A year ago August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria, but work for Dave was scarce, and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift-$7,000,a legacy(遗产) from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident. “It really made a difference when we were going under financially(经济上),” says Dave.
But the Fusses weren’t the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by the Hatches’ generosity. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars; in others, it was more than $100,000.
It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than $3 million—they were an elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm.
Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving. They thrived on(喜欢) comparison shopping and would routinely go from store to store, checking prices before buying something.
Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camp when their parents couldn’t afford it. “Ish and Arlene never asked if you needed anything.” says their friend Sandy Van Weelden. “They could see things they could do to make you happier and they would do them.”
Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches had their farmland distributed(分送). It was the Hatches’ wish that their legacy—a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cents —should enrich the whole community (社区) and last for generations to come.
Neighbors helping neighbors—that was Ish and Arlene Hatch’s story.
64. According to the text, the Fusses ____________.
A. were employed by a truck company B. worked in a school cafeteria
C. were in financial difficulty D. lost their home
65. Which of the following is true of the Hatches?
A. They gave away their possessions to their neighbors.
B. They left the family farm to live in an old house.
C. They had their children during the Great Depression.
D. They helped their neighbors to find jobs.
66. Why would the Hatches routinely go from store to store?
A. They decided to open a store. B. They wanted to save money.
C. They couldn’t afford expensive things . D. They wanted to buy gifts for local kids.
67. According to Sandy Van Weelden, the Hatches were _________.
A. mean B. childlike C. curious D. understanding
Have you ever looked toward the sky on a fall day and witnessed a group of migrating birds? If so, you probably noted the V-shaped formation of the birds or the birds flying in a ball-like formation. Why do birds fly this way? Many theories have been developed to explain the formation patterns of different types of birds.
One theory is that birds fly in certain formations to take advantage of the laws of nature. The birds know that flying in a V-shaped pattern will save energy. Like the lead cyclist in a race who decreases wind force for the cyclists who follow, the lead bird cuts wind force for the birds that follow. This decrease in wind force means that the birds use up to 70 percent less energy during their flight. When the lead bird becomes tired, a more rested bird takes over that position.
But saving energy is important for more than one reason. Sometimes food is short during migration flights. Keeping energy enables the birds to fly longer distances between meals.
When food is sighted, the birds guide one another in a different way. When a bird identifies a familiar feeding area, it might turn around in order to signal the group to change direction. Then, this bird becomes the new leader. It helps guarantee that other birds will know exactly where it is going. Then the whole group makes a change in direction, gently streaming from the sky down to the ground. This formation is like an arrow pointing to the location of food.
Scientists have also studied the birds that sometimes fly in a ball-like formation. Researchers believe that the birds come together if a predator(天敌) is spotted. The predator may then become impatient waiting for a single bird to fly away from the group. The birds will often dip and dive as a group, frustrating even the most persistent enemy. Scientists report that this is a very effective method of defense against an attack.
The birds care for their fellow fliers through teamwork. As transportation expert Henry Ford once said, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” When it comes to teamwork, these feathered fliers are a soaring success! According to the passage, we can learn that birds ___________.
A.move faster than cyclists |
B.prefer to fly in a V formation |
C.are smarter than other animals |
D.play different roles in a formation |
When food is sighted, ____________.
A.the group follows the discoverer |
B.the lead bird decides what to do |
C.the discoverer leaves the group |
D.the whole group forms a stream |
To protect themselves from attack, birds will _____________ .
A.break into groups |
B.come close together |
C.change directions |
D.fly up and down |
Which is the best title for the passage?
A.A Bird’s-Eye View of Teamwork. |
B.Success Takes Care of Itself. |
C.The Strongest Will Survive. |
D.A Science Behind Flying. |
Almost every machine with moving parts has wheels, yet no one knows exactly when the first wheel was invented or what it was used for. We do know, however, that they existed over 5, 500 years ago in ancient Asia.
The oldest known transport wheel was discovered in 2002 in Slovenia. It is over 5, 100 years old. Evidence suggests that wheels for transport didn’t become popular for a while, though. This could be because animals did a perfectly good job of carrying farming tools and humans around.
But it could also be because of a difficult situation. While wheels need to roll on smooth surfaces, roads with smooth surfaces weren’t going to be constructed until there was plenty of demand for them. Eventually, road surfaces did become smoother, but this difficult situation appeared again a few centuries later. There had been no important changes in wheel and vehicle design before the arrival of modern road design.
In the mid-1700s, a Frenchman came up with a new design of road—a base layer(层)of large stones covered with a thin layer of smaller stones. A Scotsman improved on this design in the 1820s and a strong, lasting road surface became a reality. At around the same time, metal hubs(the central part of a wheel)came into being, followed by the pneumatics tyre(充气轮胎)in 1846. Alloy wheels were invented in 1967, sixty years after the appearance of tarmacked roads(柏油路).As wheel design took off, vehicles got faster and faster.What might explain why transport wheels didn’t become popular for some time?
A.Few knew how to use transport wheels. |
B.Humans carried farming tools just as well. |
C.Animals were a good means of transport. |
D.The existence of transport wheels was not known. |
What do we know about road design from the passage?
A.It was easier than wheel design. |
B.It improved after big changes in vehicle design. |
C.It was promoted by fast-moving vehicles. |
D.It provided conditions for wheel design to develop. |
How is the last paragraph mainly developed?
A.By giving examples. |
B.By making comparisons. |
C.By following time order. |
D.By making classifications. |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.The beginning of road design. |
B.The development of transport wheels. |
C.The history of public transport. |
D.The invention of fast-moving vehicles. |
Doctors are known to be terrible pilots. They don’t listen because they already know it all. I was lucky: I became a pilot in 1970, almost ten years before I graduated from medical school. I didn’t realize then, but becoming a pilot makes me a better surgeon. I loved flying. As I flew bigger, faster planes, and in worse weather, I learned about crew resource management(机组资源管理),or CRM, a new idea to make flying safer. It means that crew members should listen and speak up for a good result, regardless of positions.
I first read about CRM in 1980.Not long after that, an attending doctor and I were flying in bad weather. The controller had us turn too late to get our landing ready. The attending doctor was flying; I was safety pilot. He was so busy because of the bad turn, he had forgotten to put the landing gear(起落架)down. He was a better pilot—and my boss—so it felt unusual to speak up. But I had to: Our lives were in danger. I put aside my uneasiness and said,“We need to put the landing gear down now!”That was my first real lesson in the power of CRM, and I’ve used it in the operating room ever since.
CRM requires that the pilot/surgeon encourage others to speak up. It further requires that when opinions are from the opposite, the doctor doesn’t overreact, which might prevent fellow doctors from voicing opinions again. So when I’m in the operating room, I ask for ideas and help from others. Sometimes they’re not willing to speak up. But I hope that if I continue to encourage them, someday someone will keep me from“landing gear up”. What does the author say about doctors in general?
A.They like flying by themselves. |
B.They are unwilling to take advice. |
C.They pretend to be good pilots. |
D.They are quick learners of CRM. |
The author deepened his understanding of the power of CRM when .
A.he saved the plane by speaking up |
B.he was in charge of a flying task |
C.his boss landed the plane too late |
D.his boss operated on a patient |
In the last paragraph“landing gear up”probably means .
A.following flying requirements |
B.overreacting to different opinions |
C.listening to what fellow doctors say |
D.making a mistake that may cost lives |
Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.CRM:A New Way to Make Flying Safe |
B.Flying Makes Me a Better Doctor |
C.The Making of a Good Pilot |
D.A Pilot-Turned Doctor |
Given that many people's moods (情绪)are regulated by the chemical action of chocolate, it was probably only a matter of time before somebody made the chocolate shop similar to a drugstore of Chinese medicine. Looking like a setting from the film Charlie& the Chocolate Factory, Singapore's Chocolate Research Facility (CRF) has over 100 varieties of chocolates. its founder is Chris Lee who grew up at his parents' comer store with one hand almost always in the jar of sweets.
If the CRF seems to be a smart idea, that's because Lee is not merely a seasoned salesperson but also head of a marketing department that has business relations with big names such as Levi's and Sony. That idea surely results in the imagination at work when it comes to making different flavored(味道)chocolates.
The CRF's produce is "green", made within the country and divided into 10 lines, with the Alcohol Series being the most popular. The Exotic Series——with Sichuan pepper, red bean (豆).cheese and other flavors一also does well and is fun to taste. And for chocolate snobs,who think that they have a better knowledge of chocolate than others, the Connoisseur Series uses cocoa beans from Togo, Cuba, Venezuela , and Ghana, among others. What is good about chocolate?
A.It serves as a suitable gift. |
B.It works as an effective medicine. |
C.It helps improve the state of mind. |
D.It strengthens business relations. |
Why is Chris Lee able to develop his idea of the CRF?
A.He knows the importance of research. |
B.He learns form shops of similar types. |
C.He has the support of many big names |
D.He has a lot of marketing experience. |
Which line of the CRF produce sells best?
A.The Connoisseur Series. |
B.The Exotic Series. |
C.The Alcohol Series. |
D.The Sichuan Series. |
The words "chocolate snobs" in Paragraph 3 probably refer to people who
A.are particular about chocolate |
B.know little about cocoa beans |
C.look down upon others |
D.like to try new flavors |
Here is an astonishing and significant fact: Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human brain could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue(疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered that blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day laborer, we would find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素)and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of an Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxins at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours of effort as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired?
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue comes from our mental and emotional(情感的)attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists, J. A. Hadfield, says, “The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact, fatigue of purely physical origin is rare. ”Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares, “One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired? Joy? Satisfaction? No! A feeling of being bored, anger, anxiety, tenseness, worry, a feeling of not being appreciated—those are the emotions that tire sitting workers. Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue. We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body. What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
A.Fatigue toxins could hardly be found in a laborer’s blood. |
B.Albert Einstein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work. |
C.The brain could work for many hours without fatigue. |
D.A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins. |
According to the author, which of the following can make sitting workers tired?
A.Challenging mental work. |
B.Unpleasant emotions. |
C.Endless tasks. |
D.Physical labor. |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?
A.He agrees with them. |
B.He doubts them. |
C.He argues against them. |
D.He hesitates to accept them. |
We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energetic, sitting workers need to_______.
A.have some good food |
B.enjoy their work |
C.exercise regularly |
D.discover fatigue toxins |