阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A
The following are letters to the editor of a school newspaper
Dear editor,
I’d like to express my opinion about grades. Students should be allowed to study without worrying about grades. Fortunately, most educators are becoming aware of the fact that students have different interests and abilities. I understand that grades are useful, but grades often limit creativity. Competing for better grades causes many students to turn down opportunities to pursue music, dramatics and sports. Grades force an arbitrary(武断的) standard of success on everyone. I do not demand as some extremists do, that grades be removed immediately. However, I do believe that less emphasis should be placed on grades. I hope that someday grades will become optional at Village High School.
Magdalena Smith
Drama Club
Dear editor,
I’d like to say something about grades. Let’s face the facts about grades. Grades perform three basic functions. First, grades motivate students to work at their highest level of competence. Second, they act as a reward for hardworking students and as a punishment to students who do not work hard. Finally, grades are used as an effective standard by which to measure student achievement. Good grades help students to get jobs and to get into university. I've spoken with a number of students who have jobs, and most of them say that they were hired primarily on the basis of their grades. My grades helped me land a part-time job and will help me get into university next year. I think grades are extremely important at Village High School.
Simon Harper
Science ClubWhich of the following is not Magdalena Smith’s opinion?
| A．Students may give up the chance to learn music and sports for grades. |
| B．Students’ creativity may not be developed for grades. |
| C．Grades should not be used to measure a person’s success. |
| D．Grades should be taken away at once. |
We can learn Simon Harper _____.
| A．believes in the benefits of good grades |
| B．is concerned about students' creativity |
| C．doesn't work too hard at his studies |
| D．supports students' interests and abilities |
From the second letter, we can infer that Simon Harper is a/an_____.
| A．teacher | B．headmaster |
| C．student | D．advertiser |
Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, then decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition(探险) towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite（冻疮）, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled（雪橇） up and over rocky ice.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis. What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?
| A．He became good at most sports. | B．He made friends with a runner. |
| C．He joined a sports team. | D．He began to build up his body. |
The underlined word “exploits” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．journeys | B．adventures | C．researches | D．operations |
Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Saunders?
a. He ran his first marathon. b. He skied alone in the North Pole.
c. He rode his bike in a forest. d. He planned an adventure to the South Pole.
| A．a c d b | B．c d a b | C．c a b d | D．a c b d |
What does the story mainly tell us abut Saunders?
| A．He is a success in sports. | B．He is the best British skier. |
| C．He is Ridgway’s best student. ` | D．He is a good instructor at school. |
Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country’s bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated (交配)it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbors -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them. The results of the South American experiment .
| A．are not yet certain | B．have proved to be wrong |
| C．have caused a serious trouble | D．are not important |
The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to .
| A．make African bees less active |
| B．make Brazilian bees more easy-going |
| C．increase the number of bees in Brazil |
| D．increase the amount of honey in Brazil |
Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
| A．Their production of honey. | B．Their living environment. |
| C．Their hard work. | D．Their bad temper. |
The last paragraph implies that .
| A．the bees have been driven to Central and North America |
| B．the bees must be stopped from moving north |
| C．the bees may bring about trouble in more countries |
| D．the bees prefer to live in Brazil |
How often do you go on holiday? Going on holiday makes you feel good while you're there－you gain the health benefits for months, new research shows.
Jetting off to exotic destinations such as the Maldives cuts your blood pressure, helps you sleep better and bounce back from stress, it found. The benefits last at least a fortnight longer than the vacation and can be felt for months in some cases where it is claimed. Experts say workers should always take their full holiday entitlement each year－as many as one in three don't－to get the benefits.
The study compared key health markers in holidaymakers visiting Thailand, Peru or the Maldives, with people who stayed at home and continued working. The average blood pressure of those on holiday dropped by 6% while the workers saw their blood pressure rise by 2% over the same period. The sleep quality of holiday-makers improved by 17% while that of the non-holidaymakers deteriorated by 14%.
The study also found the ability of vacationers to recover from stress—known as the stress-resilience test－improved by 29%. There was a 71% fall in stress resilience scores among workers. Test showed a fall in blood glucose levels, reducing the risk of diabetes, trimmer waistlines and enhanced mood and energy levels, with the effects sustained for at least 2 weeks after returning home.
The Holiday Health Experiment was conducted by tour operator Kuoni and Nuffield Health, the UK's largest healthcare charity. The author intends to tell us that _____.
| A．it is best to go to foreign countries like Maldives. |
| B．we had better go on holiday for the benefits of health |
| C．we have to go on holiday as much as possible |
| D．you'll certainly get depressed if you don't go on holiday |
According to the article, how many people go on holiday?
| A．Two thirds | B．17% | C．One third | D．A quarter |
The underlined word "deteriorated" in Paragraph 3 probably means "______".
| A．remained | B．rose | C．improved | D．worsened |
Which of the following can we infer from the passage?
| A．Holiday makers are more adaptable than non-holidaymakers. |
| B．The result of the study is mostly based on the description from the people involved. |
| C．The further you go, the better you benefit. |
| D．Most people like to stay at home during the holiday. |
The best title of the passage is ______.
| A．A Holiday Health Experiment | B．Key Health Markers in Holidaymakers |
| C．Health Benefits from Holiday | D．Health Problems of Having Holiday |
Sometimes ideas do not appear when you are concentrating your attention and mysteriously appear when you are not. Modern science recognizes this as a result of incubating (酝酿) the problem in your subconscious (潜意识) yet can't account for why it occurs.
When you quit thinking about a subject and decide to forget it, your subconscious mind doesn't quit working. Your thoughts keep making associations. This is why you're experienced suddenly remembering names, getting solutions to problems you've forgotten about, and ideas out of the blue when you're relaxing and not thinking about any particular thing.
You may try solving a problem with your subconscious mind by writing a letter to it. The letter should read just like a letter you would send to a real person. Seal the letter and put it away.
Let go of the problem. Don't work on it. Forget it. Do something else. This is the incubation stage when much of what goes on occurs outside your focused awareness, in your unconscious. Open the letter in two days. The answer might magically pop into your mind.
An advertising agency was under pressure to come up with a marketing campaign to introduce new television shows. Bob, the creative director, wrote the following letter which he addressed to his subconscious mind. He called his subconscious mind "Secret Expert".
Secret Expert,
I need to come up with a new marketing program to introduce a new season of TV shows. I'm interested in coming up with some kind of campaign that will capture the audience's attention more than one time. Is there something people need that we can advertise on? What kind of products, foods and services should we investigate? I need a fresh approach to advertising. Your mission is to give me a new idea on how to advertise TV shows.
Thanks, Bob
Bob mailed the letter to himself and when he read what he had written, he got his brainstorm, which was to advertise on "eggs". Somehow an association between "foods", "need", and "fresh" approach" inspired the thought of using "fresh eggs to advertise". He arranged to place laser imprints of the slogans for the TV shows on eggs —some thirty million.
The consumers look at a single egg at least a few times, when they buy the eggs at the store, when they transfer them to the refrigerator, and when they crack them open. It's unlike any other ad medium in the world, because you're looking at it while you're using it.You remember names when you're not thinking about them because your subconscious mind ____.
| A．is still working | B．is full of names |
| C．stops working | D．improves your memory |
Which of the following was included in Bob's letter to his subconscious mind?
| A．How the solution could be found. |
| B．When he would need its help. |
| C．What product could be advertised |
| D．What he wanted it to do |
During the incubation stage, your focused awareness _____.
| A．waits for an answer | B．controls your thoughts |
| C．doesn't work | D．helps your unconscious |
In what way did the ad on eggs help?
| A．It helped Bob to get a brainstorm |
| B．It made the TV shows known to people repeatedly. |
| C．It greatly increased the sales of eggs. |
| D．It made sure consumers could get fresh eggs. |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Difference between Subconscious and Awareness |
| B．A fresh Approach to Advertising |
| C．Communicating with Your Subconscious Mind |
| D．Solving problems with your Subconscious Mind |
Someone telephoned me today asking if I would be willing to bring food to a family in need. The mother was having a major operation and would be lying down for several weeks. Of course, I responded with an immediate “Yes!”. As I planned the meal in my head, I reflected on how many times over the years I had been asked to prepare food. I have done so countless times with a very open heart.
But the truly amazing thing is that I have received double over the course of my life. When my mother passed away, our house was filled with fresh dinners for weeks. A woman from the church of our community stopped by each evening with some food. The gift of food was her small way of trying to ease our pain.
Later in my life, when I was on bed rest during my pregnancy with twins, women of the church again stepped in to help. They arranged babysitting for my two-year-old daughter, and brought lovely dinners to our house. Even when I was put in the hospital, my husband would bring cooked meals to my hospital room. How we relied on these dinners to feed my tired husband and young daughter.
Food is all about comfort. It feeds our bodies, but it can also feed our souls. When you hear people talking about their favorite holidays, it usually includes their feelings connected with sharing food. I know I’ll have many more chances in my lifetime to prepare food for others. It is truly a gift I want to prepare and deliver to someone in need.We can learn from the first paragraph that the author _____.
| A．was tired of preparing food. |
| B．was glad to be able to lend a hand. |
| C．knew the family in need very well. |
| D．had to stay in bed for several weeks. |
The author has given lots of food to others because _____.
| A．she has received others’ food. |
| B．she is friendly to others. |
| C．she is a church member. |
| D．she is poor at cooking. |
What do we know about the author’s family?
| A．Her husband isn’t good at cooking. |
| B．Her family is too poor to buy enough food. |
| C．She has a babysitter taking care of her twins. |
| D．Her family lives not far from a church. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the author?
| A．She didn’t get enough food during her pregnancy. |
| B．Her mother died when she was in hospital. |
| C．She received food along with comfort in her hard times. |
| D．She thinks offering food is the best way to show love. |
Which of the conclusion can we get according to the article?
| A．Every man has his faults. |
| B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．A good beginning makes a good ending. |
| D．One good turn deserves another. |
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