Sam Trafton was my violin teacher and what he said during one of my lessons often came back to me years later.
One day he asked me how much I practiced, I said three or four hours a day.
“Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?”
“I try to.”
“Well, don’t,” he shouted. “When you grow up, time won’t come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day.”
When I was teaching at Boston, I wanted to write a novel, but for two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Sam had said. During the next week I did an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my surprise, at the end of the week I had finished a chapter. Later on I continued my novels by the same piecemeal method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, every day there were unoccupied moments that could be caught and put to use.
However, you must get into your work quickly. If you have only five minutes for writing, you can’t afford to waste for chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
Sam Trafton has had a great influence on my life. He let me know that life can be counted on to supply you short moments and even very short periods of time can add up to all useful hours you need, if you start without delay.The underlined part “counted on” in the last paragraph can probably be replaced by _______.
| A．enriched | B．added up to |
| C．concentrated on | D．expected |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The writer owes great thanks to Sam for teaching him how to use free time. |
| B．Sam has had a great influence on the writer’s study. |
| C．The writer didn’t take the teacher’s words to heart at first. |
| D．Rapid concentration is actually more difficult than most people imagine. |
It can be inferred from the passage that the writer _______.
| A．has new books published each year however busy his teaching is |
| B．can always find enough time for mental preparations beforehand |
| C．has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels |
| D．is always tired of life because his teaching schedule is always heavy |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．A Little Time at a Time | B．How I Became a Writer |
| C．Concentrate on Your Work | D．My Violin Teacher |
About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and-WHUMP!-it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! SCREECH...!!!! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?!” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s my new Jag. That brick you threw is going to cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it?”
“Please, mister, please... I’m sorry! I didn’t know what else to do!” begged the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop!” tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister,” he said. “He rolled of the curb （路沿）and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair?” he’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the black, shining, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE — a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent （凹痕）to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you.The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because ________.
| A．the businessman drove at a high speed |
| B．he envied the brand-new car very much |
| C．he wanted to ask for some money |
| D．he wanted to get help from the driver |
Which of the following is the right order of the story?
a．The younger brother threw a brick at Josh’s car.
b．The elder brother fell out of his wheelchair.
c．The younger brother begged Josh for help.
d．Josh lifted the elder brother back into his wheelchair.
e．Josh shouted at the younger brother.
| A．b, a, e, c, d | B．a, c, d, b, e | C．b, a, c, e, d | D．a, c, b, e, d |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Josh would accept the money from the kids. |
| B．The two kids were Josh’s neighbors. |
| C．Josh was a kind-hearted man. |
| D．Josh’s new car broke down easily. |
“Eat local. ” It’s one way to reduce human effect on the planet. Eating local means to try to buy and consume foods that are grown in places close to home. However, most of the food sold at supermarkets is not locally grown or produced. Trucks and planes deliver these foods from hundreds or thousands of miles away. During the transportation, greenhouse(温室)gases are produced, causing global warming. So the shorter the distance your foods must travel, the less the harm is done to the environment.
But how do you get local food if you live in a large city, hundreds of miles away from farms？Environmental health scientist Dickson Despommier and his students came up with the idea of a “vertical(垂直的) farm”. 
A vertical farm is a glass-walled structure that could be built as tall as a skyscraper(摩天大楼). Since the garden is built upwards, rather than outwards, it requires much less space than an ordinary farm. The world is quickly running out of room for ordinary farming. Vertical farms could be a key to this situation. Despommier imagines a 30-story building with a greenhouse on every floor. The walls of the building would be clear, to allow crops to get as much sunlight as possible. Depending on a city’s water resources, Despommier thinks hydroponic(水培的) farming is another method for the vertical farm which needs no soil to grow plants.
Despommier says the hydroponic greenhouses would use a system that would use a city’s waste water and fill it with nutritions to make the crops grow. If this method works, it would provide food to a city and save millions of tons of water.
The idea of a vertical farm has attracted the attention of government officials around the world. Scott Stringer, a government official from New York City, thinks the city is suitable for the vertical farming. “Obviously we don’t have much land left for us,” Stringer said. “But the sky is the limit in Manhattan. ”
Despommier admits that there is still a lot of work to do to make vertical farms a reality. “But I think vertical farming is an idea that can work in a big way,” he says.Why are people advised to eat local?
| A．Because it means convenience(方便) to people. |
| B．Because it can help people save a lot of money. |
| C．Because local food has more nutrition. |
| D．Because it is environmentally friendly. |
Which is one of the vertical farm’s benefits when compared with ordinary farming?
| A．It produces healthier food. |
| B．It does less harm to the cities. |
| C．It needs less space of the city. |
| D．It requires less transport costs. |
By saying “the sky is the limit in Manhattan”, Stringer means _____.
| A．people can make full use of vertical space of Manhattan |
| B．there is a limit for using empty land in Manhattan |
| C．the height of buildings in Manhattan is limited |
| D．Manhattan can spread as far as possible |
Verbier language school
Beginner? Fluent? Young? Young at heart? VLS can help you learn or improve your language skills in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere with fun, professional teachers.
What we offer:
·Individual (个人) and group French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Swedish lessons for children and adults.
·Exam preparation for TEFL, TOEFL, IELTS, Common Entrance, GCSE.
·Summer course.
·Translation services.
·Summer immersion (浸泡式) camps—language and activities including cooking, performances, art and crafts, walking, biking, various sports etc. 9am—4pm (lunch included)
·Winter immersion camps—language and skiing. 9am—4pm (lunch included)
Course + prices (Prices shown are for 1 hour lessons, per student):
| Private lessons |
90 dollars |
| Semi-private (2 people) |
50 dollars |
| Group lessons (3-6 people) |
30 dollars |
Private—one-to-one tuition focusing on the individual needs of the student.
Group—learn in a relaxed and fun environment.
Maximum of 6 students per group so there are still plenty of chances to ask questions.
Children—learning with fun and games in private or group lessons.
Corporate—arrange private or group classes for your company aimed at your specific needs.
Conditions
·If registering by phone and email, classes are not confirmed(确认) until a deposit(定金) has been received via the bank or Paypal. Please contact us for bank details.
·Payment for the classes must be paid in full in advance or at each lessons.
·Students must complete a test at their first lesson to make sure of their level.
Contact us
By post: Verbier Language School, Centre de l’Etoile, Case Postal 475, Rue de M dran 6, 1936 Verbier, Switzerland
By phone: + 41 (0) 79 653 22 27
By email: info@verbierlanguageschool.comIn the first paragraph, “Young at heart” refers to ___________.
| A．optimistic people | B．people with a strong heart |
| C．old professional teachers | D．the elderly people |
It can be inferred that IELTS is _________.
| A．a language course | B．a language test |
| C．a sports competition | D．a summer camp |
.John and his father both attend the Group lessons to learn German. They learn two hours each day. How much do they need to pay per day?
| A．200 dollars | B．180 dollars | C．120 dollars | D．60 dollars |
In their first lesson, students are required to _______.
| A．report their interest | B．take an exam | C．complete a form | D．pay by credit card |
A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolution: we stopped talking to one another.
I was walking in the park with a friend recently, and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and... I became invisible, absent from the conversation. The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction（互动）. With email and instant messaging over the internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.
As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated（自动化）, the alienation index（疏远指数） goes up. You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person any more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.
I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn't wise... they're a great help to us. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.
More and more. I find myself hiding behind email to do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn't really have time to talk. The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier ...or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts.
So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging with people who live near me, no cell phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I'm at home.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Advance of Communications Technology |
| B．The Consequences of modern Technology |
| C．The Story of Communications Revolution |
| D．The Automation of Modern Communications |
The sentence “Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent” means that ________.
| A．the people sitting beside you have to go away to receive a phone call |
| B．you can hardly get in touch with the people sitting beside you |
| C．modern technology makes it hard for people to have a face-to-face talk |
| D．people can now go to work without going to the office |
The writer feels that the use of modern communications is ________.
| A．satisfying | B．encouraging | C．disappointing | D．embarrassing |
The passage implies that ________.
| A．modern technology is bridging the people |
| B．modern technology is separating the people |
| C．modern technology is developing too fast |
| D．modern technology is interrupting our communication |
Sherlock Holmes was the greatest detective in history. His astonishing power of observation and analysis meant that he was able to solve cases which left the real police completely perplexed. As a problem solver in the law forced business, he was a knowledgeable person equal to Superman, the comic book hero.
Like Superman, of course, Holmes did not exist. He was the creation of a Scottish doctor and novelist Arthur Conan Doyle, and remains one of the most famous literary fiction characters of all time.
Holmes’ general rule when trying to solve a case was as follows: completely get rid of the impossible. Then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
It’s said that Holmes’ powers of deduction (推断) were superhuman, particularly his ability to process information from what he observed. In a story called The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Holmes examines the area near a lake where a murder has been committed. The local police have already searched the area and found no clues. Holmes spends ten minutes in the area, and announces that the murderer “is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled shooting boots and a gray coat, smokes Indian cigars, uses a cigar holder, and carries a penknife in his pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be enough to aid us in our search.” Needless to say, he has found evidence to support all of these statements.
The fictional Holmes lived in an apartment at 221 Baker Street, a real street in Central London. When Conan Doyle wrote about Holmes, there was no 221 Baker Street, but after the street was extended northwards, there was. There is currently a bank at that address.
The fact that Holmes didn’t actually exist doesn’t stop thousands of people writing to him for help every year.The bank kindly responds to every letter they receive with the following message: “Mr. Holmes thanks you for your letter. At the moment he is retired in Sussex, keeping bees, and does not undertake detective work nowadays.”In the first paragraph the underlined word “perplexed” suggests that the police were _______
| A．confident | B．worried | C．confused | D．sure |
How does the writer describe Holmes and Superman?
| A．Neither Superman nor Holmes was a real character. |
| B．Both Superman and Holmes used super intellect to solve problems. |
| C．Superman was a comic book figure, while Holmes was a real detective. |
| D．Superman and Holmes were equally intelligent and brave. |
How did Holmes use his powers of deduction in the fourth paragraph?
| A．He spent a long time thinking about possible solutions. |
| B．He found clues to help him create a full description of a suspect. |
| C．He observed the crime area and guessed what happened. |
| D．He searched the area with the police and discussed with them, |
When letters are written to Holmes, _______
| A．he answers letters when he receives them |
| B．his secretary answers them for him. |
| C．the bank at 221 Baker Street where he used to live sends the letters back |
| D．the bank at his address replies that Holmes is no longer working as a detective |
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