How I Turned to Be Optimistic
I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt's house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see-—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to "the hard times."
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule: almost all common troubles eventually go away! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.How did the author get to know America?
| A．From her relatives. | B．From her mother. |
| C．From books and pictures. | D．From radio programs. |
Upon leaving for America, the author felt_______.
| A．confused | B．excited | C．worried | D．amazed |
What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 4?
A. She worked as a translator.
B. She attended a lot of job interviews.
C. She paid telephone bills for her family.
D She helped her family with her English.The author believes that______.
| A．her future will be free from troubles |
| B．it is difficult to learn to become patient |
| C．there are more good things than bad things |
| D．good things will happen if one keeps trying |
Today both English language and Internet have brought the whole world right in your drawing room. Now you can do whatever you want to without leaving the comfort of your home. So English has become a must. Nothing is imaginable without it. How to solve the problem?
No speech can be imagined without listening. Develop a habit of listening to something in English daily. I mean to say, listen to English songs, short stories, interviews and short and simple conversations regularly. Repeat listening what you have just listened. Not once but many times. How does a child become able to speak? It is simple. He/She is compelled to listen whatever their parents and people around them speak. Gradually they begin to reproduce what they have heard. So enjoy listening. Listening practice will fix correct pronunciation of the words in your mind and you'll be able to utter them as naturally and easily as a native speaker does.
Speak what you have listened, as the more you listen, the more you will be able to speak and the more learning of the language will occur. So go on practicing speaking whatever you have heard. Furthermore speaking practice will train your mouth and ears. The main ideas of what you have listened and spoken will get fixed into your memory. Once the structures of sentences, phrases get fixed in your subconscious you'll never have to fumble for words, phrases or sentences when you converse with your friends or with someone else.
When you have taken these two steps, you will find amazing change. Now you can start to put in a little time in reading and writing skills as reading and writing skills have their own importance and place in a language learning and you can develop them on the strong foundation of listening and speaking skills later.
67. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph in the passage?
A. To tell us that the world is becoming smaller than before.
B. To show us the wide use of internet in today’s world.
C. To indicate the importance of learning English.
D. To suggest that it is convenient to live in today’s world.
68. What the author thinks is the most important step in learning English?
A. Forming the habit of listening B. Practicing speaking
C. Keeping on reading daily D. Improving writing skills
69. A child mentioned in the second paragraph is to_______.
A. explain how he becomes able to speak
B. show he could listen whatever others speak
C. introduce he can speak whatever he hears
D. indicate the importance of listening
70. Which of the following may be the best title of the passage?
A. The Steps of Listening
B. Learn English in Two Easy Steps
C. Listening Comes Before Speaking
D. Four Skills for English Learning
Most young architects ----particularly those in big cities ----can only dream about working in a building of their own. And making that dream come true often means finding a building no one else seems to want, which is exactly what happened to David Yocum and his partner, Brain Bell. Their building is a former automobile electrical –parts firm in Atlanta. From the outside, it looks too old, even something horrible, but open the door and you are in a wide, open courtyard, lined on three sides with rusting (生锈的)walls.
In 2000, Yocum and Bell found this building in the city’s West End. Built in 1947, the structure had been abandoned years earlier and the roof of the main building had fallen down. But the price was right, so Yocum bought it. He spent eight months of his off-hours on demolition (拆除), pulling rubbish out through the roof, because it was too dangerous to go inside the building. The demolition was hard work, but it gave him time to think about what he wanted to do, and “to treasure what was there—the walls, the rust, the light,” Yocum said. “Every season , more paint falls off the walls and more rust develops. It’s like an art installation（装置）there---a slow-motion show.”
Since the back building had been constructed without windows, an all-glass front was added to the building to give it a view of the courtyard, and skylights were installed in the roof. The back of the building is a working area and a living room for Yocum and his wife. A sort of buffer(缓冲)zone between the front and the back contains a bathroom, a kitchen and a mechanical room, and the walls that separate these zones have openings that allow views through to the front of the studio and the courtyard beyond.
Yocum and Bell, who have just completed an art gallery for the city, feel that the experience from decoration of their building, focusing on the inside rather than the outside, has influenced their work. It has also given these architects a chance to show how they can make more out of less.
63. According to the passage, it is for most young architects in big cities to work in a building of their own.
A. easy B. unnecessary C. unrealistic D. common
64. Yocum bought the old building because .
A. it was a bargain to him B. it was still in good condition
C. it was located in the city center D. it looked attractive from the outside
65. It can be inferred from the passage that Yocum and Bell .
A. benefited a lot from pulling down the roof
B. turned more old buildings into art galleries
C. got inspiration from decorating their old building
D. paid more attention to the outside of the gallery
66. The main idea of the passage is that .
A. people can learn a lot from their failures
B. it is worthwhile to spend money on an old building
C. people should not judge things by their appearance
D. creative people can make the best of what they have
Normally, kids have curiosity(好奇) about everything around them including animals. As a parent you are willing to teach everything to our children because you want to develop their EQ and IQ. But a few people have some troubles in how to introduce animals to their kids. Here I have some advice on how to do that.
1. Visiting a zoo.
This way must be the best choice to choose. If you have free time or maybe on holiday you can take your children to the zoo. Kids usually are excited to see live animals and feed them if possible. It can be an unforgettable moment for your children when they visit so many animals in a place. Parents can describe an animal to their children so they can learn something about that animal.
2. Doing a coloring activity.
If you have not free time or just have a short time, you can choose this. Actually doing animal coloring activity is mostly used by parents and teachers to tell children about an animal. You can download free animal coloring pages through the internet or you can buy your children an animal coloring book.
3. Doing a paper craft.
If it sounds difficult you can skip this method. Just forget it. Generally, the difficulty level depends on your paper craft models. You can find free animal paper crafts on the internet but make sure of the difficulty level. Remember your purpose is not about how beautiful your paper crafts are but to describe an animal to your children.
4. Story telling.
Have you heard about an animal story when you were a child? You still remember it? How about the character of those animals? Yeah! It is still in your mind. You can buy a story book of animals and read it for your children.
There are also many other ways and everything needed here is just the creativity to connect it with the children and make them enjoy and have fun with your activities.
59. What’s the purpose of this passage?
A. To satisfy the curiosity of the kids.
B. To develop children’s EQ and IQ.
C. To give parents and teachers advice on how to introduce animals to kids.
D. To introduce some activities to let parents know more about their kids.
60. In the author’s opinion, which is the best way to let a kid know something about an animal?
A. Visiting a zoo B. Doing a coloring activity
C. Doing a paper craft D. Telling a story
61. If you are busy, which activity can you choose?
A. Download some beautiful paper crafts on the internet.
B. Buy your kid an animal coloring book.
C. Give your kid an unforgettable moment to visit many animals in a place.
D. Buy your kid a story book.
62. According to the author, what matters most in whatever activities you design for your children?
A. fun B. joy C. imagination D. creativity
This is a true story about two friends.
One day a young man said to his good friend, "I can see that some day you will become great and rich." His friend laughed, "Ridiculous! How can you know that?" The first said, "Yes, I can see it from your forehead." The second one said, "Ok, if I become great and rich, I will give you 10,000 rupees." The first friend asked. "Really? If so, then write it down."
The second one really wrote it down. The first man kept the note, but he never took his friend seriously. The agreement was made as a joke. 10 or 12 years later, the friend did become rich and great, while the other remained poor. By that time both friends had separated and were leading their own lives. Even so, the poor friend still preserved the note, although he felt that since it was a joke, he would never receive the money.
Quite unexpectedly, the poor man fell seriously ill. Just before he died, he took out the agreement and called his son, who was only seven years old, "My son, there is something very precious that I have kept for you. After I die…you go to this man and show him what he has written."
Soon the man died. Their friendship had faded so much that the rich man did not even come to see him before he left this world. But after three or four weeks' time the son took the note to the rich man. The boy gave the rich man the note. The rich man read it and asked, "Did I write this?"
The boy said, “I do not know. My father asked me to give it to you before he died." The rich man summoned one of his secretaries and explained, "I promised this boy's father many years ago that I would give him 10,000 rupees if I became rich and great. I have been rich for seven years; please calculate how much interest I have to give him in addition to the 10,000 rupees."
The secretary told him, "An additional 7,000 rupees, which makes it 17,000 altogether."
The rich man immediately issued a check for 17,000 rupees and gave it to the little boy, saying, "Take this directly to your mother.”
This is how a sincere man kept his promise.
56. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. The first friend can know others’ future from his or her forehead.
B. The second friend couldn’t believe his friend’s words at first.
C. The first friend wished his friend to help his son after he died.
D. The second didn’t come to see his dying friend because of different life.
57. What do you think of the man who became rich later?
A. He had a bad memory.
B. He is very selfish and unwilling to help others.
C. He is mean with his money.
D. He is a man who keeps his promise.
58. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. The poor friend preserved the note because he knew he would get the money sooner or later.
B. The man became rich 3 or 5 years later after he signed the agreement.
C. The rich man gave the boy 17,000 rupees altogether.
D. The little boy knew something about his father’s story.
The quality of drinking water in Shanghai will meet European Union standard by 2010 and, a decade later, citizens in Shanghai will drink the best water in the world.
These were the goals set out by the Shanghai Water Authority. With the city’s population expected to increase only slightly and the economy to boom by 2020, Chen Yin, and official with the water authority, said Shanghai’s water consumption will not increase from its present amount.
Zhang Yue, director of the Urban Construction Division under the Ministry of Construction, said, “Shanghai is the first city in the country to publicize these ambitions. They will not be easy to achieve.”
He said water saving will help keep the sustainable development of China’s economy.
Saving one cubic meter of water means saving the city’s infrastructure（基础设施）costs by 10,000 Yuan. Last year, Shanghai saved 300 million cubic meters of water either from readjustment of industrial structure or the employment of new technology.
“The aim is to arouse public awareness of the seriousness of water shortages,” Chen said. “The abundant surface water and amount of rain of the city are so misleading that they result in improper use of water.”
Shanghai lacks drinkable water. The Huangpu River, which supplies 80 percent of the city’s drinkable water, is nearing exhaustion.
The city, therefore, has been exploring new sources from the Yangtze River and growing forests along it to conserve quality water.
Besides penning regulations, the authority is popularizing technology among the public to efficiently cut the amount of water used.
At present, the city has 600，000 family toilets, each using 13 liters of water per flush. These are to be renovated（整修）to use only 9 liters of water per flush.
The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households – at a cost of 40 Yuan each.
In three years, all the toilets will be renovated, which saves the city nearly 15 million Yuan every year in water conservation.
Another task the city is engaged in is the treatment of sewage（污水）to improve the water environment.
At present the city can only treat 44 percent of its daily 5.04 million tons of waste water. To meet the total demand, 27 more sewage treatment factories are to be established with an estimated investment of 18 billion Yuan.
41．People in Shanghai get their daily water mainly from _______now.
A．the underground B．the rain
C．the Yangtze River D．the Huangpu River
42．According to the passage, some people have the wrong opinion of using water
because .
A．the renovating of family toilets will save plenty of water
B．about half of waste water has been treated already
C．advanced technology makes people use water as much as possible
D．there is plenty surface water and large amount of rain at present
43．The authority is renovating the first 200 toilets for households to .
A．make people’s living more convenient
B．improve people’s living standards
C．ease employment pressure
D．meet the total demand of water
44．Which group of measures are all mentioned in the passage to save water?
a．improve drinking water quality
b．change some industrial structure
c．introduce or use some new technology
d．speed the economic development of Shanghai
e．renovate some family toilets
f．build more sewage treatment factories
A．a, b, c, d B．b, c, e, f
C．b, c, d, e D．a, b, e, f
45．We can infer from the passage that .
A．the boom of economy will need a larger amount of water in the future
B．citizens today in Shanghai drink the best quality of water in the world
C．not everyone today in Shanghai is aware of water shortage
D．all the family toilets will be renovated to save water within 3 years
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