Afterinventingdynamites(炸药),Sw-优题课

Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach.
The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek.
Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year.
Lindman, of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more.
If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on?
The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.
1．Arthur Lindman predicted twenty years ago that ______.
A. more things brought more valueB. the more people had, the less they valued them
C. people didn’t like to pursue moreD. massive boredom came from less variety
2．What does the article suggest to make our life happier?
A. To enjoy more things. B. To buy more things.
C. To sell things we do not need.D. To get rid of useless things.
3．The passage is probably written to ___________.
A. introduce Arthur Lindman and his bookB. tell the readers what is satisfaction
C. introduce how to simplify people’s lifeD. persuade people to simplify their life

三、阅读理解（共20小题，满分40分）
As one approaches some crossroads, one comes to a sign which says that drivers have to stop when they come to the main road ahead. At other crossroads, drivers have to go slow, but they do not actually have to stop (unless, of course, there is something coming along the main road); and at still others, they do not have either to stop or to go slow, because they are themselves on the main road.
Mr. Williams, who was always a very careful driver, was driving home from work one evening when he came to a crossroads. It had a “Slow” sign, so he slowed down when he came to the main road, looked both ways to see that nothing was coming, and then drove across without stopping completely.
At once he heard a police whistle, so he pulled in to the side of the road and stopped. A policeman walked over to him with a noteb ook and pencil in his hand and said, “You didn’t stop at the crossing.” “But the sign there doesn’t say “Stop”,” answered Mr. Williams. “It just says “Slow”, and I did go slow.” The policeman looked around him, and a look of surprise came over his face. Then he put his notebook and pencil away, scratched his head and said, “Well, I’ll be blowed. I am in the wrong street!”
1. Which of the following statements is correct?
A. Stop signs can be found at every crossroads.
B. At crossroads with a “Slow” sign, drivers never have to stop.
C. At crossroads with a “Slow” sign, drivers have to stop and then go slow.
D. At some crossroads, drivers needn’t stop or go slow.
2. What do you think the policeman would do in the end?
A. Fine Mr. Williams. B. Take him to the police station.
C. Apologize to Mr. Williams.D. Give Mr. Williams his notebook and pencil.
3. Which might be the best title for this passage?
A. Signs at the crossroads B. A careful driver
C. A policeman and a driverD. Policeman in the wrong street

Australians have been warned that they face a life or death decision over their water — drink recycled sewage (污水) or die.
With the drought (干旱) continuing, the country is set to be forced to use purified (净化的) waste water for drinking, even though there is great opposition to the measure.
Queensland has become the first state to introduce the policy after a warning from its premier.
"I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water," said Peter Beattie.
"These are difficult decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold, it's a matter of life and death."
Beattie said Australia's second largest state would become the first to use recycled water for drinking.
Water is recycled in Britain and parts of northern Europe along with the US and Israel.
But Australians have never liked the idea.
To try to change the way Australians think, Prime Minister John Howard and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull have adhered to Queensland's move.
"I am very strongly for recycling and Mr. Beattie is right and I agree with him completely," Howard said.
“Australian cities, all now facing water shortages because of the worst drought on record, must start to use recycled water.” added Turnbull, "All of our big cities have to widen (使变宽) the range of water sources to include sources which do not depend on rainfall."
1. What is the text mainly about?
A. Continuing drought forces Australians to drink recycled sewage
B. Australians face the choice of life and death
C. Premier Beattie is worried about his people’s health
D. We should avoid drinking recycled water to keep healthy
2. The underlined phrase “adhered to” in Paragraph 9 probably means_________.
A. disliked B. gone against C. supported D. doubted
3. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A. Nobody disagrees to the idea of drinking recycled purified water
B. Australia's second largest state has become the first state to introduce the policy
C. No other countries but Australia decide to drink recycled water
D. The drought is the worst one in the droughts recorded in Australian history.
4. It can be inferred from what Premier Peter Beattie said that________.
A. he gives orders to drink purified waste water
B. It is painful for him to see his people drink recycled sewage
C. If the decision is made, people won’t survive the drought
D. It’s up to you to either make a life or death decision

John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas city in 1918. His father died in an accident when John was six. He was reaching the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Fortunately he had a strong-willed (意志坚强的) caring mother. John remembered that his mother told him many times, “Son, you can be anything you want really to be if you just believe.”She told him not to depend on others, including his mother. “You have to earn success, ”she said. “All the people who work hard don’t succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard.”
These words came from a woman with less than a third grade education. She also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15, to Chicago.
Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land that black southerners were looking for. John’s mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power of words—as an editor of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for blacks.
While others discouraged him, John’s mother offered him more words to live by. “Nothing beats a failure but a try. ”She also let him pawn(典当)her furniture to get the $ 500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
It is natural that difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always keeps his mother’s words in mind.“Son, failure is not in your vocabulary!”
Now John H. Johnson is one of the 400 richest people in America—worth $ 150 million.
1. John’s mother decided to move to Chicago because _____.
A. his father died when John was very young
B. life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown
C. John needed more education badly
D. there were no schools for Negroes in their hometown
2. John’s mother ________________________.
A. didn’t believe in or depend on others
B. thought one could be whatever one wanted to be
C. believed one would succeed without working hard
D. thought no one could succeed without working hard
3. The underlined sentence“Nothing beats a failure but a try. ”means _____.
A. if you try, you would succeed
B. a failure is difficult to beat, even if you try
C. a try is always followed by a failure
D. no failure can be beaten unless you try
4. The story mainly tells us _____.
A. how John H. Johnson became successful
B. about the mental (心理的) support John’s mother gave him
C. about the importance of a good education
D. about the key to success for blacks

The Oregonian(俄勒冈报) is the daily newspaper for the state of Oregon where the Hagens live. Since it is published in the largest city, which is Portland, most of the readers live within 50 miles of Portland.
From Monday to Saturday, the paper has about 75 pages, of which 20 pages are advertisements. It normally has 5 sections which are called Nation, Sports, Metro(大都会), Living and Business.
Nation is national news mostly with some international news about earthquakes, floods, and tensions(紧张)around the world. Sports cover the professional sports in season, college sports, and high school sports. Metro is local news of the city of Portland which includes political stories, crimes, and good neighbor articles. Living is the section with television programs, movies, comics, music, stories about pets, and advice. Business has listing of more than 10,000 stocks and a regular report about the stock market and business news. The advertising section includes apartments and houses, employment opportunities and items to buy, especially cars and trucks.
On Sunday, the paper is very large weighing more than two kilos. There are additional sections called Art, Books, International, and Travel. Since this is the day most Americans do not work, they have more time for reading. Each of the daily sections is longer so the newspaper is twice the size of the daily sections. However, the advertisements are nearly as many pages as the news on Sunday so the entire paper is more than four times larger than the daily paper.
Some companies print their own advertisements and pay to put them in The Oregonian. These include grocery(杂货) stores, clothing stores, car agencies(代理处), camera and video equipment stores, toy stores, and computer stores. All of the companies feel that the best way to advertise is to put a beautiful color advertisement in every Sunday.
1. The Sunday edition of The Oregonian probably has _____.
A. 75 pages B. less than 300 pages
C. more than 300 pages D. less than 75 pages
2.If you want to seek information about the stock market from The Oregonian, you refer to the section “_____”.
A. Metro B. Living C. Nation D. Business
3. Who are the regular readers of The Oregonian ?
A. The Hagens. B. Residents of the Portland area.
C. Businessmen. D. People who have more time to read newspapers.
4. One reason that the Sunday paper is very large is that _____.
A. it adds four additional sections
B. it has five sections
C. most Americans do not work that day
D. some companies like to print advertisements in it