Some people like modern art, while others say that is rubbish. But a cleaner who works in the Tate Gallery in London isn’t able to tell the difference. The woman, whose name isn’t known, mistook a work of art by the German painter Gustav Metzger for a bag of rubbish, and threw it out with other bags. The plastic bad, which contained pieces of paper and cardboard, was later recovered outside the gallery, but the artist thought that it was too damaged to be put on show again. 78-year-old Mr Metzger explained that the exhibit, which he said was a copy of a similar work he had created in 1960, was meant to show that all art is temporary and “finite”(有限的).
Embarrassed officials at the museum said that they had had to call a meeting with cleaners to explain which things should not be touched. They would not say whether Mr Metzger would be paid any compensation for the incident. However, to make absolutely sure the same thing would not happen again, they decided to cover Mr Metzger’s work every evening with a colored cloth. In this way the cleaners arriving after the gallery had closed to the general public would realize they should not touch it.
This is not the first time that museum cleaners have had trouble distinguishing exhibits from rubbish. In 2001, in another London gallery, a cleaner threw away a work by the well-known British artist Damien Hirst. It was an arrangement of empty beer bottles, coffee cups, and overflowing ashtrays, which were meant to indicate the chaos in the life of an artist.
However, cleaners don’t always throw things away—sometimes they clean them! This was the case with a dirty asking what the bath was doing in the gallery, the cleaners simply scrubbed it clean.What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Cleaners mistake modern art for rubbish |
| B．Modern art shouldn’t be cleaned |
| C．What makes a great work of art |
| D．Cleaners don’t always throw things away |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．People have different opinions on modern art |
| B．Mr Metzger would be paid much compensation |
| C．A work of Damien Hirst was thrown away by a cleaner in 2001 |
| D．Some modern work is about artists’ chaos of their life |
The last paragraph is written to show that____________.
| A．cleaners often make exhibits as clean as possible |
| B．cleaners can’t always differ exhibits from rubbish |
| C．exhibits are usually difficult to clean |
| D．exhibits are not always so beautiful |
Every athlete，from Tiger Woods(a golf player)to a high school quarterback(橄榄球赛中指挥反攻的四分卫)，uses a form of self-hypnosis(自我催眠)to move their game to the next level Use the Olympics to 1earn how to use the amazing power of your subconscious(潜在意识)to do the same with your sport.
Here are some examples of how to best use the power of the mind:
During the 2004 Olympics，one of the swimmers told of how she would fall asleep each night with the picture of a clock in her mind. It was the timer’s clock she would see at the end of her Olympic swim and it always had her world-record-breaking time on it.
In his pre-shot routine, Tiger Woods never varies the number of practice swings or intensity of his concentration．The pre-shot routine is always the same so that the stroke will always be the same.
Michael Phelps，American Swimming Gold Medalist, always stretches out his back and arms by swinging both arms three times before his event. Not 2，not 4: always 3. He is anchoring(固定)in his winning state of mind and state of body as well as stretching．
In athletics, an anchor is a gesture or series of gestures that put you into the frame-of mind(and body)you want to be in to win．Repetition is what makes it work .That means practice，practice，practice ---- with your body as well as your mind.
Begin right now creating a ritual(固定程序)before you exercise．Visualize yourself doing whatever you do faster, longer, higher—whatever adverb works best for your particular activity. Then begin to mentally practice it. See or imagine yourself-----with your ideal body ---- doing your activity better, faster, longer, etc. Using both the power of your brain and the activity of your body, soon you will be better and fitter as you use the Olympics to help you create a happier and healthier you.From the third paragraph, we know_______.
| A．the swimmer has already broken the world record once |
| B．the swimmer was using her mind power to build up confidence |
| C．the swimmer was too nervous to go to sleep before the Games |
| D．the swimmer has a problem in counting |
The example of Tiger Woods shows that .
| A．golf players always do the same pre—shots before events |
| B．Tiger Woods attaches great importance to mind power |
| C．Tiger Woods doesn’t want to give away his skills before events |
| D．golf players never change their habits |
Why does Michael Phelps always take the same warming-up activities before his events?
| A．Because back and arms are the most important parts for a swimmer. |
| B．Because this is the best stretching for any swimmer. |
| C．Because this is the best way to adjust his state |
| D．Because he wants to confuse his opponents (对手). |
From the sixth paragraph，we know that______.
| A．an anchor is the state of mind and body you want to win |
| B．you can make an anchor work by constant practice |
| C．the anchor is mainly related to the practice of the body in athletics |
| D．an anchor can make sure that you will do well in sports |
What’s the purpose of the text?
| A．To introduce some interesting habits of several famous athletes． |
| B．To remind us to take warming-up activities before taking exercise. |
| C．To encourage us to learn the warming-up exercise from successful athletes. |
| D．To advise us to learn to use the power of the mind. |
The only survivor of one of the two Sandy Hook Elementary School first-grade classrooms where Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children tricked the gunman by playing dead，the girl’s pastor(牧师)said.
“She ran out of the school building covered from head to toe with blood and the first thing she said to her mom was,“Mommy，I’m OK but all my friends are dead” Pastor Jim Solomon told ABC News’ Lara Spencer this weekend
“Somehow，at that moment, by God’s grace，she was able to act as she was already dead.”he said.
The girl, a 6-year-old whose name is not being announced for privacy(隐私)reasons，was the first student to appear from the lockdown(封锁)at Sandy Hook，Solomon said．He said the young girl described the shooter to her mom in a way that only a young child can．
“Well, she saw someone who she felt was angry and someone she felt was very mad，”Solomon said. “I think it's impossible without the help of God. She has wisdom beyond her years, for sure’’
Of the 20 children killed on Friday in the Newtown，Conn., school, eight were boys and l2 were girls Six staff members，all female, were also killed. The gunman,whose mother was also killed by him before he went to the schoo1 classrooms, was found dead at the present spot.
“The mom told me—and I thought this was very insightful(有深刻见解的)—that she was suffering from what she felt was survivor’s guilt because so many of her friends no longer have their children but she has hers,” Solomon said how the girl’s mother and father are handling the trauma(伤害)．“I don’t know whether l would have the type of faith that they have if the same thing happened to me.”How did the girl manage to avoid being shot?
| A．She pretended to be dead |
| B．She hid herself under the desk |
| C．She rushed out of the school building in time |
| D．She persuaded the shooter into not shooting her． |
Which of the following best describes the girl ?
| A．Talented and innocent | B．Serious and insightful |
| C．Active and happy | D．Clever and brave |
The killing case which happened in Sandy Hook Elementary School .
| A．ended up with the shooter being killed |
| B．was a shooting by a group of people |
| C．was due to the gunman getting angry with the pupils |
| D．was not open to the public for the moment |
Which of the following is TRUE about the girl’s mom?
| A．She was disappointed with the pastor |
| B．She felt very dissatisfied with other parents |
| C．She felt terribly sorry for those who had lost their children |
| D．She strongly condemned the police． |
What can we know from the text?
| A．It is not difficult for the parents to handle the trauma. |
| B．The girl’s parents have asked for help from their pastor． |
| C．The girl has helped the police in catching the gunman. |
| D．The gunman has worked in the school. |
The environmental group 350.org has launched a new campaign called Climate Name Change that proposes to revise to how hurricanes are named: call them after policymakers who say that humans are not to blame for global warming.
This will save the Katrinas and Sandys of the world from the injustice of having their names attached to major disaster, the group says. And, as a bonus, it will produce some peculiar weather reports.
“Rick Perry leaves trail of death,” appears under a broadcast titled “Rick Perry: The Tragedy.”
“Michelle Bachman is incredibly dangerous. If you value your life, please seek shelter from Michelle Bachman,” says an official while addressing a news conference.
The campaign is unlikely to influence the World Meteorological Organization, which has since 1954 named Atlantic tropical storms from an official list.
But the campaign’s goal seems less to actually name a hurricane after the speaker of the house, and more to call attention to an issue that this month has reached an alarming level of seriousness. The campaign comes just a month before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release its most recent report on the state of global warming and a week after a draft（草稿）of the report was given away to Reuters.
In the draft, scientists concluded with near certainty – about 95 percent sure – that humans are to blame for the worldwide temperature hikes over the last few decades. That was a revision from the 2007 report, which put scientific certainty that human activities were driving global climate change at about 90 percent.
And global warming, the report said, is not slowing down – it, actually, is accelerating. That means that sea levels could balloon upward as much as three feet by the end of the century, if emissions(排放量) continue at their current pace.
Still, as the Washington Post Climate notes, hurricanes are not the best sign of global warming. Though current data suggests that global warming will in the future stir up terrible super storms, there is still not enough evidence to support the idea that climate change strengthens the recent hurricanes that have torn at the US’s eastern coastline. It can be inferred that__________ is one of the policymakers who believe that humans are not to blame for global warming.
| A．Katrina | B．Rick Perry | C．Flossie | D．Sandy |
350.org has launched the campaign with the real purpose of _________________.
| A．changing the ways of naming hurricanes |
| B．introducing the methods of naming hurricanes |
| C．reminding policymakers to change their attitudes |
| D．calling attention to the coming report on global warming |
The draft of the global warming report tells us that _____________.
| A．global warming is speeding up at the same rate |
| B．it is human beings that have caused global warming |
| C．the new report has a more accurate data than the one in 2007 |
| D．human beings are not the only one to blame for global warming |
The writer of the passage seems to believe that______________.
| A．policymakers should be blamed for the global warming |
| B．the campaign will cause the change of naming hurricanes |
| C．global warming has no necessary relation to terrible hurricanes |
| D．global warming will surely cause terrible super storms in the future |
Do people ever consider the possibility that, if they’re exposed to increased reports about a social problem, it’s the reporting that has increased rather than the problem? It’s increasingly clear that this is the case with school bullying（欺凌）：Only news reports about it have increased, not the behavior itself. In fact, both bullying and fear of it are down among US middle school students
The rate of students who reported fearing an attack or harm at school at all has dropped dramatically, from nearly 12% in 1995 to less than 4% in 2011. For black and Hispanic students, it’s an even more encouraging shift—from more than 20% of both groups of students worried about being attacked at school to less than 5% in 2011.
The decline in actual physical violence in schools is even more dramatic: It was down 74% between 1992 and 2010, according to the latest US Department of Justice data.
What about cyberbullying? Online harassment increased from 6% in 2000 to 9% in 2005 to 11% in 2010 between, and it’s interesting to note that it increased less between 2005 and ’10 than in the first 5 years tracked. Because social media is very much a reflection of school social life for young people, the peer aggression seen in social media is a lot like the peer aggression seen on school bathroom walls. So once it finds its “dead level,” it will probably decline in the same way verbal and written aggression have.
Besides education and crime prevention at the social level, medicine treatment and better access to mental healthcare also contribute to this downward trend in victimization of self and others.
The rise of social media is what people don’t typically think of as a positive force in society. But Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire says, “These technologies might have prevented crime and bullying by providing more ways of help, more forms of social supervision, and interesting activities that destroy forms of alienation(异化) that lead to crime”. From the first paragraph we learn that __________.
| A．school bullying has increased because of increased reports |
| B．school bullying has decreased because of increased reports |
| C．the number of reports on school bullying has increased |
| D．the number of reports on school bullying has decreased |
The underlined word is closest in meaning to "_________".
| A．crime | B．aggression | C．surfing | D．communication |
The cyberbullying is still increasing probably because ________.
| A．it isn't as easy to control as the other school bullying |
| B．it hasn't been concerned by the governments |
| C．it isn't part of school social life |
| D．it hasn't come to its top level |
Finkelhor believes that social media have a ________ influence on the falling trend of school bullying.
| A．positive | B．negative | C．major | D．slight |
A towering South American plant that is believed to kill animals with its spikes(尖刺) and use their rotting bodies as fertilizer is about to bloom(开花) in England. A rare Puya chilensis was planted at a greenhouse in Surrey, a county in the southeast of England about 15 years ago. However, despite its frightening description, the tall, spiked plant is considered a threatened species.
The Royal Horticultural Society has been feeding the plant a diet of liquid fertilizer. “In its natural habitat in the Andes it uses its razor sharp spikes to snare and trap sheep and other animals, which slowly starve to death and rot at the base of the plant, providing it with a bag of fertilizer,” reads a description on the RHS website, which adds that the plant gives off a “gruesome scent.”
But does the plant actually trap and eat sheep? Other sources have simply said it is “believed” that the plant traps small animals with its spikes. After the animals die of starvation, the plant is "believed" to then use their rotting bodies as fertilizer to feed itself.
"I'm really pleased that we've finally persuaded our Puya chilensis into producing flower," horticulturalist Cara Smith said in a press release on the RHS site. Regardless of whether it actually traps sheep, the plant does have sharp spikes that can grow up to 12 feet high and 5 feet wide. However, it’s not all death and danger for this plant. Its flowery blooms reportedly provide nectar(花蜜) for bees and birds.
The Puya chilensis blooms annually in its native land of Chile, but this is the first time it has done so after more than a decade of cultivation efforts from the RHS. "We keep it well fed with liquid fertilizer as feeding it on its natural diet might prove a bit problematic,” Smith said. "It's growing in the dry section of our glasshouse with its deadly spines well out of reach of both children and sheep alike."From the passage we learn that in England the Puya chilensis _____.
| A．feeds on man-made liquid fertilizer |
| B．often kills sheep and other animals |
| C．has once bloomed 15 years before |
| D．uses animals' rotting bodies as fertilizer |
The underlined word “snare” in the second paragraph probably means“_________”.
| A．catch | B．stop | C．fight | D．kill |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．it's dangerous to feed the plant |
| B．it's certain that the plant kills sheep |
| C．it's difficult for the plant to bloom in England |
| D．it's rare for the plant to bloom in South American |
What does the writer mainly tell us?
| A．A new plant is discovered in Chile. |
| B．How a rare plant is fed in England. |
| C．A rare plant is going to bloom in England. |
| D．How a plant traps animals in South America. |
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