When we talk about superstitious（迷信的）beliefs , the beliefs associated with Friday the 13th , no doubt , deserve a special mention . In fact , such is the fear associated with this date that people just can’t seem to stick to their daily routine on this day . The data from Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute suggests that somewhere around 17 to 21 million Americans are affected by the fear associated with this day , i.e. the combination of Friday and 13 . Even worse , the financial losses caused on this day amounts to as much as US$800 million every year .
As we flipped through the pages of history , we realized that Friday the 13th bears the brunt of bad luck associated with number 13 , the unluckiest number , and Friday , the unluckiest day of the week . Number 13 has always been considered unlucky , mainly as a result of it being associated with various occurrences in mythology . While some associate it with the instance of Norse mythology , in which the god of joy and gladness – Balter , was killed in a dishonest manner by Loki – the god of discord and mischief , who was the 13th guest , others associate it with the Last Supper , in which the 13th guest was Judas , who betrayed Jesus to his enemies for 30 pieces of silver .
Similarly , Friday has also been a sign of bad luck to many people , with incidents like Jesus being crucified（在十字架上钉死）on this unfaithful day , contributing to this belief . It is also widely believed that Cain killed Able on this very day of the week . The fear of Friday the 13th is known as friggatriskaidekaphobia and paraskevidekatriaphobia , the former combining the words frigga , meaning Friday , and triskaidekaphobia , meaning the phobia of number 13 . Over the period , the belief that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day has just become one of the most widely accepted superstitions , which consequently causes much blind panic and unreasonable fear in the world .What does Friday the 13th refer to according to passage ?
| A．The 13th Friday of a year . |
| B．The fear of the number 13 on Fridays . |
| C．A fixed date of a year that can bring bad luck . |
| D．The 13th day of a month falling on a Friday . |
We can learn from the passage that __________ .
| A．superstition is more popular among the uneducated |
| B．religion is an important contributing factor to superstition |
| C．Numbers are believed to bring people bad luck in history |
| D．The belief of Friday the 13th is based on folk stories |
What will the author most probably talk about next ?
| A．Arguments for and against the belief of Friday the 13th |
| B．Reasons why Friday the 13th is widely accepted |
| C．Stories about the bad luck brought by Friday the 13th |
| D．Appropriate attitude towards Friday the 13th |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The psychology of superstition |
| B．The history of a common superstition |
| C．The origins of Friday the 13th |
| D．Influences of Friday the 13th |
Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap. Some call it the summer learning set-back. Put simply, it means the longer kids are out of school, the more they forget. The only thing they might gain is weight. Recent studies show that children gain weight more quickly in the summer than when they are in school.
Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar. Students get winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation. Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time, with a few weeks off in between. But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school.
Last year, a study at Ohio State University reported that year-round students did not learn any more than other students. Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students. Experts say this can be prevented. They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help.
In American culture, the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood. Research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term summer school. They said it created an image of children being forced to do work they missed during the school year. The parents welcomed other terms like " summer camp " ，" enrichment " ，" extra time " and " hands-on learning " . It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that _________.
| A．the educators in the US don't like long summer holiday |
| B．the students in the US learn nothing during their summer vacation |
| C．it's good for the students' health to spend long holiday |
| D．students are not ready to learn during the holiday by them-selves |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．A student in a traditional nine-month school is fatter than one in a year-round school. |
| B．Most American schools make use of a year-round calendar. |
| C．The traditional nine-month calendar has an advantage be-cause they have more class days. |
| D．Students following a traditional nine-month calendar has at least 3 long holidays. |
At the beginning of a new term, students from poor families—_________
| A．are fatter than those from rich families |
| B．have a more serious summer learning gap than those from rich families |
| C．learn more knowledge than those from a year-round school |
| D．make more progress than those from a traditional nine-month calendar school |
This passage mainly tells us _________.
| A．the American summer schools |
| B．to mind the summer learning gap |
| C．how to lose weight during the summer vacation |
| D．schools and local governments should offer programs to help students from poor families |
In 1949，two leagues came together to form the NBA. In 1996the NBA created the WNBA, the Women's National Basketball Association. And in 2001 the NBA created a development league to help train future players. Today about one NBA player in five was born outside the US. The NBA currently has thirty teams, which is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the US. The others are the National Football league, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball.
In 1992，the US Olympic men's basketball team was called the " Dream Team " . For the first time there were players from the NBA. The Americans brought home the gold medal that year from Barcelona.
It was during the 1990s that a growing number of top NBA players began to come from outside the US. In 2002，Yao Ming was the first choice in the NBA draft, who was picked by the Houston Rockets. He also became the third Chinese national ever to play in the NBA. The first was Wang Zhi-zhi, who joined the Dallas Mavericks in 2001.
The NBA may be the world's most famous basketball league. But the 28th Summer Olympics in Athens provided an example of how the game is improving internationally.
Argentina defeated the US men's basketball team in the semifinals, then claimed the gold medal over Italy. It was the first medal ever for Argentina in Olympic basketball. It was also the first loss for the American team since 1988 in Seoul. In fact, between 1936and 2000，there was only one other time when the US did not win. That was at the 1972 Munich Games. Both times the Soviet Union took home the gold. From Paragraph 1，we can conclude that _________.
| A．the WNBA is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the US |
| B．about 80% of the NBA players come from the US |
| C．the development league to help train future players doesn't belong to NBA |
| D．the National Volleyball League belongs to the four major professional sports leagues in the US |
The US didn't win the gold medal in Olympic basketball EX-CEPT _________.
| A．1972 | B．1988 |
| C．1992 | D．2004 |
_________ won the men's basketball silver medal in the 28th Olympic Games.
| A．The US | B．Argentina |
| C．Italy | D．The Soviet Union |
The NBA players began to attend Olympic Games formally in _________.
| A．1936 | B．1988 |
| C．1992 | D．1996 |
Many people are good at one athletic event. A few excel in two. But very few can do well in seven different events. Jackie Joyner-Kersee is someone who could. Some people called her the world's greatest athlete.
Even as a child, Jackie Joyner wanted to do well in many sports. In high school she competed in volleyball and basketball. Basketball was her favorite sport then. She attended college on a four-year basketball scholarship. She became an all-American basketball player.
After marrying her coach, Bob Kersee, Jackie began focusing on track events. One of her best events was always the long jump. Over the years Joyner-Kersee has won many long jump medals. These include an Olympic gold medal and several world champion-ships.
What about the sport with seven different events? It is called the heptathlon. Besides the long jump, it includes events like hurdles, the high jump, and the shot put. Joyner-Kersee competed in this sport in four different Olympics. She won two gold medals and one silver.
Joyner-Kersee has succeeded for two reasons. Her great athletic ability is one thing. But she also possesses great mental toughness. That toughness helped her triumph in spite of her serious asthma and allergies.
Joyner-Kersee's last Olympics was in 1996. After that, she played professional basketball for a while. She did one final heptathlon in 1998 and then retired at the age of thirty-six. During college, Joyner-Kersee was very active in _________.
| A．the long jump | B．volleyball |
| C．basketball | D．the heptathlon |
Based on her life thus far, it would not be surprising if Joyner-Kersee _________
| A．became a referee |
| B．got out of sports completely |
| C．took up a new sport |
| D．became a volleyball announcer |
This passage is basically a _________
| A．biography of Jackie Joyner-Kersee |
| B．biography of Bob Kersee |
| C．history of women's sports |
| D．comparison between the long jump and heptathlon |
The underlined word “triumph“in the last paragraph but one can be replaced by _________.
| A．compete | B．win |
| C．fall in love | D．take part in |
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had "seven fathers" because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated (躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university's Writers' Workshop, however, she felt lonely—a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her "Creative voice".
"It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That's when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn't write about. "
Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children's book, and a short-story collection. Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?
| A．She had seven brothers. |
| B．She felt herself a nobody. |
| C．She was too shy to go to school. |
| D．She did not have any good teachers. |
The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to __________.
| A．work for a school magazine |
| B．run away from her family |
| C．make a lot of friends |
| D．develop her writing style |
According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?
| A．Her early years in college. |
| B．Her training in the Workshop. |
| C．Her feeling of being different. |
| D．Her childhood experience. |
What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?
| A．It is quite popular among students. |
| B．It is the only book ever written by Cisneros. |
| C．It wasn't successful as it was written in Spanish. |
| D．It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine. |
Everything in the universe is made up of atoms, the universe is full of sound and we being part of the universe are therefore full of sound. The world of music and sound has no space and no time or limitations. Sound is one of the initial senses to awaken in the womb (子宫). It brings the intricate (错综复杂的) and awe-inspiring world to us while we live, and is the last sense to leave us as we die.
Everything has a frequency—even our feelings, words and actions carry a frequency. In today's society, we are constantly exposed to an ocean of "foreign" frequencies such as noise pollution, television, radio and so on, which negatively affect our own natural resonance (共振), including our immune system. It is then vital for us to regularly rebalance our energy field in order to remain in good health.
We are responsible for everything we listen to. The power of music and sound can produce beauty and inspiration, or can be destructive, violent and painful. Listening to highly dramatic classical music-especially the kind full of trilling "peaks and valleys"—can cause the brain to arouse the release of endorphins, chemicals that lead to pleasurable feelings. However listening to relaxing music and imagining calm scenes is one of the best ways to ward of migraines (偏头疼) and stress. That's why we see such positive effects from calm music.
The "Mozart effect" studies indicated that one area of cognitive processing increased after listening to this music for a period of time. However, this does lead to speculation that listening to certain types of music will develop and improve mental function. Many people express an increased ability to concentrate when certain background music is played.
Music has nonverbal imaginative, structural and emotional qualities that can inspire and lift a person into a higher reality of health and happiness. Sound stimulates all of the senses and involves a person at many levels. Music and sound therapy is broadly use in the treatment of people of all ages who have problems of a mental, physical, and emotional nature. Listening to and making music reduce heart rate and blood pressures, stimulates various types of brain activity, and provide people with a sense of calmness, safety and even security. According to the passage we can know that __________.
| A．sound can be awakened at an early time |
| B．music has a space people can't surpass |
| C．the frequency has positive influenced on people |
| D．The power of music may reduce inspiration |
In order to remain in good healthy state, we should __________.
| A．often listen to music |
| B．usually do enough exercise |
| C．regularly rebalance our energy |
| D．sometimes adjust to our ability |
The underlined word in the forth paragraph means __________.
| A．thought | B．explanation |
| C．introduction | D．construction |
The statements to music are right except __________.
| A．music can produce inspiration or destruction |
| B．relaxing music can treat migraine |
| C．dramatic classical music can make people excited |
| D．cognitive processing can be reduced by listening to music |
In the therapy, music and sound can treat many problems except __________.
| A．blood pressure | B．distraction |
| C．migraine | D．emotional nature |
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