Babies are born yogis（瑜伽练习者）．Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it．Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back．In short, we lost our balance．
Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit．It brings us balance．I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999．I had plantar fascitis（足底筋膜炎）in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis．I was desperate for exercise．Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities．I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it．
Yoga becomes part of your physical life．Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other．I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight．“Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K．I．S．S．Guide to Yoga．“Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism （新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight．Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells．” I do yoga poses throughout the day．After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms．When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses．When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses．
Yoga becomes part of your mental life．Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses．This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety．I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams．You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired．If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses．In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension．
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life．Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group．Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others．As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness．Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga．
72．What would be the best title for this passage?
A．What’s Yoga? B．How I Do Yoga Poses
C．The Benefits of Yoga D．The Varieties of Yoga
73．According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________．
A．grow taller B．lose weight
C．become flexible in thinking D．make more friends
74．People feel tired after yoga because __________．
A．they consume energy in practicing yoga
B．they respond well to yoga poses
C．they spend too much time on yoga
D．they force themselves into yoga poses
75．If this passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?
A．Yoga as a means to keep fit．
B．Different yoga poses．
C．Popularity of yoga all over the world．
D．Encouraging people to do yoga．
Three key facts about rising sea levels need to be pointed out to the world's politicians and planners: sea-level rise is now unavoidable, it will happen faster than most of us thought, and it will go on for a very long time.
Even greenhouse gas emissions (排放) stopped tomorrow, the oceans will continue to become larger as they get warm. The climate scientists estimate that sea-level rise may be in the range of 1 to 2 meters by 2100, with a small risk of an even greater rise.
For many islands and low-lying regions, even small rises will cause disasters. But for most countries, the problem is what has been built on that land: New York, Sydney and Tokyo, to mention just a few cities. Unless something can be done, great areas of urban network will disappear under the waves. It will take a great engineering effort to protect these cities---an effort that may be beyond economies that have been brought to their knees.
None of this means we should fear, and stop trying to forbid emissions. But together with these efforts, we need to start acting now and we must stop building in danger zones.
Billions of dollars are being spent on constructing homes, offices and roads in vulnerable coastal areas. For instance, the skyscrapers of Shanghai are being built on land that is merely 4 meters above sea level on average, and they are sinking under the weight of the buildings. Therefore, planning for new coastal developments is to go against reality. If we want to build a lasting heritage for our children, we should do so on the plentiful land that is in no danger from the sea. It is one of the effective ways to slow down climate change, and we should be acting on it now.Which of the following about sea-level rise is true?
| A．It will be brought under control by 2100. |
| B．It will cause few problems to many islands. |
| C．It may become worse than we expected. |
| D．It may be caused by fast urban development. |
New York, Sydney, and Tokyo are mentioned in this passage to show _______.
| A．modern cities are usually built along the coastline |
| B．the coastline is very important for modern countries |
| C．climate changes have endangered many big cities on land |
| D．climate changes have been completely out of control |
What does the underlined word “vulnerable” in the last paragraph means?
| A．difficult to build |
| B．easy to damage |
| C．likely to be protected |
| D．impossible to make sure of |
What’s the main purpose of this passage?
| A．To explain why sea-level is rising. |
| B．To tell us the danger of sea-level rise. |
| C．To warn us of greenhouse gas emission. |
| D．To discuss the disadvantage of building coastal cities. |
With the passing of Steve Jobs, the tech industry has lost one of its most respected heroes. So where will the industry turn for inspiration, now that Jobs is gone?
New Apple CEO, Tim Cook, will keep the business going, but he is unlikely to inspire the same kind of devotion as Jobs. Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg, has star power, but he and his company are still too young and untested. At Google, Larry Page is too awkward, and Eric Schmidt too clever, and a lot of the company’s recent products are unfinished. But there’s one tech leader who just might fill the gap: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Bezos runs his business the same way as Steve Jobs ran his, with a focus on long-term value over short-term profits and a willingness to invest in seemingly unrelated new areas. Steve Jobs converted Apple from personal computers into music with the iPod, and then into cellphones with the iPhone. It worked, and made Apple into the biggest and richest tech company in the world. Jeff Bezos is doing the same thing at Amazon.
In 2006, Amazon noticed it had a lot of spare capacity (容量) in its data centers. So it started renting out some of that capacity to some companies. Now, hundreds of newly-established Internet companies, including big names like Foursquare and Yelp, run their businesses on Amazon Web Services. Somehow, an outline bookseller became the most important provider of “cloud computing”.
In 2007, Amazon introduced its e-reader, the Kindle. The product developed slowly for a couple of years, and then started to take off in 2010 with the third generation. It sells for US$199, which is hundreds of dollars less than Apple’s iPad, but it has similar functions to the iPad. No wonder Amazon has to build millions more than it expected to meet demand.What do Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs have in common?
| A．They seek after short-term profits. |
| B．They tend to invest in unrelated areas. |
| C．They run their business creatively. |
| D．They show interest in personal computers |
The second paragraph is mainly developed by ______.
| A．giving examples |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．following the order of time |
| D．analyzing causes and effects |
Why does Amazon have to produce more Kindles?
| A．The product Kindle once developed slowly. |
| B．Amazon noticed it had a lot of spare capacity. |
| C．Kindle has powerful functions and lower price. |
| D．Amazon took off with Kindle’s third generation. |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Amazon’s Jeff Bezo and his talents |
| B．The Unknown Truth about Amazon |
| C．Apple and Amazon---Which Is the Legend? |
| D．Amazon’s Jeff Bezos---the Next Steve Jobs |
Dining in a completely dark room, unaware what’s on your plate while sitting next to a complete stranger may not sound like a perfect restaurant experience, but it’s certainly an intriguing way to spend a rainy night in London.
Dans le Noir, close to London’s financial district, is a restaurant full of blind waiters and waitress who become your eyes around the restaurant, whose original Paris branch opened in 2004.
In the bar with the light, you choose whether you want the fish, meat or vegetables, but the dishes themselves remain a secret. Bags, coats and devices that light up, including watches and mobile phones, are kept in the bar. Placing your hand on the shoulder of your guide, you are led to a table in a black dining room that seats up to 60 people. And it is dark.
The waiters tell you when the food is being placed down in front of you, then the fun begins, trying to get food into your mouth, then indentifying just what it is that’s on your plate, and finally whether you have missed any of it.
It’s also a great chance to break social tradition and eat using your fingers. Those same fingers are also the only way you can tell how much wine you’re pouring into your glass.
The happy atmosphere in the dinning room also makes the night memorable. You can’t really avoid talking to the person next to you at the long tables and guessing what the dishes are certainly provides adequate fuel for the conversations.
All will be revealed at the end of the meal when you are led back out into the lit bar. Not only do you finally get to see what you’ve just been eating but also who you’ve been talking to for the last 90 minutes.What does the underlined word “intriguing” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Challenging. | B．Interesting. |
| C．Strange. | D．Fashionable. |
Which of the following is true about “Dans le Noir”?
| A．It has its first branch opened in Paris. |
| B．It is far from London’s financial district. |
| C．It receives up to 60 customers every day. |
| D．It becomes popular among blind customers. |
While at table, what contributes to the customers’ lively conversations?
| A．Talking about wine. |
| B．Recommending dishes. |
| C．Guessing what they’re eating. |
| D．Introducing themselves. |
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To tell how to run a unique restaurant. |
| B．To attract customers to the restaurant. |
| C．To help people find a job in the restaurant. |
| D．To show how to enjoy yourself in the restaurant. |
A mother had two daughters. She loved them very much, but two girls would fight with each other from their earliest years. As they grew older, they became total strangers. They had no contact with each other when they were adults.
This caused the mother great pain. Then, later, she had an idea. She decided to write a letter to them. In this letter, she told them how much she loved them, and how she wanted them to love each other in this way. She also gave them news of herself and some guidance on how to live happier lives.
When the letter was ready, she wrote out one copy for each daughter, but these copies were special. Each copy contained only every second sentence of the original letter: the copy for one daughter had only the even (双数的) sentences, and the other daughter’s copy contained only the odd sentences. Neither contained the fullness of the mother’s message.
When the two daughters received their letters, they were puzzled. To understand the half-letter, they would have to put the two letters together and read them as one, which meant they must approach one another again in love and respect. But they each blamed the other for not helping them when trying to read the half-letter.
For a long time, the mother waited in vain. Then one day, when the mother had almost given up hope, there was a knock at the door. There they stood, together. “We’ve come home,” they said at the same time. “We’ve finally put our letters together, and we’ve come to say how much we love you, Mum.” Then she hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and welcomed them back home.The mother gave her daughters incomplete letters mainly to ______.
| A．win their hearts | B．offer them advice |
| C．tell them her news | D．mend their relations |
Upon receiving their letters, the two daughters ______.
| A．complained about each other as usual |
| B．blamed her mother for the half-letter |
| C．put the letters together and read them |
| D．understood the mother’s purpose at once |
Why did the two daughters visit their mother at last?
| A．They wanted to apologize. |
| B．They missed home very much. |
| C．They had put the letters together. |
| D．They felt grateful for the mother. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．An Unusual Letter | B．A Mother’s Endless Love |
| C．Two Special Daughters | D．A Sincere Apology to Mother |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices（装置）, 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 flu-like 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 claiming 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, a former CEO 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．adaptation | 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．Objective | B．Positive |
| C．Disapproving | D．Sympathetic |