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Across the planet there are millions of people who engage in some type of meditation, the practice of concentrating and clearing the mind to bring the body into a state of peace, at least a semi-regular basis. For some, particularly among practitioners of Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, this is part and parcel of their religious practice.
For others, particularly in Western cultures, meditation tends to be a response to stress. With the world economy approaching meltdown and people worried about their job or their ability to keep their home, it’s a way for people to attain a state of peace of mind and well-being. For those interested in taking up the practice, instruction in meditation for beginners can be found in literally thousands of sources.
One of the most popular styles of mediation in the West, with classes offered in most major cities, is called Transcendental Meditation. TM, as it is known among its practitioners, first came to worldwide attention when the Beatles began practicing it in 1967. For direct, guided, personal instruction in meditation for the beginner, TM may be the hallmark.
Part of the confusion about how to practice meditation effectively is due to the fact that there are literally hundreds of techniques championed by various groups and individuals. As a general principle, it might be said that all meditation techniques seek to have the practitioner attain a state of consciousness that is different to our ordinary state of awareness. They attempt to train people to clear their minds and achieve a sense of inner peace. It sounds simple enough, but of the huge number of people experiment with meditation, very few are able to maintain its practice over the long haul. In most cases, this is due to frustration over the inability to experience any dramatic, instantly recognizable effects.
This is quite a sad state of affairs, that so few these days are willing or equipped to persist in something that doesn’t provide immediate life-changing results. It reflects a culture in which demands for discipline and sustained effort are considered unnecessary or even unfair. It is no surprise therefore that many people abandon their efforts at meditation before they have a chance to bear fruit.
But for anyone who does decide to take up this worthwhile practice, please remember: You must clear your mind, relax and “take it as it comes”. Maintain the practice with a sense of discipline and devotion, and eventually benefits of inner peace and calm will be yours.
The underlined part “part and parcel of” in paragraph 1 is nearest in meaning to ________.

A．closely associated with	B．very different to
C．usually sent from	D．an important element of

The goal of meditation is ________.

A．to clear the mind	B．to practice a religion
C．to develop a technique	D．to carry out an experiment

What can we infer about meditation from the passage?

A．It has two main types.

B．It is practiced by many famous artists.

C．Its benefits are not immediately obvious.

D．Most people find it a very good way to relax.

According to the writer, what has attracted many Western people to meditation practices in recent years?

A．Their improved understanding of foreign culture.

B．The need to fill in their growing free time.

C．Increasing employment instability.

D．Migration from countries in which meditation is traditional.

Who is the probable audience for this article?

A．Experienced meditation practitioners.

B．People interested in starting to learn meditation.

C．Buddhists and Hindus.

D．People who are very religious.

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“My work is done.” Those words were some of the last penned by George Eastman. He included them in his suicide note. They mark an ignoble end to a noble life, the leave taking of a truly great man. The same words could now be said for the company he left behind. Actually, the Eastman Kodak Company is through. It has been mismanaged financially, technologically and competitively. For 20 years, its leaders have foolishly spent down the patrimony of a century’s prosperity. One of America’s bedrock brands is about to disappear, the Kodak moment has passed.
But George Eastman is not how he died, and the Eastman Kodak Company is not how it is being killed. Though the ends be needless and premature, they must not be allowed to overshadow the greatness that came before. Few companies have done so much good for so many people, or defined and lifted so profoundly the spirit of a nation and perhaps the world. It is impossible to understand the 20th Century without recognizing the role of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Kodak served mankind through entertainment, science, national defense and the stockpiling of family memories. Kodak took us to the top of Mount Suribachi and to the Sea of Tranquility. It introduced us to the merry old Land of Oz and to stars from Charlie Chaplin to John Wayne, and Elizabeth Taylor to Tom Hanks. It showed us the shot that killed President Kennedy, and his brother bleeding out on a kitchen floor, and a fallen Martin Luther King Jr. on the hard balcony of a Memphis motel. When that sailor kissed the nurse, and when the spy planes saw missiles in Cuba, Kodak was the eyes of a nation. From the deck of the Missouri to the grandeur of Monument Valley, Kodak took us there. Virtually every significant image of the 20th Century is a gift to posterity（繁荣） from the Eastman Kodak Company.
In an era of easy digital photography, when we can take a picture of anything at any time, we cannot imagine what life was like before George Eastman brought photography to people. Yes, there were photographers, and for relatively large sums of money they would take stilted（不自然的） pictures in studios and formal settings. But most people couldn’t afford photographs, and so all they had to remember distant loved ones, or earlier times of their lives, was memory. Children could not know what their parents had looked like as young people, grandparents far away might never learn what their grandchildren looked like. Eastman Kodak allowed memory to move from the uncertainty of recollection, to the permanence of a photograph. But it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the sacred and precious times that families cherish. The Kodak moment, was humanity’s moment.
And it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the precious times that families cherish. Kodak let the fleeting moments of birthdays and weddings, picnics and parties, be preserved and saved. It allowed for the creation of the most egalitarian art form. Lovers could take one another’s pictures, children were photographed walking out the door on the first day of school, the person releasing the shutter decided what was worth recording, and hundreds of millions of such decisions were made. And for centuries to come, those long dead will smile and dance and communicate to their unborn progeny（子孙）. Family history will be not only names on paper, but smiles on faces.
The cash flow not just provided thousands of people with job, but also allowed the company’s founder to engage in some of the most generous charity in America’s history. Not just in Kodak’s home city of Rochester, New York, but in Tuskegee and London, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He bankrolled（资助） two historically black colleges, fixed the teeth of Europe’s poor, and quietly did good wherever he could. While doing good, Kodak did very well. Over all the years, all the Kodakers over all the years are essential parts of that monumental legacy. They prospered a great company, but they – with that company – blessed the world.
That is what we should remember about the Eastman Kodak Company. Like its founder, we should remember how it lived, not how it died. History will forget the small men who have scuttled this company. But history will never forget Kodak.
According to the passage, which of the following is to blame for the fall of Kodak?

A．The invention of easy digital photography

B．The poor management of the company

C．The early death of George Eastman

D．The quick rise of its business competitors

It can be learnt from the passage that George Eastman .

A．died a natural death of old age.

B．happened to be on the spot when President Kennedy was shot dead.

C．set up his company in the capital of the US before setting up its branches all over the world.

D．was not only interested in commercial profits, but also in the improvement of other people’s lives.

Before George Eastman brought photography to people, .

A．no photos has ever been taken of people or events

B．photos were very expensive and mostly taken indoors

C．painting was the only way for people to keep a record of their ancestors.

D．grandparents never knew what their grandchildren looked like.

The person releasing the shutter (Paragraph 5) was the one .

A．who took the photograph

B．who wanted to have a photo taken

C．whose decisions shaped the Eastman Kodak Company

D．whose smiles could long be seen by their children

What is the writer’s attitude towards the Eastman Kodak Company?

A．Disapproving

B．Respectful

C．Regretful

D．Critical

Which do you think is the best title for the passage?

A．Great Contributions of Kodak

B．Unforgettable moments of Kodak

C．Kodak Is Dead

D．History of Eastman Kodak Company

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The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana (大麻). That is the statement of researchers who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user’s IQ. This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavorably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have described the phenomenon of improved stupidity as “infomania”. The research conducted by Hewlett Packard, the technology company, has concluded that it is mainly a problem for adult workers, especially men.
It is concluded that too much use of modern technology can damage a person’s mind. It can cause a constant distraction of “always on” technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do. Infomania means that they lose concentration as their minds remain fixed in an almost permanent state of readiness to react to technology instead of focusing on the task in hand. The report also added that, in a long term, the brain will be considerably shaped by what we do to it and by the experience of daily life. At a microcellular level, the complex networks of nerve cells that make up parts of the brain actually change in response to certain experiences.
Too much use of modern technology can be damaging not only to a person’s mind, but to their social relationship. 1100 adults were interviewed during the research. More than 62 per cent of them admitted that they were addicted to checking their e-mails and text messages so often that they scrutinized work-related ones even when at home or on holiday. Half said that they always responded immediately to an email and will even interrupt a meeting to do so. It is concluded that infomania is increasing stress and anxiety and affecting one’s characteristics. Nine out of ten thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rude.
The effects on IQ were studied by Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at University of London. “This is a very real and widespread phenomenon,” he said. “We have found that infomania will damage a worker’s performance by reducing their mental sharpness and changing their social life. Companies should encourage a more balanced and appropriate way of working.”
We can learn from the passage that “infomania” ______.

A．has a positive influence on one’s IQ

B．results in the change of part of the brain

C．lies in the problem of lack of concentration

D．is caused by too much use of modern technology

The research mentioned in the passage is most probably about ______.

A．the important function of advanced technology

B．the damage to one’s brain done by unhealthy habits

C．the relevance between IQ and use of modern technology

D．the relationship between intelligence and working effectiveness

The underlined word “scrutinized” probably means “______”.

A．examined carefully	B．copied patiently
C．corrected quickly	D．admitted freely

What is the main idea of this passage?

A．The regular use of text messages and e-mails can be compared to smoking marijuana.

B．The regular use of text messages and e-mails can harm your IQ.

C．Modern technology can damage a person’s mind.

D．Electronic messages have side effects on the user’s life.

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Surprisingly, no one knows how many children receive education in English hospitals, still less the content or quality of that education. Proper records are just not kept. We know that more than 850,000 children go through hospital each year, and that every child of school age has a legal right to continue to receive education while in hospital. We also know there is only one hospital teacher to every 1,000 children in hospital.
Little wonder the latest survey concludes that the extent and type of hospital teaching available differ a great deal across the country. It is found that half the hospitals in England which admit children have no teacher. A further quarter have only a part-time teacher. The special children’s hospitals in major cities do best; general hospitals in the country and holiday areas are worst off. From this survey, one can estimate that fewer than one in five children have some contact with a hospital teacher—and that contact may be as little as two hours a day. Most children interviewed were surprised to find a teacher in hospital at all. They had not been prepared for it by parents or their own school. If there was a teacher they were much more likely to read books and do math or number work; without a teacher they would only play games.
Reasons for hospital teaching range from preventing a child falling behind and maintaining the habit of school to keeping a child occupied, and the latter is often all the teacher can do. The position and influence of many teachers was summed up when parents referred to them as “the library lady” or just “the helper”. Children tend to rely on concerned school friends to keep in touch with school work. Several parents spoke of requests for work being ignored or refused by the school. Once back at school children rarely get extra teaching, and are told to catch up as best as they can.
Many short-stay child-patients catch up quickly. But schools do very little to ease the anxiety about falling behind expressed by many of the children interviewed.
Which of the following statements is true?

A．Every child in hospital receives some teaching.

B．Not enough is known about hospital teaching.

C．Hospital teaching is of poor quality.

D．The special children's hospitals are worst off.

It can be inferred from the latest survey that________.

A．hospital teaching across the country is similar

B．each hospital has at least one part-time teacher

C．all hospitals surveyed offer education to children

D．only one-fourth of the hospitals have a full-time teacher

Hospital teachers are found________.

A．not welcomed by the children and their parents

B．necessary

C．not welcomed by the hospitals

D．capable

In order to catch up with their school work, children in hospital usually turn to________.

A．hospital teachers	B．schoolmates
C．parents	D．school teachers

We can conclude from the passage that the author is________.

A．unfavorable towards children receiving education in hospitals

B．in favor of the present state of teaching in hospitals

C．unsatisfied with the present state of hospital teaching

D．satisfied with the results of the latest survey

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My trip with my sister and my daughter to Manhattan wedding gown(长袍，长外衣) shop, cannot be understood without further focusing on Marina, my 14-year-old daughter Ive asked to try on dresses.
This was the girl I took to Kleinfeld, the fancy store featured on the television program Say Yes to the Dress. As the trip approached, I asked Marina if she was excited. Sure, Mom. shed say, shrugging. Marina was more excited about getting a tattoo(文身) on her ankle to represent my fight with ALS(肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症) than trying on $ 10,000 wedding gowns.
My sister, Stephanie, had arranged for a car with a wheelchair lift to drive us from the hotel to Kleinfeld. The car driver wheeled me in.
At Kleinfeld with flower arrangements ten feet high, I felt like rolling into a dream. “Wow!” I said. I was wearing a new black outfit. Marina wore jean shorts, a sleeveless(无袖的) shirt, and sneakers. She stood with her hands crossed over her chest, like this was the last place on the planet she wanted to be. The kind Kleinfeld ladies pointed out rooms like tour guides, naming the designers one by one on display: Alita Grham, Pnina Tornai… With Marina walking beside me, Stephanie pushed my chair up and down rows and rows of dresses that made Princess Diana’s dress look modest.
Marina didn’t say a word. We turned a corner into the storage room, where hundreds of dresses hung in plastic protector sleeves. Marina and I were overwhelmed.
“Want to try one on ?” I said, touching Marina’s hand.
“OK,” Marina said in her sharp, unsure voice.
“Tell them the style you’d like.”
Marina stood silent. I felt bad for bringing her, for forcing such an adult experience on a child.
Marina picked an A-line dress. Or, more precisely, the ladies of Kleinfeld picked it for her. Marina was too shocked to do more than nod. As she took the gown into the dressing room, I tried not to think of my little girl on her wedding day or of her as a baby in my arms. I tried not to think of her with her own baby in her arms one day.
I tried not to think of Marina right now, embarrassed by her mother’s plans, by things she could not and should not yet understand.
I am leaving money in my will for Marina’s wedding dress. Stephanie has promised to bring her back to Kleinfeld to purchase it.
“No pure white!” I said to Stephanie. “Ivory. Not too much tulle(薄纱). Think lace.”
“Think royalty when picking a dress,” I advised Steph as we waited outside the dressing room. “Think Princes Kate. Elegant. Think long sleeves. They make dresses more formal.”
Marina came out, sleeveless, flared(下摆宽大的). She looked like a 14-year-old girl in the middle of a giant cupcake.
“I don’t like the loose gown.” she said.
That’s my girl!
“How about trying on one with long sleeves?” I asked her.
The ladies brought out a dress with long lace sleeves, an Empire collar, a ruched(有褶饰的) fitted waist, and a long, smooth silk skirt.
Marina disappeared into the dressing room. When the door opened, she looked a foot taller and a decade older. I could clearly see the beautiful woman she will be one day. I simply stared.
What do you do when you glimpse a moment you will not live to see?
I dipped my head. Breathe, I told myself. I looked up. I smiled. Marina smiled back.
I worked my tongue into position to speak. “I like it,” I said.
In that dress, Marina stood straight, shining brightly, and tall.
“You are beautiful,” I whispered, my tongue barely cooperating. I don’t know if she heard me. We took some photos. And moved on. A memory made.
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The mother made the payment for the wedding gown for her daughter on the spot.

B．The mother was disabled and unable to move around without a wheelchair.

C．The daughter well understood why she was asked to try on wedding gowns.

D．The mother thought pure white is more suitable for her daughter on the wedding.

According to the story, we can conclude that Marina ________.

A．finally picked out her favorite wedding gown herself after careful selection

B．amazingly grew taller and older after wearing her new wedding gown

C．was a different girl who liked marking pictures on skin to show her uniqueness

D．was more concerned about her mother than trying on new wedding gowns

The underlined sentence in Para.4 means ________.

A．she was more satisfied with her own clothes than wedding gowns

B．she was too excited to say anything seeing so many wedding gowns

C．she was quite nervous and uneasy in a place intended for adults

D．she was amazed to see so many wedding gowns on display

By saying “I tried not to think of my little girl on her wedding day or …”, the author probably felt ________.

A．heartbroken	B．disappointed
C．embarrassed	D．ashamed

What is the main purpose for mother taking her 14-year-old daughter to the wedding dress shop?

A．To take memorable photos of her daughter who wears the wedding gown.

B．To buy her daughter the most beautiful wedding gown for her wedding day.

C．To fulfill her desire to see what her daughter will be like in her wedding gown.

D．To choose the most suitable wedding gown as the last gift for her daughter.

What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Mother’s Final Wish

B．A Particular Wedding Dress Shop

C．An Embarrassing Plan

D．Daughter’s Wedding

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