阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
My husband, my four-month-old daughter and I set out on a five-day driving journey from California to Washington. We had to stop frequently because our little child needed to stretch from the car seat.
One of our stops, once we crossed the Oregon border, was at a Black Bear Diner. Walking towards the front door we noticed a gentleman standing at one side. He was clearly untidy, without shoes and wearing worn clothing. We passed right by him and opened the restaurant door. Then something told me to go back.
Holding my daughter, I turned around and said to the gentleman, “Sir. Are you hungry?” He said, “Yes.” I then asked, “May we buy you something to eat?” He responded with, “Sure, I can order something myself.”
My husband opened the door and the gentleman went straight to the counter. I told him to order whatever he wanted. The manager of the restaurant came over quite quickly and looked frightened. I spoke before he had an opportunity to. “This gentleman will have lunch with us today,” I said. “Please add his order to our bill.” The manager said with a frown(皱眉), “Okay.” We turned to our table and the gentleman said, loudly and quickly, “Thank You!” We were seated and upon completing our meal we were handed our bill. I asked my husband what the gentleman had ordered. One fresh orange juice, one coffee, one breakfast combination with a side of hash browns.
When we left the restaurant I looked for the gentleman but didn’t see him, but that very small act just made my day. I hope in some small way we were able to add some joy to his life, even if only for a few minutes. From the appearance of the gentleman, we can guess he was probably a(n) _____.
| A．waiter | B．actor | C．beggar | D．worker |
The manager of the restaurant looked frightened because _____.
| A．the man was not friendly |
| B．the man had stolen something from the restaurant |
| C．he had fired the man before |
| D．he was afraid the man wouldn’t afford to pay the food |
From the passage, we can infer the man _____.
| A．was thankful for their kind act |
| B．felt ashamed and went away |
| C．was hungry and ate a lot of food |
| D．was too proud to accept their offer |
The phrase “made my day” in the last paragraph probably means ______.
| A．wasted my money | B．made me very happy |
| C．made me feel sorry | D．moved me deeply |
| Dear Applicant, A We regret to inform you that your application to the stated establishment cannot be processed at this time due to the fact that it does not exist. After consultation with out mythical advisors we have also determined that even if it didn’t exist, the course “wandology” would be highly in demand and hence require at least two As and a B in any of the following subjects: Advanced Spellcrafting Mystimatics Defence Against The Dark Arts History of the Occult Shaft Design Your hand written grade sheet claiming top marks in “waving a stick about”, “ waving a pointy hat” and “watching Paul Daniels TV specials” sadly is not suitable for submission, however by applying through clearing you may be suitable of Liberal Arts courses. Alternatively you may wish to resubmit next year by tying your letter to an owl and hoping for the best. On behalf of UCAS I wish you every success. Yours sincerely, XXX |
| Dear Duke University Admissions, B Thank you for your rejection letter of March 26, 2015. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission into the Fall 2015 freshman class at Duke. This year I have been fortunate enough to receive rejection letters from the best and the brightest universities in the country. With a pool of letters so diverse and accomplished I was unable to accept the rejection letters I would have been able to only several years ago. Therefore, I will be attending Duke University's 2015 Class. I look forward to seeing you then. Best, Siobhan O'Dell |
| Dear Siobhan, C I understand how disappointed you are that we were unable to offer you a space in our incoming class, I want to be honest with you and let you know that it’s very rare that we learn something that leads us to change our decision, in the last ten years we’ve about 500 requests for a review… and changed the decision four times Wish you all the best~ XXX |
Of the three letters, which is in response to which?
| A．A---B | B．C---B | C．C---A | D．B----C |
Chances for Duke University to change its admission decision in history were_______.
| A．none | B．big | C．slim | D．hard to tell |
What makes it impossible for the applicant to resubmit an application next year?
| A．Tying the letter to an owl and send it to UCAS |
| B．Printing out grade sheet |
| C．Applying for the Liberal Arts course as an option |
| D．Improving his scores |
What can we infer form the letter about college application?
| A．It is disappointing for sure. |
| B．Rejection letters are better written than offers. |
| C．It is no as fun as on imagines. |
| D．There could be extra work beyond normal procedure. |
The phone ID flashed, “Emergency Vet”. “Oh no” I whispered. I could not lose Merlin now.
Ron and I had tried to have children for a long time with depressing results. I threw myself into my work. Any maternal feelings I had were spent on Merlin.
I couldn’t wait to get home from work each night. I wanted to pick up that warm bundle of loving fur and nestle him. I wanted to sing “Rock-a-bye Merlin”, as I did every night as he would put his paws around my neck.
Merlin was my comfort especially at times when I wondered if God was listening. But last night something had changed. Not only did I sing “Rock-a-Bye Merlin”, but I asked, “What will I do after you’re gone?”
Although Merlin was 19 years old, a senior in the age of a cat, he didn’t look or act that way. I didn’t want to accept the fact that he was nearing the end of his lifetime. My job at the law firm was so demanding and stressful that I couldn’t imagine getting through the day without Merlin waiting to greet me at home.
I dialed the vet’s number. I asked for my husband but he already left. Then I took a breath and asked the question that no one wants to ask, “Is my Merlin still alive?” The nurse said “yes.”
Ron came home and said that Merlin had almost no red blood cells left. White blood cells were replacing them. Merlin would need expensive transfusions most likely on a monthly basis. We both knew Merlin was running out of time. I asked Ron to drive me to the vet so I could say goodbye to my little boy cat but he was beat tired and it was late. Ron said if Merlin was still alive the next morning then he would take me to the vet.
The next morning I called the vet. Merlin had survived the night.
After driving to the vet, I went into the examining room. The nurse brought Merlin and placed him on an examining table on his side. His eyes were tightly shut. I thought he died already. I carefully edged my hand to reach his body. His body felt warm, but when I spoke his name there was no response. No response to his name or that I was there and that I loved him. I was extremely sad.
In that examining room I felt helpless. I wondered how many people in an examining room felt as helpless as I did.
Feeling driven to prayer I yelled, “God this isn’t good enough. I need to see my Merlin the way I remember him, I need a miracle and I need it now!”
At that moment, God granted a miracle. Merlin’s favorite compliment entered my mind. I said, “Merlin, You are Beautiful and You are Gorgeous, do you hear me?”
One eye opened.
I said “Gotcha”. I kept repeating those words.
Merlin opened the other eye and, one limb at a time, got up. He was waiting for that phrase. He wanted to hear that he was beautiful and gorgeous again.
Then I experienced another miracle.
There was no sound in that examining room until Merlin started walking to me. From out of nowhere, or maybe from heaven, I clearly heard a song we sung in church often: “It Is Well With My Soul.” I remembered thinking, “Yes, it is well with my Soul. I got to see my little boy cat one more time.”
Merlin walked to me. He put his face in mine, which he had never done before. He rubbed a circle around my face twice. Merlin said goodbye with his face and marked me for life.
Ron appeared shocked that Merlin was up and had walked to me. I said to Merlin, “Tell God you are a good boy and how much we love you” and then handed him back to the nurse.
Tears of gratitude poured forth in memory of a miracle. You see for nineteen years God spoke to me through a special cat named “Merlin.” On Merlin’s last day, God proved he heard me when he granted a miracle. That miracle gave me time to say goodbye.Ron’s wife couldn’t lose Merlin because ________.
| A．Merlin was her adopted child for nineteen years |
| B．Merlin could supply her with comfort and warmth |
| C．she failed to give birth to her own biological child |
| D．she would sing her usual song to no one later in life |
What did Ron’s wife think of Merlin?
①comfortable ②demanding ③long life
④full of devotion ⑤lovely ⑥religious
| A．①②⑥ | B．①②③ | C．④⑤⑥ | D．③④⑤ |
What does “The next morning I called the vet.” in Paragraph 8 imply?
| A．The writer turned to the vet because Merlin was in desperate condition. |
| B．The writer was so hopeless as to ask a favor of the vet. |
| C．Ron would accompany her wife to the vet to live up to his promise. |
| D．Ron did not care about Merlin so that the writer called the vet. |
When Merlin reached the examining room, ________.
| A．he shut his eyes tightly and was obviously dead |
| B．his body felt warm because the writer rubbed him hard |
| C．the writer chanted prayers to him trying to waking him up |
| D．the writer felt helpless to have no timely surgical operation |
We can infer from the passage that _______.
| A．we have to have faith in the church to get miracles in future life |
| B．God will not disappoint us if we are devoted to our loved ones |
| C．couples should have a child or something to fill in their free time |
| D．doctors may not always be reliable when our loved ones need their help |
Which of the following can be the proper title?
| A．The Miracle Granted | B．A Dying Cat |
| C．God Accompanying Us | D．Gratitude Out Of Miracle |
It’s not just great minds that think alike. Dozens of the genes involved in the vocal learning that underpins human speech are also active in some songbirds(黄莺). And knowing this suggests that birds could become a standard model for investigating the genetics of speech production and speech disorders.
Complex language is a uniquely human trait, but vocal learning — the ability to pick up new sounds by imitating others — is not. Some mammals, including whales, dolphins and elephants, share our ability to learn new vocalizations(发声). So do three groups of birds: the songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds.
The similarities between vocal learning in humans and birds are not just superficial. We know, for instance, that songbirds have specialised vocal learning brain circuits that are similar to those that mediate(传达) human speech.
What’s more, a decade ago we learned that FOXP2, a gene known to be involved in human language, is also active in “area X” of the songbird brain — one of the brain regions involved in those specialised vocal learning circuits.
Andreas Pfenning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues have now built on these discoveries. They compared maps of genetic activity in brain tissue taken from the zebra finch, budgerigar and Anna’s hummingbird, representing the three groups of vocal-learning birds.
They then compared these genetic maps with others taken from birds and primates that can’t learn new vocalisations, and with maps taken from the brains of six people who donated tissue to the Allen Brain Institute in Seattle.
Their results showed that FOXP2 is just one of 55 genes that show a similar pattern of activity in the brains of humans and the vocal-learning birds. Those same genes show different patterns of activity in the brains of animals incapable of vocal learning.
“The similarities are beyond one or a handful of genes,” says Pfenning. “There are just systematic molecular similarities between song-learning birds and humans.”
“There’s potential for songbirds to be used to study neurodegeneration(神经元退变) — especially conditions like Huntington’s,” says Pfenning. Huntington’s disease affects the ability to produce complex motor behaviour, such as singing and talking, so experiments with birds might implicate particular genes in the disease.
Constance Scharff at the Free University of Berlin in Germany, who helped identify the importance of FOXP2 for vocal learning in birds agrees that songbirds can make great models for human speech and its pathologies(病理学). “My lab’s research during the past 10 years has shown that FOXP2 is as relevant for birds’ song learning as it is for human speech learning,” she says.Which of the following is WRONG according to the passage?
| A．The songbirds, parrots and hummingbirdsimitate humans. |
| B．FOXP2 is active in one of the brain regions of the songbird brain. |
| C．Songbirds have the same vocal learning brain circuits as human. |
| D．FOXP2 is a gene that is known to be involved in human language. |
The underlined word “underpin” in the first paragraph probably means _______.
| A．increase | B．support |
| C．prevent | D．decrease |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．FOXP2 was involved in human language about 12 years ago. |
| B．Six people donated brain tissue to the Allen Brain Institute in Seattle. |
| C．Experiments with songbirds are likely to help cure Huntington’s disease. |
| D．Constance Scharff discovered at the Free University of Berlin. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Birds have different genes from humans. |
| B．Humans and birds share the same singing genes. |
| C．How FOXP2 affects the brains of humans and birds. |
| D．Experiments with birds can cure the disease of humans. |
Forget the pyramids, Tahrir Square and the Nile. Egypt is ready to ditch Cairo and build a shiny new capital if the government has its way.
Fed up with pollution, traffic jams, a packed population with soaring rents, Egypt is teaming up with a developer in the United Arab Emirates to build a city in what could be one of the world’s most ambitious infrastructure programs.
The yet-to-be-named city will spread out over 150 square miles, or roughly the size of Denver, and could eventually be home to 7 million people, the developers and government announced Friday.
The current capital of Cairo, while full of history and vibrant charm, is home to more than 18 million people, and living in and getting around the city can be maddening and frustrating. The government says the idea is to reduce congestion in Cairo, which is projected to double in population in the coming decades.
An exact location was not announced, but the city is expected to be built east of Cairo. It will be closer to the Red Sea -- between two major highways -- the Suez and the Ain Sokhna roads.
The ambitions are big. In addition to the new embassies and government buildings, it plans to have an international airport bigger than Heathrow, solar energy farms, 40,000 hotel rooms, nearly 2,000 schools and 18 hospitals -- all linked together by over 6,000 miles of new roads.
But if the dream is big, the bill will be bigger.
The total cost is estimated at U.S. $45 billion, Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly announced at an economic development conference in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The revealing of the new capital was paired with a glamorous website showing a luxurious and technological urban view of glass towers and pools.
The plan is backed by a group that describes itself as “a private real estate investment fund by global investors focused on investment and development partnerships” led by Emirati developer Mohamed Alabbar.
Alabbar made his name as the founder of Dubai’s Emaar Properties, primarily known for developing the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
Egypt is not the first country to plan on moving its capital from established big cities to rural greener pastures. Myanmar(缅甸) has only recently completed its move from Yangon to the new city of Naypyidaw. Nigeria moved to Abuja in the 1990’s, and Brazil carved its capital Brasilia out of the wilderness over 50 years ago.
And then there was another crazy idea of building a capital city on a square of swampland that seemed mainly to be a boondoggle for wealthy land speculators(商人) at the time.
That city? _________Egypt is ready to join hands with some experienced developers to build a new capital mainly because of the following EXCEPT ________ in the old capital.
| A．pollution and population |
| B．its location and higher rents |
| C．its long history and charm |
| D．traffic jams and crowdedness |
The underlined sentence in the passage means that it is _______.
| A．a new city with expensive infrastructure programs |
| B．a new city with beautiful glass towers and pools |
| C．an enterprising dream with abundant funds |
| D．a noble dream with rich cooperative teams |
Which city was the outcome of a crazy idea at that time?
A. Abuja. B. Brasilia.
C. Naypyidaw. D. Washington, D.C.
The Appleton Club is the focal point of undergraduate ministry in The Memorial Church. The Appleton Club provides a safe, inclusive, and welcoming space for undergraduates to grow and develop as faithful Christians as they grow and develop as intellectuals and professionals. We focus on building community through worship, study, and service, as well as through social gatherings and outings. All are welcome!
For details on all the activities of The Appleton Club, or to be added to our e-mail list, contact Epps Fellow Nathaniel Katz at nathaniel_katz@harvard.edu or 617-496-1426. You can also visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/memorialchurch.
Our life together is centered around three weekly gatherings:
Sunday Night Student Service
9:00 p.m., Appleton Chapel
Every Sunday night we gather for a “come as you are” worship service that includes the celebration of Holy Communion. The service is designed to provide a peaceful and contemplative space to find peace and encounter the divine at the start of the week. Following the service, we gather downstairs in the Buttrick Room for food and some social time together.
Wednesday Night Discussion Group
9:00 p.m., Sparks House, 21 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Throughout the academic year we will come together during the middle of the week to read and discuss the works of the late Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes. This spring we will continue discussing his best-selling book The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart as an entry point to conversations about what scripture is, what it isn’t, and what it means for our lives as faithful contemporary Christians of the 21st century. Food will be provided.
Friday Afternoon Social Gatherings
4:00 p.m., Sparks House, 21 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Every Friday afternoon we gather as a community to check in and wind down from the busy week. This is our time to plan special events, service trips, and retreats, as well as a safe place to ask those burning questions about faith, theology, and scripture that you’ve always wanted to know about but have been afraid to ask.If you want to know some activities of The Appleton Club, there are at least _____ ways.
| A．4 | B．3 | C．2 | D．5 |
From three weekly gatherings, which activity is not included?
| A．Every Sunday night we hold the celebration of Holy Communion. |
| B．On Wednesday night of this spring we will discuss The Good Book. |
| C．Every Friday afternoon you can ask what you have been afraid to ask. |
| D．You can enjoy delicious food after gathering each time. |
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