I was going to die in Antarctica, I was certain. A picture of my frost-covered body, pale and lifeless, filled my mind as I glanced around. In all directions spreads the empty wilderness of Antarctica, the only feature being the division between snow and sky. I sadly stared at my team, who were rapidly disappearing from my sight．
It happened in the year 2009 when I was head of an adventure attempting to reach the South Pole. The team was made up of ordinary women from all around the world—from Jamaica, India, Singapore and Cyprus—many of whom had never seen snow, or spent a night in a tent, before we set off. Our aim was to be the most international all-female team to reach the South Pole．
By the time I realized that my sledge was firmly stuck, the team were already a long way ahead of me. I called out to Era, my teammate from Brunei, who was next in line. Getting no response, I called again, but my shouts were carried away in the opposite direction by the wind. I had stood and watched the line for a while as it marched away from me, confident that at any moment one of my teammates would look behind her. Seconds passed. Nothing. I was gradually being left alone．
I pushed my sledge again, my strength suddenly increased when I thought of a cold, lonely death. This time the sledge moved a little. I kicked at the ice with my ski-pole and boot, desperately trying to break the sledge free and pushed again. The sledge shot forward, knocking me off balance. I struggled to my feet and set off after the team．
I caught up just as they realized I wasn't there. As we continued, my panic slowly faded. I found myself laughing to myself as I noticed Reena checking behind her every few paces. In fact for the whole of the rest of the day each member of the team glanced over her shoulder every few minutes. They were not going to risk losing me again.What can we know from the first paragraph?
| A．The author's poor physical condition． |
| B．The wonderful sights of Antarctica． |
| C．The rough natural conditions of Antarctica． |
| D．The author's regret of being left alone． |
What's the main idea of the second paragraph?
| A．Brief introduction about the adventure. |
| B．How the author became the team leader. |
| C．The process of selecting the team members. |
| D．Complete information about the team members. |
What made it possible for the author to get her sledge out of the ice?
| A．The shouts of her teammates. |
| B．The strong desire to live on. |
| C．A sudden change in wind direction. |
| D．The natural beauty ahead in Antarctica. |
Why did the team form the habit of looking behind?
| A．Because they were expecting their team leader's arrival. |
| B．Because their team leader demanded them to do so. |
| C．Because they were afraid there might be danger coming from behind. |
| D．Because they wanted to make sure their team leader was following. |
1. Mean old ladies
There is always a reason why an old lady gives you a serious look – you are being too loud, dressed improperly or not crossing the street in the right place. Sometimes it can be lovely, but if you are already having a bad day, a mean old lady can drive you mad.
What to do about it:
I’ve come to realize that when people start conflicts, it is actually an expression of their inner state expressed in an outside way. You, your personality, your looks or your actions have nothing to do with it. It is not personal, so why take it personally?
2. That person, who cuts in front of everybody in line
This is something that gets me angry. Even if I am not in a hurry, I still feel bad for the other people in line who are being treated unjustly. Are you more patient than I am or do you feel annoying too?
What to do about it:
If we have negative thoughts then we are wasting our energy on negativity. Situations like this could be a great opportunity to learn to control our first negative responses and practice understanding. After all, the person may just have a quick question or maybe there is an emergency.
Friends that tell you “I told you so”
It is one thing to admit that you made a mistake and another to hear it from a friend. Friends should be there to support you and cheer you up when you are feeling down, not make themselves feel better at your expense, right?
What to do about it:
It helps to remember that when people say “I told you so”, they may mean, “Please listen to my advice to avoid future mistakes.” If this is not the help you need – voice it out, without getting defensive.According to the author, what can you do when meeting with a mean old lady?
| A．Take it personally. | B．Take it seriously. |
| C．Don’t apologize to her. | D．Don’t get upset. |
When seeing someone cutting in line, we’d better ________.
| A．stop him immediately |
| B．treat it with a good state of mind |
| C．pretend not to see it |
| D．teach him a good lesson |
The third tip intends to advise you ________.
| A．not to keep silent at a friend’s improper suggestion |
| B．to tell your friend if they have misunderstood you |
| C．not to talk to your friend if they feel better at your expense |
| D．to apologize to your friend when you’ve done something wrong |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．What to do when meeting with these people? |
| B．How to ask your friends for help when in trouble? |
| C．How to give advice to your friends when asked to? |
| D．What to say when faced with different situations? |
I once had a friend that was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the news that he might only live up to six months was a great shock to him, his family, and his friends. However, in spite of the serious illness, he was initially determined to look into all available treatments that might cure or extend his life. I think that when you find yourself in such situations, you tend to look up every possible way for hope of saving your life.
As months went on and his health grew worse, I noticed an unexpected change in attitude that came over him. He had also been a happy person with a cheerful personality, but rather than give in to discouragement and self-pity, he took comfort in God and humanity. His talks focused on others rather than himself, and he spoke of the afterlife as something he was prepared for, believing that his concerned ancestors, including his mother and father, were there waiting for him.
During the last few months, weeks, and days of his life, he was kindly cared for by family, friends, his loving wife, who looked after both his physical and emotional needs, and workers from a local hospice (安养院) came to the home to regulate his medication and provide any other needed support. He didn't complain about his fate, and he willingly allowed others to serve him.
Indeed, one might think why God allows death and suffering in our world, but for me, such experiences taught me to value family more and kindness for others. You often can't learn these important attributes in the lap of luxury, and perhaps, such an experience is the greatest and final gift the illness can give those left behind.What did the man do after he first learned of his illness?
| A．He was operated on immediately. |
| B．He retired from his job. |
| C．He researched cancer treatments. |
| D．He felt sad, doing nothing. |
What was the man's main source of comfort after several months with the disease?
| A．His family and friends. | B．His belief in humanity. |
| C．His doctors’ encouragement. | D．The care from others. |
What did the author learn from his friend’s story?
| A．Giving more respect to friends. |
| B．Extending life as possible. |
| C．Caring for yourself and enjoying luxury. |
| D．Getting comfort from God. |
What does the author mainly want to tell?
| A．All people will face death, and thus, we must prepare for it spiritually. |
| B．Our characters can be strengthened by such an unpleasant situation. |
| C．Families provide the best support system during such a crisis. |
| D．People should help those who have got serious illness. |
The opening scene of The King’s Speech was, in a word, terrifying. The moment King George VI—wonderfully played by Colin Firth—stepped up to the microphone at Wembley Stadium, a rush of nervousness came over me. It took me back to my school days, standing at my desk, having to read aloud to the class. I whispered to my wife, Jill, “A stutterer(口吃者) wrote this screenplay(剧本).
I grew up with a stutter, really afraid of trying to get through simple sentences—knowing that I would then, or later, be laughed at. I still remember the reading when I was in 7th grade at St. Helena’s: “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentlemen…” I remember reciting, “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentlemen.” The school teacher said, “Master B-B-B-Biden! What’s that word?” She wanted me to say gentlemen. But by then, I had learned to put my sentences into bite-size pieces and I was reading it: “gentle”｜breath｜“man”.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, the teachers were great. I never had professional treatment but a couple of teachers taught me to put a regular rise and fall in my tone of speaking, and that’s why I spent so much time reading poetry. But even in my small, boys’ prep school, I got nailed in my class with the nickname Joe Stutterer. You get so desperate, you’re so embarrassed. I actually went and stood by the side of my house once, with a small round stone in my mouth, and tried to talk. Jill always thought I was kidding until she saw the movie and saw King George did the same thing.
King George relied on the support his wife and the help of Lionel Longue, who, in describing working with other stutterers, said, “My job was to give them confidence in their voices and let them know that a friend was listening.” I was lucky enough to have more than a couple of Lionels in my life. Nobody in my family ever—ever—made fun of me or tried to finish my sentences. My mother would say, “Joey, you cannot let stuttering define you.” And because of her and others, I made sure it didn’t.
Through hard work and determination, I beat my stutter in high school. I even spoke briefly at my graduation ceremony in 1961—the most difficult speech of my life. My fight against shyness and embarrassment at my early age has developed my ability to understand others’ feelings as Vice President of the country in public life. I still mark up all of my speeches the say way Firth’s character does in the movie, pencil-marking every line to remind myself to stop, to breathe, to pause—to beat back my stuttering as best as I can. I don’t stutter anymore, and most people who know me only late in my life are shocked that I ever did.
By capturing exactly how a stutter feels, The King’s Speech has shown millions of people how much courage it takes for a stutterer to stand up and speak. Equally important, it has shown millions who suffer from the pain that it can be overcome, we are not alone, and with the support of those around us, our deepest fears can be conquered.The writer whispered to his wife, “A stutterer wrote this screenplay”, because __________.
| A．he desired to release his secret to his wife |
| B．he was reminded how it was as a stutterer on such occasions |
| C．he thought Colin Firth had a wonderful performance in the film |
| D．he wanted to make his wife realize why the film was so popular |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 imply?
| A．The writer would have a good fortune to get help from many people. |
| B．The writer should realize he had to stand up from his pain and defeat it |
| C．The writer could get enough confidence under his mother’s help |
| D．The writer must be happy that everyone in his family did not laugh at him. |
What message is conveyed in the passage?
| A．Whatever pain and fear we have, we can defeat them if we try hard. |
| B．The similar stories of the writer and King George VI gains great admiration. |
| C．The suffer we had at our early age will have a heavy influence on our future life. |
| D．Stuttering is such a pain for children that we should give help and encourage them. |
We produce 500 billion of plastic bags in a year worldwide and they are thrown away polluting oceans, killing wildlife and getting dumped in landfills where they take up to 1000 years to decompose. Researchers have been unsuccessfully looking for a solution.
The 16-year old Canadian high school student, Daniel Burd, from Waterloo Collegiate Institute,
has discovered a way to make plastic bags degrade(分解) in as few as 3 months, a finding that won him first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair, a $10 000 prize, a $20 000 scholarship, and a chance to revolutionize a major environmental issue.
Burd's strategy was simple: Since plastic does eventually degrade, it must be eaten by microorganisms (微生物). If those microorganisms could be identified, we could put them to work eating the plastic much faster than under normal conditions.
With this goal in mind, he ground plastic bags into a powder and concocted(调制) a solution of household chemicals, yeast(酵母) and tap water to encourage microbes growth. Then he added the plastic powder and let the microbes work their magic for 3 months. Finally, he tested the resulting bacterial culture on plastic bags, exposing one plastic sample to dead bacteria as a control. Sure enough, the plastic exposed to the live bacteria was 17% lighter than the control after six weeks.
The inputs are cheap: maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because microbes produce heat as they work, and the only outputs are water and tiny levels of carbon dioxide.
“Almost every week I have to do chores and when I open the closet door, I have piles of plastic bags falling on top of me. One day, I got tired of it and I wanted to know what other people are doing with these plastic bags. The answer: not much. So I decided to do something myself.” said Daniel Burd.Daniel Burd won first prize at the Canada－Wide Science Fair because________.
| A．he found a new kind of microorganism |
| B．he contributed much to environmental protection |
| C．he found a way to degrade plastics in shorter time |
| D．he could encourage microbes growth in an easier way |
Daniel Burd exposed one plastic sample to dead bacteria to ________.
| A．make the live bacteria work better |
| B．test how effective his method was |
| C．know which bacteria worked faster |
| D．control the temperature in the process |
Maintaining the required temperature takes little energy because ________.
| A．plastics can get hot easily |
| B．microbes can produce heat themselves |
| C．much carbon dioxide is produced |
| D．the temperature can be controlled |
Daniel Burd got his idea from ________.
| A．his school textbook | B．the failure of researchers |
| C．his everyday work | D．the practice of other people |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family,and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And,in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time,time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success,you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost.It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent,but thinking that way does you no good,and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
| A．the reasons for success | B．the meaning of success |
| C．the standards of success | D．the importance of success |
In Paragraph 2, the underlined word “that “refers to ______.
| A．being good at something | B．setting a practical goal |
| C．putting in more time | D．succeeding in life |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Having a goal is vital to success. |
| B．Being good is different from being great. |
| C．One cannot succeed without time and practice. |
| D．Luck,talent and family help to achieve success. |
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