Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own.My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old,making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen.While I was growing up,we lived a very hard life.We had little money,but my mom gave me a lot of love.Each night,she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life,“Kemmons,you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen,I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again.Every day,my mother spoke to me in her gentle,loving voice,telling me that no matter what those doctors said,I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough.She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her.A year later,I returned to school—walking on my own!
When the Great Depression(大萧条)hit,my mom lost her job.Then I left school to support the both of us.At that moment,I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years,I experienced various levels of business success.But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951.I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child.That was too expensive for the average American family.I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽车旅馆)for families that would never charge extra for children.There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly,mom was one of my strongest supporters.She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style.As in any business,we experienced a lot of challenges.But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul,I never doubted we would succeed.Fifteen years later,we had the largest hotel system in the world—Holiday Inn.In 1979 my company had 1759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situations.But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself,nothing can stop you.What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was_______.
| A.caring | B.moving |
| C.encouraging | D.interesting |
According to the author,who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?
| A.Doctors. | B.Nurses. | C.Friends. | D.Mom. |
What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
| A.His terrible experience in the hotel. |
| B.His previous business success of various levels. |
| C.His mom’s support. |
| D.His wife’s suggestion. |
Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?
| A.Modest,helpful and hard-working. |
| B.Loving,supportive and strong-willed. |
| C.Careful,helpful and beautiful. |
| D.Strict,sensitive and supportive. |
Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?
| A.Self-confidence,hard work,higher-education and a poor family. |
| B.Mom’s encouragement,clear goals,self-confidence and hard work. |
| C.Clear goals,mom’s encouragement,a poor family and higher education. |
| D.Mom’s encouragement,a poor family,higher education and opportunities. |
Over a hundred years ago people in London were surprised to see a very unusual boat come sailing up the Thames River. The boat was eighty feet long flat-bottomed, with big wooden eyes on both sides in the front and was colorfully painted at the back.
People came to know that it was a sailing boat from Fuzhou in distant China. The boat had sailed round the Cape of Good Hope(好望角) up the western coast of Africa, and finally to England. It had covered fifteen thousand miles—more than half of the distance round the world.
Although it was unexpected, the Chinese were warmly welcomed. The boat carried goods such as silk and tea as well as a number of gifts from the Emperor of China for the Queen of England.
People had always mistakenly thought of the Chinese as a people not used to sea. However, from centuries of trading and sailing in dangerous seas, the Chinese had learned how to build good boats and sailed them well. The coming of this sailing boat to London proved once again that the Chinese could sail to distant countries in the world.The boat was considered unusual because _________.
| A.it was a small wooden boat |
| B.it carried Chinese silk and tea |
| C.it had traveled fifteen thousand miles |
| D.it looked strange in several ways |
According to this article, which of the following is TRUE?
| A.The distance round the earth measures less than thirty thousand miles. |
| B.The Chinese Emperor gave silk and tea to the English Queen as gifts. |
| C.The Chinese boat came to London by accident. |
| D.The Chinese people were not good at sailing in dangerous seas. |
The boat reached London by sailing _________.
| A.round the southern end of Africa |
| B.up the west coast of England |
| C.through the Arctic Ocean |
| D.round Asia and Europe |
The writer wants to prove that a long time ago the Chinese _________.
| A.carried silk, tea and other goods to England |
| B.could reach many parts of the world by sea |
| C.could sail along the Thames River |
| D.surprised Londoners with an unusual boat |
Six Hours Free Parking
If you spend $ 100 or more in our stores you will receive six hours of free parking. When you have spent$100 or more , just take this coupon(赠券) and your receipts to the customer service desk on level 4.They will stamp you parking ticket to allow 6 hours of free parking.
Win a$1000 CD Collection
Win your choice of$1000 worth of CDs from JB Music Store
.Just buy any two CDs and your name will go into the competition .Select your own prize from our wide variety of rock , pop , jazz , and classical
music.Competition ends November 14 .Prize drawn on November 21.Check store for more information
Buy One , Get One Free
Buy one shirt or tie at Daniel’s Menswear , and get another shirt or tie of the same value free.Choose from
any of our dress shirts and we will give you another one at no cost.Hurry ! Offer ends November 14.Offer limited to one per customer.
Free Soft Drink
Buy any meal for at least $6 at Mike’s Café, and receive a free soft drink.We serve the best fast food in the Shopping Centre.Come in and try our delicious meals and our excellent service.You won’t be disappointed! Free soft drink offer ends November 14.Susan spent $ 8.5 eating with her friend Lily at Mike’s café. How much more should she spend if she wants to get free drinks for both of them?
| A.$3.5. | B.$ 6. | C.$8.5. | D.$12. |
We learn from the ads that in Bayfield Shopping Centre.
| A.parking is free | B.drinks are free |
| C.there’re the latest movies | D.tickets are very expensive |
Which ad may be the most attractive to parents?
| A.Half-price Movie Tickets. | B.Ten Percent Off. |
| C.Six Hours Free Parking. | D.Buy One, Get One Free. |
What kind of person would probably go to Daniel’s Menswear?
| A.John and his father who are going to a party. |
| B.David who likes reading travel guides. |
| C.Jackson who finds the cost of parking going up. |
| D.Lily who wants to meet her mother at he airport. |
Kids are far better than adults at learning how to speak multiple languages. Research now shows that very young infants might have some of the best language skills of all.
A new study suggests that babies between 4 and 6 months old can tell the difference between two languages just by looking at the speaker's face.They don't need to hear word.Sometimes between 6-8 months of age, babies raised in homes where just one language is spoken lose this ability.Babies from bilingual(双语的) homes, on the other hand, keep the face-reading ability until they're at least 8 months old.
Researchers in Canada studied 36 babies from English-speaking families.Twelve of the babies were 4 months old,12 were 6 months old, and the rest were 8 months old.Each baby sat on his or her mother's lap and watched video clips(电影片断) of a woman talking.The woman was fluent in both English and French.In some clips, she read from a storybook in English.In ot
her clips, she read in French.In all of the videos there was no sound.What is mainly discussed in the passage ?
| A.Language teaching. |
| B.Language learning |
| C.Babies and language learning |
| D.Parents and language teaching |
What do the underlined word in the second paragraph refer to ?
| A.Two or more. | B.Foreign. | C.difficult. | D.At least one. |
We can know from the passage that.
A.all the babies in the study are of the same age. |
| B.the babies could hear the woman's voice while watching the videos. |
| C.the stories the woman read were written in either French or German. |
| D.it's still unknown how babies could tell the difference between languages. |
Why did the 8-month-old pay no attention when the language was changed ?
| A.They had lost the ability to distinguish different languages. |
| B.They were too tired to open their eyes and fell asleep. |
C.T hey couldn't hear what the speaker was talking about. |
| D.They had lost the interest in bilingual speakers. |
People playing computer games to train their brains might as well be playing Super Mario, a new research suggests. In a six-week study, experts found people who played online games designed to improve their cognitive skills didn’t get any smarter.
Researchers recruited(招募) participants from views of the BBC’s science show Bang Goes the Theory.More than 8,600 people aged 18 to 60 were asked to play online brain games designed by the researchers to improve their memory, reasoning and other skills, for at least 10 minutes a day, three times a week.What’s the purpose of online brain games according to the designers?
| A.To take part in the study. |
| B.To draw public attention to computer. |
| C.To provide free service to teenagers. |
| D.To improve players’ IQ. |
How many people were inveolved in the study made by the researchers?
| A.About 60. | B.Only 2700. | C.8600 or so. | D.Around 11,300. |
.What’s the result of the study about online games?
| A.Those who didn’t play online games felt disappointed. |
| B.Those who played online games proved smarter. |
| C.Online games don’t improve the players’ skills at all. |
| D.Online games will be more popular than before. |
The best title for the passage may probably be.
A. Don’t Play Games Any More |
B.New Study of IQ |
| C.Brain Games Don’t Raise IQ | D.Brain Games and Super Mario |
阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
第一节:(共15小题,每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When she flew into Athens on an unseasonably cold day in September, she quickly realized that she hadn’t brought enough warm clothes. Walking through the streets of the Greek capital, she happened to see a nice coat in a shop window and went in to ask about the price. The coat was too expensive, but as Christine was about to leave the shop, the woman asked her where she was from. When Christine answered Australia, the woman agreed to reduce the price because she knew a nice girl from Australia called Elena. Christine then noticed a photo of a young man standing next to a motorbike. Her eyes opened wide with astonishment. It was Nicos! Indeed the young man was Nicos, and the woman in the shop was Maria. She had come to Athens from Santorini to look after the shop for a friend.
Sadly, the story has a tragic ending. Nicos had been killed in a motorcycle accident.
“I wanted to tell Elena,” said Maria. “But I didn’t know how. Now that I have met you, I know that it’s time to tell her.”Elena went to Greece in order to visit.
| A.her parents | B.Christine | C.Nicos. | D.her grandparents |
Why did Nicos stop writing to Elena?
| A.He had moved away. |
| B.His mother forbade him to do so. |
| C.He h ad died in an accident. |
| D.They had lost touch with each other. |
What can be inferred from the fact that Christine and Maria had a talk in the shop?
| A.They two had planned the talk before. | B.They met each other accidentally. |
| C.They were business partners. | D.They recognized each other. |