阅读短文,从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项。
The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image (形象)of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it has ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today’s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious(叛逆的)and selfish .but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There’s more negotiation(商议)and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat.”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me," says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I’m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they’re fine with it.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments, “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over.”What is the popular image of teenagers today?
A.They worry about school. |
B.They dislike living with their parents. |
C.They have to be locked in to avoid troubles. |
D.They quarrel a lot with other family members. |
The study shows that teenagers don’t want to__________ .
A.share family responsibility | B.cause trouble in their families |
C.go boating with their family | D.make family decisions |
Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today’s parents__________ .
A.go to clubs more often with their children |
B.are much stricter with their children |
C.care less about their children’s life |
D.give their children more freedom |
According to the author, teenage rebellion__________ .
A.may be a false belief | B.is common nowadays |
C.existed only in the 1960s | D.resulted from changes in families |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.Negotiation in family. | B.Education in family. |
C.Harmony in family. | D.Teenage trouble in family. |
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Fastest Time to Run 100 Miles on a Treadmill (跑步机) |
BROKEN |
The fastest time to run 100 miles on a treadmill by a team (of 12) is claimed at 9hr 5 min 17 sec by a team consisting of staff and prisoners at the Young Offenders Institute in Wigan to raise money for Children in Need. |
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Largest Game of Chinese Whispers |
UNBROKEN |
Sadly, the record attempt for the largest game of Chinese Whispers was unsuccessful on 13 November 2008. The existing record of 1330 children still remains. |
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Fastest Mile with an Egg/Spoon in both hands |
BROKEN |
The fastest mile egg and spoon race with both hands is 8 min 25 sec and was achieved by Ashrita Furman (USA) in an attempt broadcast by ESPN 260, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, in Orlando, Florida, USA, on 13 November 2008. |
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Longest Mexican Wave |
UNBROKEN |
The record for the Longest Mexican Wave was attempted by 250,000 people on the streets of Adelaide on 8 November 2008 – sadly, the wave was not completed by all participants and the attempt was unsuccessful. The current record of 157, 574 remains. |
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Largest Kebab (烤肉串) |
BROKEN |
The longest kebab measures 2047.47 m (1.27 miles) and was achieved by the ArcelorMittal Newcastle Works on occasion of the company’s annual Community Day, in Newcastle, South Africa. |
The above information is _________.
A.a series of sports events |
B.a list of broken and unbroken records |
C.a report of funny sports items |
D.a description of challenging human limits |
Which of the following can NOT be found in the information?
A.The countries where the attempts were made. |
B.The persons who made the attempts. |
C.The reasons why some attempts failed. |
D.The present record for each item. |
Which item was attempted individually?
A.Fastest Time to Run 100 Miles on a Treadmill |
B.Largest Game of Chinese Whispers |
C.Fastest Mile with an Egg/Spoon in both hands |
D.Longest Mexican Wave |
A major new development in system of work in Britain is taking place. Flexible working hours, or “Flextime”, are catching on fast, and trend is continuing. In 1973, over 500 organizations had adopted the idea, and by 1974, this number had risen to over 200,000.
Flexible working hours were invented in Germany in the late 1960’s, but reached Britain only in 1972. The system allows workers to start and finish work whenever they want, with only two requirements. These are, firstly, that all workers must present for certain “key” times in the day, and secondly, that all workers must work an agreed total number of hours per week.
The system had proved a total success wherever it has been tried. A survey of 700 workers on flexible hours showed three main advantages: a better balance between working and private life, avoidance of the need to travel during rush hours and the ability to finish a certain task before leaving.
From the employer’s point of view, the system tends to increase productivity, reduce labour turnover and give workers a greater sense of duty. At first, “Flexible” was mainly confined to white-collar workers, but it is now being applied to manual workers too.According to “Flextime” system, workers need not _________.
A.work at the same time | B.work all the weekdays |
C.work hard | D.ask for leave when being absent |
“Key” time is a period when _________.
A.visitors come to the plants |
B.all workers must be at work |
C.employers go round in the workshop |
D.rush hours are over |
No matter where it is used, this system has proved _________.
A.entirely effective | B.totally correct |
C.a complete failure | D.quite difficult |
One of the great advantages of “Flextime” for workers is that they _________.
A.have a great sense of duty | B.can avoid busy traffic |
C.can get higher pay | D.can avoid working hard |
根据短文内容,从下框A~F选项中选出能概括每段主题的最佳选项。选项中有一项为多余项。
A. A sense of humour is not an inborn ability. B. A sense of humour can be developed in our life. C. A sense of humour helps us from several aspects. D. A sense of humour means more than telling jokes. E. A sense of humour can be expressed in many ways. F. A sense of humour helps people to better enjoy life. |
As awareness of the benefits of humour increases, most of us want to get all the laughs we can. It seems that almost every day there is another new discovery about the power of humour to help us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Every system of the body responds to laughter in some important or positive way.
Many people mistakenly believe that we are born with a sense of humour. They think that when it comes to a sense of humour. “Either you have got it or you don’t.” This is
false! What is true, however, is that the ability to laugh and smile is actually something we are born with. For example, we laugh when we are tickled under the arm, even without thinking about how to react.The parts of the brain and central nervous system that control laughing and smiling are mature at birth in human infants, but that is not the same thing as having a sense of humour. (After all, when a baby laughs in his small bed we don’t rush over and say, “That kid has a great sense of humour!”) Your sense of humour is something you can develop over a lifetime. Don’t be nervous before others and try to laugh at yourself-then you will make them laugh too.
Humour includes a lot more than laughing and joke telling. Many people worry needlessly that they do not have a good sense of humour because they are not good joke tellers. More than jokes, a sense of humour requires being willing and able to see the funny side of life’s situations as they happen. In fact, one of the best definitions(定义)of a sense of humour is “the ability to see the nonserious element in a situation.”
There may be a thousand different ways to express your sense of humour, but joke telling is only one of those ways. As more is discovered about how humour benefits our life, more people will be able to see and enjoy the humour when they are in a difficult situation. Life depends on air, food and water, but it is made easier to live with a good sense of humour.
GU Zhaodi, 60, had taken water for granted for years. In fact, no one in the beautiful lake city of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province had bothered to spare a thought on water.
But all that changed dramatically overnight last month when taps in the city ran dry. Due to a blue-green algae(藻类) outbreak in Taihu Lake, China’s third largest freshwater lake and the source of drinking water for 4 million Wuxi residents(居民),water from the city’s taps became dark and smelly.
“I can’t believe there is no water for drinking, let alone cooking and washing,”said Gu.
The lake was blanketed with the algae, giving off a strong smell of rotting meat. A stone thrown into it took a long time to sink. Experts said that algae usually boom because of hot water and rich chemicals like phosphor(磷)in the water.
“High temperature and a lack of rain in the past few months helped the growth of algae,”said Zhang Lijun, an official from the State Environment Protection Administration. “However, pollution from human activity should be most blamed for the disaster.”
Taihu Lake is surrounded by many small factories, whichsprang up in the 1980s.Inthe 1990s,many foreign-funded(外资的) companies joined in. The industries prospered(繁荣),Wuxi has grown into one of the wealthiest cities in East China.
But that came at the price of pollution. The lake was treated like a waste dump(垃圾堆),with factories emptying industrial waste and untreated sewage(污水)into it.
Although, after the government's effort, life in the city has gone back to normal, the one-week crisis(危机)rang a bell for the government and local people.“It's time to rebuild the beauty of nature, or our lives will be at risk,”said Gu.
“A safe environment comes first. Economic growth will be nothing without fresh water to drink and clean air to breathe.” said China Daily.The following can not help the blue green algae grow______
A.high water temperature | B.rich chemicals in the water |
C.a lack of rain | D.plentiful water and sunshine |
What can we learn from the passage?
A.The one-week disaster has made the local people realize the importance of building a beautiful city. |
B.It is human activity rather than the algae that is to blame for the water pollution. |
C.Only when the environment is safe and friendly can man live a better and healthier life. |
D.Environment should be taken into consideration first if a city plans to develop its economic. |
According to the passage ,Taihu Lake________
A.is the third largest lake in China. |
B.is surrounded by many foreign-funded factories and companies. |
C.used to be a waste dump. |
D.suffered from industrial waste,untreated sewage and algae. |
The underlined phrase “sprang up” in the sixth paragraph means______
A.develop quickly | B.produce goods quickly |
C.come to life | D.grow up |
When a rather dirty, poorly dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg for a few coins, do you hurry on, not knowing what to do, or do you feel sad and hurriedly hand over some money? What should our attitude to beggars be? There can be no question that the world is full of terribly sad stories. It must be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is going to come from. It seems cruel not to give some money to beggars.
Certainly, most of the world’s great religions (宗教) order us to be open-hearted and share what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves. But has the world changed? Maybe what was morally (道德方面) right in the old days, when one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help, is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars. Let us look at their arguments.
First, some believe that many city beggars dress up on purpose to look pitiable and actually make a good living from begging. Giving to beggars only encourages this sort of evil (恶行). Secondly, there is the worry that the money you give will be spent on beer, wine or drugs. Thirdly, there is the opinion that there is no real excuse for begging. One might be poor, but that is no reason for losing one’s sense of pride and self-dependence.
Related to this is the opinion that the problem should be dealt with by the government rather than ordinary people. Some people think beggars should go to the local government department and receive help.
It is hard to come to any final conclusion; there are various cases and we must deal with them differently. A few coins can save a life in some situations, and even if the money is wasted, that does not take sway the moral goodness of the giver.What is mainly discussed in the passage?
A.Moral deeds of people. |
B.Religious activities of the church. |
C.Moral goodness of the giver. |
D.Arguments on giving to beggars. |
What can we infer from the sentence “But has the world changed?” in the second paragraph?
A.People no longer know who suffers misfortune in the village. |
B.Some people will not do what was morally right in the past. |
C.We don’t meet with those who need help any more. |
D.Now it is the government’s duty to help the beggars. |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A.Some people dress up to pretend to be beggars. |
B.Some beggars want money to help their children go to school. |
C.Some beggars use the money to buy drugs. |
D.Some beggars have no excuse for begging. |
In the last paragraph, the writer thinks that it is hard to come to any final conclusion, because .
A.the cases can be so different |
B.there are so many beggars |
C.there is so much money wasted |
D.there are so many different arguments |