Many of us mistakenly believe that it’s wrong to think we have any good qualities. We may spend a lot of time blaming ourselves for our negative qualities, thinking that self criticism is the key to improving our performance. However, a constant focus on our supposed shortcomings can stop our efforts to make friends with other people. How can we believe that others could like us if we believe our inner being is flawed?
If someone seems to dislike you, the reason for that dislike might have little or nothing to do with you. The person who doesn’t like you might be fearful, or shallow or busy or shy. Perhaps you and that person are simply a mismatch for each other at this particular time.
Don’t take yourself out of the game by deciding that your flaws are bigger than your good qualities. In fact, some of the very qualities you consider to be flaws may be irresistible to someone else. Although some factors that might cause one person to reject you, there are at least many factors that will work in your favor.
You might be thirty pounds over your ideal weight, but you may have a wonderful laugh and a real enthusiasm for life. There are many people who don’t mind your extra pounds. You may drive a shabby car, but you might be a great dancer and a loyal friend. There are people out there looking for loyalty, or fun, or sweetness, or wisdom, and the package it comes in is not important. If you are worried that you are not beautiful enough to attract friends, keep in mind that not everyone is looking for physical beauty in their friends. You can decide to feel inferior because you don’t have much money and you don’t drive a nice car. You can believe that this is the reason
that you don’t have many friends in your life. On the other hand, if you are very wealthy you may be suspicious that everyone is after your money and that nobody really likes you as a person.
The point is that you can focus on just about anything and believe it’s the reason you do not have friends and cannot make any.According to the passage, plays an important role in making friends.
| A．admitting your shortcomings | B．self criticism |
| C．modesty | D．confidence |
If you are not liked by a person, .
| A．you should find the reason in yourself |
| B．you’d better talk with the person face to face |
| C．you may not be the one to be blamed |
| D．you and that person misunderstand each other |
We can learn from the third paragraph that .
| A．your good qualities may make you earn more money |
| B．your weakness may also be your strengths in some way |
| C．your negative qualities may cause you to lose friends |
| D．you’ll have few friends if you don’t share the same interest |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the author?
| A．It is important to lose weight. |
| B．It is easier for a wealthy person to make friends. |
| C．Inner qualities are more important than physical appearance. |
| D．If you are not beautiful enough, try to improve your physical beauty. |
What do you think the author is most likely to suggest if he continues to write?
| A．How to find your good qualities. | B．How to make friends. |
| C．How to make self criticism. | D．How to keep fit. |
In spring, you may have seen white foam(泡沫) on a green tree or other plants. As a matter of fact, the foam is where young spittlebugs(吹沫虫) live. These insects are protected by the foam, and they usually don’t do much harm to the plants.
As we all know, in late summer, a mother spittlebug lays her eggs on the plant. The babies will hatch(孵化) in spring. After they come to the new world, they begin to eat juice from the plant. The babies eat more juice than their bodies need for food. The extra juice mixes with a special waste that the spittlebugs produce. When this fluid(液体) is released, it mixes with the air, forming bubbly foam.
What is so great about having a foam home? The space inside is so wet that it can keep the bugs’ soft bodies from drying out. And the foam tastes bad, so it keeps away most animals that would eat the bugs. Some birds will reach their heads through the foam to find the bugs. Wasps and ants might eat them, too. But most of the bugs stay safe inside the foam.
Once the bugs have grown into adults, they stop making foam. They leave their homes and jump from plant to plant in search of food. The adults look a little like tiny frogs. For this reason they are also called froghoppers.
If you see some foam on a plant, you might want to take a careful look inside. Gently push some of the foam aside with a small stick. Deep inside you may see a few insects eating plant juice. They might also be making more foam. Be sure to push the foam back after a moment to cover the insects and keep them safe. Soon the spittlebugs will grow up and leave their foam home. They will join the other insects in the grassland.The eggs of spittlebugs_____.
| A．are laid in late spring |
| B．have to pull through a winter before they hatch |
| C．are protected by mother spittlebugs all the time |
| D．will be eaten by ants |
According to the passage, the white foam_____.
| A．does much harm to the plant |
| B．protects the plant from being harmed |
| C．is where a mother spittlebug is living |
| D．is plant juice mixed with spittlebugs’ waste and the air |
Which of the following is a function of a foam home?
| A．Protecting the bugs from being eaten. |
| B．Helping the bugs find food. |
| C．Providing enough drinking water for the bugs. |
| D．Keeping the plant from drying out. |
After the spittlebugs grow into adults, they______.
| A．continue to make foam |
| B．take on a different look |
| C．begin to eat tiny frogs |
| D．begin to do harm to plants |
Nancy Tillman’s wonderful On the Night You Were Born is one of my favorite books. Its celebration of the uniqueness of each and every child told in lyrical language makes it the gift I choose most often for expectant or adoptive parents. I also read it regularly with my grandchildren and talk with them about how special they are.
Tillman feels that the most important message for children to receive is simply, “You are loved.” And it’s that message that is the focus of this, her newest book, Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You. Once again, it is her turn of phrase that most fascinates me: In the green of the grass ... in the smell of the sea ... in the clouds floating by ... at the top of a tree ... in the sound crickets make at the end of the day ... “You are loved. You are loved. You are loved,” they all say. Phrases encourage children to grow, to try new things, to “march to the front” of their “own parade” and assures them that, no matter how far they go or what they do, they will be loved.
Though the words alone would convince me to buy, share and recommend this book, Tillman is also a gifted artist and her lovely work makes this book a visual treasure as well. Through the pages, a child rides hippos, splashes in the surf with elephants, plays hide and seek with rabbits, shares a trampoline (蹦床) with a kangaroo and enjoys some quiet time with a pair of pandas. My favorite drawing has the child walking away along a wide path that runs between trees covered in mist. In all of the drawings, swirls of sparkling lights wrap around the child--the love that will always be with him/her.
I’ve read On the Night You Were Born dozens of times and with every single reading, I am incredibly touched. Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You creates the same feeling of wonder, peace and happiness in me. It’s a keep-forever book and I’m so happy to have it in my collection to share with the children I love most.The purpose of this passage is to _____.
| A．encourage people to buy Nancy Tillman’s books for their children |
| B．recommend Tillman’s new book--Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You |
| C．advocate the theme of love among family members |
| D．Let children know they are loved and educate them to love others |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? _____.
| A．Nancy Tillman’s book On the Night You Were Born encourages children to try new things. |
| B．The most important focus of Tillman’s books is for children to know they are loved. |
| C．The writer considers Tillman a gifted artist for her vivid use of words and rich imagination. |
| D．The writer has bought and read both of Tillman’s books mentioned in this passage. |
Pick out the true statements according to the passage. _____.
| A．The words alone makes Tillman’s books the writer’s favorite. |
| B．Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You is published earlier than On the Night You Were Born. |
| C．My favorite drawing shows the feeling of wonder with the child swirling in sparkling lights. |
| D．The drawings in Wherever You Are convey love with pictures involving animals. |
We know more about the surface of the planet Mars than we know about what is at the bottom of Earth’s oceans.
Until recently, scientists had mapped only about 20 percent of the sea floor. But our knowledge of the deep seas is changing because of information from satellites. Scientists have produced a new map that provides a detailed picture of the oceans. The map is expected to help oceanographers, industry and governments.
The new map is twice as detailed as the map made 20 years ago. David Sandwell is a geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California. He and other scientists worked on the mapping project. He says they turned to space to look deeper into the ocean. He spoke to VOA on SKYPE.
“The way we’re doing that is to use a satellite altimeter (高度计), a radar to map the topography (地貌) of the ocean surface. Now that seems sort of strange that you’d map the topography of the ocean surface when you really want to get at the sea floor. But, the ocean surface topography has these bumps and dips due to gravitational effects that mimic what’s on the sea floor.”
The scientists collected and studied information from two satellites. Some of the data came from the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite. It was placed in Earth’s orbit to watch sea ice. The other satellite is the American space agency’s Jason-1. It is studying the surface of the oceans. Scientists combined the satellite data with images gathered by sonar ( 声呐：利用声波探测水下物体的装置或系统) equipment on ships. Sonar works by sending sound waves through the water. When the sound waves hit an object, its presence is confirmed.
“That enables us to look at smaller-scale features and also features that are buried by sediments in the ocean basins.”
The new map shows the sea floor as it has never been seen before. It shows thousands of underwater mountains and places where continents pulled apart. It shows where earthquakes were active many years ago. They all are buried deep underneath the ocean floor.
In one place, three mountain ridges join at the same area. Huge tectonic (构造的) plates can be seen clearly there.The passage is likely to _____.
| A．be an advertisement | B．appear on VOA |
| C．make a comment on radar | D．appear on SKYPE |
What will be mentioned in the following paragraph, according to the last paragraph? _____.
| A．The detailed information about the place. |
| B．The more important thing in the ocean. |
| C．The things buried in the ocean. |
| D．Scientists told SKYPE they will explore at the same area. |
Scientists collected and studied information by _____.
| A．the European Space Agency’s Cryo-2 satellite |
| B．the American space agency’s Jason-1 |
| C．sonar equipment on ships |
| D．the Cryo-2 and the Jason-1 |
What’s the best title of the passage? _____.
| A．Scientists Create New Maps of Ocean Floor |
| B．Scientists Knows More Oceans Than Mars |
| C．Oceans Will Provide Us With Maps |
| D．People Knows Easily About Mars |
David Nabarro, the UN special envoy (特使), told the reporter the number of Ebola cases was currently increasing rapidly, but greater community awareness would help contain the virus.
People were becoming aware that isolating those infected was the best way to prevent transmission, he added. So far, there have been more than 8,300 confirmed and suspected cases of Ebola, and at least 4,033 deaths. Most deaths - 4,024 - have occurred in the west African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and the US.
Mr Nabarro said that the number of new cases was “quite frightening”, as the spread of the disease was currently accelerating. At the beginning, many west African communities did not understand that the outbreak was an infectious disease, he said.
“I think we’ve got much better community involvement which leads me to believe that getting it under control within the next three months is a reasonable target,” he continued.
“By under control I mean... the numbers of new cases each week diminishes compared with the previous week to the point where there is no new transmission.”
The Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal.
Meanwhile, New York’s JFK airport began screening passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea for the Ebola virus on Saturday, in an attempt to stop the outbreak. Passengers from those countries will have their temperatures taken and have to answer a series of questions.
Checks at O’Hare in Chicago, Newark, Washington’s Dulles and Atlanta’s airport will begin in the coming days. The screening system is being introduced after the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the US died in Texas on Wednesday.The number of the countries which have been reported on death cases of Ebola so far
mainly is_____.
| A．3. | B．4. | C．7. | D．8. |
According to the UN special envoy, how long will it take to bring Ebola under control? _____.
| A．a few days from now. | B．six weeks. |
| C．about three months. | D．the coming week. |
What does the underlined word “diminishes” mean in the fifth paragraph? _____.
| A．increases | B．decreases |
| C．varies | D．disappears |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage? _____.
| A．Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person or animal. |
| B．Most death cases of Ebola have occurred in the west African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. |
| C．Checks at airports in Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta will begin in the coming days. |
| D．The screening system is being introduced by the first person to be diagnosed. |
Taylor Swift has been named Billboard’s Woman of the Year 2014, making her the first artist to receive the award twice.
The award goes to the female artist who “has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation” over the last year. Previous winners include Pink, Beyonce and Katy Perry.
Swift will receive the prize at the Billboard Women in Music Award Ceremony on 12 December in New York.
“As one of the most influential artists of her generation, Taylor Swift has seen incredible success on the Billboard charts,” said Janice Min, co-president and chief creative officer of Guggenheim Media’s Entertainment Group, which includes Billboard.
“Over the course of her career, she’s charted 60 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 - the most of any female artist since her debut in 2006. We are tremendously excited to be honouring her as the 2014 Billboard Woman of the Year for the second time.”
Taylor Swift is a seven-time Grammy winner and the best-selling digital music artist of all time. Earlier this week it was announced she would be performing on The X Factor results show this weekend.
On Thursday she appeared in the performed in the Radio 1 Live Lounge, where she sang her current hit Shake It Off and covered Vance Joy’s Riptide.
Swift has just featured on the cover of British Vogue and explained what it was like to do high profile interviews.
“I don’t really have anything to hide at this point,” she told Fearne Cotton. “It’s sort of understood that anything I do is going to be discussed and dissected and debated and I’m used to that dynamic now.” She added: “I’m very proud of the way my life is. I’m 24, I’m single, feeling very independent. A lot of fun things have happened in my life.”What can be inferred from the first two paragraphs? _____.
| A．Taylor Swift is the first artist to receive the award twice. |
| B．Taylor Swift is one of the four winners. |
| C．Taylor Swift has shaped and inspired the music industry with her success, leadership and innovation |
| D．The award goes to the female artists. |
The Award Ceremony will be held on _____.
| A．on 12 November in New York |
| B．on 12 December in Washington |
| C．on 12 November in Washington |
| D．on 12 December in New York |
According to Janice Min, _____.
| A．Taylor Swift is a seven-time Grammy winner and the best-selling digital music artist of all time |
| B．Taylor Swift appeared in the performed in the Radio 1 Live Lounge |
| C．Taylor Swift is worthwhile to be given the award a second time |
| D．Taylor Swift would be performing on The X Factor results show this weekend. |
From the last paragraph, we can see Taylor Swift was _____.
| A．sad | B．unhappy |
| C．delighted | D．indifferent |
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