CNotevenDanBrownandhisDaVincic-优题课

Tiredness, coughing, a runny nose and a sore throat—among all sicknesses there is probably none more common than the flu, which we all get now and then.

However, bird flu is a completely different story.
Ten years ago, the H5N1 bird flu swept across 15 countries, including China, with sufferers reporting chest pain, difficulty breathing, fever and severe coughing. More than 600 people were infected, and about 60 percent died. Now another type of bird flu hit Shanghai and three neighboring provinces, and this time the virus is called H7N9. By the afternoon of April 11, the new virus had taken nine lives out of 35 infected, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The“H”and“N”in the virus’ name refers to two kinds of proteins on the surface of the virus. Any change of the numbers of the two proteins indicates a new mutation(变异). Most of the mutations only affect birds, such as chickens and pigeons, and don’t normally spread to humans. But once they do, the results can be disastrous.
“Any time an animal influenza virus crosses to humans, it is a cause for concern, ”Malik Peiris, virologist(病毒学家)at the University of Hong Kong, told Nature magazine. Take the SARS epidemic(传染病)10 years ago as an example. The virus behind the disease is thought to have jumped to humans from animals. The virus was a complete“stranger”to human bodies, which hadn’t developed an immunity against it.
But there is something more about the new H7N9 bird flu. Unlike the H5N1 bird flu, which causes severe sickness in birds, the H7N9 has been evolving under the radar(悄悄地)since it travels between birds without causing noticeable illness. That makes it difficult to keep track of the disease.
The good news is that there’s so far no sign that the virus is spreading from person to person. But since there is no vaccine for the disease yet, the World Health Organization recommends that you wash your hands after meeting with sick people and before and after you eat or prepare food, and they also suggest avoiding contact with birds or their eggs.
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A．The H5N1 bird flu turned out to have something to do with the SARS epidemic.

B．More than 600 people across the world died from the H5N1 bird flu ten years ago.

C．Most of the mutations of the proteins in the bird flu virus are harmful to both birds and humans.

D．The name, H7N9 bird flu, shows that there have been new mutations of the proteins in the virus.

With the example of the SARS epidemic in Paragraph 5, the author intends to　　　.

A．introduce where the SARS virus came from

B．inform us of the harmful effects of the SARS epidemic ten years ago

C．show the horrible effects an animal influenza virus can have once it spreads to humans

D．compare the differences between the SARS epidemic and the H7N9 bird flu

What makes the H7N9 bird flu more frightening than the H5N1 bird flu according to the text?

A．It can cause severe sickness in birds.

B．It can spread from person to person.

C．It affects a greater number of birds.

D．It doesn’t sicken birds and thus can spread unnoticed.

What are people advised to do to protect themselves against the H7N9 bird flu?
a. To get vaccinated for the disease.
b. To keep away from birds and their eggs.
c. To stop eating chickens and ducks.
d. To avoid meeting with sick people.
e. To wash hands thoroughly and regularly.

A．a, b	B．c, d
C．b, e	D．a, e

I have only once been in trouble with the law. The whole process of being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at the time, but it makes a good story now. What makes it rather disturbing was the arbitrary circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent fate in court.
It happened in February about twelve years ago. I had left school a couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the following October. I was still living at home at the time.
One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I lived. I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some money to go traveling. As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and sometimes just stopping and looking around me. It must have been this obvious aimlessness that led to my downfall.
It was about half past eleven when it happened. I was just walking out of the local library, having unsuccessfully sought employment there, when I saw a man walking across the road with the obvious intention of talking to me. I thought he was going to ask me the time. Instead, he said he was a police officer and he was arresting me. At first I thought it was some kind of joke.
But then another policeman appeared, this time in uniform, and I was left in no doubt.
“But what for?” I asked.
“Wandering with intent to commit an arrestable offence.” he said.
“What offence?” I asked.
“Theft.” he said.
“Theft of what?” I asked.
“Milk bottles,” he said, and with a perfectly straight face too!
“Oh,” I said.
It turned out there had been a lot of petty thefts in the area, particularly that of stealing milk bottles from doorsteps.
Then I made my big mistake. At the time I was nineteen, had long untidy hair, and regarded myself as part of the sixties’ “youth counterculture”. As a result, I wanted to appear cool and unconcerned with the incident, so I said, “How long have you been following me?” in the most casual and conversational tone I could manage. I thus appeared to them to be quite familiar with this sort of situation, and it confirmed them in their belief that I was a thoroughly disreputable （品行不端的）character.
A few minutes later a police car arrived.
“Get in the back,” they said. “Put your hands on the back of the front seat and don’t move them.”
They got in on either side of me. It wasn’t funny any more.
At the police station they questioned me for several hours. I continued to try to look worldly and familiar with the situation. When they asked me what I had been doing, I told them I’d been looking for a job. “Aha,” I could see them thinking, “unemployed”.
Eventually, I was officially charged and told to report to Richmond Magistrates’ Court the following Monday. Then they let me go.
I wanted to conduct my own defense in court, but as soon as my father found out what had happened, he hired a very good lawyer. We went along that Monday armed with all kinds of witnesses, including my English teacher from school as a character witness. But he was never called on to give evidence. My “trial” didn’t get that far. The magistrate （法官） dismissed the case after fifteen minutes. I was free. The poor police had never stood a chance. The lawyer even succeeded in getting costs awarded against the police.
And so I do not have a criminal record. But what was most shocking at the time was the things my release from the charge so clearly depended on. I had the “right” accent, respectable middle-class parents in court, reliable witnesses, and I could obviously afford a very good lawyer. Given the obscure nature of the charge, I feel sure that if I had come from a different background, and had really been unemployed, there is every chance that I would have been found guilty. While asking for costs to be awarded, my lawyer’s case quite obviously revolved （回转） around the fact that I had a “brilliant academic record”.
Meanwhile, just outside the courtroom, one of the policemen who had arrested me was gloomily complaining to my mother that another youngster had been turned against the police. “You could have been a bit more helpful when we arrested you,” he said to me reproachfully （责备地）.
What did he mean? Probably that I should have looked outraged and said something like, “Look here, do you know who you’re talking to? I am a highly successful student with a brilliant academic record. How dare you arrest me!” Then they, probably, would have apologized perhaps even taken off their caps, and let me on my way.
Judging from the first paragraph, the writer’s attitude towards his story is _______.

A．angry	B．sad
C．amused	D．more than just one of the above

The first man who came up to him was ______.

A．a uniformed policeman	B．a policeman in plainclothes
C．not a policeman	D．a good joker

The court never asked the author’s English teacher to give evidence because _______.

A．the time for the trial was limited to fifteen minutes only

B．the author wanted to conduct his own defense in court

C．the case was dismissed before the trial reached that stage

D．he was found to be unqualified as a character witness

The author believes that he would most probably have been declared guilty if _______.

A．the magistrate had been less gentle

B．he had really been out of work

C．he had been born in a lower— class family

D．both B and C

In the opinion of one of the policeman who had arrested the author, the whole thing might not have occurred if ______.

A．he had protested strongly at the time

B．he had begged to be allowed to go home

C．he hadn’t wandered aimlessly

D．he had tried to look cool

We can see from the passage that the author ______.

A．has broken the law only once

B．has never broken the law

C．has broken the law on more than one occasion

D．once broke the law without knowing it

The latest research suggests that the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success. Instead, it’s purposeful practice. Top performers spend more hours practising their craft. It you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you’d take a girl who possessed a slightly above average language ability. It wouldn’t have to be a big talent, just enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction. Then you would want her to meet, say, a novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar qualities. Maybe the writer was from the same town, had the same family background, or shared the same birthday.
This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would hive her some idea of a fascinating circle who might someday join. It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, giving her a strong sense of insecurity and fueling a desperate need for success. Armed with this ambition, she would read novels and life stories of writers without end. This would give her a primary knowledge of her field. She’s be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly understand its inner workings.
Then she would practise writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and error-focused. By practising in this way, she delays the automatizing process. Her mind wants to turn conscious, newly learned skills into unconscious. Automatically performed skills. By practising slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, she forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance. Then she would find an adviser who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her performance form the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges. By now she is redoing problems — how do I get characters into a room—dozens and dozens of times. She is establishing habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.
The primary quality our young writer possesses is not some mysterious genius. It’s the ability to develop a purposeful, laborious and boring practice routine; the latest research takes some of the magic out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected. Public discussion is affected by genetics and what we’re “hard-wired” to do. And it’s true that genes play a role in our capabilities. But the brain is also very plastic. We construct ourselves through behaviour.
The passage mainly deals with.

A．the function of I.Q. in cultivating a writer

B．the relationship between genius and success

C．the decisive factor in making a genius

D．the way of gaining some sense of distinction

By reading novels and writers’ stories, the girl could.

A．come to understand the inner structure of writing

B．join a fascinating circle of writers someday

C．share with a novelist her likes and dislikes

D．learn from the living examples to establish a sense of security

In the girl’s long painstaking training process, ________.

A．her adviser forms a primary challenging force to her success

B．her writing turns into an automatic pattern of performance

C．she acquires the magic of some great achievement

D．she comes to realize she is “hard-wired” to write

What can be concluded from the passage?

A．A fueling ambition plays a leading role in one’s success

B．A responsible adviser is more important than the knowledge of writing.

C．As to the growth of a genius, I.Q. doesn’t matter, but just his/her effort.

D．What really matters is what you do rather than who you are.

Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job’s pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers？
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy？
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.
What is unnecessary in your job hunting?

A．Assessing your skills

B．Going to different areas

C．Matching your skills with a position

D．taking your personality into consideration

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Isolating jobs usually drive people mad.

B．Interactive jobs make people shy easily.

C．Extreme people tend to work with others.

D．Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs.

What does the underlined sentence in paragraph one mean?

A．Before you select your job, you should assess your skills and match them with your position

B．There are more important things than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job.

C．Nothing is important than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job.

D．You should ignore your skills when you select job.

What is the missing word about a job search in the following chart?

A．Design.

B．Changes.

C．Cooperation.

D．Hobbies.

What is the best title for this passage?

A．Lifestyles and Job Pay	B．Jobs and Environment
C．Job Skills and Abilities	D．Personalities and Jobs

It all began with a stop at a red light.
Kevin Salwen was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006 . While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes Coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.
“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal.”Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered （纠缠）her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.
Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project —crazy, impetuous （鲁莽的） and utterly inspiring — is written down in detail in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.
At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, it described neurological evidence from brain scans that unselfishness lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primary satisfaction. The Salwens’ experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.
Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.
The best title for the passage should be “______”.

A．The Less, the Better

B．An Expected Satisfaction

C．Something We Can Live Without

D．Somewhat Crazy but Inspiring

What does the underlined word “inequity” most probably mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Unfairness.	B．Satisfaction.
C．Personal attitude.	D．Reasonable statement.

What does the underlined sentence “Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager.” means? ______

A．Never give a quick answer to an idealistic teenager.

B．Unless a child is realistic, never give an answer immediately.

C．Give an answer if the child is reasonable.

D．Don’t respond to a child's demands firmly without consideration.

What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．The Salwens regretted selling their house.

B．The relationship between the family members of the Salwens is much closer.

C．Small houses can bring happiness.

D．The Salwens intend to buy another big house.

Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Mercedes Coupe is only an ordinary car which is quite cheap.

B．Unselfishness has nothing to do with people’s primary satisfaction.

C．Hannah asked her parents to do something charitable and they sold their house.

D．The writer’s children asked him to sell their house.