Mr. Sankaram, a physics teacher, was known for his antics(滑稽动作)in his classroom to make the dull lessons in physics lively and interesting. Mixing different chemical drugs in the lab to become new substances in chemistry makes students excited. While studying botany or zoology, students can visit a garden or zoo. But physics limits students to listening to the boring lectures which are hard to understand. For example, why an apple dropping from a tree travels downwards but not upwards. But Mr. Sankaram’s classroom antics to cause students to listen to topics such as how sound travels in air or why light travels faster than sound made him stand out from the rest of the teachers.
At that time, most students in our school attended the college to please their parents, and some parents were proud of their children for simply attending a college, no-matter whether they benefited or not. They didn’t study hard. But a few students were diligent and they wanted to study pre-medical courses to gain admission into the medical school. The schooling of pre-medical courses was very expensive. The college was next to the medical school. The wall separating them was about four feet high. Few tried to jump over the wall to get free pre-medical courses. Doing this was at risk of injuries and the climbing was forbidden.
The college where Mr. Sankaram taught was known for unruly and naughty students. The unruly students usually sat at the back of the classroom. When a student from the back of the classroom tried to disrupt the class, Mr. Sankaram would say, “Dare you go ahead to make noise? Can you jump over the four-foot wall to get into the medical school?” The student’s face went red and he became silent. In the physics class . I sat in the first row to escape from the troublemakers at the back. One day during the class. Mr. Sankaram unexpectedly asked me, “Can you jump over the four-foot wall?” I shook my head and answered, “No, sir, I couldn’t jump over a one-foot wall, let alone a four-foot wall.” Mr. Sankaram wasn’t satisfied with my reply but waved his hand for me to sit down. He looked at me in the eyes hard and said, “If you can. Believe in yourself!”
There were stories about Mr. Sankaram’s past history. As a student at same college years ago, he went into much depression for some time when he couldn’t get into the medical school. In fact he could have been admitted by the school by his ability of studying. Because his family couldn’t afford his pre-medical courses and he didn’t dare to climb the wall, he often walked back and forth along the four-foot wall talking to himself and sometimes cried over his failure. Whether this story was true or false it was passed on from year to year. So Mr. Sankaram had a nickname “four-foot.” It was true that he left his dream to his students and he began challenging the students’ ability to jump over the four-foot wall to get into the medical school.
As a student I failed at my attempt to get admission into the medical school. In fact not all students wanted to be a doctor. And years later I ended up as a chemistry teacher at the same college. I thank Mr. Sankaram for his encouragement to me, and I am determined to follow his example to make my class interesting. Mr. Sankaram passed away years ago. He will always be remembered for his wonderful teaching techniques such as dancing movements and his encouraging words.Which subject was boring in the author’s opinion?
| A．Botany | B．Physics | C．Chemistry | D．zoology |
Most of the author’s schoolmates went to college to _____.
| A．make their parents happy |
| B．learn a skill of making a living |
| C．study abroad after graduation |
| D．find a good job after graduation |
Why wasn’t Mr. Sankaram satisfied with the author’s reply?
| A．He didn’t think the author was diligent. |
| B．He thought the author lacked confidence. |
| C．The author didn’t know what he meant |
| D．The author was shy while answering it. |
Mr. Sankaram’s failing to get into the medical school______.
| A．resulted in getting his nickname “four-foot” |
| B．caused him to be forever depressed and to cry every day |
| C．made him work hard to let his students realize his dream |
| D．made him complain the life was unfair and he was not lucky |
We can infer from this passage that the author_____.
| A．wanted to become a doctor very much in fact |
| B．regretted that he didn’t respect Mr. Sankaram |
| C．was born in a rich family and once a good student |
| D．is a good teacher in the college where he once studied |
We often use the words growth and development as if they meant essentially the same thing. But this may not always be the case. One can easily imagine instances in which a country has achieved higher levels of income (growth) with little or no benefit coming to most of its citizens (development).
In the past, most development policies were aimed increasing the growth rate of income per capita. Many still are, based on the theory that benefits of economic growth will come to all members of society. If this theory is correct, growth should promote development.
By the early 1970s, however, the relationship between growth and development was being questioned. A major study by the World Bank in 1974 concluded that it is now clear that more than a decade of rapid growth in underdeveloped countries has been of little benefit to a third of their population.
The World Bank study indicated that increases in GNP per capita did not promise important improvements in such development indicators as nutrition, health, and education. Although GNP per capita did indeed rise, its benefits come down to only a small part of the population. This realization gave rise to a call for new development policies. These new policies favored agriculture over industry, called for domestic redistribution of income and wealth, and encouraged programs to satisfy such basic needs as food and shelter.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the international macroeconomic crises of high oil prices, worldwide recession, and third world debt forced attention away from programs designed to get rid of poverty. However, the lesson remains: economic growth does not promise economic development. Efforts may be required to change growing output capacity into economic benefits that reach most of a nation’s people. As to the relationship between growth and development, what can we infer from the passage?
| A．Development is a reliable measure of growth. |
| B．Growth always brings about development. |
| C．Development is not necessarily the result of growth. |
| D．Growth and development refer to the same thing. |
According to the study by the World Bank in 1974,economic growth in some background countries brought
| A．benefit only to a third of their population. |
| B．almost no benefit to a third of their population. |
| C．little benefit to their people. |
| D．no benefit at all to their people. |
The programs designed to get rid of poverty were not very well carried out because the government
| A．knew that growth didn’t promise development. |
| B．gave too much attention to increases in GNP per capita. |
| C．wished to replace the programs with new development policies. |
| D．was busy solving other more serious economic problems. |
If the passage continues, what is the author most likely to discuss in the next paragraph?
| A．How to turn growth into development. |
| B．How to remove poverty from society. |
| C．How to decrease third world debt. |
| D．How to cope with economic crises. |
During the next several weeks I went completely to the wolves. I took a tiny tent and set it up on the shore of bay. The big telescope was set up in the mouth of the tent in such a way that I could observe the wolves by day or night.
Quite by accident I had pitched (set up) my tent within ten yards of one of the major paths used by the wolves. Shortly after I had taken up residence one of the wolves came back and discovered me and my tent, but he did not stop or hesitate in his pace. Later, one or more wolves used the track past my tent and never did they show the slightest interest in me. I felt uncomfortable at being so totally ignored. The next day I noticed a male wolf make boundary markers by passing water on the rounds of his family lands.
Once I had become aware of the strong feeling of property rights which existed among the wolves, I decided to use this knowledge to make them at least recognize my existence. One evening, after they had gone off for their regular nightly hunt I staked out a property of my own, including a long section of the wolves’ path. In order to ensure that my claim would not be overlooked, I made a property mark on stones, dumps of moss, and patches of vegetation with a lot of tea. Before the hunters came back, task was done, and I retired, somewhat exhausted, to observe results. A few minutes later, the leading male appeared. As usual he did not bother to glance at the tent, but when he reached the point where my property line intersected (cut across) the trail, he stopped as suddenly as if he had run into an invisible wall.
Cautiously, he extended his nose and sniffed at one of my marked bushes. After a minute of hesitation he backed away a few yards and sat down. Then, he looked directly at the tent and at me.
His glare seemed to become more fierce as I attempted to stare him down. The situation was becoming intolerable. To break the impasse I turned my back on the wolf. Then quickly and with an air of decision, he turned his attention away from me and began a systematic tour of the area I had staked out as my own. As he came to each boundary marker he sniffed it once or twice, then carefully placed his mark on the outside of mine. Why did the wolves manage to ignore the author’s presence?
| A．Because his tent was out of the wolves’ estate boundaries. |
| B．Because the author and the wolves were already good friends. |
| C．Because they did not know him at all. |
| D．Because the wolves were afraid of strangers. |
Which is TRUE according to the passage ?
| A．The author likes staring matches esp. with wolves. |
| B．Staking the land was very easy. |
| C．Wolves can see the estate boundaries clearly with their eyes. |
| D．The author managed to know why the wolves ignore his presence. |
What was the author’s discovery?
| A．Wolves were not settled beasts, as is almost universally believed. |
| B．Wolves were settled beasts and the possessors of an estate with definite boundaries. |
| C．Wolves were not interested with strangers. |
| D．Wolves’ family was dominated by a female. |
Why did the author stake out an area of his own?
| A．Because he thought it better to be stared at than to be ignored. |
| B．Because he didn’t want the wolves to use the track past his tent. |
| C．Because he wanted the wolves to take cognizance of his existence. |
| D．Because he wanted to find out how fierce the wolf’s glare was. |
If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of our brains are not getting enough exercise and, as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon.
Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why quite healthy in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a rather early age, and how the speed of getting old could be slowed down.
With a team of researchers at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain volumes of a thousand people of different ages with different jobs. Computer technology helped the researchers to get most exact measurements of the volume of the front and side parts of the brain, which have something to do with intellect and feelings, and decide the human character. As we all know, the back part of the brain, which controls task like eating and breathing, does not contract with age.
Contraction of front and side parts—as cells die off—was seen in some people in their thirties, but it was still not found in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.
Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to prevent the contraction—using the head.
The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than in the towns. “Those with least possibility,” says Matsuzawa, “are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White collar workers doing the same work day after day in government offices are, however, as possible to have contracting brains as the farm worker, bus driver and shop assistant.” The team of doctors wanted to find out _____.
| A．at what point people grow mentally old |
| B．how to make people live longer |
| C．the size of certain people’s brains |
| D．which people are the most clever |
Their research findings are based on _____.
| A．an examination of farmers in northern Japan |
| B．tests given on a thousand old people |
| C．examining the brain volumes of different people |
| D．using computer technology |
The doctors’ tests show that _____.
| A．our brains contract as we grow older |
| B．one part of the brain does not contract |
| C．sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds |
| D．some people’s brains have contracted earlier than other people’s |
The most possible conclusion of the passage is that _____.
| A．most of us take more exercise |
| B．it’s better to live in the town |
| C．the brain contracts if it is not used |
| D．the more one uses his brain, the sooner he becomes old |
What if we could replace oil with a fuel which produced no pollution and which everybody had equal access to?The good news is that we can, In fact, we are swimming in it—literally.
Hydrogen is one of the building blocks of the universe ,Our own sun is basically ,a big ,dense cloud of the stuff ,And hydrogen can be used to create electricity for power ,heat and light.
The problem is that hydrogen is everywhere and nowhere at the same time , It does not exist as a material on its own ,but is always part of something else, So it has to be separated before it can be used.
Most commercial hydrogen in use now is created from natural gas , As oil will start to run out in around the year 2030.,it makes sense to produce as much hydrogen as possible as soon as we can ,But natural gas supplies will also begin to run out soon after, Another source is needed.
Researchers are now using electricity to make water into hydrogen ,Companies are working on the problem in their own areas ,The first commercial hydrogen ,”fuel cells”for computers and mobile phones have already come on to the market ,Auto companies have also invested over US ＄2billion in the production of hydrogen fuelled cars
Thd nations of a hydrogen fuelled planet would not fight over evergy recourses, There would be a great reduction in pollution ,The only by-product of creating hydrogen is pure drinking water—something that is very scarce in many parts of the world ,But that is not where the good news ends, Once the costs of producing hydrogen have been brought down ,it will possibly provide power for a third of the Earth ‘s population that has no electricity.
And electricity creates wealth, In South A frica over the last decade there has been a large programme of electrification, Thanks to the programme , people do not have to spend their days looking firewood to burn for heat, And with electric light , they can work long into the night.
Some scientists see radical changes in the way the human race co-operates, Hydrogen creates clectricity, and is also created by it. With dual use fuel cells, everyone who consumes energy could also produce it ,Late at night, a man drives home in London and connects his car into the “world-wide hydrogen web”, which it supplies with electricity ,A few hours later, a man in Beijing uses that electricity to power the hydrogen cell in his car, Hydrogen could be the first democratic energy source.
Like all dreams of the future, it seems very far away, But the threat of war and terrorism in the Middle East has made governments and businesses more aware of the need to edn oil dependency and spend more time and money on hydrogen resource, So maybe the threat of war is not a completely bad thing for the future of the human race.What does the underlined word “it”in the last but one paragraph refer to?
| A．wealth | B．hydrogen | C．electricity | D．fuel |
What is the problem with using hydrogen as energy?
| A．It has by-products |
| B．It has to be separated from other materials |
| C．It will make energy too cheap |
| D．It is too far away from us |
Why does the author give the example in the last but one paragraph?
| A．To tell us that we produce energy while using hydrogen power |
| B．To tell us that hydrogen power does not produce pollution |
| C．To show hydrogen power can stop war |
| D．To show hydrogen power is cheap |
What is the author’s attitude about the future?
| A．skeptical | B．negative | C．indifferent | D．positive |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．war and energy |
| B．the future of hydrogen as an energy resource |
| C．the disadvantages of oil |
| D．How to end war |
The high cost of living in Sydney causes city parents to worry more about their children.
New research by the Financial Services Council (FSC)shows that 75% of metropolitan mums and dads say their ability to earn is important to the well-being of their kids, Tet a greater proportion(比例)of Sydney parents think children suffer emotionally by having two full-time working parents .AS a result 46%of Sydneysiders feel their Kids could be happier , against 38%of both Melbourne and regional New South Wales mums and dads.
The FSC research ,which interviewed 1200 parents across the country ,also shows 66% of Sydneysiders believe the happiness of their children would be greatly affected if they or their partner couldn’t work.
The FSC undertook the survey as part of its Lifewise campaign ,to encourage Australians to protect themselves against financial hardship.
Chairman of the Lifewise campaign John Crosswell said：“The research findings quite clearly highlight that Sydney parents prioritise (优先考虑)their ability to earn money and yet because they are so busy doing so, it seems that their ability to spend time with their family is affected .Sydney parents are dedicated to earning money but as a consequence, perhaps they don’t have the time to enjoy spending it with their family.”
In sydney ,the top factor for creating an ideal childhood is financial security ,at 92%.Fewer parents rate having a tigh-knit family(89%)or living near friends and family (85%)as important.
David and Ari Dearnley ,of North Manly ,said money pressure was hard to avoid in Sydney ,They both work and said family finances would be severely hard if one of them couldn’t
But only Mrs Dearnly has income-protection insurance, “I think that I don’t really need it yet”,Mr Dearnly ,37, said.
“I think he’s mad”,Mrs Dearnly ,also 27 ,said,“If David couldn’t work it would have a huge impact on our lifestyle.”
“Looks like I’ll be getting it tomorrow,”Mr Dearnly responded.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The findings of a study on how Sydney people go through financial hardship with their family |
| B．A survey on the factors that may have influences on Sydney children’s happy childhood |
| C．a survey on the relations between children’s happiness and their parents’ability to earn in Sydney |
| D．A comparison between Sydney people and those of other cities on their views about earning money |
From the passage we can infer that
| A．Three quarters of Sydney parents think children may have emotional problems |
| B．less than half of Sydney parents think their children now are not as happy as they expect |
| C．Most Sydney parents think family finances are the only factor that impact children’s childhood |
| D．A bout two thirds of Sydney parents think children would be happier if they could‘t work |
What does Lifewise campaign aim to?
| A．Encouraging Australian people avoid the harm of financial problems |
| B．Helping Sydney parents find a suitable job? |
| C．Making Australian people improve their ability to earn |
| D．A ttracting Sydney people to buy insurance |
According to John Crosswell, we can learn that
| A．Income-protection insurance has an impact on the lifestyle of a Sydney family |
| B．If moe of the parents couldn’t work their family finances will be clearly affected |
| C．Sydney parents are in a dilemma of devoting to work and enjoying family life |
| D．Sydney parents now can make a balance between their work and family life |
What does “it ”underlined in the last paragraph refer to?
| A．Work | B．Insurance | C．Income | D．Pressure |
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