It is often said that you cannot “teach an old dog new tricks”, but three New Zealand dogs have decided to prove otherwise by learning a skill --- driving a car!
What's even more impressive is that the three who have become skilled in just eight weeks are not special dogs that belong to some rich owners, but abandoned ones at New Zealand's SPCA.
To get their training started, 10-month old Porter, 18-month-old Monty and one-year-old Ginny were selected from a pool of seven potential candidates and moved to Animal Q, a talent agency that teaches animals tricks for movies and television shows.
The driving classes began with teaching the dogs some basic driving techniques like turning the steering wheels（方向盘）and applying the brakes. After that the dogs practiced everything they had learnt behind the wheels of a motorized（装上发动机的）car. Then finally, it was time for the big test--- driving a real car!
Human cars are not really built for four-legged animals, so the car they drove was adjusted so that the dogs could sit comfortably and easily reach the steering wheel with their paws.
Though they all seemed to do very well, the real test came on Monday night when Monty, the best driver of the three, showed his great driving skill on live television.
Why would the SPCA go through so much trouble to highlight the skills of homeless dogs? The reason is to show that adopting a dog from a shelter does not mean owners are getting a pet that is worse than one purchased from a keeper. The CEO of the SPCA is hoping that this unusual event will be enough to convince the residents of New Zealand to consider them, when searching for a pet.
We surely hope so, meanwhile we are almost certain that these three pioneers have at least landed their names in the Guinness World Records, creating a category that probably does not even exist today! Who do the three dogs belong to?
| A．Some rich owners. | B．Animal Q. | C．A shelter. | D．A zoo. |
The car the dogs drove was adjusted ______.
| A．because is was too big for the dogs to drive |
| B．because it had no steering wheels and brakes |
| C．to ensure the dogs could sit comfortably and drive easily |
| D．to motorize the car and turn it to be a real one |
Which is the right order of the following events?
a. Teaching the dogs some basic driving techniques.
b. Selecting three dogs and moving them to Animal Q.
c. The dogs practiced everything they had learnt in a motorized car.
d. Choosing the best driver to show his great driving skill on live television.
e. Driving a real car.
| A．a-b-c- d-e | B．b-a-c-e-d | C． b- d- a-c-e | D．a- e- c-b-d |
Why does the SPCA decide to teach the three dogs to learn to drive a car?
| A．To prove old dogs can learn new tricks. |
| B．To teach them performing tricks for movies and television shows. |
| C．To provide amusing performances for homeless children |
| D．To encourage people to adopt the abandoned dogs. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．A new Guinness category for driving dogs will probably be created. |
| B．Abandoned dogs are much cleverer than house-kept ones. |
| C．All the dogs at New Zealand’s SPCA will soon be adopted. |
| D．New Zealand has the most homeless dogs among all countries |
A quarter of US adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos survey. The typical person said that he / she read four books in the last year and, excluding those who had not read any books at all, the usual number of books read was seven.
Of those who did read, women and pensioners (领养老金者) were the most eager readers, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices. The number of books read was nine books for women and five for men. The number also showed that those with college degrees read the most, and people aged 50 and over read more than those who are younger.
People from the West and Midwest are more likely to have read at least one book in the past year. Southerners who do read tend to read more books — mostly religious books and romance novels — than people from other regions.
Those who said they never attend religious services read nearly twice as many books as those who attend frequently, but the Bible and religious works were read by two thirds of the people in the survey, more than all the other categories. Popular fiction, histories, biographies and mysteries took up about half, while one in five read romance novels. Politics, poetry and classical literature were named by fewer than 5% of readers. More women than men read every major category of books except for history and biography books. Men tend to prefer non-fiction.
Book sales in the US have been flat in recent years and are expected to stay that way, which, experts think, results from competition from the Internet and other media, and the unsteady economy.The passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．the number of Americans who read books last year dropped |
| B．the book sales in the US have been dropping in recent years |
| C．the reasons why one in four Americans read no books last year |
| D．about region differences in the number and kind of books read last year |
Which kind of Americans read the most last year according to the survey?
| A．Older men with college degrees from the South. |
| B．Older women with college degrees from the South. |
| C．Younger educated men from the Midwest. |
| D．Younger educated women from the West. |
What kind of books was read most according to the passage?
| A．Religious works. | B．Popular fiction. |
| C．Poetry. | D．History. |
Which of the following reasons why people read fewer books is true?
①. Competition from the Internet.
②. Competition from other media.
③. The unsteady economy.
④. People attend religious services
⑤. No time for reading.
| A．①②③ | B．②③⑤ | C．①③⑤ | D．②③④ |
One Monday morning, Paul and his classmates were in science laboratory for their practical chemistry lesson. The students were going to work in pairs to do an experiment. Before they began, the teacher gave them this description of the different stages of the experiment.
Stage 1: Prepare the equipment: a test tube, a crucible, a Bunsen burner and tongs.
Stage 2: Weigh 5 grams of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and put it in a crucible.
Stage 3: Heat 10 ml of hydrochloric acid (盐酸) in a test tube.
Stage 4: Pour the warm acid onto the baking soda and continue to heat the mixture.
Result: The acid reacts with the bicarbonate（碳酸氢盐）to form water, carbon dioxide gas and salt. The hotter the mixture, the quicker the reaction. Continue to heat the mixture until the water evaporates, leaving the salt in the crucible.
Paul and his partner followed the instructions and set up their equipment. Paul went to the cupboard to get a bottle of hydrochloric acid. He found that there was only one bottle in the cupboard so he took that. There was no label on the bottle and Paul didn’t check with the teacher if it was the right solution.
He measured the liquid and poured it into a test tube. Using tongs to hold the test tube, he heated it over the Bunsen burner. That’s when things started to go wrong. The liquid in the test tube was not hydrochloric acid. When it was heated, it formed a thick cloud of white gas. Soon the room was full of this strong smelling white gas.
All the students started coughing and their eyes hurt. The teacher immediately opened the windows and ordered the students to leave the laboratory at once. She realized that the liquid was a crylamide (丙烯酰胺) and that it is poisonous.
Fortunately, nobody was injured in the incident. However, it taught the students and the teacher a good lesson.What lesson did the incident teach the students and the teacher?
| A．Never have a bottle without a label in the chemistry lab! |
| B．Obey your teacher’s instructions in the Chemistry lab. |
| C．A crylamide can’t take the place of hydrochloric acid. |
| D．Finding something unusual happened, you have to leave the laboratory at once. |
What substance were the students making in the experiment?
| A．Water | B．Carbon dioxide gas | C．Salt | D．Poisonous gas |
Why did Paul make the mistake?
| A．He went to the cupboard to get the bottle by himself. |
| B．He found that there was only one bottle in the cupboard so he took that. |
| C．There was no label on the bottle. |
| D．Paul didn’t check with the teacher that it was the right solution. |
Why did the teacher send the students out of the classroom?
| A．Becausethe room was full of this strong smelling white gas. |
| B．Because all the students started coughing and their eyes hurt. |
| C．Becausethe liquid was a crylamide and that it is poisonous. |
| D．Because someone was injured in the incident. |
People who show confidence really seem to have it made. They seize more rewarding careers, keep good relationships, and just seem to do everything with more styles than the rest of us.
So what is the secret? There isn’t one. Self-confidence is a skill and habit that anyone can learn to develop. And although people who are raised in an encouraging environment with confident role models have a hard start in self-confidence development, we all can learn to become more confident at any age.
Try these simple tips for practising and increasing your self-confidence levels:
Dare to fail. Anybody who’s out there bravely performing is going to fail repeatedly. If you are not failing, you are not trying. So don’t take failure too hard or too personally. Just learn to deal with it and use its lessons to keep improving.
When in doubt, pretend you know what you are doing. Because, if you are confident of your abilities, by the time you have done it, you will be experienced.
Dress for success. You don’t have to be beautiful to be confident. Make the most of your own unique physical characters and weaken your disadvantages.
Listen to yourself. You are the only person who knows what’s right for you. Don’t put others’ opinions above your own inner voice.
Build a confident vocabulary. Stop putting yourself down and give up continually blaming your tiny weaknesses. Learn to show up your strong points and the world will learn to see and celebrate them with you.
Pass on the praise. Praise others for their virtues and strengths. This practice will not decrease your confidence, but help increase it.The passage is written mainly __________.
| A．to explain the definition of self-confidence |
| B．to explain the secret of self-confidence |
| C．to tell people how important self-confidence is |
| D．to tell people how to build self-confidence |
The main idea of the sixth paragraph is __________.
| A．to be confident means to have no disadvantages |
| B．taking full advantage of your physical characters will help you be confident |
| C．your unique characters will help you be confident and be successful |
| D．to be confident means to be beautiful |
All the following are tips to increase your self-confidence level EXCEPT______.
| A．not to be afraid of failure | B．dress yourself properly |
| C．pretend to know everything | D．make your advantages more obvious |
_______ will weaken your self-confidence.
| A．Praising others for their strong points |
| B．Always following others’ advice to do things |
| C．Giving up blaming your weaknesses |
| D．Believing in yourself |
She once said: "When people ask me if writing has been a hard or easy road I always answer with the famous saying, "the end is nothing; the road is all.'” That is what I mean when I say writing has been a pleasure. I have never faced the type-writer (打字机) with the thought that one more task had to be done."
Like most writers, Willa Cather did not write books for the money that they brought her, but rather for the pleasure that came in their writing. Her works were, like her, simple and full of the vigor (活力) of her days in Nebraska, where she grew from childhood to young womanhood and where she developed a deep love for the treeless land of the Great Plains with its wild flowers, wheat fields and rivers.
"It's a rather strange thing about the flat country," she wrote later. "It takes hold of you, or it leaves you perfectly cold. A great many people find it very dull; they like a church tower, an old factory, a waterfall country all made to look like a German, Christmas card... But when I come to the open plains, something happens. I'm home. I breathe differently."What did Cather mean by "the end is nothing; the road is all"?
| A．Writing is the only path to success. |
| B．I feel happy when I finish writing a book. |
| C．I enjoy writing whether it is hard or easy. |
| D．Writing itself, not its result, is important. |
What was the place like where Cather grew up?
| A．It was cold, plain and without a church. |
| B．It was a colorful world of wild flowers. |
| C．It was like a German Christmas card |
| D．It was vast, open, flat and wild. |
When she said "It takes hold of you, or it leaves you perfectly cold", Willa Gather meant ______.
| A．you either love the place or hate it |
| B．you decide either to stay or to leave |
| C．some find the place warm; others find it cold |
| D．some find the place peaceful; others find it wild |
What happens when Cather comes to the open plains?
| A．She breathes differently from others: |
| B．She wants to make the place her home. |
| C．She finds the place similar to her home. |
| D．She feels completely comfortable |
Last year, over 206,000 students from the United States studied abroad. Does that number surprise you? These students already know the benefits of studying abroad. You may be wondering why you should study abroad. Here are some answers for you.
◆ Timing
The absolutely best time in your life to study abroad is when you are in college. If you miss this opportunity, it’s almost impossible for you to do it later in life.
◆ To gain cross-cultural experience
Life overseas makes you see your everyday world in a whole new light. You don’t even realize it, but our culture shapes the way we view the world and affects us every minute of the day. Differences in culture are more than just differences in language, food, clothing and art.
◆ To improve your communication skills and your self-confidence
People who study abroad tend to be willing to take risks, willing to put themselves in unusual situations, and able to solve problems.
◆ To become more fluent in a language or to learn a new language
The world market is becoming smaller, and many companies require a second language. Foreign languages are not only valuable in the job market but also valuable in the real world.
◆ For the adventure
Travel to other cities within your host country and around neighboring countries. As you get to know your new classmates, roommates, and host family, you will gain a unique view on the host culture. Discover the differences and, more importantly, the many similarities between your worlds. The friendships you make will last long after the program.
◆ To learn more about yourself
Find out who you really are. What are your limits? How do you overcome the difficulties you’ve never encountered before? How independent are you? These questions are hard to answer until you are removed from your usual surroundings. After solving difficult problems on your own overseas, you’ll find that almost nothing will confuse you at home. Students who study abroad commonly report that their study abroad experience actually changed their lives.The passage mainly talks about _______.
| A．the benefits of studying abroad |
| B．the time for studying abroad |
| C．the difficulty you come across when you're abroad |
| D．some tips on how to get used to a new environment |
What is the best time in your life to study abroad according to the passage?
| A．When you're at work. | B．When you are free. |
| C．At any time you like. | D．When you are in college. |
What does the underlined word“encountered” here mean?
| A．Opposed. | B．Experienced. | C．Solved. | D．Explained. |
All of the following are mentioned in the passage as reasons for studying abroad EXCEPT _______.
| A．getting cross-cultural experience |
| B．improving communication skills and self-confidence |
| C．improving your foreign language |
| D．learning how to get along with people |
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