How many people have I met who have told me about the book that they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演) and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families, always making ourselves believe that this style of life is mere
ly a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day!” They speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter, I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反
常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area？I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.
45．The first paragraph of the passage tells us that____________.
A．we always try to find some time to write a book
B．we always make plans but seldom fulfill them
C．we always enjoy many of life's best moments
D．we always do what we really want to do
46．The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (
paragraph 6) most probably means____________.
A．leave for B．return to C．give up D．rely on
47．The man ( paragraph 6) left his first job partly because he was____________.
A．in an abnormal state B．under too much pressure
C．not well paid D．not respected
48．What is probably the best title for the passage?
A．Provide Homes For Our Family B．Take Up Horse-riding
C．Value This Very Day D．Stay Alive
Britons Learn to Forgive
LEEDS, England ─ A Leeds University psychology （心理学） professor is teaching a course to help dozens of Britons forgive their enemies．
“The hatred we hold within us is a cancer,” Professor Ken Hart said, adding that holding in anger can lead to problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease．
More than 70 people have become members in Hart’s first 20-week workshop in London ─ a course he says is the first of its kind in the world．
These are people who are sick and tired of living with a memory．They realize their bitterness is a poison they think they can pour out, but they end up drinking it themselves, said Canadian-born Hart．
The students meet in groups of eight to ten for a two-hour workshop with an adviser every fortnight．
The course, ending in July, is expected to get rid of the cancer of hatred in these people．“People have lots of negative attitudes towards forgiveness,” he said, “People confuse forgiveness with forgetting．Forgiveness means changing from a negative attitude to a positive one．”
Hart and his team have created instructions to provide the training needed．
“The main idea is to give you guidelines on how to look at various kinds of angers and how they affect you, and how to change your attitudes towards the person you are angry with,” said Norman Claringbull, a senior expert on the forgiveness project．
Hart said he believes forgiveness is a skill that can be taught, as these people “want to get free of the past”．From this passage we know that _________．
| A．high blood pressure and heart disease are caused by hatred |
| B．high blood pressure can only be cured by psychology professors |
| C．without hatred, people will have less trouble connected with blood pressure and heart |
| D．people who suffer from high blood pressure and heart disease must have many enemies |
In Hart’s first 20-week workshop, people there can ________．
| A．meet their enemies | B．change their attitudes towards bitterness |
| C．enjoy the professor’s speech | D．learn how to quarrel with others |
If you are a member in Hart’s workshop, you’ll ________．
| A．pay much money to Hart | B．go to the workshop every night |
| C．attend a gathering twice a month | D．pour out everything stored in your mind |
The author wrote this passage in order to ________．
| A．persuade us to go to Hart’s workshop |
| B．tell us the news about Hart’s workshop |
| C．tell us how to run a workshop like Hart’s |
| D．help us to look at various kinds of angers |
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night．The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently．
My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him．I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same．I' m so glad I did．
On the way to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape．After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea．As we got on board, we noticed two big humps （脊背） in the distance．
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby．We couldn't believe it — there aren't any whales along the coast here．The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive．
The little baby whale —actually as big as our boat — was obviously stuck and could not move．The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools （漩涡） and waves．"She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said．At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently．With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water．Then it swam up right beside its mum．They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction．We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel．Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe -- and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes．Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance．
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half．That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day．Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea．The author says "I' m so glad I did．" （ in Para．2） because _________．
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
| D．he spent the weekend with his family |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because __________．
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough |
| C．she had no other whales around to turn to for help |
| D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness． |
| B．Fishing provides excitement for children． |
| C．It's necessary to live in harmony with animals． |
| D．It's vital to protect the whale in the ocean． |
The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic(赞同的) audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, “High school English teachers are not doing their jobs.” He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.
My topic is not standards nor its decline(降低). What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young; he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies (缺陷). But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not perceived(察觉) as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar(特有的) to today’syoung people, it naturally follows that today’s English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not commit offenses against the language. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____.
| A．the language of the younger generation is usually inferior(差的) to that of the older generation |
| B．the students had a poor command of English because they didn’t work hard enough |
| C．he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for sixteen years |
| D．English teachers should be held responsible for the students’ poor command of English |
In the author’s opinion, the speaker ______.
| A．gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students |
| B．had exaggerated(夸大) the language problems of the students |
| C．was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs |
| D．could think and speak intelligently |
The author’s attitude towards the speaker’s remarks is ______.
| A．neutral | B．positive | C．critical | D．compromising |
It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
| A．it is justifiable(有理由的) to include English as a school subject |
| B．the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level |
| C．English language teaching is by no means an easy job |
| D．language improvement needs time and effort |
In the passage the author argues that ______.
| A．it is unfair to blame the English teachers for the language deficiencies of the students |
| B．young people would not commit offences against the language if the teachers did their jobs properly |
| C．to eliminate(消除) language deficiencies one must have sensitive eyes and ears |
| D．to improve the standard of English requires the effort of several generations |
Wind is the great maker of waves. There are exceptions, such as the tidal(潮汐的) waves sometimes produced by earthquakes under the sea. But the waves most of us know are produced by winds blowing over the sea.
Now before constructing an imaginary life history of a typical wave, we need to know certain physical things about it. A wave has height, from trough (low point) to crest (high Point). It has length－the distance from this crest to that of the following wave. The period of the wave means the time it takes for succeeding crests to pass a fixed point. None of these things stays the same－for all depend upon the wind, upon the depth of the water and many other matters.
The water that makes up a wave does not advance with it across the sea. Each drop of water turns around in a little circle with the passing of the wave, but returns very nearly to its original position. And it is fortunate that this is so. For if the huge masses of water that make up a wave actually moved across the sea, sailing would be impossible.
If we want to find the speed of a wave, we may use the following way:
Speed =" wavelength" × frequency
Here, wavelength is the distance between two high points (crests), frequency means the number of cycles per second.
What causes waves?
| A．Earthquakes and nothing else. | B．Only wind. |
| C．Wind causes most waves. | D．Wind causes some waves. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The water of a wave moves away across the sea. |
| B．The water of a wave remains almost at the same place. |
| C．The water of a wave goes with the passing of the wave. |
| D．The length of a wave means the distance from the top of a wave to the bottom. |
The speed of Wave 1 is 100 cm/s, frequency 10. The frequency of Wave 2 is 300, while its speed is twice that of Wave 1. Which of the following is right?
| A．The wavelengths of the two are equal. |
| B．The wavelength of Wave 1 is 10 times longer than that of Wave 2. |
| C．The wavelength of Wave 2 is longer than that of Wave 1. |
| D．The wavelength of Wave 1 is longer than that of Wave 2. |
Last year, my boyfriend suggested that I should run the London marathon, and I laughed. He laughed too, but he laughed too long and too loud. That made me think. I realized that he didn’t believe that I could do it. That made me angry, and determined. Now he knows that I can!
Training wasn’t easy, but I kept going. I didn’t need special training but I did need to buy very good shoes. Each day, I went a little further. By the end of three months, I was running five days a week. Sometimes in the evenings I ran 10 km; on Sunday mornings, I sometimes ran about 30 km. I used to come home, have a shower and eat my breakfast. I felt wonderful!
On the day of the race in London, I lined up with about 30,000 other runners. The faster runners were at the front, while slower runners like me were placed further back. In that way, the professional runners and club runners were not slowed down by the amateurs.
At first, there were so many runners close together that we were almost falling over each other. We could only run very slowly but that was a good thing because it meant that we didn’t rush off too quickly. Gradually the runners spread out and there was more space. There were thousands of people watching us along the route and they cheered and clapped everyone, even the slowest runner. It was wonderful!
For the first 10 km I felt very happy and my legs felt very comfortable. However, at 15 km I got a pain in my side and running became difficult, but I kept going and the pain disappeared. At the 30 km mark, I felt extremely tired, and wanted to stop, but I kept on going. I covered another 3 km and then I began to feel better again.
By the time I reached the 35 km mark, I knew I was going to get to the end of the course. Somehow that confidence made me feel lighter and faster and it seemed as if my legs flew over the last few kilometers. I passed hundreds of slower runners, some of whom had passed me earlier, and I felt wonderful! As I came round the last bend and saw the finishing line, I could see three runners ahead of me. I raced past all of them to finish the race in just under four hours. The winner had completed the race in 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I didn’t care! I had run 42 km and completed my first marathon!The writer’s boyfriend laughed at her because.
| A．he thought she could run the marathon |
| B．he didn’t think she could run the marathon |
| C．he wanted her to run the marathon |
| D．she wanted to run the marathon |
When the race began .
| A．all the faster runners were asked to stand before those slower ones |
| B．many runners fell over each other |
| C．all the runners were asked to run slowly |
| D．the professional runners and club runners ran very fast |
The hardest time for the writer was when she.
| A．had run for 15 kilometers |
| B．got a pain in her side |
| C．reached the 30 kilometer mark |
| D．was about to reach the finish line |
The passage suggests that it is better to start a long race slowly .
| A．than to run at the same speed all the time |
| B．than to run too fast at the beginning |
| C．than to run slowly at the end |
| D．than to run very fast all the time |