Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver. The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman.
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can’t get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman’s kind reaction(反应).She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland. “It’s OK. It wasn’t your fault.”When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO(总裁) with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn’t the only CEO to have made this discovery. Rather, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It’s hard to get a dozen CEOS to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule. They say how others treat the CEO says nothing. But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul.
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like,“I could buy this place and fire you.”or “I know the owner and I could have you fired.”Those who say such things have shown more about their character(人品) than about their wealth and power.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management.
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,” Swanson says. “I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables.” What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman’s dress?
| A．He was fired. |
| B．He was blamed. |
| C．The woman comforted him. |
| D．The woman left the restaurant at once. |
Odland learned one of his life lessons from _______.
| A．his experience as a waiter | B．the advice given by the CEOs |
| C．an article in Fortune | D．an interesting best-selling book |
According to the text, most CEOs have the time opinion about _______.
| A．Fortune 500 companies | B．the Management Rules |
| C．Swanson’s book | D．the Waiter Rule |
From the text we can learn that _______.
| A．one should be nicer to important people |
| B．CEOs often show their power before others |
| C．one should respect others no matter who they are |
| D．CEOs often have meals in expensive restaurants |
Now some women are spending a weekend at Mother’s Camp（营地）. There, husbands and children are not allowed. Why would a woman want to take a vacation without her family? Some women say they need time to be alone.
At Mother’s Camp a woman has room to herself. She can sleep, read or watch TV, and no one will bother her. No children will ask,“Mom, what’s for dinner?” No husband will say, “Oh, dear, I can’t find any clean socks.”In fact almost 50% of women in the United States work outside the home. Many of them work full-time and then come home to a second job-taking care of their homes and families. These working women say one of their biggest problems is housework.
In the United States, working wives do about 75% of the housework. Many of their husbands say they want to help. But then they burn the rice or they can’t find the pans. They ask so many questions that their wives decide it is easier to do the job themselves.
Some women go to Mother’s Camp just to get a break from housework. For two days they don’t cook, they don’t clean, they don’t look after their children and husbands. What do they do? They enjoy warm, sunny weather, walking, swimming or boating in a clear blue lake and sing songs around the campfire. They relax away from home. They have a really wonderful vacation at Mother’s Camp.From this passage we can see in the United States.
| A．women want to work outside the home |
| B．working wives do most of the housework |
| C．husbands do as much housework as their wives |
| D．women do not like to stay at home with their families |
At Mother’s Camp, women can’t .
| A．watch TV | B．read newspapers |
| C．swim in the lake | D．bring their husbands and children |
Why would some mothers like to be alone? Because .
| A．they don’t like their husbands and children | B．they have to work full-time |
| C．they are too busy to relax themselves | D．they want a new life |
______________ is one of the biggest troubles for working wives in the United States.
| A．Housework | B．Working outside the home |
| C．When to take a vacation | D．Looking after their children |
What’s the best title（标题）for this passage?
| A．Busy Working Mothers | B．The US family |
| C．Mothers Relax Away from Home | D．Mothers in the US |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。
A
“I sometimes get up at three or four in the morning and I surf the net.”
“I often check my e-mail forty times a day.”
“I often spend more than three hours during one time on the net.”
“I spend more time in chat rooms(聊天室) than with my ‘real-1ife’ friends.”
Do you know any people like these? They are part of a new addiction(瘾) called Internet addiction. Internet addicts spend at least thirty to forty hours online every week. The use of the Internet can be an addiction like drug(毒品) use. People lose control(控制)of the time they spend on the Internet
For example, one college student was missing for several days. His friends were worried, and they called the police. The police found the student in the computer lab: he was surfing the net for several days straight.
Studies show that about 6 to 10% of Internet users become addicted. And people worry about the teens because the Internet is changing the playing field for some of them.They spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.
Is “surfing the net” a hobby or an addiction for you? You may have a problem if
you have these symptoms(症状):
●You do not go to important family activities or you do not do school work because you like to spend hours on the Internet.
●You can’t wait for your next online time.
●You plan to spend a short time online, but then you spend several hours.
●You go out with your friends less and less.
◆根据以上短文内容，然后从每题所给的四个选项中选择最佳选项。What does the beginning of the passage tell us?
| A．How to become an Internet addict. |
| B．What an Internet addict usually does. |
| C．Where to find an Internet addict. |
| D．Why to write this passage. |
How does the writer describe the addicts’ use of Internet?
| A．It is something like keeping drugs. |
| B．It is a way of producing drugs. |
| C．It is like taking drugs. |
| D．It is terrible to imagine. |
Why do people worry about the teens?
| A．The teens are wasting too much money. |
| B．They used to work on the Internet. |
| C．The playing field of the teens will disappear. |
| D．More and more of the teens wil1 become addicted to the Internet. |
The example in the passage shows that _______.
| A．Internet problems are more serious among college students |
| B．Internet addicts usually stay in the computer lab without sleep |
| C．Some of the Internet users have already been seriously addicted |
| D．The police often help to find those Internet addicts. |
What is the writer trying to tell us at the end of the passage?
| A．Don’t be addicted to the Internet. |
| B．Go to family activities more often. |
| C．Do things as you have planned |
| D．Stay with your parents as often as possible. |
The day started out bad. She overslept and was late for work. Then everything __16__ happened at the office made her unhappy, too. By the time she reached the bus stop for her bus to go home, she had a bad stomachache.
As usual, the bus was late, and full of people. There was no free seat for her and she had to stand in the bus. As the bus drove, it pulled her __17__ all directions, and she felt even __18__(bad).
Then she heard a voice from up front, "Beautiful day, isn’t it?" Because of the crowd, she could not see the man, __19__ she heard him as he continued to comment on the beautiful spring scenery, __20__ (call) attention to every building and thing that people could see as the bus passed by. Soon, all of the passengers __21__ (look) out of the windows. The man’s words were so powerful that she found __22__ smiling for the first time that day.
The bus reached her stop, and as she moved toward the door, she got a look at their "guide": an old gentleman __23__ a beard, wearing dark glasses and carrying a thin white cane(木杖). He was blind.
Sometimes it is not that there is no __24___(beautiful) in __25___ world, it is just that there is no eye that can see that . Open your eyes and say, "Beautiful day, isn’t it?"
People with disabilities make up a large part of the population. It is estimated（估计） that over 35 million Americans have physical, mental, or other disabilities. About half of these disabilities are “developmental", i.e., they occur before the individual's twenty-second birthday, often from genetic conditions, and are severe enough to affect three or more areas of development, such as mobility, communication, employment, etc. Most other disabilities are considered “adventitious", i.e., accidental or caused by outside forces.
Prior to the 20th century, only a small percentage of people with disabilities survived for long. Medical treatment for these disabilities was unavailable. Advancements in medicine and social services have created a climate in which people with disabilities can expect to have such basic needs as food, shelter, and medical treatment. Unfortunately, these basics are often not available. Civil liberties such as the right to vote, marry, get an education, and gain employment have historically been denied on the basis of disability.
In recent decades, the disability rights movement has been organized to fight against these infringements（违反, 侵犯）of civil rights. Congress responded by passing major legislation recognizing people with disabilities as a protected class under civil rights statutes.
Still today, people with disabilities must fight to live their lives independently. It is estimated that more than half of qualified Americans with disabilities are unemployed, and a majority of those who do work are underemployed. About two-thirds live at or below the official poverty level.
Significant barriers, especially in transportation and public awareness, prevent disabled people from taking part in society. For example, while no longer prohibited by law from marrying, a person with no access to transportation is effectively excluded from community and social activities which might lead to the development of long-term relationships.
Only when public attitudes advance as far as laws have will disabled people be fully able to take their rightful place in society.A “developmental" disability ______.
| A．develops very slowly over time | B．occurs in youth and affects development |
| C．is caused by forces | D．is getting more and more severe |
Most disabled people used to die early because ______.
| A．disabilities destroyed major bodily functions |
| B．medical techniques were not available |
| C．they were not very well looked after |
| D．they were too poor to get proper treatment |
In the author's opinion, to enable the disabled people to take their rightful place in society, ____.
| A．more laws should be passed | B．more public facilities should be set up |
| C．government should provide more aids | D．public attitudes should be changed |
Which of the following cannot be inferred from the passage?
| A．Many disabled people may remain single for their whole life. |
| B．Discriminatory（带歧视性的）laws prevent the disabled from mixing with others. |
| C．The public tends to look down upon the disabled people. |
| D．The disabled people feel inferior to（低于）those surrounding them. |
The best title for this passage might be ______.
| A．Handicaps（障碍）of People with Disabilities |
| B．The physical difficulties of the Disabled |
| C．The Causes for Disabilities |
| D．Medical Treatments for Disabilities |
The Iceberg Was Only Part ofIt
What doomed the Titanic is well known, at least in outline. On a moonless night of April 15, 1912, the ship hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic ,with 1,500 lives lost.
A century later many people presented new theories to explain the real reason for the disaster. Now two new studies argue that rare states of nature played major roles in the disaster.
The first says Earth’s nearness to the Moon and the Sun — a proximity not matched in more than 1,000 years — resulted in record tides that help explain why the Titanic met with so much ice, including the fatal iceberg.
Recently, a team of researchers found an apparent explanation in the heavens. They discovered that Earth had come unusually close to the Sun and Moon that winter, enhancing their gravitational pulls on the ocean and producing record tides. The rare orbits took place between December 1911 and February 1912 — about two months before the disaster came about. The researchers suggest that the high tides refloated masses of icebergs traditionally stuck along the coastlines of Labrador and Newfoundland and sent them adrift into the North Atlantic shipping lanes.
And a second, put forward by a Titanic historian from Britain, contends that the icy waters created ideal conditions for an unusual type of mirage(海市蜃楼) that hid icebergs from lookouts whose duty was to watch carefully for danger ahead and confused a nearby ship as to the liner’s identity, delaying rescue efforts for hours.
Most people know mirages as natural phenomena caused when hot air near the Earth’s surface bends light rays upward. In a desert, the effect prompts lost travelers to mistake patches of blue sky for pools of water. But another kind of mirage occurs when cold air bends light rays downward. In that case, observers can see objects and settings far over the horizon. The images often undergo quick distortions — not unlike the wavy reflections in a funhouse mirror.
Now, scholars of the Titanic are debating these new theories. Some have different opinions on it. Over all, though, many experts are applauding the fresh perspectives.The underlined word "It" in the title probably refers to _______.
| A．the Titanic | B．the cause of the disaster |
| C．the record tide | D．an unusual mirage |
According to Theory First, what was the right chain of causes leading to the Titanic’s disaster?
① record tides’ forming and icebergs’ being refloated
② icebergs’ being drifted into the North Atlantic shipping lanes
③ the Earth’s strange closing to the Sun and the Moon
④ increasing of the gravitational force on the ocean
| A．①→②→③→④ | B．②→③→④→① | C．④→③→②→① | D．③→④→①→② |
According to Theory Second, the disaster happened to the Titanic mainly because______.
| A．the freezing weather made the watcher not be able to watch clear |
| B．the mirage made the watcher not find icebergs and a nearby ship delay rescuing |
| C．the mirage on the sea attracted the watcher and made him forget his work |
| D．the high tides drove the icebergs float so fast that the watcher didn’t respond to them |
What is the chief function of the sixth paragraph?
| A．to explain to the readers the ways of the mirage forming |
| B．to infer the possibility of the mirage appearing |
| C．to summarize the various kinds of the mirage |
| D．to analyze the conditions of the mirage arising |
This passage is organized generally in the pattern of________.
| A．comparison and contrast | B．conclusion and proof |
| C．time and events | D．definition and classification（分类) |