A woman renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office was asked to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
"What I mean is," explained the recorder, "do you have a job, or are you just a. . . "
"Of course I have a job," said Emily. "I'm a mother."
"We don't list in mother' as an occupation... in housewife' covers it," said the recorder.
One day I found myself in the same situation. The clerk was obviously a career woman, confident and possessed of a high sounding title. "What is your occupation?" she asked.
The words simply came out. "I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations. "
The clerk paused, ballpoint pen frozen in mid-air.
I repeated the title slowly, and then I stared with wonder as my statement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in this field?"
Coolly, without any trace of panic in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't), in the lab and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother disagrees?) , and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it) . But the job is more challenging than most careers and rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money. "
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and showed me out.
As I drove into our driveway, feeling happier by my attractive and exciting new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants-aged 13, 7 and 3.
Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (a 6-month-old baby), in the child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern.
I felt proud! I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and essential to mankind than "just another mother".
Motherhood... What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door.What can we infer from the conversation between the woman and the recorder at the beginning of the passage?
| A．The woman felt ashamed to admit what her job was. |
| B．The recorder was impatient and rude. |
| C．Motherhood was not recognized and respected as a job by society. |
| D．The author was upset about the situation that mothers faced. |
How did the female clerk feel at first when the author told her occupation?
| A．Puzzled. | B．Curious. |
| C．Upset. | D．Frightened. |
How did the author feel when describing her job to the clerk?
| A．Angry. | B．Calm. |
| C．Unconfident. | D．Annoyed. |
Why did the woman clerk show more respect for the author?
| A．Because the author cared little about rewards. |
| B．Because she admired the author's research work in the lab. |
| C．Because the author did something she had little knowledge of. |
| D．Because she thought the author did admirable work. |
What is the author's purpose of writing the passage?
| A．To show that motherhood is a worthy career and deserves respect. |
| B．To show how you describe your job affects your feelings toward it. |
| C．To show that the author had a grander job than Emily. |
| D．To show that being a mother is hard and boring work. |
Superman, Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man ... .There is no shortage of superheroes. You find them in comic books, on the TV and the big screen.
In a survey of fans by the sci-fi and fantasy website, SFX.co.uk, Batman, 70 years old this year, was voted Britain's favorite superhero.
Unlike many crime-fighting superheroes Batman has no special powers. He can't fly like Superman or shoot a sticky web like Spider-Man.
Bruce Wayne is born to a wealthy Gotham City business family. However, when his parents are murdered his life changes completely.
Wayne feels anger at their deaths and guilty that he did not prevent them. He travels around the world learning how to fight. Upon returning to Gotham, he creates a disguise (伪装) to enable him to fight crime without being recognized.
A childhood fear of bats leads him to choose to dress as one. His idea is that through the bat person he can prove to himself that he has overcome his childhood fears.
Wayne is the CEO of the company he inherits (继承) from his father. He seems to live the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy. But this is a ruse (计策). He works hard at the image to allow himself the freedom he needs to do his work as a crime fighter. "Bruce Wayne, playboy" is the disguise Batman is the real person.
"Wayne is not a born superhero. Instead, he is a real, complex person," said Dace Golder, editor of the website. "He is the most realistic of all the superheroes. I am particularly interested in the emotional process by which a boy becomes a hero. His superhero qualities come from within."What is the article mainly about?
| A．How Bruce Wayne develops into a superhero. |
| B．How to overcome childhood fears. |
| C．What makes a superhero. |
| D．Why superheroes enjoy great popularity in Britain. |
Bruce Wayne decides to dress like a bat because of ______ .
| A．his curiosity about bats | B．his childhood fear of bats |
| C．his parents' sudden death | D．his unusual travel experiences |
Why does Wayne live like a playboy?
| A．He prefers the lifestyle of a playboy. |
| B．He doesn't know how to run a company. |
| C．He loves freedom more than anything else. |
| D．He needs to disguise his crime fighting activities. |
Which of the following statements is true about Batman?
| A．Batman is a born superhero |
| B．He has special powers |
| C．The turning point of his life is due to his parents' sudden death |
| D．He actually lives the lifestyle of a millionaire playboy |
When we were very small, we realized that having friends was important. The need for friends continued as we grew into our teens. Friends played a big part in the development of our personalities. As adults, it is still important for us to have friends.
True friends are people who like us though we make mistakes and who listen to us and tell us the truth. Friends support our decisions and tell us when we’re wrong. They laugh with us and share our sadness. They are our partners and share interests with us. They stimulate us when we are feeling down. They are people with whom we aren’t afraid of sharing our secret wishes or what is really on our minds.
Friends, you fell safe and warm. At times, they also help with our everyday life, cooking a meal, helping with chores, or giving us a lift when we need.
Friends also are there to offer advice, an ear to listen, or a shoulder to cry on..
Friends also help us reduce stress. They not only listen to us when we fell stressed, but also discuss with us how to friends help us forget about problems at work or at home. For a short time, we can lose ourselves in a pleasant activity and perhaps laugh and breathe more easily.What is the best title for the passage?
| A．How to Reduce Stress | B．How to Make New Friends |
| C．The Importance of Friends | D．The Qualities of Good Friends |
The underlined word “stimulate”in Paragraph 2 probably means _________.
| A．educate | B．encourage | C．remember | D．dislike |
We can learn from the third paragraph that friends always _________.
| A．laugh at us when we’re foolish | B．tell us other people’s secrets |
| C．share our sadness and interests | D．support us when we need help |
According to the passage, we can reduce stress by _____.
① making more new friends ② discussing our stress with friends
③ ignoring our problems for a while ④ sharing interests with friends
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①②④ | D．①③④ |
While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon(现象)is commonly known as “Empty Nest Syndrome”(空巢综合症).
In order to seek(寻找) better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”.According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by _________.
| A．their earlier experience of feeling lonely |
| B．the unfavorable living conditions in their native countries |
| C．the common worry about their income |
| D．the geographical distance between parents and children |
Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to _________.
| A．live in the countries with more money |
| B．seek a better place for their aged parents |
| C．continue their studies abroad |
| D．realize their dreams in foreign countries |
If young people go abroad, _________.
| A．they do not hold to the value of duty at all |
| B．they can give some help to their parents back home |
| C．they cannot do what they should for their parents |
| D．they believe what they actually do is right |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________.
| A．the situations in the developed and developing countries are different |
| B．“Empty Nest Syndrome” has arrived unexpectedly in our society |
| C．children will become independent as soon as they go abroad |
| D．the aged parents are not fully prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome” |
When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly ad possible and head for safety. But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.
“Storm chasing” is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.
Although anyone can do it , storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm season.
Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement . “Storm chasing is 95% driving,” says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. “Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers.”
However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. “When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life,” says Jasper Morley. “Every storm is an example of the power of nature, It is the greatest show on Earth.”For storm chasing, the first thing storm chasers do is to .
| A．head straight for the center of the storm |
| B．get into the car for safety |
| C．wait patiently for the storm to develop |
| D．collect information about a coming storm |
Beginners of storm chasing are advised .
| A．not to drive in a heavy rain |
| B．to do it in an organized way |
| C．not to get too close to a storm |
| D．to spend more time on it in summer |
By saying “it is all worth it” in the last paragraph, the author means that .
| A．storm chasing costs a lot of money |
| B．storm chasing is worth hours of waiting |
| C．efforts in storm chasing are well paid |
| D．a storm presents the greatest show on Earth |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Sometimes storm chasers get nothing but disappointment |
| B．Many storm chasers get killed in the storms. |
| C．Storm chasing is becoming popular around the world. |
| D．Storm chasing is only fit for young people. |
In Wiltshire, England, volunteers are being sought to visit a nature protection area to count the butterflies living there and on surrounding fields. The project is promoted by an environmental protection organisation，which has contributed to improving the living environment for wild animals. Recently, the organisation has issued an appeal to help it observe environmental changes based on the record of butterflies and protect the environment.
In the area, the local people have planted many special flowers with the help of the organisation, aiming to see whether these flowers will interest the rare and beautiful butterflies. The Project officer Sarah Marshall says, “It will be a suitable habitat for butterflies. They are great ‘indicator species’ as they are easily affected by climate changes so they make a brillian early - warning system for the environment.” She also points out that volunteers are needed to recourd the number or species of butterflies，and based on the change happening to the butterflies, the hidden environmental problems in the area can be found out in time.
The organisation is seeking volunteers to help monitor butterflies from April through to September. They will walk a fixed route and record the different butterflies they encounter along the way.Each visit should take no more than two hours, and each volunteer is expected to visit once a month to count the wildlife. “Staff will provide back up, so if the weather is poor on the day you are to visit（butterflies don’t like to fly in the rain, wind or if it’s too cloudy) we can have someone else do your job,” Sarah points out.
No previous experience is necessary as training and support will be provided，but a keen interest is essential. If you are interested, P1ease contact Sarah on (0l380) 725670，ext 278, email sarahm wiltshirewildlife. orgAccording to Paragraph l， what is the purpose of the Project?
| A．To appeal to more visitors. |
| B．To protect the environment. |
| C．To control butterfly population. |
| D．To expand the area for wildlife. |
Many special flowers have been planted in Wiltshire to.
| A．warn people of wildlife extinction |
| B．appeal more tourists to be involved in |
| C．attract many unusual and beautiful butterflies |
| D．improve the economic conditions of local people |
Butterflies are called “indicator species” because .
| A．they can provide support for visitors |
| B．they can give information to other species |
| C．they are not easily found out in their habitats |
| D．they are very sensitive to environmental changes |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Visitors are being trained to identify butterflies. |
| B．Wildlife areas are being protected by butterflies. |
| C．Volunteers are being needed to count butterflies. |
| D．Organisations are being put up to protect butterflies. |
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