WeekendonedayoutAwalkalongtheG-优题课

Sir William Osler has a few words for you: “In the Life of a young man, the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” Truer words were never spoken. For what more could you ask than comradeship during the peaks and valleys of life? To whom else but a close, valuable friend can you show off your successes and complain about your failures or losses?
What is a “good friend”? How is he best described? Well, it has been my observation that although many will cry with you, few can sincerely rejoice (欣喜) with you. Therefore, in my opinion, a good friend is one who can enjoy your successes without envy; one who can say, “That was wonderful! You can do it again, even better if you want!” and mean it. Nothing taxes a friendship more than the success of one and not the other. Even the closest of friendships often cannot resist such pressure and fail. No wonder many minor friendships go down day by day for the same reason.
A person of good character and sound moral, of honor and humor, of courage and belief is a friend to be sought and treasured — for there are few. Too often we hear, “If you can count your good friends on more than one hand, consider yourself blessed.”
What makes a friendship last? Well, I don’t know all the answers, but one of my observations is that most good friends usually have similar tastes. They generally like and dislike many of the same things. There also usually seems to exist a similarity of personality types — especially in the fundamental values of life such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability. More often than not, birds of a feather do fly together. I don’t think it matters a lot whether one prefers jazz or hockey to another’s Mozart or ballet. Much other matters far more: relying, sharing, giving, getting, enjoying; a sympathetic ear always there; criticism when it can help; praise — even if only because it would help. With not many people on this earth will you find this much in common. When you find one, hang on to him, for a good friend found is a rare treasure.
The function of Paragraph 1 is to introduce ______.

A．a famous saying

B．the topic for discussion

C．a famous person

D．two different attitudes

What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph two?

A．People don’t have to pay taxes to develop friendship with others.

B．Success of one person can promote his friendship with others.

C．Friendship can be affected by the difference in success between friends.

D．Nothing can affect friendship because it has gone through the peaks and valleys of life.

What is the main idea of Paragraph three ?

A．One is lucky to have many friends.

B．A friend should have a good character.

C．We should count our friends on more than one hand.

D．A true friend should be treasured because there are few.

According to the passage, which of the following plays the LEAST important role in a long-lasting friendship?

A．Hobbies.

B．Tastes.

C．Personality.

D．Sympathy.

International Studies (BA)
Key features
● Recognizes the “global community”（国际社会）
● Has close connections with practical research
● Much of the teaching is done in small discussion groups
About the course
The course gives you chances to know great power polities between nation states. It will provide more space to study particular issues such as relationship among countries in the European Union, third world debt, local and international disagreement, and the work of such international bodies as the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, and the World Bank.
The course puts theories into the working of the international system with close attention to particular countries. You will also have a better knowledge of methods of solving the international problems.
Related courses
BA (Hons) Community Management
BA (Hons) Public Policy and Management
Employment possibilities
International organizations
International business
Earth Science (BSc)
Key features
● Based on key courses and the latest research findings
● Pays much attention to practical skills
● Offers chances for fieldwork（实地考察）
About the course
The demand for natural resources is becoming an increasingly serious problem for the future of mankind. Graduates in Earth Science will play an important role in meeting this demand, and in knowing the meaning of using the natural resources.
The course covers geography and geology. You will carry out fieldwork in the UK and possibly overseas, and a research in an area of interest to you in the final year.
Related courses
BSc (Hons) Geograhpy
BSc (Hons) Geology
Employment possibilities
Mineral, oil, water or other related engineering industries
International Studies is a course in ________.

A．international polities	B．international business
C．international systems	D．international bodies

After taking the course of International Studies, the students will _______.

A．become practical and open-minded

B．have a greater ability to discuss theories

C．know how to settle international problems

D．have good jobs in any international organizations

Earth Science, as described in the second text, ________.

A．is attractive because of the chances for fieldwork

B．pays more attention to practical skills than theories

C．is built on important courses and the results of recent studies

D．encourages students to play a role in using natural resources

It can be inferred that the above two texts are written for the students who _______.

A．enjoy research work	B．plan to choose courses
C．study in the UK	D．are interested in overseas fieldwork

Staying positive through the cold season could be your best defense against getting ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that exposed healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a generally sunny character were less likely to fall ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help to protect us from suffering the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective — as in happiness improving immune function — and subjective — as in happy people being less troubled by a sore throat or runny nose. “People with a positive emotional style may have different immune responses to the virus,” explained lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “And when they do get a cold, they may interpret their illness as being less severe.”
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a previous study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional style itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults complete standard measures of personality characteristics, self-felt health and emotional style. Those who had a tendency to be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, while those who were often unhappy, tense and aggressive had a negative style.
The researchers gave them nasal (鼻腔的) drops containing either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days, the volunteers reported on any aches, pains or sneezing they had, while the researchers collected objective data. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal troubles, happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
Which is the best title for the passage? ______

A．Stay Away from Being Negative

B．Positive or Negative？It’s Up to You.

C．Emotional Style and Flu.

D．Optimistic People Likely to Keep Diseases Away.

According to Dr Cohen’s research, the reason why some people are unlikely to catch a cold may be that ______.

A．their cheerful mood benefits the immune system

B．they have developed a certain way against flu virus

C．they are less likely to have a sore throat and runny nose

D．they have got a stronger self-confidence in their health

The research is done by ______.

A．getting volunteers in one emotional group and analyzing them

B．conducting a medical experiment on volunteers of different emotional styles

C．co

llecting and analyzing volunteers’ objective nasal production data

D．having volunteers answer questions on personality, health and emotions

In Washington D.C., 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a very special address. It is the address of the White House, the home of the president of the United States.
Originally the White House was gray and was called the presidential Palace. It was built from 1792 to 1800. At this time, the city of Washington itself was being built. It was to be the nation’s new capital city. George Washington, the first president, and Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, chose the place for the new city. L'Enfant then planned the city. The president's home was an important part of the plan.
A contest was held to pick a design for the president's home. An architect named James Hoban won. He designed a large three-story house of gray stone.
President Washington never lived in the Presidential Palace. The first president to live there was John Adams, the second president of the United States, and his wife Mrs.Adams did not really like her new house. In her letters, she often complained about the cold. Fifty fireplaces were not enough to keep the house warm.
In 1812 the United States and Britain went to war. In 1814 the British invaded Washington. They burned many buildings, including the Presidential Palace.
After the war James Hoban, the original architect, partially rebuilt the president’s home. To cover the marks of the fire, the building was painted white. Before long it became known as the White House.
The White House is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the United States. Every year more than 1.5 million visitors go through the five rooms that are open to the public.
The White House was built in Washington_____.

A．because a French engineer was invited to design it

B．because President George Washington liked to live in it

C．because the British invaders lived in it in1812-1814

D．because it was to be the nation’s capital city

The president’s home and the city of Washington were______.

A．built by the American army	B．built by the British troops
C．planed by George Washington	D．planned by the French

The original home of the president needed to be rebuilt______.

A．because John Adams’ wife did not like it

B．because it was cold in winter even with 50 fireplace

C．because it had been burned down during the war

D．because George Washington was not willing to live in it

The new presidential home was painted white to ______.
A. cover the marks of fireB. attract tourist from France
D. to please Mrs. John Adams D. keep it warm in winter

Poverty exists because our society is an unequal one, and there are plenty of political pressures to keep it that way. Any attempt to redistribute wealth and income in the United States will be opposed by powerful middle and upper class interests. People can be relatively rich only if others are relatively poor, and since power is concentrated in the hands of the rich, public policies will continue to reflect their interests rather than those of the poor.
　　As Herbert Gans has pointed out, poverty is actually functional form from the point of view of the non-poor. Poverty ensures that ‘dirty’ work gets done. If there were no poor people to clean floors and empty dustbins, these jobs would have to be rewarded with high incomes before anyone would touch them. Poverty creates jobs for many of the non-poor, such as police officers, welfare workers, and government officials. Poverty makes life easier for the rich by providing them with cooks, gardeners and other workers to perform basic work while their employers enjoy more pleasurable activities. Poverty provides a market for low-level goods and services, such as day-old bread, rundown automobiles. Poverty legitimizes (make legal) middle-class values. To the middle class, the fate of the poor---who are supposed to lack honesty, and a taste of hard work---only confirms the desirability of qualities the poor are thought to lack. Poverty also provides a group that can be made to absorb the costs of change. For example, the poor bear the pressure of unemployment and it’s their homes, not those of the wealthy, that are destroyed when a route has to be found for a new highway. It cannot be said that the wealthy keep the poor in poverty. It is just that poverty is an outcome of the American economic system, which the poor are politically powerless to influence or change.
The best title is ________________________.

A．Functions of Poverty	B．Political Power in Poverty
C．The Fate of the Poor	D．An Unequal Society

Poverty exists in American society because ____________.

A．the wealthy work hard and are glad to keep it　　

B．the majority of the non-poor are totally indifferent (not paying much attention) to it　

C．the rich are politically powerful while the poor are politically powerless　

D．the poor like the jobs that they’re supplied by the wealthy.

The poor take on ‘dirty work’ ___________________.

A．under political pressure	B．for the high pay offered
C．as they are reasonably paid	D．though ill-paid

The author thinks that _____________________.

A．the poor lack such desirable qualities as honesty
B．the poor are not supposed to work hard
C．the poor are willing to bear the costs of change	D．none of the above