Dear daughter,
As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind.
I want to tell you how proud we are. Getting into Columbia is a real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are. Your academic, artistic, and social skills have truly blossomed in the last few years. You have become a talented and accomplished young woman.
College will be the most important years in your life. It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about. You often question "what good is this course". I encourage you to be inquisitive, but I also want to tell you: "Education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten." What I mean by that is the materials taught isn't as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subject, and the ability to analyze a new problem. That is really what learning in college is about – this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner. So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn't critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever.
Follow your passion in college. Take courses you think you will enjoy. Don't be trapped in what others think or say. Steve Jobs says when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement, he gave the great example where he took calligraphy, and a decade later, it became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts, which later ignited desktop publishing, and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word to our lives. His expedition into calligraphy was a dot, and the Macintosh became the connecting line. Enjoy picking your dots, and be assured one day you will find your calling, and connect a beautiful curve through the dots of yourself .
Most importantly, make friends and be happy. College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are closer to them physically than to your family. Also, going through independence and adulthood is a natural bonding experience.
So please treasure your college years – make the best of your free time, become an independent thinker in control of your destiny, evolve yourself into a bi-cultural talent, be bold to experiment, learn and grow through your successes and challenges.
When I faced the greatest challenge and opportunity in my life in 2005, you gave me a big hug and said "bonne chance", which means "good luck" and "good courage". Now I do the same for you. Bonne chance, my angel and princess. May Columbia become the happiest four years in your life, and may you blossom into just what you dream to be.
Love,
Dad (& Mom)What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The daughter is a well-rounded college student. |
| B．The father faced the greatest challenge in 2006. |
| C．The daughter is a freshman in college. |
| D．Steve Jobs gave the great example where he took calligraphy at Columbia commencement. |
The father may agree that _____.
| A．you will be well-educated if you forget all is taught |
| B．there are only master-inspired students in college |
| C．the daughter will be thinner if she goes on a diet |
| D．the skills of learning is very important for his daughter’s life |
The example of Steve Jobs in Paragraph 4 is to show _____.
| A．how Steve Jobs invented the basis of the Macintosh fonts |
| B．it is important for the daughter to follow her passion in college |
| C．Steve Jobs made great contributions to Microsoft Word |
| D．the father wishes his daughter to be as successful as Steve Jobs |
College friends are often the best to you because_____.
| A．your family are far away while college friends are around you within an easy reach |
| B．they are closer to you psychologically than to your family |
| C．they are better than your family |
| D．going through independence and adulthood is unusual bonding experience |
Honesty comes in many forms. First there’s self-honesty. Is what people see the real article or do you appear through smoke and mirrors? I find that if I try to be something I’m not, I feel unsure of myself and take out a part from my PBA(personal bank account). I love how singer Judy Garland put it , “Always be a first-class version of yourself,instead of a second-class version of somebody else.”
Then there’s honesty in our actions. Are you honest at school, with your parents, and with your boss? If you’ve ever been dishonest, I think we all have, try being honest, and notice how whole it makes you feel. Remember, you can’t to wrong and feel right. This story by Jeff is a good example of that:
In my second year of study, there were three kids in my math class who didn’t do well.
I was really good at it. I would charge them three dollars for each test that I helped them pass. I’d write on a little piece of paper all the right answers, and hand them off.
At first I felt like I was making money, kind of a nice job. I wasn’t thinking about how it could hurt all of us. After a while I realized I shouldn’t do that anymore, because I wasn’t really helping them They weren’t learning anything, and it would only get harder down the road. Cheating certainly wasn’t helping me.
It takes courage to be honest when people all around you are getting away with cheating on tests, lying to their parents, and stealing at work. But, remember, every act of honesty is a deposit(储蓄)into your PBA and will build strength.The underlined part “appear through smoke and mirrors” in the first paragraph means “ ”.
| A．to be honest |
| B．to be unreal |
| C．to become clear |
| D．to come from an imagined world |
Which of the following can best explain Judy Garland’s words?
| A．Be your true self rather than follow others. |
| B．Don’t copy others or you can’t be the first class. |
| C．Make efforts to be the first instead of the second. |
| D．Don’t learn from others unless they’re excellent. |
What does the author expect to show by Jeff’s story?
| A．Honesty can be of great help. |
| B．A bad thing can be turned into a good one. |
| C．Helping others cheat can do good to nobody. |
| D．One should realize the wrong in his bad deeds. |
In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express .
| A．one must be brave to be honest |
| B．it’s difficult to be honest when others are not |
| C．one should be honest when making a deposit |
| D．honestly in one’s actions can help him in the future |
The interview has been going on for about 20 minutes and everything seems to be going well．Then, suddenly, the interviewer asks an unexpected question, “Which is more important, law or love?”
Job applicants in the West increasingly find themselves asked strange questions like this．And the signs are that this is beginning to happen in China．
Employers want people who are skilled, enthusiastic and devoted．So these are the qualities that any reasonably intelligent job applicant will try to show no matter what his or her actual feelings are．In response, employers are increasingly using the questions which try and show the applicant’s true personality．
The question in the first paragraph comes from a test called the Kiersey Temperament Sorter．It is an attempt to discover how people solve problems, rather than what they know．This is often called aptitude (天资) test．
According to Mark Baldwin of Alliance, many job applicants in China are finding this type of questions difficult．“When a Chinese fills out an aptitude test, he or she will think there is a right answer but they may fail because they try to guess what the examiner wants to see．”
This is sometimes called the prisoner’s dilemma(窘境)．Applicants are trying to act cleverly in their own interest, but they fail because they don’t understand what the interviewer is looking for．Remember that in an aptitude test, the correct answer is the honest answer．What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To give a piece of advice to job interviewees． |
| B．To tell you how to deal with job interviews． |
| C．To advise you how to find a good job． |
| D．To describe an aptitude test． |
According to the writer, in an aptitude test, Chinese job applicants should ________.
| A．not tell the truth |
| B．offer a complete answer |
| C．learn to tell what they really think |
| D．find out what the examiner wants to know |
From the passage we know that ________．
| A．job applicants are always trying to show their actual feelings |
| B．applicants should not act as cleverly as possible |
| C．more Chinese applicants fail to find a job |
| D．aptitude test is becoming world-wide popular |
Research shows that humans switch from selfish to unselfish behavior when they are watched. Do you?
A picture of a set of eyes on a computer screen can cause a change in the way people act. Even images of eyes on a charity donation, collection box encourage people to be unselfish, because people put more money in a collection box that has a picture of eyes on it than they do when a flower symbol is on the box.
Manfred Milinski from the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and Bettina Rockenbach of the University of Berlin, the authors of a new study, found that people act better when they are being watched because they feel they will be rewarded for good behavior. Their report also referred to other research showing that this response of behaving well when watched is somehow coded into humans and people respond this way unconsciously, or without realizing it.
It is not just humans that act unselfishly when they are being watched. A fish called the grooming fish cleans other fish. When other fish are around, it is gentler. When no other fish are around, however, the grooming fish bites chunks from the fish it is supposed to be cleaning. The researchers suggest that the best way to get people to behave in the correct way is to make them feel watched. This could be the reason for the success of a famous American army poster. On it was a picture of an elderly man staring fiercely and pointing, it appeared, to the person who was looking at the poster. Under the picture was the caption 'I Want You' It encouraged hundreds of thousands of young American men to join the army during the Second World War to fight the Germans and Japanese.According to the report, why does a person behave better when he feels he is being watched?
| A．He does not want to be shamed by others. |
| B．He needs to show he is a good person. |
| C．He desires others to like him more. |
| D．He feels he will receive some social reward. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．It describes changed behavior when observed. |
| B．It details ways to control people's behavior. |
| C．It tells how to make people work harder. |
| D．It discusses different advertising methods. |
According to the text, which of the following statements is true?
| A．People pretend to behave worse when they are watched. |
| B．Fish bite other fish in a fish tank when they are alone. |
| C．People donatemore money when they feel they are watched. |
| D．Soldiers fought better during World War II because of a poster. |
The underlined word “coded” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____
| A．hidden | B．programmed | C．forgotten | D．learnt |
Where would the study described in the text most likely be found?
| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a scientific journal. |
| C．In an advertising magazine. | D．In a science textbook. |
In my long years of teaching, I often ask my student to read the texts until they can recite（背诵） them, and I tell them that recitation is an important part of their homework. However, some of my students are tired of doing so, thinking that it is both hard and useless. They argue that it takes a long time to recite a text from memory and text itself never appears in a test paper.
In my opinion, it naturally takes time to recite a text, but it is worth doing so. When you are able to recite a text, you are sure to be familiar with the words and expressions. When you need them in reading or writing or doing exercises, they will come to your mind quickly, and so you will give quick response to all kinds of language situation. How can we say that it is useless?
Besides, many students complain that they soon forget what they were once able to recite. This is true, but you don’t need to worry. While you are reading and forgetting the texts, your language level is being raised. Sure you don’t remember your Chinese texts that you once read in the primary school, but now you are able to read novels and newspaper. So, recitation of the texts will help you improve your language ability.What do the students think about the teacher’s advice? _______.
| A．The English teacher tries his best to help them with English. |
| B．The English teacher is very kind to them. |
| C．The English teacher asks them to do something useless. |
| D．The English teacher should let them study on their own. |
When the students are against his suggestion, the writer_______.
| A．often criticizes them |
| B．patiently explains to them why they should recite the texts |
| C．wants to give up his idea |
| D．is afraid that he is criticized by the headmaster. |
Why does the writer suggest that the students recite the text?_____.
| A．Reciting the texts can improve the ability of applying English. |
| B．Reciting the texts is the best way of learning English. |
| C．The students should remember all the texts that the teacher has taught them. |
| D．Reciting the texts can greatly improve the classroom teaching. |
They think they're lucky and it's Christmas again. They can't see that we live on a dirty street in a shabby house among people who aren't much good. Johnny and the children can't see how pitiful it is that our neighbors have to make happiness out of this filth and dirt. My children must get out of this. But how? The money that we've saved isn't nearly enough.
The McGaritys have money, but they are show-offs with it. The McGarity girl just yesterday stood out there in the street eating from a bag of cookies while a ring of hungry children watched her. I saw those children looking at her and crying in their hearts, and when she couldn't eat any more, she threw the rest down the sewer(阴沟).
Miss Jackson who teaches at the Settlement House isn't rich, but she knows things. She understands people. Her eyes look straight into yours when she talks with you. Everybody else here looks away because they're ashamed of their lives. I'd like to see the children would be like Miss Jackson when they grew up. The writer's family is the poorest one on that street.
The McGarity girl is characterized as rich and nice.
The writer thinks Miss Jackson is an example her children should follow.
The writer wants to move out of that district.
Watching the rich girl eating cookies, those hungry children cried.
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