How I Turned to Be Optimistic
I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt's house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times”.
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule：almost all common troubles eventually go away！Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little！I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.How did the author get to know America?
| A．From her relatives. | B．From her mother. |
| C．From books and pictures. | D．From radio programs. |
Upon leaving for America the author felt ________.
| A．confused | B．excited | C．worried | D．amazed |
For the first two years in New York, the author ________.
| A．often lost her way | B．did not think about her future |
| C．studied in three different schools | D．got on well with her stepfather |
We each have a memory（记忆力）. That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.
| A．they always sleep very well | B．they often eat good food |
| C．they read a lot of books | D．they have very good memories |
| A．at the age of six | B．when he is a small child |
| C．after he goes to school | D．when he can read and write |
| A．read and write | B．make sentences |
| C．hear and remember the sounds | D．think hard |
| A．they have no good memories | B．they have no recorders |
| C．they have too much time for it | D．they are busy with other subjects |
| A．if you have plenty of good food |
| B．if you do more and more exercises |
| C．if you do morning exercises every day |
| D．if you get up early |
When Mr. David retired, he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it.
But to his great surprise, many tourists（游客）came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night there were tourists outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into Mr. David’s garden. This was too much for Mr. David. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said: “If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, came in and look round. Price: twenty dollars.” Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）.” he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away.
| A．so small | B．so quiet | C．so interesting | D．such interesting |
| A．to drive the visitors away |
| B．to satisfy the visitor’s curiosity |
| C．to let visitors come in and look round |
| D．to get some money out of the visitors |
| A．more interested in his house |
| B．lost interest in his house |
| C．angry at the unfair price |
| D．feel happy about the price |
| A．the visitors didn’t come any longer |
| B．fewer and fewer visitors came to see his house |
| C．more and more tourists came for a visit |
| D．no tourist would pay the money for a visit |
| A．he did not like it at all |
| B．he could not work as a guide |
| C．he made enough money and wanted to buy a new expensive house |
| D．he could not live a quiet life in it |
A newspaper reporter’s job can be very interesting. He meets all types of people and lives quite a busy life. He is on the rush for news all the time, then after several years he may get a desk job, and life becomes a bit more settled. Let’s look at his work a little more closely. In a day he may have to interview the prime minister of a foreign country, and the next day he may be writing about a football match. Sometimes he may be so busy that he has hardly any time to sleep. And at other times he may go on for days looking out for news materials yet return empty-handed.
In the beginning, a reporter has to cover a very wide field. After the early years he becomes more specialized in his work. For example, he may finally be asked to write only on court cases or politics or sports. Some reporters may become so specialized that they are asked only to write on a special thing: horse racing, for example. In most newspaper houses there is at least one special racing correspondent. Some newspapers have book reviews. Their job is delightful. They read the latest book and then write reviews on the ones they like. Then there are those who write on films, so they get to see them even before they are shown in the cinema. How lucky, you would say!
A reporter’s job can also be very dangerous. A number of them have died rushing from one assignment to another, and if there is a flood or a riot(暴乱) they may get hurt or even be killed. Three years ago there was a reporter whose camera was smashed by a group of men, because they were angry with him for taking their picture. Dangerous or not, one thing is certain, and that is, their job is never dull!What does the underlined phrase “on the rush” mean in the passage?
| A．on the beach | B．on the spot | C．in a hurry | D．in no time |
Reporters who write on films are said to be lucky because they _____.
| A．can see more film stars |
| B．can see the films before most people see them in the cinema |
| C．can pay less than other people |
| D．can write anything they like |
A reporter’s work becomes dangerous when _____.
| A．there is an interview with the prime minister | B．there is a football match |
| C．he is seeing a horror film | D．there is a flood or a riot |
From the passage we can infer that, to be a good reporter, he must be all of the following except _____.
| A．brave | B．quick in mind | C．strong | D．well-informed |
Water is very important to living things. Without water there can be no life on the earth. All animals and plants need water. Man also needs water. We need water to drink, to cook our food and to clean ourselves. Water is needed in offices, factories and schools. Water is needed everywhere.
There is water in seas, rivers and lakes. Water is found almost everywhere. Even in the desert part of the world, there is some water in the air. You can not see or feel it when it is a part of the air. The water in the seas, rivers and lakes is a liquid, the water in the air is a gas, and we call it water vapour (蒸气).
Clouds are made of water. They may be made of very small drops of water. They may also be made of snow crystals(结晶体). Snow crystals are very very small crystals of ice. Ice is frozen water. It is a solid. There can be snow and ice everywhere in winter.
Water may be a solid or a liquid or a gas. When it is a solid, it may be as hard as a stone. When it is a liquid, you can drink it. When it is a gas, you can not see or feel it.Where can we find water?
| A．Water can be found almost everywhere |
| B．We can find water when it turns into vapour. |
| C．Water is only in seas and rivers. |
| D．We can see water in deserts here and there. |
We can drink water when it is .
| A．a solid | B．in the air | C．aliquid | D．turned into ice |
Clouds are made of .
| A．seas, rivers and lakes | B．solid, liquid and gas |
| C．very small drops of water or snow crystals | D．blocks of ice |
Water has three states(状态). They are .
| A．solid, liquid and gas |
| B．solid, vapour, snow |
| C．drops of water, blocks of ice and crystals of water |
| D．ice,snow and air |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
| A．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| B．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live in New York City | B．live outside New York City |
| C．live in apartments | D．live with many neighbours |
What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?
| A．Supportive. | B．Objective. | C．Negative. | D．Positive. |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号