Minimalism (简约主义) is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features.
As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life.
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now.
I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it.
You might think nostalgically（怀旧的） about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. I’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy.” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is.
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don’t need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.
Of course there are exceptions. There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?
Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it’s because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things.
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential.
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can’t do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms. In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to
| A．introduce a topic | B．present his own background |
| C．describe a scene | D．offer an argument |
Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because
| A．they haven’t had any life-changing experiences |
| B．they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff |
| C．they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away |
| D．they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?
| A．It takes the burden off her while she is moving. |
| B．It reduces her attachment to her personal things. |
| C．It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires. |
| D．It helps her to realize how true life is. |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Minimalism brings happiness. |
| B．Minimalism is applied in many fields. |
| C．Minimalism makes people think nostalgically. |
| D．Minimalism is about able to move. |
People live in different parts of the world and lead different types of lives. Their lifestyles change across the different areas in the world. What is the difference between a city and country life? Let us see.
We can see the modern facilities everywhere in the city like the Internet, telephone, television and satellite communication facilities are widely available in the city. A majority of families in the city are enjoying this technological advancement.
The increasing population has led to an imbalance in human population. More and more industries have led to environmental problems like pollution.
However, the rise in economic growth has resulted in a self-centered nature of society. While technological advancement has brought the world closer, human beings have gone far apart from each other.
The country is not crowded with constructions all over. Houses are rather widely spaced with enough room for fields and gardens. The country is the only area fortunate enough to house the greens. People in the country live in close to nature. Apart from people, there is room for pets and animals that help keep a balance in nature.
Due to a lesser number of people in the country, it is not overcrowded by people. These areas have least amounts of pollution. Pollution is less also because of very less number of industries in the country. The life may not be as enjoyable as that in the city, but the people there are generous, kind and friendly. The country is the one where humanity(人性) is still alive.
Every coin has t
wo sides to it. While we can’t enjoy expensive things and technology in the country, it is rich in its relationship with ‘nature’. The city life is modern in te
chnology and career opportunities. However, the falling humanity and a bad environmental balance affect the bright future of city life.What’s the main purpose of the passage? _________.
| A．To persuade more people to live in the country. |
B．To inform us of some information about a better l ife. |
| C．To tell us differences between city life and country life. |
| D．To explain why people don’t want to live in the city. |
Which of the following shows the right structure of the passage? __________.
① ① ①
| A．②③④⑤⑥ | B．②③④⑤⑥⑦ | C．①②③④⑤⑥ | D．④⑤⑥②③ |
⑦ ⑦ ⑦ According to the passage, the main reason for pollution is ____________.
| A．technology and economy | B．population and industries |
| C．population and humanity | D．industries and balance. |
The underlined word in the fifth paragraph most probably refers to ___________.
| A．green gas | B．green buildings | C．green lands | D．green animals |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that __________
| A．it’s up to you whether to choose city life or country life. |
| B．both city life and country life have advantages and disadvantages. |
| C．more and more people will move to the country in the future. |
D．the young prefer city life while the old choose country life. |
“Mum, what does it mean when someone tells you that they have a skeleton (骨骼) in the closet (衣橱)？”Jessica asked. “A skeleton in the closet?” her mother paused thoughtfully, “Well, it’s something that you would rather not have anyone else know about. For example, if in the past, someone in Dad’s family had been arrested for stealing a horse, it would be ‘a skeleton in his family’s closet’. He really wouldn’t want any neighbor to know about it.”
“Why pick on my family?” Jessica’s father said with anger. “Your family history isn’t so good, you know. Wasn’t you great – great grandfather a prisoner who was transported to Australia for his crimes?”“Yes, but people these days say that you are not a real Australian unless your ancestors arrived as prisoners.”“Gosh, sorry I asked. I think I understand now,” Jessica cut in before things grew worse.
After dinner, the house was very quiet. Jessica’s parents were still quite angry with each other. Her mother was ironing clothes and every now and then she glared at her husband, who hid behind his newspaper pretending to read. When she finished, she gathered the freshly pressed clothes in her arms and walked to Jessica’s closet. Just as she opened the door and reached in to hang a skirt, a bony arm stuck out from the dark depths and a bundle of white bones fell to the floor. Jessica’s mother sank into a faint (晕倒), waking only when Jessica put a cold, wet cloth on her forehead. She looked up to see the worried faces of her husband and daughter.
“What happened? Where am I?” she asked. “You just destroyed the school’s skeleton, Mum,” explained Jessica. “I brought it home to help me with my health project. I meant to tell you, but it seemed that as soon as I mentioned skeletons and closets, it caused a problem between you and Dad.” Jessica looked in amazement as her parents began to laugh madly. “They’re both crazy,” she thought.According to Jessica’s mother, “a skeleton in the closet” means .
| A．a family honor | B．a family secret |
| C．a family story | D．a family treasure |
What can we learn about some Australian’s ancestors from Paragraph 2?______.
| A．They were brought to Australia as prisoners. |
| B．They were the earliest people living in Australia. |
| C．They were involved in some crimes in Australia. |
| D．They were not regarded as criminals in their days. |
Jessica’s mother fell down into a faint because she was .
| A．knocked | B．frightened | C．injured | D．surprised |
Why did Jessica bring a skeleton home? _________.
| A．She was curious about it. | B．She planned to keep it for fun. |
| C．She needed it for her school task. | D．She intended to scare her parents. |
Jessica’s parents laughed madly at the end of the story probably because .
| A．they were crazy |
| B．they were overexcited |
| C．they realized their misunderstanding |
| D．they both thought they had won the quarrel |
The iPhone, the iPad, the iPod : each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad (时尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” — and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer — which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet — adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear — popular in the US and UK — that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version of London’s Independent newspaper came out last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i” products are aimed at young people and considering the major readers of Independent’s “i”, it is no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i” . Why not use “a”, “b” or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPad, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition ,” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now associated with portability (轻便).” adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “Twitter”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows, fads come and go. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the trend inevitably（不可避免地）disappeared.People use iPlayer to ____________.
| A．listen to music | B．make a call | C．watch TV programs online | D．read newspapers |
We can infer that the Independent’s “ i ” is aimed at _____________.
| A．young readers | B．old readers | C．fashionable women | D．engineers |
Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products that are ______________.
| A．advanced | B．portable | C．recyclable | D．environmentally friendly |
The author of the passage would probably agree that _______________.
| A．“i” products are often of high quality | B．all “i” products have something to do with Internet |
| C．the popularity of “i” products may not last long | D．iTeddy is a live bear |
Trees are useful to man in three important ways: They provide him with wood and other products; they provide him shade;. and they help to prevent droughts（早灾）and floods.
Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, man has not realized that the third of these services is the most important．In his eagerness to make money from trees, he has cut them down in large numbers, only to find that without them he has lost the best friends he had. And besides, he is usually too careless to plant and look after new trees. So the forests slowly disappear.
This does not only mean that man will have fewer trees. The results are even more serious: for where there are trees, their roots break up soil allowing the rain to sink in and also bind（固定）the soil, thus preventing it from being washed away easily；but where there are no trees, the rain falls on hard ground and flows away, causing floods and carrying away the rich top-soil. When the top-soil is gone, nothing remains but worthless desert.
Two thousand years ago，a rich and powerful country cut down its trees to build warships, with which to gain itself an empire(帝国）．It set up the empire, but, without its trees, its soil became poor and grew weak. When the empire fell to pieces, the home country found itself faced by floods and starvation（饥荒）．The most important service of trees to man is that___________．
| A．they give them wood and other products | B．they give them shade |
| C．they help him prevent droughts and floods | D．they help him made money |
In many parts of the world, forests slowly disappear because___________．
| A．many trees have been cut down by man | B．man has not paid enough attention to planting trees |
| C．new trees are not looked after properly | D．all the above |
Land becomes desert after all trees are cut down because____________．
| A．roots of trees break up the soil | B．there are too many rainfalls |
| C．there are no larger trees to keep rain and protect the top-soil | D．strong winds bring a lot of sand |
The country mentioned in the passage suffered from floods and starvation because________.
| A．it set up an empire | B．the empire fell to pieces |
| C．it built too many warships | D．it lost its trees |
Which title best fits the passage?
| A．Trees and Man | B．How Trees Prevent Droughts and Floods |
| C．How an Empire Fell | D．A Story about Trees. |
If you are looking for the place that has everything, there’s only one place to visit, and that’s New York. It’s a whole world in a city.
The World of Theatre: All of New York is a stage. And it begins with Broadway. Where else can you find so many hit(成功) shows in one place? Only in New York.
The World of Music: Spend an evening with Beethoven at Lincoln Centre. Swing to the great jazz of Greenwich Village. Or rock yourself silly at the hottest dance spots found anywhere.
The World of Art: From Rembrandt to Picasso. From Egyptian tombs to Indian teepees. Whatever kind of art you like, you’ll find in New York.
The World of Fine Dining: Whether it’s roast Beijing duck in Chinatown, or the finest French coq au vin found anywhere, there’s a world of great taste waiting for you in New York.
The World of Sights: What other city has a statue of Liberty(自由女神像), a Rocketfeller Centre or a Bronx Zoo? Where else can you take a horse-drawn carriage through Central Park, only in New York.Which of the following programme can a visitor have only in New York?
| A．To enjoy Beijing duck. | B．To taste the finest French coq au vin. |
| C．To spend an evening with Beethoven. | D．To see the statue of Liberty. |
From the text we know that ‘Rembrandt’ is most likely the name of a famous _______.
| A．singer | B．painting | C．play | D．painter |
What the writer really wanted to do is to _______.
| A．try to persuade readers to pay a visit to New York |
| B．give readers some information about New York |
| C．supply readers some wonderful programmes in New York |
| D．help readers to get a better understanding of New York |
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