Some people who find themselves facing a problem react by just giving up. But it is not good to escape from problems by giving up or by making excuses for failures. You may be sure that all young people go through the same difficult process that you are going through: meeting new situations, developing new skills, and testing their abilities.
If you are unhappy about something, face it. Try to state the problem in a few words, so that you will know exactly what you are up against. Then see if you can “put your finger” on the cause of your unhappiness.
In many cases, we only “think” there is no solution to a particular problem. But often we can overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack.
For example, a boy wanted to be a debater(辩论家). When he tried out for the debating team as a freshman, the coach thought he was hopeless. He was shy; he had a high-pitched voice; and his posture(体态) was poor. Although he was given little hope of success, he took advantage of every opportunity to debate. He studied successful speakers and evaluated his own weaknesses and advantages. Then he spent many hours learning all the facts on the topics for debate, and worked at developing good posture and at speaking clearly. By his junior year, he made the school debating team, and in his senior year he was on the winning team in his state. He achieved his goal because he had made a direct attack upon his problem.
Although direct attack is often the best way to meet problems, we have to be realistic(现实的) in judging situations. Sometimes it is necessary to change either the method or the goal.
A boy who wants to be a great football player may not be too strong and not quite fast enough for football. In this situation, becoming a great football player may be an unreasonable goal for him. However, he may become outstanding in tennis or golf, and satisfy his desire to take part in sports.
A girl who is not good-looking may decide that she cannot win popularity with her face, and so she may try to develop an interesting personality, which eventually will get her much further. In this situation, she must change her method of achieving her goal.
So, although direct attack is often the best way to handle problems, it is important to study the situation and make a wise decision about what to do.
63. From the first paragraph, we can infer that .
A. not all people will meet the problems that they can’t solve
B. not all people can solve the problems that they meet
C. all people will not give up finding the solutions to problems
D. all people will make some excuses for failures
64. The underlined phrase “are up against” in the second paragraph could be best replaced by .
A. are dealing with B. are faced with C. meet with D. look after
65. Which of the following best shows the structure of the text?
(①-⑧ stand for “paragraph 1—paragraph 8”)A. ① B. ①
② ② ③
③④ ⑤⑥⑦⑧ ④⑤ ⑥⑦⑧
C. ① D. ①
② ② ③
③④⑤ ⑥⑦⑧ ④⑤⑥ ⑦⑧
66. Which of the following is not right?
A. When we meet difficulties, it is the best to give a direct attack.
B. If a girl is not good looking, she’d better change her style of appearance.
C. Whenever we face difficulty, we can find a way out, whatever it is.
D. Both a direct attack and a good analysis of the reality are good for solving problems.
Each of us can live strong, healthy, energetic lives for a long time to come. The key?Actually, there are many of them.
Eat fewer calories, but more food
Slimming down can help prevent disease, and cutting way back on the amount you eat may even slow the aging process. When nutrition researchers invited themselves over for dinner in kitchens across the globe-from Greece to Japan to the state of Pennsylvania--they discovered a stomach-satisfying secret to good health:Pile your plate high with vegetables and fruits, add respectable parts of beans and whole grains, and ignore high-calorie food like cheeseburgers, cream sauces, and fatty meats.
Use exercise as an anti-aging vaccine
Exercise can help you gain a better quality of life as you age. It's no secret that physical activity strengthens muscles, burn calories, and puts a happy bounce in your step. But recently, researchers discovered a new, extra benefit:Exercise acts as a powerful way against the aging process itself. When exercise physiologists put healthy people aged 60 to 85 on Weight-training programs for six months then tested them for signs of free-radical(自由基) damage, they were surprised by the results. By the end of the study, low-intensity exercisers had a drop in free-radical damage, while high-intensity exercisers had a slight increase.
Find something interesting to do
Life is always busy no matter what your age. But the truth is, when people are retired, time usually does become more available for adults after 60. With this time come choices. The easy one is merely to relax:watch more TV, eat out more often, talk on the phone as much as you want. The better choice? Discover something more meaningful to devote yourself to and do it wholeheartedly.Which of the following is what you should eat more?
A.Fatty meats. | B.Whole grains. |
C.Cream sauces. | D.Cheeseburgers. |
The new discovery of exercise probably is that__________.
A.it can help you live a better life |
B.it can strengthen muscles |
C.it can burn calories |
D.it can prevent aging process |
When do you have more free time according to this text?
A.In your fifties. | B.Beyond sixty |
C.Over seventy | D.Before sixty. |
The best title of this text should be "_______".
A.How to Keep a Balanced Diet |
B.The Importance of Your Health |
C.Keys to living Longer and Better |
D.Hobbies making Your Healthy |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological(病态的)relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
A.advantage | B.attraction |
C.adaption | D.attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.
A.attract people to buy their products |
B.provide the latest information |
C.improve people’s quality of life |
D.deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ______.
A.consider too much technology wonderful |
B.have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
C.can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
D.may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
A.Neutral. | B.Sceptical. |
C.Disapproving. | D.Sympathetic. |
One morning when I was 11, I explored the town’s abandoned round grain barn(谷仓). I found a chained sliding door that was wide enough for me to pass through.
Inside, there was a heavy smell of dead mice in the dark. After my eyes adjusted, I noticed a shaft (升降机井) that rose all the way to the top of the barn. On one side was a one-man elevator with a long rope and roller.
I stepped onto the platform and gave the rope a drag and the elevator began sliding up the shaft, but stopped halfway. After a brief panic attack, I noticed holes in the wall at regular intervals, forming a ladder. For reasons known only to an 11-year-old, I decided it would be better to go up than down. So, with shaking hands, I began climbing the wall.
After what seemed like forever, I reached the top of the shaft. I stood up, dusted myself off and found…absolutely nothing of interest. It was just an empty room with a ladder leading up to the roof. I climbed all the way up here for this? Then I noticed a fire extinguisher(灭火器),which I’d always wanted to shoot off. So this was the chance of a lifetime. I tried it, and, much to my surprise, the thing worked! It shot out a thick cloud of powder that instantly filled the room. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to choke to death, and they’d probably never even find my body.
Luckily, I remembered the ladder to the roof. I climbed up, popped the straw roof and saw a bright blue sky.
I suddenly realized the dust and powder pouring out of the top could draw attention. So when the dust had settled, I climbed down and slipped out of the chained door. I’m not sure if I was more excited about being alive or about not being caught, but I ran all the way back home.When the author got inside the barn, he _______.
A.noticed a man on the elevator |
B.opened the chained sliding door |
C.saw many dead mice in the dark |
D.found a shaft leading to the top |
Which of the following is the right order of the author’s adventure?
a. The elevator stopped halfway.
b. He entered the round grain barn.
c. He climbed to the top of the shaft.
d. He found a fire extinguisher and shot it off.
A.b-a-d-c | B.a-c-b-d |
C.c-a-d-b | D.b-a-c-d |
After getting out of the chained door, the author might feel _______.
A.inspired | B.relieved |
C.surprised | D.disappointed |
From the passage, we can learn that the author was probably a boy full of _______.
A.passions | B.dreams |
C.curiosity | D.imagination |
Darek Fidyka, a 38-year-old Bulgarian, had been paralyzed (瘫痪的) from the chest down for four years after a knife attack. Scientists from Britain and Poland took cells from his nose, transplanted (移植) them into his back and re-grew his spinal cord (脊髓). Now he can walk and even drive a car. The doctors were delighted but said it was the first step in a long journey.
The breakthrough came after 40 years of research by Professor Geoff Raisman, who found that cells had the possibility to repair damage to nasal (鼻腔的) nerves, the only part of the nervous system that constantly re-grows. “The idea was to take something from an area where the nervous system can repair itself and put it into an area that doesn’t repair itself,” Professor Raisman said.
Polish doctors injected (注射) the nasal cells into Mr Fidyka’s spinal cord above the injury and used some nerves from his ankle to form a bridge across the damaged tissue. The nasal cells appear to have caused the spinal nerves to repair themselves.
Professor Raisman achieved this with rats in the late 1990’s, but this is his greatest success. “I think the moment of discovery for me was Christmas in 1997 when I first saw a rat, which couldn’t control its hand, put its hand out to me. That was an exciting moment, because I realized then that my belief that the nervous system could be repaired was true.”
Doctors chose the easiest case for their first attempt—it might not work for others. But there is a real sense of hope that an idea once thought impossible has been realized.
David Nicholls, who helped provide money for the breakthrough, said information about the breakthrough would be made available to researchers across the globe.
“What you’ve got to understand is that for three million paralyzed people in the world today, the world looks a totally brighter place than it did yesterday,” he said. Why did Professor Geoff Raisman choose cells from the nose?
A.The nervous system in the nose can repair itself. |
B.Cells from the nose can be easily transplanted. |
C.The nervous system in the nose has more cells. |
D.Cells in the nose are able to re-produce rapidly. |
How did the operation work for Darek Fidyka?
A.The nervous system in the spinal nerves can repair itself. |
B.The nerves from his ankle cured the patient of the injury. |
C.The nasal cells re-produced and spread over very quickly. |
D.The nasal cells helped the spinal nerves to repair themselves. |
What made Professor Geoff Raisman begin to believe the nervous system can be repaired?
A.His former study with other people. | B.His operation on a paralyzed patient. |
C.His sudden thought about Christmas. | D.His unusual experience with a sick rat. |
David Nicholls’ words suggest that _______.
A.the world will become a better and brighter place |
B.paralyzed people of today have the hope of recovery |
C.the report of the breakthrough will be published soon |
D.researchers across the world will carry out the operation |
Fashion refers to the styles of dress that are currently popular. Fashion goes beyond just clothes, though. It’s important for some people to wear only the latest fashions and styles. For others, though, keeping up with trends (潮流) isn’t that important. The one thing that stays the same with fashion is this: it always changes!
In the 1960s and 1970s, hippies made bell-bottomed blue jeans popular. In the 1980s, Michael Jackson made parachute pants all the fashion. Now try to find these items in today’s clothing stores!
Why do fashions change? The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old. People are influenced greatly by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movie stars, as well as popular films, televisions shows, books and music. We are also influenced by the fashion industry’s advertising.
The stars of popular culture are always searching for a new angle to maintain (保持) their popularity. Often these new angles come in the form of new clothing or hairstyles. When people see these new styles, they often want to imitate their favorite stars. To do so, they seek out the latest fashions to make themselves look like the people they want to imitate. In this way, fashions evolve and change over time.
For years, clothes have been used to separate people into groups. Even today, brand-name clothing that is more expensive than other types of clothing can be used by some people to distinguish themselves from others. Unfortunately, this can often have the effect of distancing certain groups from others.
Don’t forget that it’s always OK to develop your own sense of style that is unique and separate from what the fashion world determines! Stay true to yourself and let your personality — not your clothes — speak for who you are. The examples of bell-bottomed blue jeans and parachute pants in Paragraph 3 are used to show that _______.
A.people often have different dressing styles |
B.trends of fashion are changing all the time |
C.people are always affected greatly by the stars |
D.hippies and Michael Jackson are good designers |
Fashion change mainly because _______.
A.new films and shows replace the old |
B.movie stars are changing over time |
C.popular culture influences people |
D.advertisements change rapidly |
We can learn from the text that _______.
A.clothes may separate and distance people |
B.people like imitating others’ dressing style |
C.the author has clearly gone out of fashion |
D.fashion is all about clothes people wear |
In the last paragraph, the author mainly wants to stress _______.
A.the advantages of staying unique and separate |
B.the bad effects of following fashions and styles |
C.the good benefits of popular styles to people |
D.the importance of having one’s own personality |