Jean Driscoll can go faster in her wheelchair than the world’s best marathoners(马拉松运动员) can run!
In April, Jean finished the Boston Marathon in 1 hour 34 minutes 22 seconds. That’s about 33 minutes faster than the winning male runner! She competed on the track, too. She was second in the 800 meter wheelchair race at the 1992 Olympics.
Jean doesn’t like to be told she’s brave. “I’m in sports because I’m a competitive person!” Jean was born with spina befida(脊柱裂), a birth illness that damages the spine（脊椎）. She began to use a wheelchair to get around in high school. Then she tried wheelchair race and was amazed.” Players crashed into each other and fell out of their chairs,” she says, “It was fun.”
Jean tried other wheelchair sports. At the University of Illinois, her wheelchair basketball team won two national titles.
Now Jean coaches and teaches. She tries to get people to set goals. “When I sign my a utograph（亲笔签名）,says Jean, “I write, dream big and work hard.”What made Jean take part in sports?
| A．She was competitive. | B．She was brave. |
| C．She was strong. | D．She was disabled. |
What kind of education did she receive?
| A．High school. | B．Junior middle school. |
| C．Primary school. | D．High education. |
What is Jean’s advice on how to succeed?
| A．Work hard. | B．Hope for the best. |
| C．Have great wishes and work hard. | D．Dream a lot. |
Researchers at the University of Kansas say that people can accurately judge 90 percent of a stranger’s personality simply by looking at the person’s shoes.
“Shoes convey a thin but useful piece of information about their wearers,” the authors wrote in the new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality. “Shoes serve a practical purpose, and also serve as nonverbal(非语言的) indications with symbolic messages. People tend to pay attention to the shoes they and others wear.”
Medical Daily notes that the details detected in the study include a person’s general age, sex, income, political affiliation(派别), and other personality characteristics, including someone’s emotional stability.
Lead researcher Omri Gillath said the judgments were based on the style, cost, color, and condition of someone’s shoes. In the study, 63 University of Kansas students looked at pictures showing 208 different pairs of shoes worn by the study’s participants. Volunteers in the study were photographed in their most commonly worn shoes, and then filled out a personality questionnaire.
So, some of the results were expected: People with higher incomes most commonly wore expensive shoes, and flashier footwear was typically worn by extroverts(外向者).
However, some of the more specific results are interesting. For example, “practical and functional” shoes were generally worn by more “agreeable” people, while ankle boots went more closely with “aggressive” personalities.
The strangers of all may be that those who wore “uncomfortable looking” shoes tend to have “calm” personalities.
And if you have several pairs of new shoes or take exceptional care of them, you may suffer from “attachment anxiety”, spending a large amount of time worrying about what other people think of your appearance.
There was even a political calculation in the mix with more liberal types wearing “shabbier and less expensive” shoes.
The researchers noted that some people will choose shoe styles to mask their actual personality characteristics, but researchers noted that volunteers were also likely to be unaware that their footwear choices were showing deep awareness into their personalities.According to Omri Gillath, a stranger’s personality can be judged by ___.
| A．he age and sex of the person |
| B．the personality questionnaire by the person |
| C．the emotional stability of the person |
| D．the shoes the person wears |
We can infer from Paragraph 2 that ___.
| A．a practical purpose is to wear shoes |
| B．people want to buy new shoes they pay attention to |
| C．shoes are vital to their wearers |
| D．the Journal of Research in Personality is a magazine |
The underlined word “agreeable” is closest in meaning to __.
| A．gentle | B．weak | C．generous | D．considerate |
Which might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Good Shoes, Good Character |
| B．Bad Shoes, Bad Personality |
| C．Shoes and Their Wearers’ Personality |
| D．Shoes Shape A Person’s Character |
We know that the earth has become warmer over the last century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program, reports that the average surface temperature of the earth has increased during the twentieth century by 0.6°+ 0.2°C.(The + 0.2°C means that the increase might be as small as 0.4°C or as great as 0.8°C). This may seem like a small shift, but although regional and short—term temperatures do fluctuate(变动) over a wide range, global temperatures are generally quite stable. In fact, the difference between today’s average global temperature and the average global temperature during the last Ice Age is only about 5 degrees C. Indeed, it’s warmer today around the world than at any time during the past 1,000years, and the warmest years of the previous century have occurred within the past decade.
We also know that human activities—primarily the burning of fossil fuels—have increased the greenhouse gas content of the earth’s atmosphere significantly over the same period. Carbon dioxide is one of the most important greenhouse gases, which trap heat near the planet’s surface.
The vast majority of climate researchers agree with these overall findings. The scientific disagreements that do still exist primarily concern detailed aspects of the processes that make up these largely accepted general themes.
You can think of this website as a window into the world of scientific research. In this primer, you’ll find a general discussion of the physical processes underlying the earth’s climate, an outline of the kinds of data that may shed light on how the climate is changing—and the role of human activity in these changes—and a description a some of the questions and uncertainties that researchers continue to explore. This primer is organized into four interconnected sections: the Atmosphere; the Hydrosphere(水圈); the Cryosphere(低温层); and the Biosphere(生物层).We know from the text that “IPCC”___.
| A．engages in the climate and changes about the earth. |
| B．is a group by scientists who like to walk around the moon |
| C．works in the World Meteorological Organization |
| D．often greets the passers-by from the outer space |
We know from the text that carbon dioxide ___.
| A．is one of the most important greenhouse gases |
| B．has fossil fuels |
| C．traps cold near the planet’s surface |
| D．exist in human activities |
From the text, we know when we say the temperature of something has increased by about 0.7+ 0.2°C, the + 0.2°C means___.
| A．the increase might by as small as 0.3°C or as great as 0.7°C |
| B．the increase might by as small as 0.5°C or as great as 0.8°C |
| C．the increase might by as small as 0.5°C or as great as 0.9°C |
| D．the increase might by as small as 0.4 C or as great as 0.8°C |
What would be the best title for this text?
| A．What Are the Scientific Disagreements |
| B．You Can Think of This Website |
| C．What Do We Know about Global Climate Change? |
| D．The Vast Majority of Climate Researchers |
Shirley Temple Black, who lifted America’s spirit as a bright-eyed child movie star during the Great Depression, peacefully passed away at her California home on Monday evening at 85, surrounded by her family and caregivers.
Temple, born on April 23, 1928, started her entertainment career in the early 1930s and was famous by age 6. Temple was 3 when her mother put her in dance school, where a talent scout spotted her and got her in Baby Burlesks, a series of short movies with child actors playing in adult movies.
Movie studio directors took notice of her and in 1934 she appeared in the film Stand Up and Cheer! and her song and dance caught people’s attention. Movies such as Little Miss Marker and Bright Eyes featured her signature song. In 1935, she received a special Oscar for her “outstanding contribution to screen entertainment” in the movie Stand Up and Cheer!
She made some 40 feature movies, including The Little Colonel, Poor Little Rich Girl, Heidi and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, in 10 years, starring with big-name actors like Randolph Scott, Lionel Barrymore and Jimmy Durante. Temple was a superstar before the term was invented. She said she was about 8 when crowds shouting their love for her made her realize she was famous. “I wondered why,” she recalled. “I asked my mother and she said, ‘Because your films make them happy.’ ”
Her child career came to an end at 12. She tried a few roles as a teenager—including opposite future president Ronald Reagan in That Hagen Girl – but retired from the screen in 1949 at 21.
Temple was only 17 when she married for the first time to John Agar, who would eventually appear with her in two movies. Their five-year marriage produced a daughter. In 1950 she wed Charles Black in a marriage that lasted until his death in 2005. She and Black had two children. Temple’s interest in politics was sparked in the early 1950s when her husband was called back into the Navy to work in Washington.For which movie did Shirley Temple win the Oscar?
| A．That Hagen Girl |
| B．Little Miss Marker |
| C．Stand Up and Cheer |
| D．The Little Colonel |
When Temple first caught the audience’s eyes, ____.
| A．she hoped to play a role in a series of movies |
| B．her family was offered |
| C．her mother sent her to a local dance school |
| D．the United States was in fact in financial straits |
After Temple got married to Charles Black, ____.
| A．she might have begun her political life |
| B．she had to raise her two young children |
| C．she decided to work for the Navy |
| D．she ended her film career on screen |
It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that ___.
| A．people could find happiness in Temple’s films |
| B．Temple’s mother only focused on income |
| C．Temple disliked crowds shouting at her |
| D．Temple’s mother was worried about her |
A beer bottle thrown from the stands landed near Usain Bolt in the moments before the 100-meter final Sunday night in London.
As Bolt and seven other competitors ducked into their starting crouches, a bottle sailed from the first row of the stands at Olympic Stadium.
It harmlessly bounced in the lane belonging to Yohan Blake and didn’t appear to cause a distraction(分心) to the runners, who started a moment later. The thrower’s lack of distance was a blessing. Had he gathered tips from the competitors of the hammer throw(链球) competition, which was taking place in the infield at the same time as the 100 final, the bottle could have hit one of the competitors. It ended up landing a few feet from Blake (lane5).
Edith Bosch, a female Dutch judoka who won a bronze medal earlier during the Olympics, claimed that the man who threw the bottle was sitting near her and that she “beat” him. Whether that’s true or the hyperbole (夸张的语句) of an aggravated athlete was unclear in the minutes after the incident. Pictures show a group of Dutch athletes sitting behind the starting area.
Police took the man into custody(监护). He will appear in court on Monday morning.
Neither Bolt nor Blake said they knew of the incident until they were informed by reporters. “I don’t know who would have done that,” Bolt said.
Gatlin was aware of it but implied it was only a slight distraction. “I didn’t know what it was,” he said, according to the BBC, “but when you’re in those blocks, the whole stadium is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.”How many exact athletes are mentioned in the text?
| A．Two | B．Four | C．Seven | D．Eleven |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Usain Bolt along with seven other competitors |
| B．A female Dutch judoka sitting behind the starting area. |
| C．The lane belonging to Yohan Blake before 100 final. |
| D．A beer bottle thrown at Usain Bolt before 100 final. |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards the athletes for the 100-meter final?
| A．Critical | B．Doubtful |
| C．Disapproving | D．Positive |
Helen Thomas, the pioneering White House reporter known for putting presidents on the hot seat, died at 92．
To those who regularly watch presidential press conferences, Helen Thomas is a familiar figure．Usually dressed in red and always seated in the front row, she is always the first or second reporter the president calls upon．It is an honor she has earned．Besides, it affords her the perfect opportunity to do what she does best ---- challenge the president and other public officials to tell the plain truth．She said, "We reporters' priority（首要事情） is the people's right to know ---- without fear or favor．We are the people's servants．"
Helen Thomas was born in Kentucky in 1920．All the nine Thomas children were brought up to value education, and all were expected to make something of themselves through working hard．She made up her mind while still in high school to become a reporter after writing for the student newspaper．After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1942, Thomas headed straight for Washington, D．C．in search of a newspaper job．Before long, she landed one at Washington Daily News．Her duty included fetching coffee and doughnuts for the paper's reporters and editors．The eager young woman found the atmosphere exciting and was convinced she had made the right career choice．
Her big break came when she was sent to Florida to report on the vacation of President-elect John F．Kennedy and his family．Once President Kennedy took office, Thomas changed her focus from the president's family to his policies．She began attending the daily press briefings at the White House as well as presidential press conferences．Thomas has covered every president since Kennedy．Over the years, Thomas found her job "thrilling and inspiring," but never boring．And she took very seriously her duty to "keep an eye on the president" and keep American people informed．What can we learn about Helen Thomas from the passage?
| A．Her career took off after covering the Kennedys. |
| B．Her first job was to deliver doughnuts to a news agency. |
| C．She was born to a large family in Kentucky in 1942. |
| D．She decided to be a reporter while in college. |
Paragraph 3 is written to show Helen Thomas
| A．is a good decision maker for her career |
| B．appreciates education and hard work |
| C．wants to be famous by writing reports |
| D．has great support from her family |
What does Helen Thomas think other work?
| A．Unbearable. | B．Exciting. |
| C．Challenging. | D．Unforgettable. |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．A reporter sticking to the facts. |
| B．A reporter challenging President Kennedy. |
| C．A reporter from an ordinary family. |
| D．A reporter for Washington Daily News. |
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