During my elementary school years, I used to compare my mom with my best friend Tiffany's mom..
Tiffany's mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her mom allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn't give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave myself. I was annoyed with her.
Whenever I didn't get what I wanted, I would complain to my mom, Tiffany's mom would give her that! I wish she were my mom. "Every time, my morn would calmly say "Poor Tiffany". I couldn't understand her. "She shouldn't be feeling sorry for Tiffany!" I thought. "She should be feeling sorry for me."
One day, I couldn't help saying to Mom, "Poor Tiffany? Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her? " I burst into tears.
My mom sat down next to me and said softly. "Yes, I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught. "
I looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"
Mom said with care, "One day she will really want something. Maybe she'll find out that she can't have it. Her mother won't always be around to give her money, and what's more, money can't buy everything. "
She continued, "I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You'll know how to look for bargains and save money, but she won't. You'll understand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won't. When Tiffany is a grown woman, she'll wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you've got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food. "
It took some time, but I eventually understood my mom's words. Now I am a happy and successful woman.
During the author's elementary school years, she .
| A．wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany's |
| B．went to school with Tiffany every day |
| C．usually pared her lesson with Tiffany's |
| D．sometimes gave lots of money to Tiffany |
Why did the author's mom always say "Poor Tiffany"?
| A．She felt sorry for Tiffany because Tiffany was poor. |
| B．She wanted to tell a lie to fort the author. |
| C．She thought that Tiffany was spoiled by her mother. |
| D．She told the author this and wanted her to help Tiffany. |
What do we learn about the author's mother?
| A．She was strict and taught the author to be independent. |
| B．She cared for other people's children more than her own. |
| C．She thought that life lessons were as important as money. |
| D．She was so poor that she couldn't give the author much money. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The author was quite annoyed with her mother in the past. |
| B．The author's mother felt sorry for Tiffany. |
| C．Tiffany's mother took the author's mother's advice. |
| D．The author is thankful to her mother now. |
Last Friday, I was ing home late after spending time with friends and thought I’d go down to the $99 cent pizza place. On the way, I saw a man sitting on the stairs alone there. I’d seen him before every day I run late to work, but this time I had no place to rush off to.
There was something about him, a quiet manner, different from many of other homeless people I had seen in New York City. I walked past him, went to the pizza place, and those 10 seconds waiting in line was enough to practice stepping outside of my usual, familiar flow. So with a few slices in hand, I went back to join him. I asked him if he was hungry. He said yes, but not for pizza because it made him unfortable. He’d rather have a few bucks for chicken and rice since it was easier on his stomach. It’s funny, in that moment, he became more real to me.
This man I had seen almost every day was someone with specific conditions, needs, and experiences. We exchanged names and ended up talking for a little over an hour that night as Kevin told me stories from his life, how he had done things when “he was younger and didn’t know any better” and how he tried to make amends (补偿) but too much time had passed. He shared his views on the value for young adults to learn the history of other people.
He talked about his one wish being in his 60’s before he leaves this earth, which is to share his story with the teenagers and young adults so they could avoid the mistakes he went through. Throughout the conversation, he eventually got his chicken and rice and gifted me a rose he had been carrying. Shortly afterwards, I made my way home, thinking to myself, “I met an amazing homeless person”.The writer’s purpose in writing the passage is to ____.
| A．share his experience |
| B．show his generosity |
| C．express his thoughts |
| D．exchange his opinions |
The homeless man refused pizza because he ____.
| A．did not feel very hungry at that moment |
| B．had something wrong with his stomach |
| C．preferred some chicken and rice to pizza |
| D．might feel ashamed to be given something |
What’s the homeless man’s last wish?
| A．To bee a lot younger again. |
| B．To make amends for his early life. |
| C．To have enough chicken and rice to eat. |
| D．To teach the young not to follow his example. |
It can be inferred from the text that ____.
| A．The homeless man is different from others |
| B．The writer showed his pity to the homeless man |
| C．What the homeless man thought shocked the writer |
| D．What the homeless man did was not very meaningful |
How do you like the homeless man after reading the passage?
| A．Learned. | B．Honorable. |
| C．Determined. | D．Promising. |
It was the end of the school term and my son Tom had less than three months left before he would finish his six years at high school. During this time he had developed a love for basketball. Sadly, because of my work over the last twelve months, I had only been able to attend a few of his games; however, I was determined to get to his last game for the school term.
Tom’s team came out in the first 10 minutes with a burst of goals that saw them leading by just over 20 points at the end of the first half. The second half changed as the other team quickly played themselves back into the game. Tom’s team started to miss an increasing number of shots. It was at that point that the coach called his first time out.
The noise of the spectators (观众) became quiet as the coach spoke to them. He had the team standing in a half circle, but he squatted (蹲) down, looking up at them and fiving some very calm and clear instructions on what they needed to do in the last couple of minutes. As he stood up to allow the team to return to the court, I saw him give some further words of encouragement to all of them.
You could see that he knew that the team was fighting to save the game and that he needed to lift them up. By squatting down he placed himself in a position where he was talking up to them, rather than down or at them, and as the players went back onto the court his words of encouragement served to lift their energy and spirits.
Well, Tom’s team went on to win the final by 5 points. As I drove away I thought about what can happen to us all in our everyday life. One of my favourite quotes is about the half filled glass of water --- “Is it half full or is it half empty?” Like the coach, the answer to this quote all depends on how you look at things.Why did the writer e to see his son play basketball?
| A．Because his son would graduate from high school. |
| B．Because he felt sorry for never watching his son play. |
| C．Because it was a final his son played a key role in. |
| D．Because he had a strong interest in basketball himself. |
By squatting down, the coach wanted to _____ .
| A．talk about what the players were doing wrong |
| B．make the players feel better |
| C．prevent spectators from hearing what he said |
| D．show his anger at the bad performance of the players |
What is the writer’s attitude towards the coach?
| A．Negative. | B．Supportive. | C．Interested. | D．Unconcerned. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．A father should care about his son at school. |
| B．Playing hard is rewarded with a close match. |
| C．What a coach says has the most influence on players. |
| D．Looking at things positively is important in hard times. |
B
You know how wonderful you are, and you know that others know how wonderful you are, but what do you do when admiration crosses over the line into jealousy(嫉妒)? For most teens there will come a day when you realize that one of your friends is jealous and that this jealousy is hurting your friendship. When this happens it can seem like there is nothing that you can do, but the good news is that there is. Don’t let jealousy spoil your relationships. Deal withitconfidently and you might be back to normal much sooner than you think.
It can be hard to walk up to a friend and ask them what the problem is, but if you want to save your friendship you’ll have to do just that. Don’t approach them and ask why they are jealous of you unless of course you want to appear totally conceited (逞能), just take some time alone with them and let them know that you’ve been feeling like there’s been something coming between you. If they refuse to respond, then use the opportunity to explain how you have been feeling. Chances are that something you say will strike a nerve and your friend will open up as well.
When you figure out what is annoying your friend, ask him or her what (s)he thinks would make the situation better. If, for example, (s)he says that (s)he feels like (s)he doesn’t get to spend any time with you because of your being off with your new friends from the swim team then maybe you could invite her along the next time or block off one day a week for just the two of you. Remember, though, that whatever solution you decide on should be a compromise. Don’t limit your own talents or opportunities simply because your friend is unhappy. Try instead to include him or her in your new life and see how that works out.
Even the best of friendships can be ruined by jealousy. This destructive emotion is rarely productive and can turn best friends into worst enemies. Before taking extreme action, chat with your jealous friend to see if the two of you can work out a compromise. If you can’t, be prepared to know exactly how far you will go to keep your friend and how far you won’t.
According to the author, the jealousy emotion is________.
| A．normal | B．productive |
| C．destructive | D．extreme |
What does the author intend to tell us in paragraph 2?
| A．How to solve the problem of jealousy. |
| B．Why we need to solve the problem of jealousy. |
| C．How to explain your jealousy to your friends. |
| D．Why it is hard to deal with the problem of jealousy. |
What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
| A．There’s always a solution to solve the problem of jealousy. |
| B．Jealousy can turn best friends into worst enemies. |
| C．You may lose a friend to keep your own gifts, chances or self development. |
| D．You should go a long way with your friend to work out a solution |
This passage is mainly intended for________.
| A．female readers |
| B．students |
| C．teenagers |
| D．best friends |
An old man in a faded yellow shirt sat in a windowless room on a raised concrete form. The only source of heat came from somewhere beneath the plastic mattress and the rough blanket the blank-faced police woman had handed him after taking his thumb prints. He heard voices and metallic clang as the cell door swung open.
At the front desk a tired looking policeman handed the old man back his belongings, his worn-out cap and the Seiko watch that had stopped working the day his beloved Evelyn left. The policeman dramatically held the blue plastic bag at an arm’s length to the old man who took it and made sure its contents were undamaged: the goat meat, palm oil, leaves and spices. He ignored the confused expression on the officer’s face and signed the document declaring he had been returned the possessions they had taken off him the night before.
No one spoke to him as he walked slowly towards the exit.
“Mr. Easy-nwa?” He stopped and prayed to the God who now took care of Evelyn to please take him far away from this unhappy place of expressionless faces, clipped accents and people who did not even attempt to pronounce his name right.
“Ezenwa,” He said and looked at a woman with tangerine lips, her name tag said Jessica Harlow, Social Services. “A bit far from home，she said as she drove fast and with confidence the way Evelyn used to. He wondered if she meant the 50 miles from Liverpool or the 50,000 miles from Enugu，a city in Nigeria. He did not bother replying as this woman had plenty to say about the weather, bad drivers, her daughter’s school play...
At last she drew up outside the block of flats where he lived.
“Got here in the end”，said she seriously, “Really Mr. Easy-nwa, if you keep getting lost, we will have to consider moving you into a home”.
“No need, I was not lost，he answered. He carefully rolled up the sleeves of the oversize bomber jacket he wore and turned on the tap to wash his hands, relieved the pipes were not frozen. In a clean pan he placed the chopped pieces of goat meat. The herbs and spices that had taken him three months to track down, the uziza seeds had taken him into the heart of Granby Market in Liverpool, his uchanwu leaves down a shady back alley in Manchester, and yesterday, among other food items, the finest goat meat from a Sierra Leonean Butcher in Birmingham. That had taken some time, so much he missed the last train and when the police found him shivering outside the locked up station, so cold he couldn’t answer loudly enough the pink-faced big copper who yelled in his face, “What’s your name sir?” spraying his face with spittle (吐沫）as he did so, leaving them with no choice but to search an exhausted, frozen old black man and finding him in possession of mysterious condiments (调味品）including a bag of dried bitter-leaf which could of course be mistaken for anything that resulted in him getting read his rights and charged with ...possession???
He lifted the lid of the bubbling soup, the room was filled with the rich and spicy scent of his culinary (烹饪的）effort. He served two bowls, taking the chipped one and placing the other opposite where Evelyn would have sat. He would tell her about his adventure, it was their anniversary and this was the perfect pepper soup to celebrate.
Ken Onyia, UK (Nigeria) Commonwealth Sport Short Story PrizeWhy was Mr. Ezenwa taken to the prison for a night?
| A．He was too weak to move. |
| B．He couldn’t find his way back home. |
| C．He then had nowhere else to go. |
| D．He was suspected of possessing drugs. |
When Mr. Ezenwa was to leave the prison, •
| A．his thumb print was taken immediately |
| B．the policeman was confused about what he had |
| C．a social worker was assigned to drive him back home |
| D．the policeman was so kind as not to damage his belongings |
What did Mr. Ezenwa do for his wedding anniversary?
| A．He collected all sorts of valuables as presents. |
| B．He cooked native food as a surprise for his wife. |
| C．He prepared a special Nigerian pepper soup carefully. |
| D．He travelled a lot, attempting to get his wife back. |
What words can be used to describe Mr. Ezenwa?
| A．Hopeless and pessimistic.. |
| B．Mysterious and troublesome. |
| C．Affectionate and persistent. |
| D．Energetic and sympathetic. |
What theme does the author want to express through the story?
| A．Racial prejudice. |
| B．Hard life of the elderly. |
| C．Struggle for freedom. |
| D．Preservation of tradition. |
D
Whenever you buy something, it is possible that someone has already worn, eaten, or tested
it to make sure it is safe and do what is supposed to do. But what if you wanted a special suit to keep a shark from hurting you? Who wants to test a product like it?
"I do! " says Jeremiah Sullwan, a scientist in California "You have to believe in what you sell, right?"
Sullivan. owns SharkArmor Tech, a company that makes a $ 49400 sharksuit that even a great white shark can’ t bite through. Before Sullivan could sell his sharksuits, he needed to make sure his design would work. Sullivan put on the sharksuit and jumped into a shark feeding ground. "I need to know exactly what a human body could expect to go through," he says. Sharks moved all around him and then attacked his arm. Sullivan felt the bite but no teeth. He was uncomfortable at times, but not painful. The suit works! "
"I’ve now been bitten thousands of times but. never badly," says Sullivan, who now works with shows like Wild Kingdom, and programs for the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week.
So,are you all set to buy a sharksuit? Before you do, you should know that the suit weighs 20 pounds and makes swimming almost impossible--not so practical for a day on the beach. And in fact, Sullivan wants only professionals, such as filmmakers, scientists and drivers, to have sharksuits. Why? Because even if someone is wearing a sharksuit, they could get seriously hurt if they treat diving with a 4,OOO-pound shark as a game.
During sharksuit testing, sharks have thrown Sullivan to a bottom o/ reefs(礁) and tried to take him off into the deepest part of the ocean. "However," Sullivan says," you don't need to be afraid of sharks. It’s actually pretty hard to get a shark to bite you, "
The first paragraph is written to .
| A．start a discussion |
| B．introduce the topic of the text |
| C．show the main points of the text |
| D．test readers' knowledge |
Why did Sullivan get close to sharks?
| A．To see if his sharksuit works. |
| B．To study what sharks feed on. |
| C．To catch a special kind of white shark. |
| D．To learn how to swim with sharks safely, |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Most people won't wear the sharksuit to the beach |
| B．People like to go to the beach with the sharksuit. |
| C．The sharksuit makes a perfect day on the beach |
| D．The sharksuit can’t be worn for a whole day. |
We can learn from the text that the sharksuit _
| A．works well for swimmers |
| B．is light but uncomfortable |
| C．keeps sharks away from humans |
| D．is designed for special purpose |
B
We answer some questions this week in our series on getting into an American college or university.
The first question is about our recent discussion of English language test. Vo Ngoc from Vietnam would like to know about the TOEIC, which is designed to measure skills of English as spoken in the workplace.
The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEIC. It says the test measures the language skills of people working in an international environment. American colleges and universities accept scores from the TOFEL and often the IELTS. If you miss our report on these tests, you can find it at our website www. unsv. com..
Tahir Mahood from Pakistan asks how to improve his English before taking these kinds of tests. Well, you can start by looking for ways to use English as much as you can Watch American movies and TV shows and read books in English Look for English speakers to talk to.
The Internet has many free materials for Engiish learners. Visitors to www. unsv. com. for example, can read, listen and watch programmes on many different subjects. The U.S. Department of Education recent launched a free website designed to help immigrants learn English.
The site is called USA Learns at www. usalearns, org, like www. chinadaily. cn, intended for English learners in China
Next,a question from Turkey:Hasan Eker asks about getting a postdoctoral position in the U. S. This is work generally done by a person who recently earned a PhD. The National Post-doctoral Association in Washington has information about international postdocs on its website www. Nationalpostal.org.
And, finally, we have questions from Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia about how to pay an education through jobs. There’re rules that restrict the kinds of jobs that foreign students
can have while studying in the U. S.
What-s the purpose of the passage?
| A．To attract more people to the website. |
| B．To introduce the TOEIC to readers. |
| C．To ask questions on entering American universities. |
| D．To help deal with some puzzles on entering American colleges. |
According to the passage, TOEIC is .
| A．a must for those who go to American universities |
| B．designed for whoever apply for a job with companies |
| C．to test a student’s language skills in the workplace |
| D．a test for students to graduate from universities |
A person wb.o wants to learn. English can go to the following EXCEPT.
| A．www. unsv. Com |
| B．www. national postdoc. org |
| C．www. usalearns. Org |
| D．www chinadaily. cn, |
What can we know from the passage?
A. Foreign students are not allowed to do whatever jobs they like in the U. S.
B. Every graduate from colleges can get a postdoctoral position if they want to.
C. The IELTS is also necessary for job application like the TOEIC.
D. Students from Iran aren’t allowed to have jobs in the U. S.
It was Thanksgiving morning. I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey when the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in rags huddling together on the top step.
“Any old papers, lady?” asked one of them.
I was busy. I wanted to say “no” until I looked down at their feet. They were wearing thin little sandals （凉鞋）, wet with heavy snow.
“Come in and I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”
They walked over and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the floor. I saved them cocoa and bread to fight against the cold outside. Then I went back to the kitchen and started cooking.
The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, “Lady, are you rich?”
“Am I rich? Pity, no!”
I looked at my worn-out slipcovers （椅套）. The girl put her cup back in its saucer （茶碟）carefully and said, “Your cups match your saucers.” They left after that, holding their papers against the wind. They had reminded me that I had so much for which to be grateful.
Plain blue china cups and saucers were only worth five pence. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and stirred the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a regular job, these matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and cleaned the living room. The muddy marks of little sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to forget how rich I am. The writer let the two children come in and served them well because ______.
| A．she wanted to sell old papers to them |
| B．she wanted to give them some presents |
| C．she showed great pity and care on them |
| D．she wanted to show her thanks to them |
The writer left the muddy marks of little sandals on the floor for a while to _______.
| A．show that she was a kind-hearted lady |
| B．remind her she shouldn’t forget how rich she was |
| C．leave room for readers to think about what being rich is |
| D．call up her memories of the good old days |
It can be inferred from the text that whether you are rich depends on _______.
| A．how much money you have made |
| B．what attitude you have had toward life |
| C．the way you help others |
| D．your social relationship |
A
The old lady got up early to be ready for the post．Although she seldom received letters or parcels，today she was sure there would be something．Myra wouldn’t forget her mother’s birthday, even if she seldom wrote at other times．Of course Myra was busy．Her husband had been made Mayor, and Myra herself had got a medal for her work for the aged．
The old lady was eighty today．She had put on her best dress．Perhaps Myra might come．The old lady was sure of that．Two spots of color brightened her cheeks．She was excited--like a child．She would enjoy her day．
Mrs. Morrison，a social worker，had brought a card and a bunch of flowers when she came to do the breakfast．Mrs. Grant downstairs had made a cake．The little boy from the ground floor，Johnnie，had been up with a packet of candies，and offered to help her fetch the post．
“I guess you’ll get lots and lots of presents，“he said，I did last week when l was six．”
What would she like ? A pair of slippers，a table lamp，a book or a little clock．So many lovely things．
She stood by the window，watching．The postman turned round the corner on his bicycle．Her heart beat fast．Johnnie had seen him too and ran to the gate．And then he gave her four envelopes．Three were unsealed cards from old friends．The fourth was sealed，in Myra’s writing．
“No parcel，Johnnie?”
“No，granny．”
Maybe the parcel was too large to come by letter post．That was it．It would come later by parcel post．She must be patient．
But disappointment flooded her．She tore the envelope open unwillingly．A cheque fell to the floor like a bird with a broken、wing．Slowly the old lady bent to pick it up．With trembling fingers she tore it into little bits．What kind of work did Myra probably take?
| A．charity | B．paperwork |
| C．accounting | D．education |
What does the underlined word “it” mean?
| A．The reunion time she looked forward to． |
| B．The reason why there was no parcel． |
| C．The birthday gift she wanted most． |
| D．The slowest way to send a gift． |
How is the passage organized?
| A．In order of time． |
| B．In order of space． |
| C．In order of frequency． |
| D．In order of importance． |
The author seems to tell us that ．
| A．there is no love like that of the parent for the child |
| B．to accompany our parents should be the first law of nature |
| C．a mother’s voice is the most beautiful sound in the world |
| D．we never know the love of our parents for us till we have become parents |
C
Dear David，
I’m glad you would like to share your feelings with me．It’s hardly surprising that yourfeelings of not being “grown up” have come on strongly at this point in your life，just before you’re about to become a father．You are asking：will I make a good father？How will I cope?
Should I have brought anotherlittle person into the world? Can l provide for it?Help!I thinknearly every sensitive about-to-be-parent must have these occasional feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy(不适)before the birth and it would be most unusual if you didn't share them．It's difficult，honestly，to feel grown-up unless you have something less grown-up to relate to．
The boss with a hen-pecking wife may feel like a seven-year-old when he’s at home．But as he walks through the office door，and knows he’s going to be surrounded by staff looking to him forAdvice，he grows into a fully mature man．And I think it’s a mistake to imagine that we all feel，aswe age，a kind of progression of states，from the baby to the adult．Most people feel，on Tuesday， about three years old，and on a Wednesday，around 80．
There's a common remark that “all men are little boys”，but it's not true．It's more true that men often behave like little boys．But nearly all people，at some moments in their lives，arecapable of groat maturity．
Once your baby arrives，you’ll soon feel less childlike，or rather，less often．When your childtries to put its fingers into the electric plug，the adult in you will rise up to prevent it．You’ll see
you have very little in common with a needy child，particularly if it's looking to you for comfort and support．
Comfort yourself，David，with two truths．One is that your friends laugh when they talk about this subject because they，like you，feel frightened．And remember that people who haven't grown
up don’t go around talking about the fact that they don’t feel grown-up．
Hope my advice will be helpful and good luck to you and your little one．
Yours sincerely，
Miss Advice
According to the passage，Miss Advice thinks David's self-doubt is ．
| A．valuable | B．natural |
| C．unusual | D．bearable |
From Paragraph 2，we can learn that people's sense of maturity ．
| A．will increase with age |
| B．is obviously seen at home |
| C．changes with different situations |
| D．becomes stronger with familiar people |
Miss Advice holds that ．
| A．all men behave like little boys |
| B．people tend to laugh at the subject |
| C．men with a baby feel more grown-up |
| D．people enjoy talking about their immaturity |
Miss Advice wrote the letter to -
| A．offer suggestions to a future father |
| B．teach people how to grow up |
| C．encourage people to be responsible |
| D．solve problems of the less grown-up |
A
A month after Hurricane Katrina，I returned home in New Orleans．There lay my house，reduced to waist-high rains，smelly and dirty．Before the trip，I’d had my car fixed．When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill．she noticed my Louisiana license plate．“You from New Orleans?”she asked．I said l was，
“No charge．”She said，and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet．The next day I went for a haircut，and the same thing happened．
As my wife was studying in Florid，we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage(抵押贷款)on our ruined house．We looked at many places，but none was satisfactory．We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while，when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California．He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings forState，an online
magazine and wanted to give us(“noconditions attached”)a new house across the lake from New Orleans．It sounded too good to be true，but I replied，thanking him for his exceptional generosity，that we had no plans to go back．Then a poet of the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave．The rent was rather reasonable．Imentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy，and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months．
Throughout this painful experience，the kindness of strangers backs my faith in humanity．It’s almostworthlosing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really want to be kind when given a channel．
Which one shows the right time order?
①James Kennedy sent us a check．
②A poet offered his house to us．
③Our home was reduced to ruins．
④The garage employee charged us nothing．
⑤We came back to New Orleans．
| A．④③⑤①② | B．③④⑤②① |
| C．④③⑤②① | D．③④⑤①② |
What do you know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a friend of the writer． |
| B．He offered the writer a house in California． |
| C．He worked for an online magazine． |
| D．He was concerned about the writer’s sufferings． |
It can be inferred from the passage that ．
| A．The mortgage on the ruined house didn’t needto be paid off |
| B．The house rents in New Orleans were reasonable after the hurricane |
| C．The writer rebuilt his faith in humanity by losing his worldly possessions |
| D．The writer made it through the painful period with people's kindness |
How is the passage developed?
| A．By showing contrasting facts． |
| B．By making classification |
| C．By giving examples． |
| D．By analyzing causes and effects． |
The moral view of violence, labeling it as bad and wrong, has done little to end it. The alternative view is to release our judgments and see violence for what it is: a form of suffering. This is a difficult change for many people. Not only are they in the habit of making knee-jerk(下意识的) judgments, but violent people cause harm, and therefore their suffering seems to deserve less sympathy.
You hurt me, so why should I have sympathy for you? It should be the other way around. Does it take a saint(圣人) to make the change from strong anger to sympathy?
Turning points arrive when we can make a choice not to suffer in silence. We then strike a soul bargain that is fearful but necessary. The bargain is that redemption(解救) is possible through love. The absence of love is absolutely the problem, and love is absolutely the solution. We don’t have to reach into another area to locate the magic power of love that is available to us here and now.
The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being. The rule is constant work on the spiritual path to clear away the obstacles that prevent love from coming through us. The work is much more like working on blocked pipe system than it is like copying a saint.
Hope is the emotion that keeps this dogged work even when results seem to be slow or impossible. Can I love the terrorist who harms my country? Can I love the criminal who wants to harm me? At the level of the soul I already do, and the spiritual path is a means to arrive at that level.
No one is required to leap into sudden sympathy for terrorists, or even to announce publicly that our enemies deserve love. But in our souls each of us harbors the knowledge that only love is going to bring violence to an end. No matter how you and I live our outward lives, our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision.Which one is NOT true for moral view of violence?
| A．It thinks violence is bad and wrong. |
| B．It plays an important role in ending violence. |
| C．It is a knee-jerk judgment of people. |
| D．It thinks violent people deserve less sympathy. |
Why should violent people deserve sympathy?
| A．Because we should perform like a saint. |
| B．Because love is absolutely the solution. |
| C．Because our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision. |
| D．Because they are first in suffering then choose violence, so they need love. |
What's the meaning "The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being"?
| A．Human being is full of love. |
| B．It is difficult and long way. |
| C．Human being is easy to make friends. |
| D．It's a problem to get love from an imperfect huan being. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Violence Is Harmful to Us |
| B．Love Can End Violence |
| C．Change Our View of Violence |
| D．Our Soul Needs Purifying |
When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.
"I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.," he says of his father.
So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. "I'm jumping up and down, saying, 'Mom, can I go? Can I go?'"
The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to Story Corps. "My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off." the younger Dekalb says. "This is the life that I want to live someday."
Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together—father supervising（监督）son.
"You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow," his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced."
I received a phone call that night. And they said, 'Well, your son was at this fire.' I said, 'OK, which way is this conversation going to go? ' Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.
"And they said, 'But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'
And the word went around, 'Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!' So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad."
Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."The underlined phrase tag along in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．put out fire |
| B．watch basketball |
| C．follow his father |
| D．ask his mother’s permission |
Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________.
| A．27 | B．21 | C．8 | D．35 |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too. |
| B．Dekalb Walcott Jr. is proud to be a second-generation firefighter. |
| C．Dekalb Walcott Jr. wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III. |
| D．Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son |
| B．Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy |
| C．Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter |
| D．Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief |
D
My mom has eyes in the back of her head. She also taught me from an early age to be suspicious of strange men, especially when they give you presents. One day, a “nice man” bearing flowers managed to steal 20 euros from her purse, while she was holding it in her hands. “He said he was collecting for a church charity so I pulled out a euro,” she explains, “He said ‘no, no, that’s too much’ and offered to look in my purse to find a smaller coin. He must have slid out that 20 euro note at the same time. I did not even notice until an hour later. I felt so stupid.”
According to neuroscientists, the key requirement for a successful pickpocket is not having nifty (熟练的) fingers, it’s having a working knowledge of the loopholes (漏洞) in our brain. The most important of these loopholes is the fact that our brains are not set up to multi-task. Most of the time that is a good thing — it allows us to filter (过滤) out all but the most important features of the world around us. But a good trickster can use it to against you. This kind of trick involves capturing all of somebody’s attention with other movements. Street pickpockets often use this effect to their advantage by manufacturing a situation that can not help but overload your attention system. Other strategies are more psychological. Pickpockets tend to hang out a “beware of pickpockets” signs, because the first thing people do when they read it is check they still have their valuables, helpfully giving away where they are. And in my mom’s case, the thief’s best trick was not coming across like a pickpocket. “He was a very nice guy and very confident. Not someone that would cause you to suspect,” she says. Apollo Robbins, a stage pickpocket, said smart move, like moving your hand in an arc (弧) motion rather than a straight line, is another popular strategy employed by tricksters.
At last, it should be pointed out that most thefts are opportunistic. The skill level of most thieves is far less than you think. But they are opportunistic enough to keep up with new technology.What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．People’s brains are not designed to multi-task. |
| B．People’s brains can filter out all but the most important features. |
| C．Somebody’s attention can be distracted by a certain trick. |
| D．Somebody’s overload attention system. |
According to the passage, all of the following are pickpocket strategies except _________.
| A．having nifty fingers |
| B．hanging out “beware of pickpockets” sign |
| C．displaying confidence |
| D．moving hand in an arc motion |
In the author’s opinion, _________.
| A．people’s brains have many loopholes |
| B．thieves are more skillful than opportunistic |
| C．his mom’s losing money is nothing but a by-accident experience |
| D．signs reminding people of pickpockets can play a negative role in protecting valuables |
What will the author probably talk about next?
| A．Mom’s another suffering |
| B．Pickpockets concerning new technology |
| C．Pickpockets’ tricks |
| D．Apollo Robbins’ stage pickpockets |
B
My Left Foot (1989)
Imagine being a prisoner of your own body, unable to make any movements except to move your left foot. The main character in My Left Foot, based on the real story of cerebral palsy (大脑性麻痹) sufferer Christy Brown, can barely move his mouth to speak, but by controlling his left foot, he’s able to express himself as an artist and poet. For his moving performance of Brown, Daniel Lewis won his first Academy Award for best actor.
Shine (1996)
Do you have a talent you’re afraid to share with the world? David Helfgott seemed meant from childhood to be “one of the truly great pianists,” but the pressures of performing (and pleasing his father) resulted in a complete breakdown. Ten years in a mental institution didn’t weaken Helfgott’s musical gift: When he was rediscovered, he was playing concertos in a bar. Shine received s even Oscar nominations (提名), and Geoffrey Rush won best actor for his performance of Helfgott. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
Nothing’s more powerful than the love between a parent and a child. In this heartbreaking Italian film, a father (Roberto Benigni) makes an unbelievable sacrifice for his 4-year-old son: trapped in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, the Jewish man convinces his boy that they are playing a complicated game. He manages to spare him the horror of the terrible war, and even in his final moments of life, keeps his son smiling and hopeful. Benigni won the best actor Oscar.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Few people can inspire us more than a good teacher. Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos got Oscar nomination for best actor) is a great one. Employed at a high school where kids are expected to fail, Escalante challenges his math students to struggle for better things, like getting good grades in the AP exam. Despite the obstacles in their lives, the classmates accomplish their goals, thanks to Mr. Escalante’s support. The real Jaime Escalante, the Best Teacher in America, says that Stand and Deliver is “ 90% truth, 10% drama.”
The underlined part in the passage means _________.
| A．The main character in My Left Foot is a prisoner |
| B．The main character in My Left Foot is a disabled person |
| C．The main character in My Left Foot is trapped by others |
| D．The main character in My Left Foot can’t control his whole body |
If you want to watch a movie about wars, which may be one of your choices?
| A．My Left Foot. | B．Life Is Beautiful. |
| C．Shine. | D．Stand and Deliver. |
Jaime Escalante has a talent for _________.
| A．teaching | B．drawing and writing |
| C．making stories | D．playing the piano |
What do the four movies have in common?
| A．They are all based on real stories. |
| B．The main characters all won Academy Award for Best Actor. |
| C．They are all inspiring stories that make a difference. |
| D．The main characters are all sick to some degree but succeed. |
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