffett enjoys a hugely privileged life. |
| C．A wealthy family can benefit a child but also spoil him or her. |
| D．Peter Buffett was forced by his parents to take over their business. |
The article claims that Peter Buffett owes his achievements largely to ______.
| A．his passion for music | B．the good education he received |
| C．his great determination | D．the values he learned from his parents |
Which of the following statements would Peter Buffett probably agree to?
| A．Wealth is there to enjoy to the fullest. |
| B．A person’s value lies within. |
| C．Many people are fooled by economic prosperity. |
| D．Young people should choose their own philosophy, whatever their parents believe in. |
After spending three days in a wheelchair, I was ready to quit. Not only did I have to battle cracked (裂缝的) and uneven (不平的) pavements, I had to deal with the bad attitude of pedestrians (行人) and a cold rain. But I didn’t give up because of people like Tiffany Payne.
Payne, who has been using a wheelchair for 18 years, laughed at me:
“Imagine trying to get around town in the winter,” she said.
I could see her point: You’re battling to get to a doctor’s appointment (预约), but no one has shoveled (铲) after a big snowfall. Your choices: Move out and risk getting stuck, or reschedule the appointment.
Those of us fortunate enough to get around on our own two legs don’t give a second thought to the person in a wheelchair next to us at a crosswalk. That would require us to look down.
So I decided to try using a wheelchair to get a sample of what their lives are like. It wasn’t long before I saw that people who use wheelchairs are forced to deal with a lot of trouble.
During my experiment, I was ignored by store staff while shopping and bumped into by inattentive (疏忽的) walkers without so much as an apology.
Some people even gave me angry looks as if I were the one at fault.
Once in a store, a woman bumped into me trying to get to the new iPad. She didn’t say, “Excuse me.”
When salespeople did offer assistance, they talked to people who were with me, instead of me. I wanted to yell: “Hey, I’m down here!”
Some salespeople talked to me as though I were a child or acted like they didn’t want to be bothered with me.
People who use wheelchairs want to be treated like everyone else. They also comprehend (理解), so you don’t have to speak to them in a childlike, sing-song voice. It’s not very appealing (吸引人的), especially when the person is an adult. And most importantly, remember they have feelings that can be hurt just like yours.
Spending three days in a wheelchair made me look differently at those who have to use one. I hope you do the same.
By James E. CauseyThe author writes the story to _______.
| A．help those in wheelchairs gain self-confidence |
B．share his experience of acting as a wheelch air user |
| C．ask people to show sympathy for those in wheelchairs |
| D．call on people to respect and help those in wheelchairs |
During his three days in a wheelchair, the author met all of the following
difficulties EXCEPT ______.
| A．bad road conditions | B．poor attitudes of ordinary people |
| C．terrible medical service | D．bad weather |
What can we conclude from the article?
| A．A wheelchair user may feel offended when you do not address him or her directly. |
| B．Assistants in big stores are usually kind to people in wheelchairs. |
| C．People in wheelchairs should fight for fair treatment. |
| D．People in wheelchairs are usually hard to get along with. |
Which of the following statements would the author agree to?
| A．Look down on a person in a wheelchair. |
| B．Speak to a person in a wheelchair in a sing-song voice. |
| C．Treat a person in a wheelchair as you would any other person. |
| D．Offer assistance to a person in a wheelchair without asking for permission. |
It’s 2035. You have a job, a family and you’re about 40 years old. Welcome to your future life. Getting ready for work, you pause in front of the mirror, “Turn red,” you say. Your shirt changes from sky blue to deep red. Tiny preprogrammed electronic（智能电子元件） is rearranged in your shirt to change its color. Looking into the mirror, you find it hard to believe that you are 40. You look much younger. With amazing advances in medicine, people in your generation may live to be 150 years old. You’re not even middle-aged.
As you go into the kitchen and prepare to pour your breakfast cereal into a bowl, you hear: “To lose weight, you shouldn’t eat that,” from your shoes. They read the tiny electronic code（电 子源码）on the cereal box to find out the nutrition details. You decide to listen to your shoes. “Kitchen, what can I have for breakfast?” A list of possible food appears on the counter as kitchen checks its food supplies.
“Ready for your trip to space?” you ask your son a
nd daughter. In 2005 only specially trained astronauts went into space—and very few of them. Today anyone can go to space for day trip or longer vacation. Your best friend even works in space. Handing your children three strawberries each, you add, “The doctor said you need these for space travel.” Thanks to medical advice, vaccination shots（防疫针） are a thing of the past. Ordinary foods contain specific vaccines. With the berries in their mouths, the kids head for the front door.
It’s time for you to go to work. Your car checks your fingerprints and unlocks the doors. “My office. Autopilot,” you command. Your car drives itself down the road and moves smoothly into traffic on the highway. You sit back and unroll your e-newspaper. The latest news downloads and fills the viewer. Looking through the pages, you watch the news as video films rather than read it. What changes the color of your shirt?
| A．The mirror. | B．The shirt itself. | C．The counter. | D．The medicine. |
How do the shoes know that you shouldn’t eat the breakfast cereal?
| A．By pouring the breakfast into a bowl. |
| B．By listening to the doctor’s advice. |
| C．By testing the food supplies in the kitchen. |
| D．By checking the nutrition details of the food. |
The strawberries the children eat serve as ______.
| A．breakfast | B．lunch | C．vaccines | D．nutrition |
How is the text organized?
A．In order of time  |
B．In order of frequency. |
| C．In order of preference（偏爱）. | D．In order of importance |
A new study has found that the best way to make yourself feel happier is to think of something good that happened to you the day before.
Volunteers who were asked to remember a pleasant event from past 24 hours began to feel happier right away. Other activities such as saying “Thank you” and smiling also made volunteers feel happier, but not as much.
Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University planned the study. He got 26,000 people to go online to try out a few different activities to make them feel happier. They were told to be nice, remember a pleasant event from the day before, give thanks or smile for 15 seconds twice a day. The volunteers did these activities for one week.
The result showed that thinking about one good thing that had happened the day before worked the best for making people happier. The text may probably be taken from _____.
| A．a personal anecdote(轶事) | B．sports news |
| C．a history novel | D．brief news |
Volunteers who _____ began to feel happier right away.
| A．thought of something good that happened the day before |
| B．were asked to remember a pleasant event from the past 24 hours |
| C．did other activities like saying “thank you” and smiling |
| D．went online to try out a few different activities |
From the text we know that Richard Wiseman is a(an) _____.
| A．worker | B．artist | C．professor | D．director |
The volunteers gave thanks or smile _____ a week.
| A．15 seconds | B．3.5 seconds | C．15 minutes | D．3.5 minutes |
Guangzhou （Xinhua）——12 people were killed and 20 injured early yesterday morning when they jumped from a burning train car into the path of an oncoming goods train in Southern China. When No. 247 Wuchang——Guangzhou passenger train was passing the Dayaoshan Tunnel in Guangdong Province， South China at 00:17 hours yesterday， a fire caused by passengers' smoking broke out on No. 17 car. They wanted to extinguish(扑灭) fire. As the train stopped some frightened passengers jumped from windows. 12 people were crushed to death and 20 others injured by a northward passing goods train（No. 1766）.. When did the accident happen？
| A．At 00:17 am. | B．At 00:17 pm. |
| C．At seventeen past one. | D．At seventeen to one. |
Where did the accident happen？
| A．In Wuchang. | B．In Guangzhou. |
| C．In Hubei. | D．In Guangdong. |
For what did the passenger train stop？
| A．To put out the fire. |
| B．To let the passengers jump out. |
| C．To let the other train pass. |
| D．To pick up some other passengers. |
What was the cause of the fire？
| A．A heavy rain. | B．High temperature. |
| C．Carelessness. | D．Fear. |
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