When the famous dancer Fred was interviewed for a job by a Hollywood producer , the movie Expert turned him down, saying,”Can’t sing. Can’t act. Dances a little.” Here’s another stupid mistake. When the great scientist Albert Einstein was at school, his teachers considered him rather dull. And a final story, the famous Polish pianist Paderewski was told by a teacher that he’d never be a success as a performer because the middle finger on each hand was too short.
What lessons can be drawn from these three experiences? First, true genius (天才）cann’t be suppressed(压抑）．For some reason or other it works its way out. Second, early judgments of a person’s abilities may be unfair or just wrong. Third, when there is a real determination to succeed, obstacles fall by the wayside.
The famous motto “ad astra per aspera” can be translated as “ To the stars through hardships”. Astaire, Einstein and Paderewski proved their critics wrong.Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?
| A．Fred Astaire was a famous dancer. |
| B．True ability will always make itself known. |
| C．Some people never get discouraged. |
| D．Albert Einstein prove his teachers wrong. |
When Paderewski’s teacher told him he’d never be a success, the teacher was .
| A．Being humorous | B．Cheerful, though concerned |
| C．Somewhat hesitant | D．Seriously mistaken |
“Ad astra per aspera” is used in the passage .
| A．As a motto for the three men’s lives |
| B．To show the value of Latin |
| C．To send the reader to the dictionary |
| D．To point out that genius is always recognized early |
The writer of the passage thinks that the reader .
| A．Knows that the three men were successful men |
| B．Dreams to become like one of the men some day |
| C．Sympathizes with (同情） the poor teachers of the three men |
| D．Knows that Fred Astaire was an actor famous for performing Shakespeare’s plays |
“It hurts me more than you”, and “This is for your own good” —these are the statements my mother used to make years ago when I had to learn Latin, clean my room, stay home and do homework.
That was before we entered the permissive period in education in which we decided it was all right not to push our children to achieve their best in school. The schools and the educators made it easy for us. They taught that it was all right to be parents who take a let-alone policy. We stopped making our children do homework. We gave them calculators, turned on the television, left the teaching to the teachers and went on vacation.
Now teachers, faced with children who have been developing at their own pace for the past 15 years, are realizing we’ve made a terrible mistake. One such teacher is Sharon Clomps who says of her students—“so passive” —and wonders what has happened. Nothing is demanded of them, she believes. Television, says Clomps, contributes to children’s passivity. “We’re talking about a generation of kids who’ vet never been hurt or hungry. They have learned somebody will always do it for them, instead of saying ‘go and look it up’, you tell them the answer. It takes greater energy to say no to a kid.”
Yes, it does. It takes energy and it takes work. It’s time for parents to end their vacation and come back to work. It’ s time to take the car away, to turn the TV off, to tell them it hurts you more than them but it’ s for their own good. It’s s time to start telling them no again.Children are becoming more inactive in study because _______.
| A．they watch TV too often |
| B．they have done too much homework |
| C．they have to fulfill too many duties |
| D．teachers are too strict with them |
We learn from the passage that the author’s mother used to lay emphasis on _______.
| A．learning Latin | B．discipline |
| C．natural development | D．education at school |
By “permissive period in education” (L.1, Para.2) the author means a time _______.
| A．when children are allowed to do what they wish to |
| B．when everything can be taught at school |
| C．when every child can be educated |
| D．when children are permitted to receive education |
The main idea of the passage is that _______.
| A．parents should leave their children alone |
| B．kids should have more activities at school |
| C．it’s time to be more strict with our kids |
| D．parents should always set a good example to their kids |
There are robots all around us. Some do very complicated jobs like flying airplanes and driving subway trains. and some do one simple job. When an automatic washing machine is switched on, water pours in. The machine waits until the water is warm enough for washing clothes. It does this by “feedback”(反馈). Information about what is happening is feedback into the robot to tell what to do next. Our eyes, ears and other senses are our feedback. They tell us what is going on around us. So robots are like human beings in two ways. They work and they have feedback.
In some ways robots are better than human beings. They work quickly and do not make mistakes. They do not get bored doing the same job over and over again. And they never get tired. So robots are very useful in factories. They can be taught to do many different jobs. First their electronic brain must be shown how the job is done. A person moves the robot’s “arms” and “hands” through each part of the job.
The most intelligent robots can move and see. Their eyes are cameras. Their fingers can feel shapes and sizes of the objects. These robots have computer brains linked to their eyes and fingers, which control their actions. The expensive robots are used in scientific research. They do such job as handling radioactive materials.In this passage the author tells us that ________.
| A．robots are very popular |
| B．there are various kinds of robots |
| C．we see robots only at certain times |
| D．robots can be easily controlled |
What does the author seem to inform you about robots?
| A．They should be greatly improved. |
| B．They will probably take over in the future. |
| C．They are very helpful and useful to humans. |
| D．They are machines that break down a lot. |
The author says that in industry ________.
| A．robots break down a lot |
| B．robots can do many jobs |
| C．robots only get in the way |
| D．robots sometimes cause troubles |
The fact that a robot never gets bored doing the same job means that _______.
| A．it is very much like human beings |
| B．it can do boring jobs for people |
| C．it will never bore people |
| D．it will work much better than human beings |
The robots used for scientific research _______.
| A．are not very clever | B．are very cheap |
| C．are very big | D．are very costly |
As a boy, Sanders was much influenced(影响) by books about the sea, but by the age of fifteen he had decided to become a doctor rather than a sailor. His father was a doctor. So he was often with the doctors and got along very well with them. When he was fourteen, he was already hanging around the hospital where he was supposed to be helping to clean the medicine bottles, but was actually trying to listen to the doctors’ conversations with patients in the next room.
During the war Sanders served in the army as a surgeon(外科医生). “That was the happiest time of my life. I was dealing with real sufferers and on the whole making a success of my job.” In Rhodes he taught the country people simple facts about medicine. He saw himself as a life-saver. He had proved his skill to himself and had a firm belief that he could serve those who lived simply, and were dependent upon him. Thus, while in a position to tell them what to do he could feel he was serving them.
After the war, he married and set up a practice deep in the English countryside, working under an old doctor who hated the sight of blood. This gave the younger man plenty of opportunity(机会) to go on working as a life-saver. When he was a small boy, books about the sea had made Sanders want to be ___.
| A．a surgeon | B．an army man | C．a sailor | D．a life-saver |
At the age of 14, Sanders ___.
| A．worked as a doctor by cleaning the medicine bottles |
| B．met some doctors who were very friendly to him |
| C．was interested in talking with patients |
| D．remained together with the doctors |
His experience in the Army proved that ___.
| A．he was good at medical operations on the wounded |
| B．he succeeded in teaching people how to save their lives themselves |
| C．a doctor was the happiest man |
| D．his wish of being a life-saver could hardly come true |
Having proved his skill to himself, Sanders ___.
| A．wanted to live a simple life like a countryman |
| B．came to realize that he was really working for his countrymen |
| C．taught himself life-saving |
| D．was highly respected by the old doctor |
When the war was over, he ___.
| A．learned from an old doctor because he was popular |
| B．started to hate the sight of blood while working |
| C．served the countrymen under an old doctor who needed someone to help him |
| D．had few chances to be a “life-saver” because he was younger |
A young man went to a town and worked there. He did not have a wife and a servant did the work in his house.
The young man liked laughing a lot. He nailed the servant’s shoes to the floor on Monday, and then laughed, because he put his feet in them and fell down.
The servant was not angry, but smiled. Then the young man put brushes in his bed on Tuesday. The servant got into bed and hit the brushes with his feet. He was afraid. The young man laughed loudly again. Again the servant was not angry, but smiled.
Then on Wednesday the young man said to his servant, “You’re a nice, kind man. I am not going to be unkind to you again.”
The servant smiled and said, “And I’m not going to put any more mud from the street in your coffee.” The young man went to a town ___.
| A．to study | B．to work | C．to see his relative | D．to spend his holiday |
He played a joke on the servant because ___.
| A．he hated him |
| B．he was not satisfied with the food the servant prepared for him |
| C．he wanted to get pleasure |
| D．he liked to show off himself |
When the young man played a joke on him, the servant was not angry but smiled because ___.
| A．he liked the young man’ s action |
| B．making the young man laugh is his job |
| C．he was afraid to be fired |
| D．he thought he shouldn’t be angry with a child |
What did the servant do in return to the young man?
| A．He stole something from the house. |
| B．He gave a smile to the young man. |
| C．He had a fight with him. |
| D．He put mud into the young man’s coffee. |
Why did the young man stop playing jokes on the servant?
| A．Because the servant showed kind and nice behaviour to him |
| B．Because the servant told him the truth |
| C．Because he wanted to be a good man |
| D．Because his father told him to do so |
Dorothea Dix left home at an early age — of her own free will — to live with her grandmother.
At fourteen, Dorothea was teaching school at Worcester, Massachusetts. A short time after she had begun teaching, she set up a school for young girls in her grandparents’ home, which she conducted until she was thirty-three.
She was forced to give up teaching at her grand-parents’ home, however, when she became ill, a few years of inactivity followed.
In 1841 Dorothea began to teach again, accepting a Sunday school class in the East Cambridge, Massachusetts prison. Here she first came upon insane people (精神病人) locked up together with prisoners.
In those days insane people were treated even worse than prisoners. There were only a few madhouses in the entire country. Therefore prisons, poor houses, and houses of correction were used to keep the insane.
Dorothea Dix made a careful investigation(调查) of the inhuman treatment of the insane. It was considered unusual for a woman to devote herself to such work at that time. But this did not stop Dorothea Dix from providing proper medical care for the insane.
Gradually, because of her investigations, conditions were improved. More than thirty mental institutions were founded or rebuilt in the United States because of her hard work. Dorothea also spread her investigations to England and to other parts of Europe.
During the Civil War, Dorothea served as superintendent(负责人) of women hospital nurses in the Union army. When the war was over, she returned to her work of improving conditions for insane people. What kind of school was Dorothea’s school at Worcester, Massachusetts?
How did Dorothea Dix first realize the mistreatment of insane people?
Why was Dorothea Dix’s work with the insane interrupted(中断)？
How are the events of Dorothea Dix’s life presented in the passage?
What does this article mainly tell us about?
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