With all the wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, it's not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us get through each and every day of our lives. Putting a smile on someone's face when you know they are feeling down in the dumps ( 处于沮丧中), as the saying goes, makes me feel good and warms my heart.
How would you feel if you could not joke around with your wife, husband, child, co-worker neighbor, close friend, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your comer store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don't know the person I'm joking around with.My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine.This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is common courtesy (礼貌) to speak to others that are around you.
I know of a few people that don’t have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say.Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the slightest smile on their face.They don't get the joke that makes others laugh. I am busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?
Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness in this present world. It drives people crazy. We all need to find a way to bypass the sadness and bring a little light into our lives. So, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.
The phrase “busting a gut" in the third paragraph can be replaced by __________.
| A．explaining carefully | B．speaking loud |
| C．keeping silent | D．laughing hard |
Canadian short story writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Eighty-two-year-old Munro is only the 13th woman to win the 112-year-old prize．
Munro didn’t publish her first collection of short stories until she was 37 years old, but her stories have always been well-received. Lots of her stories share similar themes and characters, but each story has its own twists and turns．
Even though she’s won Canada’s most famous literary award, the Giller Prize, twice, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature is the cherry on top of Munro’s career. “It brings this incredible recognition, both of her and her career, and of the dedication to the short story,” said one person．
Along with the well-respected title comes 1．3 million dollars．Munro said everything was “so surprising and wonderful” and that she was “dazed by all the attention and affection that has been coming my way．”
Munro knew she was in the running-she was named the second-most likely person to win this year’s prize, after Haruki Murakami（村上春树）of Japan-but she never thought that she would win．
Munro’s win also represents the long way Canadian writers have come．“When I began writing there was a very small community of Canadian writers and little attention was paid by the world．Now Canadian writers are read, admired and respected around the globe,” Munro said on Thursday．
She is technically not the first Canadian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but many like to think that she is．In 1976 Saul Bellow, who was born in Quebec but moved to Chicago when he was still a child, won the prize．Even though he was born in Canada, he is mostly considered to be an American writer．
“This is a win for us all．Canadians, by our very nature, are not very nationalistic,” said Geoffrey Taylor．“But things like this suddenly make you want to find a flag．”
She wasn’t sure if she would keep writing if she won the prize, saying that it would be “nice to go out with a bang．But this may change my mind．”What is the feature of Munro’s stories?
| A．They have their own complicated （复杂的）contents． |
| B．They have similar story backgrounds． |
| C．They have specific themes for children． |
| D．They have the same characters in each book． |
For Munro, the Nobel Prize is an award for______．
| A．her love for Canadian culture |
| B．her devotion to the short story |
| C．her special form of writing |
| D．her career of editing short stories |
What is implied in the sixth paragraph?
| A．Canadian writers paid little attention to the prize． |
| B．Canadian writers are just a small community． |
| C．Canadian writers have long been ignored． |
| D．Canadians have a long way to win the prize． |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．How Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize |
| B．An introduction to the Nobel Prize in Literature |
| C．Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize in Literature |
| D．A world famous writer, Alice Munro |
D
Ms．Rossi owns the Roadside Motel（汽车游客旅馆），which has 50 units．She wishes to keep a handy record of the number of units occupied（占用）．To do this she uses a calendar and writes the number of units occupied in a small box in the right-hand square of each date．The following questions are based on the occupancy rate（率） for July．The total number of units occupied during the week of July 14 through July 20 was ______．
| A．234 | B．239 | C．240 | D．244 |
The average（平均） occupancy rate for Thursday was ________．
| A．29 | B．31 | C．27 | D．28 |
Ms．Rossi regards a 90% occupancy rate as excellent．On how many days during the month did the Roadside Motel have a 90% or better rate of occupancy?
| A．6． | B．5． | C．4． | D．1． |
After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletics have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletics and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin．These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability．But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest Paralympics will not be taking part．
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson．Born with spina bifida （脊椎裂） which left her paralyzed from the waist down．Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7．At first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom．But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously．She tried swimming, basketball and tennis．Eventually
she found athletics, and never looked back．
Indeed, Tanni’s athletic career took off．In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games．
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul．She won bronze in the 400 metres．Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona．Paralympics．Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process．In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories．
Tanni’s enduring success had been part motivation（动机）, part preparation, “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter（短跑运动员） enables me to be good at a marathon too．I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to race．I am still competing at a very high lever, but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart．”
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007．Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games．
In spite of ups and downs, she never take her fate lying down．In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in series of Paralympics--- a top lever athletic career covering two decades．She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records．
What advice does she have for young athletes? “Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again．”Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
| A．Basketball | B．Swimming． |
| C．Tennis． | D．Horse-riding． |
When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
| A．In 1984． | B．In 1988． |
| C．In 1992． | D．In 2007． |
The underlined word “that” in the 5th paragraph refers to _______．
| A．fifty weeks’ training |
| B．being a good sprinter |
| C．training almost every day |
| D．part motivation and part preparation |
What’s the right order of the events related to Tanni?
a．She works as a coach．
b．She took up athletics．
c．She won four gold medals in Barcelona．
d．She competed in her first Paralympic Games．
e．She achieved a victory in her first London Wheelchair Marathon．
| A．b,d,c,e,a | B．a,d,b,c,e |
| C．a,d,c,e,b | D．b,d,a,e,c |
What can we learn from Tanni’s success?
| A．Union is strength． |
| B．Never too late to learn． |
| C．Well begun is half done． |
| D．No pains, no gains． |
I would never forget the time when we were standing at the top of a church tower．My father had brought me to this spot in a small town not far from our home in Rome．I wondered why．
“Look down, Elsa，” Father said．I gathered all my courage and looked down．I saw the square in the center of the village．And I saw the crisscross （纵横交错） of streets leading to the square．“See, my dear，” Father said gently．“There is more than one way to the square．Life is like that．If you can't get to the place where you want to go by one road, try another．”
Now I understood why I was there．Earlier that day I had begged my mother to do something about the awful lunches that were served at school．But she refused because she didn't believe the lunches were as bad as I said．
When I turned to Father for help, he would not interfere （干涉）．Instead, he brought me to this high tower to give me a lesson．By the time we reached home, I had a plan．
At school the next day, I secretly poured my lunch soup into a bottle and brought it home．Then I asked our cook to serve it to Mother at dinner．The plan worked perfectly．She swallowed one spoonful and sputtered, “The cook must have gone bad！” Quickly I told what I had done, and Mother stated firmly that she would deal with the matter of lunches at school the next day!
In the following years I often remembered the lesson Father taught me．I began to work as a fashion designer two years ago．I wouldn't stop working until I tried every possible means to my goal．Father's wise words always remind me that there is more than one way to the square．The author's father took her to the top of a church tower to ________．
| A．find out how many ways lead to the square |
| B．enjoy the beautiful scenery of the whole town |
| C．help her forget some unpleasant things earlier that day |
| D．inspire her to find out another way to solve her problem |
What did the author want her mother to do earlier that day?
| A．Do something delicious for lunch． |
| B．Speak to the school about lunch． |
| C．Taste her awful lunch． |
| D．Dismiss the cook． |
The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means ________．
| A．the cook agreed to serve the soup to Mother |
| B．the matter of lunch was successfully settled |
| C．her father persuaded her mother successfully |
| D．the method the author thought of was effective |
On a freezing cold day, a couple had to move into a small apartment because of their failure in business．The husband worked day and night to support the family but with no care of his wife．So she thought, “He doesn't love me any more, he just cares about his business ．．．not me”．
One day, she was about to take a shower when he stopped her at the door, “Let me take it first, okay？”“Why not me first？” she asked．“I am tired, honey, you take it later, okay？”She was entirely unhappy．
One day, she found nothing to do and turned on his computer．A few words came into her sight．Reading them, she burst into tears．It was his diary：
Today, I was quite sad．She asked me why I was always taking the shower first, and I said to her, I was exhausted．She was unhappy．In her mind, I treated her not as well as usual, but what could I do? I was not as rich as before! We moved to the small apartment, and there was only one shower in the bathroom．It was so cold to take a shower in such a cold winter．But I found that if one person took the shower first, the room could get a little warmer．So every day I rushed to the bathroom first．I was thinking that, when she took the shower, the room would get warmer, even if it was only 1℃．
Now I cannot give her a comfortable life, take her to good restaurants, or buy expensive dresses for her, but at least, I can give her 1℃love．Why did the couple move to the small apartment?
| A．Both of them were out of work． |
| B．They wanted to live a better life． |
| C．The man could take better care of his business． |
| D．They were too poor to live in the former house． |
Which of the following can replace the underlined word “exhausted”？
| A．Devoted． | B．Worried． | C．Tired． | D．Injured． |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．They would live a richer life soon． |
| B．The woman misunderstood her husband． |
| C．The man would care less about his business． |
| D．The woman would get angry after reading the diary． |
What's the best title of the passage?
| A．A Love Story | B．1℃Love |
| C．A Suffering Couple | D．Fight for the Bathroom |
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