You’ve probably heard of the expression “A leopard can’t change its spots.” This, of course, is true of leopards. But isn’t it true of people? Can people change themselves? Are we humans just creatures of habits? Do we not have any control over our actions and habits?
One guy said, “Bad habits are like a comfortable bed. They’re easy to get into, but hard to get out of.” Someone else said, “The chains of habits are too small to feel until they’re too strong to break.” So breaking the mould of our bad habits takes effort.
Habits are like the roads we take through our life every day. The problem is that not every road takes us where we need to go. Actually, our routes through life often become our ruts (惯例) in life. We end up stuck in them and find it hard to dig ourselves out. That’s why we must change our bad habits as soon as possible before they become our second nature. You see, our habits become our character and our character becomes our life. As one wise person said, “First we make our habits, and then our habits make us.”
But we humans don’t like to change. So we come up with excuses, like “I can’t be different; that’s just the way I am.” And the good excuse is “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But that’s just it: we’re not dogs or animals. In fact, we’re the only creatures who have the freedom and power to change and choose the kind of person we want to become.
We can learn from Paragraph 2 that .
| A．getting rid of bad habits is very hard |
| B．people can’t find their bad habits themselves |
| C．entering bad habits is hard |
| D．people don’t have the courage to change their bad habits |
What’s mainly talked about in Paragraph 3?
| A．What bad habits are. |
| B．How bad habits are formed. |
| C．How to change our bad habits. |
| D．Why we should change our bad habits. |
The author’s attitude towards changing one’s bad habits is .
| A．doubtful | B．optimistic |
| C．negative | D．indifferent |
We don’t know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it. 
At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today-we will feel a little lonely.
Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050. For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.
Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.
We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.
Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather sanguine about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen. Why will people probably feel a little lonely in 2050?
| A．Because the number of people will become much smaller. |
| B．Because there will be less face-to-face communication. |
| C．Because people won’t like making friends with each other. |
| D．Because people won’t communicate with each other much often. |
The third paragraph mainly tells us ________.
| A．computers will do all the things for human beings |
| B．how people will use computers to communicate with each other |
| C．machines like computers and robots will help people a lot |
| D．how people will use robots to do the housework |
According to the passage, which of the following will happen in 2050?
| A．The relationship between people will be more important than that of today. |
| B．The way of spending holidays will be the same as that of today. |
| C．It won’t be difficult for people to travel to other planets. |
| D．Our environment will be much more polluted with a growing number of cars. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．How people will communicate in the year 2050. |
| B．What our life will be like in the year 2050. |
| C．How people will travel and spend their holidays in the year 2050. |
| D．What high technology will appear in the year 2050. |
I was in a strange city I didn’t know at all, and what’s more, I could not speak a word of the language. On my second day I got on the first bus that passed, rode on it for several stops, then got off and walked on. The first two hours passed pleasantly enough, then I decided to turn back to my hotel for lunch. After walking about for some time, I decided I had better ask the way. The trouble was that the only word I knew of the language was the name of the street in which I lived, and even that I pronounced badly. I stopped to ask a newspaper-seller. He handed me a paper. I shook my head and repeated the name of the street and he put the paper into my hands. I had to give him some money and went on my way. The next person I asked was a policeman. He listened to me carefully, nodded and gently took me by the arm. There was a strange look in his eyes as he pointed left and right and left again. I nodded politely and began walking in the direction he pointed.About an hour passed and I noticed that the houses were getting fewer and fewer and green fields were appearing on either side of me. I had come all the way into the countryside. The only thing left for me to do was find the nearest railway station. From the story we know that the policeman______.
| A．was kind but didn’t understand the writer |
| B．told the writer where to take a train |
| C．knew what the writer really meant |
| D．was cold-hearted and didn’t help the writer |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．The writer got close to the hotel where he stayed. |
| B．The writer got to the hotel with the policeman’s help. |
| C．The writer found he was much farther away from the hotel. |
| D．The writer found the hotel in the direction the policeman pointed. |
In your opinion, what was the writer’s real trouble?
| A．He didn’t know the city at all. |
| B．He couldn’t speak the language. |
| C．He went too far in the wrong bus. |
| D．He followed the policeman’s direction. |
Every hour spent in watching TV, DVDs and videos as an adult reduces life expectancy by almost 22 minutes, a study suggests. And viewing TV for an average of six hours a day can cut short your life by five years.
The research claims that a sedentary(久坐的) lifestyle is as bad for health as smoking and obesity, because of the dangers caused by inactivity and the greater opportunities it offers for unhealthy eating.
The academics conducting the study set out to calculate the overall risk to life expectancy from watching television. Their research involved more than 11,000 people over the age of 25.
Writing in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, they concluded. "TV viewing time may be associated with a loss of life, which is similar to other major chronic disease risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity."
The researchers, from the University of Queensland, used information from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, together with population and death rate data.
But they said: "Although we used Australian data, the effects in other industrialized and developing countries are likely to be similar, considering the large amounts of time spent watching TV and similarities in disease patterns." In the United Kingdom, the average amount of time spent watching TV is four hours a day, compared with five hours in the United States.
Earlier this year, a separate study suggested the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease, or dying early, rises by as much as 20 percent after just two hours a day in front of the box.
England's Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, said: "Physical activity offers huge benefits and these studies back what we already know - that a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks. We hope these studies will help more people realize that there are many ways to get exercise."We can learn from the passage that_______
| A．whether you watch TV or not has nothing to do with how long you will live |
| B．if an adult watches TV for six hours every day, he will die five years earlier |
| C．physical inactivity and obesity won't shorten your life |
| D．a sedentary lifestyle offers huge benefits. |
The word "it" in the second paragraph refers to
| A．a sedentary lifestyle | B．eating | C．smoking | D．obesity |
What do we know from the last three paragraphs?
| A．People in the United Kingdom watch TV longer than those in the United States. |
| B．That a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks isn't supported by other studies. |
| C．Watching TV for two hours a day will increase the risk of illnesses or dying early by 20%. |
| D．It is through these studies that we know a sedentary lifestyle carries additional risks. |
The passage is intended to _______.
| A．inform the readers of a research on watching TV |
| B．warn the readers of the harm of watching TV and hope they do sports |
| C．tell the readers watching TV is also a good way to relax |
| D．tell the readers large amounts of people often watch TV |
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority（优先）over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our point of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail— other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merits of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical（合乎道义的）or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or catch our vulnerability(弱点). Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution（美国宪法）.According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
| A．changing others’ point of view |
| B．exercising power over other people |
| C．getting other people to consider your point of view |
| D．getting people to agree with you and do what you want |
The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means“________”.
| A．win | B．fail | C．speak | D．listen |
The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
| A．a danger to society | B．difficult to do well |
| C．unwelcome behavior | D．never successful |
The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．people’s different opinions towards persuasion |
| B．the reasons why people persuade |
| C．that persuasion is both good and bad |
| D．that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
Sure，you’ve watched extreme pet sports on Animal Planet. But did you know that there’s a whole world of athletic activities for dogs right in our area?
There are some reasons for considering taking part in such activities. Such sports strengthen the close feelings between dog and owner，and also benefit your pup’s body and mind.“ Dogs that are tied with chains often have behavioral problems，” says Lee Morgan. “They love to go out and play as much as we do.”
Of course，many of these sports require some amount of practice，and some breeds are simply better at certain activities than others .But all dogs can participate in the following games.
Frisbee Dogs（投掷游戏用的）飞盘
This sport requires you to throw as many Frisbees as your dog can catch in a 60second time period. The further out your dog catches the Frisbee，the more points you rack up. Extra points are awarded if your pet catches the Frisbee while it’s still in the air. Mid Atlantic Disc Dogs (MADDogs) hosts local competitions and offers informal instruction in local parks or even in people’s backyards.
Flyball Dogs
The sport has been around since 1970s.Flyball is a relay race with four dogs in a team. Each must jump four hurdles (跨栏) spaced with 10 feet apart and then land on a springloaded box that shoots out a tennis ball. The dog must then catch the ball and run back over the four hurdles. Once that’s done，the next dog can go. The first team that successfully completes the course wins the competition. There are a number of local teams，including 4 Dog Night，which holds classes for beginners and intermediate players and is always looking for new team members. The Beltway Bandits is another team，based in Leesburg，that hosts private classes and competitions.Dogs that are always tied with chains often have behavioral problems because ________.
| A．there are no close feelings between dog and owner |
| B．many of them lack enough sports or exercises |
| C．there are no local athletic activities or sports for dogs |
| D．dogs love to go out and play as much as human beings |
We can infer that this passage is ________.
| A．probably taken from a travelling diary |
| B．an ad for pet sports training centre |
| C．from a handbook for the methods of raising pets |
| D．a news report about animal sports games |
The second paragraph mainly talks about ________.
| A．how to join in such sports activities |
| B．what kinds of pets can take part in sports |
| C．the benefits sports activities can provide |
| D．the disadvantages of pets joining in sports activities |
From Flyball Dogs，we know that ________.
| A．it is a relay race with four hurdles done by four dogs in a team |
| B．a long race with four hurdles spaced 10 feet apart by a dog |
| C．the dog which can catch the ball and run back over the four hurdles wins |
| D．the 4 Dog Night is the best local team which has won many games |
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