Sharing Beauty
It was in October. I was aimlessly wandering down the street, heading into a most gloriously beautiful sunset. I had an urge to speak to someone on the street to share that beauty, but it seemed everyone was in a hurry.
I took the next-best action. Quickly I ducked into a department store and asked the lady behind the counter if she could come outside for just a minute. She looked at me as though I were from some other planet. She hesitated, and then seemingly against her better judgment, she moved toward the door.
When she got outside I said to her, “Just look at that sunset! Nobody out here was looking at it and I just had to share it with someone.”
For a few seconds we just looked. Then I said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world.” I thanked her for coming out to see it; she went back inside and I left. It felt good to share the beauty.
Four years later my situation changed greatly. I came to the end of a twenty-year marriage. I was alone and on my own for the first time in my life. I lived in a trailer park which, at the time, I considered a real come-down, and I had to do my wash in the community laundry room.
One day, while my clothes were going around, I picked up a magazine and read an article about a woman who had been in similar circumstances. She had come to the end of a marriage, moved to a strange community, and the only job she could find was one she disliked: clothing sales in a department store.
Then something that happened to her changed everything. She said a woman came into her department store and asked her to step outside to look at a sunset. The stranger had said, “God is in his heaven and all is right with the world,” and she had realized the truth in that statement. From that moment on, she turned her life around. The author asked the woman to go outside to ______.
| A．admire the sunset | B．cheer her up | C．offer some help | D．have a chat |
Four years later, the author ______.
| A．found her dream job |
| B．put an end to her marriage |
| C．worked in a laundry room |
| D．lived in the same community |
After reading the article in the magazine, the author was probably______.
| A．disappointed | B．puzzled | C．inspired | D．overjoyed |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
B
When I was 13，my bedroom walls were covered with posters of the Monkees and the Beatles.I wrote fan letters and daydreamed about meeting the objects of my affections.I begged my parents to attend every rock concert and watch every TV show featuring my favorite celebrities(名人)；my friends and I discussed for hours all the things we would say and do when we met our favorite movie stars and pop singers.I drove my mother crazy！But after a few years，my obsession(迷恋) with stars faded as I matured and gained the confidence to socialize with “real” boys.
In the 35 years since I was a teenager，celebrity worship(崇拜) has increased among teens due to the explosion of television celebrity gossip shows，and instant access to celebrity news on the Internet.It's no wonder that many teens are obsessed with stars when news programs often are filled with entertainment stories and the lives of celebrities.
Celebrity worship syndrome(综合征) is now considered a personality disorder.While it is normal for teenagers to follow the lives of their favorite stars，parents should try to monitor everything their child finds interesting.Parents should take action if they suspect a teen is too obsessed with celebrities and showing little interest in school or withdrawing from the family.When teens talk a lot about celebrities and view them as just means of entertainment，this is considered normal celebrity worship.However，when a teenager is obsessed with a star and often expresses a desire to have a close personal relationship with a celebrity or feels they have a special connection to a star，this may be the time for concern.Recent studies have shown that teens who develop an unhealthy obsession with celebrities often suffer from low selfconfidence and depression.Teens who are overly obsessed with stars often have damaged relationships with their parents.The first paragraph is intended to tell us ________.
| A．it's normal for a teen to have celebrity worship |
| B．celebrity worship can cause serious problems |
| C．parents needn't worry about celebrity worship |
| D．celebrity worship only exists among teens |
We learn from the second paragraph that ________.
| A．teens today are not so obsessed with celebrities |
| B．the author is surprised at celebrity worship |
| C．the media greatly contributes to celebrity worship today |
| D．celebrities expose their lives too much |
Parents should become concerned when their children ________.
| A．talk a lot about celebrities with others |
| B．put up celebrity posters on their bedroom walls |
| C．ask to go to their favorite star's concert |
| D．desire a close personal relationship with their favorite star |
The last paragraph implies that ________.
| A．parents should not care too much about a child's celebrity worship |
| B．celebrity worship syndrome can be a serious problem if left overlooked |
| C．children can normally get out of celebrity worship when they are older |
| D．children with celebrity worship usually have a high opinion of themselves |
What is most likely to be talked about in the paragraph following the passage?
| A．The harm of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| B．More signs of celebrity worship syndrome. |
| C．What to do with children's celebrity worship syndrome. |
| D．Who will suffer most from celebrity worship syndrome. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
A
Greg Evans started to study film at Ryerson University，but had a change of heart and switched to social work at George Brown College in the second year.Yet the college recognized only one of Evans' generalinterest credits(学分) from Ryerson，and also made him take English all over again although he had passed it at university.
“So I spent time and money taking a course I had already taken before，”complained Evans.“The system really needs to change.”Evans was part of a chorus of Ontario students on Monday cheering a new $73.7 million fiveyear plan to help students switch from college to university，and from university to college.
After years of urging from students，the Ontario government set up a new Credit Transfer Innovation Fund to help students move back and forth between the more handson courses of community college to the often broader academic focus of a university degree.“We hear horror stories about students who can't get recognition from one institution for a very similar course at another，and in one case I believe the same professor was teaching them both，” noted Milloy after announcing the new fund.
Individual colleges and universities have decided on nearly 500 joint deals to honour each other's credits in certain courses.Each school is required to set targets for more credittransfer agreements，and link these increases to provincial funding.
More than 4,000 college graduates transfer(转学) to university in Ontario every year－twice as many as eight years ago，noted Justin Fox，president of the College Student Alliance.Yet Ontario universities and colleges have been cautious about transferring credits，in part to avoid copying each other's courses，noted Bonnie Patterson，president of the Council of Ontario Universities，who welcomed the increased flexibility.What happened when Greg Evans switched to social work at George Brown College?
| A．He was considered to be unqualified for social work. |
| B．His previous credits were not all recognized. |
| C．He wasn't able to get enough credits. |
| D．His English didn't reach the required standard. |
With the new $73.7 million fiveyear plan，students can ________.
| A．get enough money to go to university. |
| B．switch between colleges and universities |
| C．get enough generalinterest credits |
| D．have a wise choice of courses |
According to Paragraph 3，Milloy believes ________.
| A．it is time that the system was changed |
| B．the same professor can't teach in different schools |
| C．students should focus on their chosen courses |
| D．the students' stories are horrible |
Ontario universities and colleges have been cautious about transferring credits partly to ________.
| A．avoid accepting unqualified students |
| B．keep their similar courses |
| C．prevent courses from becoming similar |
| D．attract famous professors |
What attitude does Bonnie Patterson have towards the transferring system?
| A．He is strongly against it. |
| B．He is very doubtful about it. |
| C．He thinks it is too flexible. |
| D．He supports it for its flexibility. |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
(2012年辽宁卷，C)If Confucius(孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake，there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day，few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades，the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently，the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art，history and philosophy(哲学)．Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States，at the same time，are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever，and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker，he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West，even if his birthday is.The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ________.
| A．provide some key facts about Confucius |
| B．attract the readers' interest in the subject |
| C．show great respect for the ancient thinker |
| D．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations |
We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students ________.
| A．have a great interest in studying Chinese |
| B．take an active part in Chinese competitions |
| C．try to get high scores in Chinese exams |
| D．fight for a chance to learn Chinese |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Forgotten Wisdom in America |
| B．Huge Fans of the Chinese Language |
| C．Chinese Culture for Westerners |
| D．Old Thinker with a Big Future |
The passage is likely to appear in ________.
| A．a biography |
| B．a history paper |
| C．a newspaper |
| D．a philosophy textbook |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
(2012年北京模拟)Employment practices often reflect the needs of employers several decades ago. Times have changed. And so too has the Canadian workforce. Yet many employment practices have not kept pace with this change. For example，some work environments and washrooms designed for able-bodied workers seldom accommodate people who use a wheelchair.
Modernizing these practices is what employment equality is about. For example，making sure work benches and washrooms are adapted for disabled people entering the workplace，paving the way for workers who become disabled on the job. By doing so，any given group of people－formerly discriminated against－now has access to better employment opportunities.
The objective，of course，is to make the workplace reflect Canadian society. However，this does not necessarily mean setting and enforcing quotas(实行配额)．Rather，it means identifying the barriers to employment and designing measures，with achievable goals and clear timetables，to remove them.
For example，according to the Canadian Union of Public Employees－Canada's largest union，it would be unrealistic in the short term to insist that because half of the working age population is women，that half of the employees of an engineering firm should be women. At this moment，there would not be enough qualified female engineers.
A reasonable numerical goal would be based on the number of women who actually are engineers(8%) and those who are studying to become engineers(25%)．A short term goal of 13% would be appropriate without running the risk of hiring unqualified people.
Equally important is to ensure people who have been disadvantaged the chance to become qualified for new opportunities. If aboriginal people(土著居民)，for example，can't qualify for certain jobs because they haven't had access to appropriate educational opportunities，then an employment equality program would have to address that problem with training programs.
Employment laws in this country cannot be considered displeasing if they guarantee all Canadians fair and equal access to the workforce.The passage is mainly about how to ________.
| A．modernize equipment for the disabled at work |
| B．achieve equality of employment opportunities |
| C．protect women's rights in employment |
| D．complete a job training program |
The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 3 refers to ________.
| A．barriers |
| B．measures |
| C．goals |
| D．timetables |
The example of women shows that ________.
| A．only a small percentage of women engineers will get promoted |
| B．13% of the working age women should be hired |
| C．policy makers should adopt a practical and flexible approach |
| D．the quota of women for employment should be raised |
The underlined word “address” in Paragraph 6 probably means ________.
| A．put forward |
| B．run into |
| C．find out |
| D．deal with |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中选出最佳选项。
(2012年沈阳模拟)They're so young! What sets apart (区别) the new TV adaptation (改编) of the classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions is the youthfulness of the players.
The producers made a great effort to bring in young actors. Most of them were born in the late 1980s and 1990s. At the same time, a team of 20somethings was given responsibility for adapting the novel for TV screens.
It is unusual for a director to pick a group of young people with little scriptwriting (写剧本) experience to take on such a big task. Most would expect the job to be given to more seasoned (经验丰富的) writers.
“I understand why director Li Shaohong has taken this unusual approach，” writes movie critic Raymond Zhou in China Daily. “She wants the drama to resonate (共鸣) with today's young people.”
Besides giving the remake a youthful flavor, Li also wanted to go back to the original. The popular 1986 adaptation left out many important parts of the novel that were considered superstitious (迷信的) back then. For this adaptation Li wanted strict faith to A Dream of Red Mansions, to make sure young audiences will get a real sense of the novel.
However, since people know the 1986 adaptation so well, they compare the old and new shows. The costumes, makeup and scenery in new drama are controversial (被争论的). Nie Lina, 16, of Yantai No.1 High School in Shandong Province, believes it is a bad idea for actors to have such strange hairstyles. The actors remind me of Peking Opera performers, not people living in Qing Dynasty time. Li Youran, 16, of Nanjing Foreign Language School, complains the music is strange and some scenes are scary. She also believes the actors are not playing in the spirit of the characters.
But Zhou defends (捍卫) the remake as an attempt at faithful adaptation. The value of the adaptation of a novel should be judged (评价) by how faithful it is to the novel—it shouldn't be judged against another adaptation. However, Zhou also argues that a director has the right to make his or her own work of art：an artist has the right to interpret (阐释) a classic based on his or her own understanding...You may not like it, but you cannot deny (否认) him or her that right.Which of the following statements is the difference between the new adaptation and the old one?
| A．The actors are very famous. |
| B．The actors are very young. |
| C．The director is very famous. |
| D．The producers are very young. |
According to Zhou，a movie critic，the director Li Shaohong picked young players because ________.
| A．she wanted today's young people love the new drama |
| B．she wanted to train young actors |
| C．she liked to attempt a new unusual approach |
| D．she thought the new drama is fit for young players to act |
Besides the youthfulness，the director wants to make the new adaptation ________.
| A．superstitious |
| B．sensible |
| C．faithful |
| D．unexpected |
What does the underlined word in the third paragraph mean，according to the passage?
| A．young |
| B．old |
| C．famous |
| D．experienced |
According to the audiences，which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Most audiences are satisfied with the new drama. |
| B．Lina believes the music in the drama is strange. |
| C．Zhou thinks it is right to be faithful. |
| D．Li Youran thinks it is wrong for players to have strange hairstyles. |
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