Thinking is something you choose to do as a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think. But thinking may come naturally without your knowing how you do it. Thinking about thinking is the key to critical（批判性的）thinking. When you think critically, you take control of your thinking processes（过程）. Otherwise, you might be controlled by the ideas of others. Indeed, critical thinking is at the heart of education.
The word "critical" here has a special meaning. It does not mean taking one view against another view, as when someone criticizes another person for doing something wrong. The nature of critical thinking is thinking beyond the easily seen—beyond the pictures on TV, the untrue reports in the newspapers, and the faulty reasoning (错误的推理).
Critical thinking is an attitude as much as an activity. If you are curious about life and desire to dig deeper into it, you are a critical thinker; if you find pleasure in deep thinking about different ideas, characters, and facts, you are a critical thinker.
Activities of the mind and higher-order reasoning are processes of deep and careful consideration. They take time, and do not go hand in hand with the fast speed in today's world, fast foods, instant coffee, and self-developing film. If you are among the people who believe that speed is a measure of intelligence, you may learn something new from a story about Albert Einstein. The first time Banish Hoffman, a scientist, was to discuss his work with Albert Einstein, Hoffman was too nervous to speak. But Einstein immediately put Hoffman at ease by saying, "Please go slowly, I don't understand things quickly."Critical thinking is important to us because if we do not think critically,__________.
| A．it will be hard for us to think naturally and fast |
| B．we will follow the ideas of others naturally |
| C．we might be controlled by other people's ideas |
| D．we might be fooled by other people's ideas |
If you are a critical thinker, you will________.
| A．criticize other people for their mistakes | B．trust the reports in the newspapers |
| C．take one view against another view | D．think deeply about different ideas |
In the last paragraph, "something new" suggests that________.
| A．the smarter you are, the faster you do things |
| B．intelligence is not decided by speed |
| C．speed can improve intelligence |
| D．the faster you do things, the smarter you become |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Understanding Critical Thinking | B．Thinking and Critical Thinking |
| C．Thinking Natural and Human | D．Thinking Fast Means Intelligence |
Fluency(流利) in another language is one of the most important aims of a newcomer to another country. In addition, understanding the culture and learning to communicate comfortably with people of that culture are as important as learning the rules of the language. Language learning and culture learning go together and may take a long time.
Sometimes people feel that they understand a culture after a few weeks or months. People do learn a lot when they first begin living in another culture, but this is only the first stage of learning. It usually involves(含包) things like learning everyday activities and some basic customs.
To really understand another culture, people have to go beyond the first stage, This is challenge because it is often difficult to know what to learn. Much of what we call “culture” is hard to see.
Culture is like an iceberg. Picture in your mind a huge iceberg in the ocean. The only part of the iceberg that you see is the tip. You don’t see the rest of the iceberg because it is hidden from sight in the water. It is easy to forget that it is there. Most of the iceberg is deep within the ocean, just as much of a culture is deep within its people.
When you meet someone from another culture， certain culture differences are obvious: You hear another language or you hear your own language spoken with an accent. You see different foods, clothes and sometimes physical characteristics of people. You observe new customs or habits, such as the use of chopsticks, and, bowing or kissing on both cheeks as a greeting. These differences are interesting and important, but they are usually not too difficult to understand. They are visible so they are seen easily and quickly.
The part of culture that is like the underwater part of the iceberg consists of assumptions(设想), communication styles, values, and beliefs about what is right and wrong. The hidden part of culture affects much of a person’s way of thinking and communicating. It is the meaning behind his or her verbal (言语的) and nonverbal language. Learning to communicate well with people from another culture involves becoming aware of the hidden part of culture.What’s the subject of this passage?
| A．Learning about culture. |
| B．Language learning. |
| C．The hidden part of the iceberg. |
| D．Fluency in another language. |
What is learning about culture?
| A．Learning the hidden part of the iceberg, which is underwater. |
| B．Learning everyday activities and some basic customs. |
| C．Learning the culture of an iceberg. |
| D．Learning the visible as well as the hidden differences of culture. |
What’s the writer’s opinion?
| A．Communication styles can be easily seen and learned. |
| B．Language learning is more important than culture learning. |
| C．Learning about culture is not easy and may take a long time. |
| D．People usually learn a culture after a few weeks or months. |
The underlined phrase “consists of” can be replaced by “______”.
| A．lies in | B．is made up of | C．agrees with | D．is different from |
What conclusion can we draw after reading this passage?
| A．Values and beliefs are like the tip of the iceberg. |
| B．People often become aware of the hidden part of culture. |
| C．The tip of the iceberg is larger than the hidden part. |
| D．The hidden part of culture has a great effect on people’s communication styles. |
My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn’t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn’t have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner; we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained.
“I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.”The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?
| A．Friends of the Road |
| B．The Silent Woman on the Bus |
| C．Going to Work by Bus |
| D．Different Kinds of Friendship |
All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.
| A．poor | B．warm -hearted | C．silent | D．cold |
The underlined word “establish” in the third paragraph probably has the same meaning as
| A．keep | B．discover | C．set up | D．accept |
Why did the woman usually keep silence while taking the bus?
| A．She was worried about her disabled son. |
| B．She was sad to see the happy Mexican couple us a single mother. |
| C．She had difficulty in expressing herself. |
| D．She was only interested in the bus driver. |
The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.
| A．they both disabled people |
| B．they both had some difficulty in expressing |
| C．they both liked bus travel |
| D．they both brought interest to the passengers |
A year ago, August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria, but it was hard for Dave to find work, and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift—$7,000, a legacy(遗产) from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident. “It really made a difference when we were meeting difficulty .”says Dave.
But the Fusses weren’t the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by what the Hatches had done. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars; in others, it was more than $100,000.
It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than $3 million—they were an elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm.
Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving. They preferred comparison shopping and would go from store to store, checking prices before making a new purchase.
Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camps when their parents couldn’t afford it. “Ish and Arlene never asked if you needed anything,” says their friend Sandy Van Weelden, “They could see things they could do to make you happier, and they would do them.”
Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches gave away their farmland. It was the Hatches’ wish that their legacy—a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cents—should enrich the whole community and last for generations to come.
Neighbors helping neighbors—that was Ish and Arlene Hatch’s story.According to the text, the Fusses __________.
| A．were employed by a truck company | B．led a difficult life |
| C．worked in a school cafeteria | D．lost their home |
What can we learn about the Hatches?
| A．They had their children during the Great Depression. |
| B．They left the old house to live on their family farm. |
| C．They gave away their possessions（财产）to their neighbors. |
| D．They helped their neighbors to find jobs. |
Why would the Hatches go from store to store?
| A．They decided to open a store. |
| B．They wanted to save money. |
| C．They couldn’t afford expensive things. |
| D．They wanted to buy gifts for local kids. |
What Sandy Van Weelden said mainly tells us that the Hatches were __________.
| A．understanding | B．kind | C．childlike | D．wealthy |
By 2050
Futurologists（未来学家）predict that life will probably be very different in 2050.
TV channels（频道）will have disappeared. Instead, people will choose a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program directly to the television. Today, we can use the World Wide Web to read newspaper stories and see pictures on a computer thousands of kilometers away. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers, and books will come to us by computer.
Cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. Cars will have computers to control the speed and there won’t be any accidents. Today, many cars have computers that tell drivers exactly where they are. By 2050, the computer will control the car and drive it to your destination. Space planes will take people halfway around the world in 2 hours. Today, the United States Space Shuttle can go into space and land on Earth again. By 2050, space planes will fly all over the world and people will fly from Los Angeles to Tokyo in just 2 hours.
Robots will have replaced people in factories. Many factories already use robots. Big computers prefer robots—they don’t ask for pay rises or go on strike, and they work 24 hours a day. By 2050, we will see robots everywhere—in factories, schools, offices, hospitals, shops and homes.
Medical technology will have conquered many diseases. Today, there are devices（设备）that connect directly to the brain to help people hear. By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people to see and hear again.
Scientist will have discovered how to control genes（基因）. Scientists have already produced clones（克隆）of animals. By 2050, scientists will be able to produce clones of people, and decide how they look, how they behave and how clever they are. Scientists will be able to do these things, but should they? According to the passage, the following can be realized today EXCEPT __________.
| A．reading newspapers on a computer |
| B．making a space shuttle go into space and land on Earth again |
| C．creating cloned animals |
| D．choosing TV programs freely from a “menu” |
We can learn from the passage that some big companies prefer robots to human workers, because human workers __________.
| A．can work 24 hours a day |
| B．often ask for more pay |
| C．are not clever enough |
| D．are often late for work |
From Paragraph 5 we can infer that __________.
| A．there will be no blind and deaf people by 2050 |
| B．few diseases will attack people by 2050 |
| C．devices are connected directly to the brain to help people hear |
| D．medical technology will be more effective by 2050 |
What is the author’s attitude towards the cloning technology?
| A．The author does not support the use of cloning technology. |
| B．The author thinks human cloning is impossible. |
| C．The author does not really support the idea of human cloning. |
| D．The author is quite excited about human cloning. |
People in the United States honor their parents with two special days：Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(墓地).On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.Which of the following is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
| A．Parents bring up children. |
| B．Parents give love and care to children. |
| C．Parents educate children to be good persons. |
| D．Parents pass away before children grow up. |
Which do you think is right about “carnation”?
| A．It has only two kinds of colors. |
| B．It refers to the special clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. |
| C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes. |
| D．People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May. |
What do you know from the passage?
| A．Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May. |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past. |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home. |
On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, _______.
| A．people usually have family parties |
| B．everyone goes to visit the cemetery |
| C．children always go to parents’ home |
| D．hand-made cards are the most valuable gifts |
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