A man had two large pots. One of the pots had a crack in it, so while the other pot always delivered (运送) a full pot of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to his house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. This went on every day for years.
One day a neighbor asked the man, “One of your pots has been broken for years. It can only deliver half its load, so you don’t get full value from your efforts. Why don’t you buy a new one?”
The man smiled and said, “Please follow me to my house, and you may see some beautiful flowers.” On the way to the man’s house, the neighbor took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path.
The man said to the neighbor, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on one side of the path, but not on the other side? That’s because I have always known about the flaw (缺陷) of my pot. I planted flower seeds on one side of the path. Every day when I walk back from the stream, the broken pot waters them. For years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate (装饰) my house. Without the broken pot, I would not have this beauty.”How much water did the man carry home every day?
| A．A full pot. | B．Two full pots. |
| C．Half a pot. | D．One and a half pots. |
What did the man do with the broken pot?
| A．He threw it away. |
| B．He used it to water flowers. |
| C．He changed it for a new one. |
| D．He planted some flowers in it. |
We can learn from the passage that the man ______.
| A．told a lie to his neighbor |
| B．accepted his neighbor’s suggestion |
| C．took advantage of the flaw of his pot |
| D．didn’t like his broken pot |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．A man and his neighbor |
| B．A way of planting flowers |
| C．A story of a broken pot |
| D．A warm-hearted man |
With its budget of $80 million , John Woo as director, and an all-star cast（明星云集的演员阵容）, Red Cliff is the most expensive and ambitious Asian-financed film ever. Last week I saw the release of the second part, and boy oh boy does it shows.
But watching the film as a foreigner I felt I was missing out on something. Not knowing my Cao Cao’s from my Zhou Yu’s, I was not even sure whom I wanted to win. Certainly after the opening scene, in which Cao Cao is seen watching a game of Cuju, an ancient Chinese variation of football, I knew who had my support. After all, any man who enjoys his football is someone after my own heart. But after Cao Cao resorted to some evil strategies against his enemies in the south, I wasn’t so sure he was the man I should be rooting for.
And there is a lot more to Red Cliff 2 than just extravagant battle scenes. The film does not take itself too seriously. Conversations between leaders are littered with one-liners, many of which had the audience in laughter. There is even enough to keep fans of more romantic entertainment happy too. This includes a charming relationship between a southern spy（侦探）and an innocent northern soldier. The characters’ interaction provides some genuinely heart-warming moments in the middle of the battle.
Clocking in at（结束于）around two hours, the film certainly does justice to the history story. When I walked out the cinema, I felt as drained（精疲力竭） as Cao Cao’s soldiers must have 1,800 years ago.By expressing “boy oh boy” in the first paragraph, the author seems to show that _______.
| A．the film characters are like boys who are childish. |
| B．the film provides amazing and surprising scenes for audience. |
| C．the film is suitable for younger boys to watch. |
| D．the film scene is so bloody that boys shouldn’t watch it. |
When did the author change his attitude toward Cao Cao?
| A．When he read the history story about Cao Cao. |
| B．When he saw Cao Cao was watching a game of Cuju, |
| C．When he realized that Cao Cao took some bad measures to beat his enemies. |
| D．When he saw the romantic love story of Cao Cao and a southern spy. |
The following factors of the film are all mentioned in the passage except_______.
| A．high budget | B．leading roles | C．actors and actress | D．conversations |
From the passage we can infer that_______.
| A．the author is a football fan in a foreign country. |
| B．Cuju is the name of an ancient Chinese variation of football. |
| C．the film Red Cliff 2 lasts about two hours. |
| D．the author was very tired after about two hours’ battle. |
The $11 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right" into positive ones like "I can succeed." But was positive thinking advocate Norman Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking?
Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.
The study’s authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you’re just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.
In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students’ self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, "I am lovable."
Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren’t urged to think positive thoughts.
The paper provides support for newer forms of psychotherapy (心理治疗) that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation (静思) techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.What do we learn from the first paragraph about the self-help industry?
| A．It is a highly profitable industry. |
| B．It is based on the concept of positive thinking. |
| C．It was established by Norman Vincent Peale. |
| D．It has yielded positive results. |
What is the finding of the Canadian researchers?
| A．Encouraging positive thinking many do more harm than good. |
| B．There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems. |
| C．Unhappy people cannot think positively. |
| D．The power of positive thinking is limited. |
What does the author mean by "… you’re just underlining his faults" (Line 4, Para. 3)?
| A．You are not taking his mistakes seriously enough. |
| B．You are pointing out the errors he has committed. |
| C．You are emphasizing the fact that he is not intelligent. |
| D．You are trying to make him feel better about his faults. |
What do we learn from the experiment of Wood, Lee and Perunovic?
A. It is important for people to continually boost their self-esteem.
B. Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one’s mood.
C. Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem.
D. People with low self-esteem seldom write down their true feelings.
Section C.
Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading that you do not need. （请注意题号，将答案填涂在答题卡相应的位置）
Events Calendar
TUESDAY
Landscape Pests (害虫)
Learn to identify, control and prevent seasonal landscape-disease and landscape-pest problems at the workshop, 3:30 pm. – 5 pm. Tuesday at the US National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave NE, Washington. $15; registration required.
202-245-4521 or www.usna.usda.gov.
THROUGH AUGUST 3
Horticultural(园艺的) Art
Watercolors, pen-and-ink drawings and colored-pencil pieces by the Brookside Gardens School of Botanical (植物学的) Art and Illustration will be on display at the exhibit Botanic 2007: The Art and Science of Plants at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center, 1800 Glenallan Ave, Wheaton, through Aug. 3. Free. 301-962-1400 or www.brooksidegardens.org.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 9
Botanical Art
Visit Patterns in Nature, an exhibit by Amy Lamb featuring photographs of flowers, leaves and other botanical life, at the US Botanic Garden Conservatory （温室），West Orangerie, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, through Sept. 9. The conservatory is open 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-225-8333.
THROUGH OCTOBER 8
Botanic Garden Exhibit
Celebrating America’s Public Gardens is on view through Oct. 8 at the US Botanic Garden, 100 Maryland Ave SW, Washington. The exhibit, on the Conservatory Terrace and in the National Garden, features displays of 20 public botanic gardens across the country. Hours are 10 am. – 5 pm. Daily. Free. 202-200-8956.If you want to record your name for an event in advance, you may call _____.
| A．202-225-8333 | B．202-245-4521 | C．301-962-1400 | D．202-200-8956 |
If you go to Botanic Garden Exhibit, you _____.
| A．can enjoy drawings and coloured-pencil pieces |
| B．can learn how to kill pests living on the plants |
| C．can find displays of 20 botanic gardens across the country |
| D．will enjoy the photographs of flowers and leaves |
From the advertisement, we learn _____.
| A．the first event is about growing healthy plants |
| B．all of the events are free of charge |
| C．there is no time limit to all the events |
| D．you can find the information of all the events either by phone or by e-mail |
TV talk shows dominate daytime television. And anyone who watches them regularly knows that each one is different in style. But no two shows are more opposite in content, while at the same time standing out above the rest than the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey shows.
Jerry Springer could easily be considered the king of “rubbish talk”. The contents on his show are as surprising as possible. For example, the show takes the forever-common talk show titles of love, sex, cheating, and hate to a different level. Clearly, the Jerry Springer show is about the dark side of society, yet people are willing to eat up the troubles of other people’s lives.
Like Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey takes TV talk show to its top, but Oprah goes in the opposite direction. The show is mainly about the improvement of society and the quality of life. Contents are from teaching your children lessons, managing your work week, to getting to know your neighbors.
Compared with Oprah, the Jerry Springer looks like poisonous waste being poured into society. Jerry ends every show with a “final word”. He makes a small speech about the main idea of the show. Hopefully, this is the part where most people will learn something very valuable.
Clear as it is, the Oprah show is not for everyone. The show’s main viewers are middle-class Americans. Most of these people have the time, money, and ability to deal with life’s tougher problems. The Jerry Springer show, on the other hand, has more of connection with the young adults of society. These are 18-to-21-year-olds whose main troubles in life include love, relationship, sex, money and drugs. They are the ones who see some value and lessons to be learned through the show’s exploitation (开发，挖掘).Compared with other TV talk shows, both the Jerry Springer and the Oprah Winfrey shows are _____.
| A．more popular | B．less interesting | C．more uninviting | D．more informal |
What is the audience’s reaction to the social problems that Jerry Springer talks about?
| A．They are interested in them. | B．They are not ready to face them. |
| C．They are cold to them. | D．They want to get away from them. |
Which of the following topics is the most suitable one for the Oprah show?
| A．Cheating. | B．A love story. | C．Mental health. | D．Sex. |
From the passage we can learn that the two talk shows _____.
| A．are the only ones of their kind | B．exploit weaknesses in human nature |
| C．appear at different times of the day | D．have their own specific viewers |
Builders have known for many years that white roofs reflect(反射) sunlight and lower the cost of air conditioning (空调设备). But now scientists say they have found a new advantage: slowing global warming.
Hashem Akbari believes that whitening 100 of the world’s largest cities could make the influence of the expected emissions (排放物) smaller over the next ten years.
White buildings and surfaces reflect far more sunlight than dark ones. Reflected sunlight does not increase the greenhouse effect (温室效应), unlike the heat energy sent out by dark surfaces heated by the sun.
Dr Akbari, of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, also argues that If built-up areas were made white, less heat would stay within them, allowing people to use their air conditioners less, which use a lot of power.
Dr Akbari has found out that making 100 of the largest cities white would increase the sunlight reflected by Earth by 0.03%. He believes it would cancel out (抵消) the warming caused by 44 billion tons of carbon (碳) emissions.
“Roofs are going to have to be changed one by one and to make that effort at a very local level, we need to have an organization to make it happen,”says Dr Akbari.
He argues that while the action would not solve the problem of climate change. it would slow it.
“We can give the environment time to breathe,” he says. “I just don’t see a disadvantage of this idea. It gives everybody advantages and you don’t have to make hard efforts to make it happen. ”
Akbari and his partners say they will try to persuade the United Nations to organize big cities to change the materials of their roofs.How do white roofs slow down global warming?
| A．They reflect sunlight, which makes people use no air conditioner. |
| B．They reflect sunlight, which doesn’t increase the greenhouse effect. |
| C．They keep the heat energy within them. |
| D．They send out no carbon emissions. |
We know from Dr Akbari that he .
| A．has changed some roofs into white ones |
| B．doesn’t use air conditioners himself |
| C．has built an organization to make cities white |
| D．believes his idea will help slow the climate change |
What do Akbari and his partners want to do?
A. They hope the UN will put their idea into action.
B. They want to become members of the UN.
C They want to change the materials of their own roofs.
D. They want to teach people how to change roofsThe passags is written mainly to .
| A．persuade people to paint their roofs white |
| B．introduce environment friendly paint |
| C．show white roofs do good to the environment |
| D．discuss how to slow down global warming |
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