Doha, the capital of Qatar，is a city of contrasts(对照). In a few decades it has beentransformed from a small port to an international city. Today, its skyline is shaped by rising skyscrapers, but Old Doha---though fast disappearing---can still be found.
Time seems to stand still in the old quarter of the city. On the dusty streets, Indian and Pakistani men sit cross-legged outside tea shops and restaurants. At one end of the road, men queue by the doorways of crowded supermarkets to buy necessities: boxes of teabags, milk, sugar, bread and soap. The shops are dark and poorly stocked. However, only five miles away, on the other side of the city, Doha shows a completely different image. It shines brilliantly with skyscrapers, five-star hotels and noble apartment buildings. The area looks like any other modem district in the world.
Qatar, a tiny gulf(海湾)nation, is a country of vast local and international ambitions. At home, it has owned several international universities. Abroad, it tries to speak louder on gulf affairs. These ambitions are urged by the country’s unbelievably rich reserves of fossil fuels．In December 2012, Daba was the site of Copl8 UN Climate Change Conference and in 2022，Qatar will host the World Cup.
Mohammed Salim, 55, runs a hair salon in the old part of the city where he works as a hair
dresser．When he came to Doha 22 years ago from Pakistan，he recalls，Doha was a quiet town with few modern buildings．“At that time，Doha seemed rather small．There were no big roads or malls at all.” He has noticed a drop in customers to his salon in recent years．“People now tend to go to more fashionable hair salons in shopping malls．Some day this old area will be gone, and my business will probably be gone, too．I'll be sad. I love here, but things are changing．We can’t ignore it.”What makes Doha become a city of contrasts according to the passage?
| A．The city’s old and modern districts． |
| B．The modern city and the tiny country． |
| C．The city’s past and present conditions． |
| D．The fashionable city and its poor citizens． |
What do we know about the shops in the old quarter of Doha?
| A．They don't have many goods or customers． |
| B．They provide a great variety of luxury goods． |
| C．They are bright big shops crowded with people． |
| D．They look poor and offer fewer choices of goods． |
Qatar tries to speak louder on gulf affairs because______________.
A it has international cities such as Doha
B．it is going to host the World Cup in 2022
C．it has made progress in building universities
D．it is known for its large reserves of natural gasThe author takes the hair salon as an example to show that___________.
| A．people in Doha are fashionable |
| B．the economy in Doha becomes bad |
| C．changes are happening to Old Doha |
| D．Doha used to be an undeveloped town |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Old Doha is characterized by rising skyscrapers． |
| B．Doha seemed small in the past as is recalled by Salim． |
| C．Doha will host Copl8 UN Climate Change Conference in 2022． |
| D．The western side of Doha looks more modern than the eastern side. |
While you may think that being smart and talented would logically make someone successful in running a business, unfortunately, this is often not the case.
This problem starts back in school when the stressful “group projects” are first assigned .The smartest don’t want to risk their grade in the class by dividing the work equally and hoping that an average student does his part well. They just take over and do the whole project themselves.
And thus begins the smart-people work cycle. The smartest people do just about everything better than most everyone else until it comes to running a business. They are not better. A smart person who can’t stand someone else doing a job badly does everything himself. Then, he is stuck with the one-man band “job-business” and ends up not being able to grow. However, it is quite interesting and strange that some “slackers” ( a person who is lazy and avoids work) are better suited to be a business leader than the “smart” people.
Smart and talented people often have a gift for the unusual, complicated or different. They don’t like to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid), which is required to make a business succeed. Maybe you think the global presence of McDonald’s complex, but in reality, in the company, every single task is broken down into easy-to-follow steps and everything has been standardized. These successful companies have just a few smart enough people to run the majority of the tasks in a way that can’t be screwed up by their average employees. So, being smart or talented isn’t going to help you unless you can use those smarts to figure out a way to simplify those tasks that will make a business successful.
Another issue with the smart people starting businesses is that they often have the most to lose. The smarter you are, the more options you have available to you. You will be able to make a lot of money in various fields and have room in your career to become promoted. This means that when you start a business, you have a lot more to risk than those who are not equally smart. This is often referred to as the “golden handcuffs” dilemma.
So, don’t be surprised when the person “MOST Likely to Succeed” from high school ends up as an employee and it is one average student that finds success in his or her own business.In group work, smart students often take over the whole project because they believe ____.
| A．the work is not divided equally |
| B．they can perform better than others |
| C．the group projects are too stressful |
| D．average students are unwilling to participate |
McDonald’s is used as an example to prove that ____.
| A．a business calls for smart people’s talent |
| B．average employees can perform complex tasks |
| C．smart people are important for a successful business |
| D．simplified tasks are required for the success of a business |
The underlined expression in Paragraph 5 refers to the situation where smart people ____.
| A．have fewer options in a company |
| B．risk more when starting business |
| C．are unwilling to put money to a business |
| D．can have a good income in many different fields |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Potentials for Success |
| B．Bases for Business |
| C．The Ordinary Achieve Bigger Success? |
| D．Talent Means Successful Business? |
The Evergreen Teen Book Club invites you to join us and take full advantage of our limited-time introductory offer.
If you join our club, you will receive a certificate for 3 free books. These are yours to keep, even if you decide to cancel your membership. However, if you decide to purchase just one book at the regular club price, you will receive a certificate for an additional 3 free selections after your first order is placed.
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You can build a great book collection!
Begin now by taking advantage of this great offer.If you join the Evergreen Teen Book Club, you can __________.
| A．buy books at cost price |
| B．get one free book for a cash purchase of 3 books |
| C．receive a gift after each order |
| D．expect 3 free books each month |
If Lily wants to get free delivery, she should __________.
| A．accumulate 6 bonus points |
| B．order at least 3 books |
| C．purchase the catalogue |
| D．join the club before June 30th |
The purpose of the text is to get more people to __________.
| A．collect books for the club |
| B．read different kinds of books |
| C．join the club and order books |
| D．learn from famous writers |
Yesterday I started the Year of Giving, my first day of a year-long journey into exploring the act of giving and the meaning of charity. I chose December 15 as the starting date, which marked three years since my mother died from heart disease. She was one of the most generous people that I have ever known. She always thought of others first and certainly serves as an inspiration to me.
I had a rather busy day yesterday, ironic (具有讽刺意义的) for someone who is unemployed right now. In the morning I went to the gym, and unsuccessfully got the phone call from the unemployment office for some job searching. Before I knew it, it was noon. I grabbed a quick lunch and rushed down to a meeting. On my way to Connecticut, I wondered if I would see someone that I would feel forced to give my first $ 10 to. I was running late and decided to do it afterwards.
After the meeting I had about half an hour to find the first person of my Year of Giving! I decided to check out DuPont Circle. I had met a guy there named Jerry once and thought he would willing accept my $ 10. He wasn’t there, but I did see a man sitting by himself who looked really lonely, so I approached him. Now I had to figure out what I was going to say, I think I said something like, “Hi, can I sit down here?” “I would like to know if I could give you $ 10?” He asked me to repeat what I had said, I did, then he looked at me funny, got up and left.
I then started walking south where I spotted a man standing by the bus stop on Connecticut Ave. He appeared to be in his 60s. I don’t know what drew me to him, but I thought I would make my second attempt. I was a bit nervous and asked him which bus came by that stop. Then I explained that I was starting a year-long project to give $ 10 to someone every day and that I wanted to give my $ 10 for today to him. The gentleman, I later found out that his name was Ed, responded without hesitation that he could not accept my offer and that there were many people more deserving the money than him. This was exactly one of the things that I hoped would happen. People would think of others before themselves.The author set the starting date on December 15 to ____.
| A．help the charity | B．remember his mother |
| C．make an explosion | D．fulfill a wish if his mum |
In the author’s first attempt to give away the money, ____.
| A．he was considered ridiculous |
| B．he hesitated for a long time |
| C．he was forced to donate the money |
| D．he had no time to take action |
In the author’s second attempt, the gentleman refused his offer because ____.
| A．he didn’t need other’s help |
| B．he thought more for others |
| C．he didn’t care about money |
| D．he wanted to get more money |
We can refer that the author was inspired by ____.
| A．true friendship | B．his own kindness |
| C．generous donations | D．human’s good nature |
Scientists are fond of running the evolutionary clock backward, using DNA analysis and the fossil record to figure out when our ancestors stood straight and split off from the rest of the primate evolutionary tree. But the clock is running forward as well. So where are humans headed? Here's a thoughtless assessment of possible paths, ranging from similar humans to alien-looking hybrids bred for interstellar (星际的) travel.
Different populations of a species have to be separated from each other in order for those populations to diverge into separate species. Populations are increasingly in contact with each other， leading to greater gene-mixing. It's believable that separate species would appear. Evolution is still at work and the trend may well be accelerating. Cultural diversity is fading as human society becomes more interconnected globally.
The radical king of evolution moves much more quickly than biological evolution. High-tech improvements are ranging from Supermen, to camera-equipped flying drones（遥控飞机）, to pills that keep soldiers going without sleep or food for days. To date, genetic medicine has focused on therapies that work on only one person at a time. The effects of those therapies aren't carried on to future generations. Tinkering with the germline could conceivably produce a superhuman species in a single generation-but could also conceivably create a race of monsters.
Today the rapid pace of cybernetic(计算机控制论的) change has led to worry that artificial intelligence may outpace human’s natural smarts. In some fields, artificial intelligence has already bested human. We're already making machines that can be assimilated (同化) including artificial limbs, mechanical hearts, and artificial retinas (视网膜).
If humans survive long enough, there's one sure way to grow new branches on our evolutionary family tree by spreading out to other planets. If humans established a permanent settlement on other planets, the radically different living conditions would change the evolutionary equation (方程式) What will be inconceivable millions of years from now? Two intelligent species
, human and machine, definitely work together to spread life through the universe.Scientists study the evolution according to .
| A．different populations of a species |
| B．DNA analysis and the fossil record |
| C．cultural diversity and greater gene-mixing |
| D．high-tech enhancements and biological evolution |
Which is NOT true about human beings' evolution?
| A．New species will appear. |
| B．Human's evolution is faster than biological evolution |
| C．Cultures will become more colorful. |
| D．The evolution might create a race of monsters. |
What might bring threat to human beings?
| A．Supermen. | B．Monsters. |
| C．Alien. | D．Artificial intelligence. |
Which of the following must happen in the future?
| A．Humans survive long enough. |
| B．Humans spread out to other planets. |
| C．Human and machine work together. |
| D．Living conditions change the evolutionary equation. |
American kids are taking more tests than ever before, and they're stressed out. Is help on the way? Just the sight of a test booklet makes some kids sweat. For others, it is a blank answer sheet. Then there are the dreaded words, "Take out your Number 2 pencil." All these fill 10-year-old Chelsea Logo with fear. "I start to tap my pencil on the desk," says the fifth grader from Toluca Lake Elementary, near Los Angeles, California. "Then I feel the butterflies in my stomach."
Chelsea is not alone. In a recent survey by Kids Health£.org, more than 70% of kids aged 9 to 13 said they worry about tests. It's no wonder. Across the United States, public schools give more than 250 million standardized tests each year.
Why do kids have to take so many tests? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires that students in grades 3 through 8 be tested each year. The law's goal is for all students to be at grade level by 2014. Students must pass the tests and meet other requirements or their schools may be shut down.
The U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants to change NCLB. But that doesn't mean he favors getting rid of tests. Duncan believes tests should be used mainly to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses. Tests, Duncan says, should not be used to punish kids or their schools for failure. "The goal is to focus on great teaching and learning," Duncan said.
Under NCLB, each state sets its own standards for students to meet. The result, Duncan says, is that states are making the tests easier. To fix this problem, 48 states are now working together to create common standards. "I want to set a high bar for kids, " Duncan says, "so they'll be in great shape to achieve their 
dreams."
Like them or not, tests are here to stay. So how can you handle test nerves? Schools are teaching students to relax through. deep breathing. and stretching (伸展运动) . In Oakland, California, Principal Zarina Ahmad of Piedmont Avenue Elementary leads her students in a cheer to get them excited about learning.
"Kids are under high pressure," says Ahmad. "There has to be time for kids to be kids. Still, we need tests to help us assess what students have yet to learn."
The underlined part "the butterflies in my stomach" can be replaced by .
| A． nervous | B．guilty | C．exciting | D．proud |
According to the passage, the NCLB law .
| A．is focusing on teaching methods in schools |
| B．is requiring schools to make the tests more difficult |
| C．is trying to make schools be responsible for students |
| D．aims to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses by means of tests |
We can learn from the last two paragraphs that .
| A．it's possible to get rid of tests |
| B．schools have no good way to deal with students' stress |
| C．tests help assess what students have to learn |
| D．schools are aware of students' stress caused by tests |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Why kids are more stressed than before? |
| B．Kids' tips for test success |
| C．How to deal with test stress |
| D．Put kids to the standardized test |
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