OnApril16th，don`tbesurprisedif-优题课

An 80-year-old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45-year-old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow(乌鸦) rested on their window.
The father asked his son, “What is this?”
The son replied “It is a crow.”
After a few seconds the father asked his son the second time, “What is this?”
The son said, “Father, I just now told you; it is a crow.”
After a little while, the old man again asked his son the third time, “What is this?”
At this time some expression of anger was felt in the son’s tone when he said to his father, “It is a crow, a crow.”
A little later, the father again asked his son the fourth time, “What is it?”
This time the son shouted at his father, “Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again? Although I have told you so many times? It is a crow. Are you not able to understand this?”
A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old diary which he had kept since his son was born. On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. The following words were written in it:
Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa. When a crow was sitting on the window, my son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel angered. I rather felt affection for my innocent(单纯的) child.
So ……
If your parents reach old age, do not look at them as a burden, but be kind to them. Be considerate to your parents.
How many times did the father asked his son the same question?

A．Twice.	B．Three times.
C．Four times.	D．Twenty-three times.

What was written in the diary mainly shows_________.

A．the son’s foolishness	B．the father’s loneliness
C．the father’s love for his son	D．the son’s curiosity

After reading the diary, the son most probably felt_________.

A．very disappointed	B．even angrier
C．rather happy	D．deeply ashamed

What lesson should we learn from the passage?

A．We should be considerate to our parents.

B．It’s important to be a great father.

C．We should form the habit of keeping a diary.

D．Old diaries have extraordinary values.

The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt: “The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view?” I shook my head stubbornly（固执地）and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunchtime, I got lucky.
“If you come by right now,” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?
In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my ice-cold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry. The dentist is very good.”
“How long do I have to wait for him?” I asked impatiently.
“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork,” the assistant said.
“The artwork?” I was puzzled.
The chair went back. Suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling that morning?

A．Upset.	B．Nervous.
C．Satisfied.	D．Cheerful.

What made the author begin to doubt about the dentist?

A．The laughing assistant of the dentist.

B．The dentist’s being as busy as the other dentists.

C．The surroundings of the dentist’s office.

D．The dentist’s agreeing to treat her at very short notice.

What did the author learn from her experience most probably?

A．Strike while the iron is hot.

B．Put oneself in others’ shoes.

C．Have a good word for one’s friend.

D．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Most teens can't wait to learn to drive. Not so with me. Driving made me nervous. I didn't get a license until I turned 24 years old. As a result, when I first married, we only had one car and car pooled to work. My husband's hours were different from mine by one hour. I worked earlier. So he dropped me off and went to the diner to drink coffee until work time.
Then, in the afternoons, I leisurely walked the three miles to his work place where I waited in his car, reading a book.
One day while waiting for him, I noticed the most beautiful Cadillac pull in the lot. It was powder blue and sleek looking. The kind of car you dream about. I was busily admiring the car, when I noticed the driver. Honestly, she was probably the prettiest woman I had ever seen off the movie screen.
She pulled into the spot beside our car and it was all I could do not to stare. There was a striking resemblance to Liz Taylor. Jet black hair and alabaster skin. Our eyes made contact and she smiled at me. Her eyes were as blue as the sea, and teeth like an even row of pearls. She was wearing a light blue shirt that just matched her car. Peeking through her long, softly curled hair I could see gold hoop earrings. They had to be gold to shine like that. A couple of minutes later, a nice looking man came out of the building, entered her car, leaned over and kissed her and she drove away.
Sitting there in my jeans, shirt and hair in a pony tail, I wanted to cry. How could some people have it all?
Maybe I would have forgotten about her, but the following week, I saw her again. Then it became almost routine to see her about once a week. She seemed friendly and always waved, flashing a big smile. My envy lingered long after she drove away.
Many nights when sleep evaded me, I would think about the beautiful lady. I wondered if she and her husband ate out, and where they dined, and what she was wearing. I wanted her to get out of the car and let me see her full length. Did she wear really high heeled shoes and pants, or a skirt.
I would get my answers in a couple of weeks.
Sitting in our usual parking lot, I was holding my book, watching her over the top of it. She was waiting and when her husband came to the car, she called to him. They spoke a few words and he opened the car door for her to step out. He took her arm and helped her out of the car. I could see very well as she moved to get out. She was wearing a skirt.
She haltingly walked around to the passenger side very slowly, leaning on a walking cane. Sitting sideways in the car, she lifted one leg with her hands and then the other one. The beautiful lady had a prosthesis on the left leg and a brace on the right leg. I couldn't watch them drive away as the tears were blinding me. For weeks I had envied this woman and her way of life, while I had been able to walk three miles to our car!
When my husband arrived and found me crying, he immediately asked what was wrong. Through my tears, I told him about the beautiful lady. He said he knew her husband and also knew the story. The beautiful lady and her parents were in a car that either stalled or got caught on the railroad tracks and was hit by a train. Both parents were killed and she was severely injured. She was only 12 years old. The railroad made a large settlement with her because the crossing had no signals. He explained her car was specially built for her needs as well as the home.
I prayed for forgiveness all the way home. The lady I thought had everything I didn't. I realized how lucky I was to have my parents, the ability to walk, run or dance through life and many wonderful things money can't buy. I would not have traded places with the beautiful lady for anything
When you meet a person who seems to be much better off than you, don't be fooled.
In the afternoons the woman walked three miles to her husband’s work place to___.

A．take exercise on the way	B．meet the beautiful lady.
C．enjoy the scenery and reading	D．wait for her husband

After seeing the beautiful lady, the woman concluded_______.

A．the beautiful lady led a rich and happy life.

B．the beautiful lady liked to show off herself.

C．she and her husband must make more money.

D．she shouldn’t have married her husband.

The woman prayed for forgiveness all the way home because_______.

A．She should have known the whole story earlier.

B．She shouldn’t have compared herself with the woman.

C．She shouldn’t have told her husband what she had seen.

D．She shouldn’t have seen the woman getting out of the car.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The woman learned that health and family are more important.

B．The woman was poor and couldn’t afford another car and fancy clothes.

C．The woman envied the beautiful lady of her capable husband.

D．The woman regretted marrying her husband.

The underlined word “haltingly” probably means________.

A．proudly	B．excitedly
C．difficultly	D．steadily

Which of the following do you think can be the best title of the passage?

A．Seeing is believing	B．Trust her heart instead of her look
C．Looks can be deceiving	D．Fooled by her look

Topic: "Enjoy Worldwide privileges with BOC cards" 5% cash rebate(折扣) from UnionPay credit card issued by Bank of China
Time: April 1, 2014 to February 28, 2015
Customer: Personal credit cards with card number starting with “62” and with the UnionPay logo on the card
Details：
The promotion period is from April 1, 2014 to February 28, 2015.
Payments with business cards, corporate cards or transactions（交易）through third-party platform (PAYPAL, Alipay and the internet banking payment and Kuai payment supported by Alipay) are not eligible（合格的）for the promotion.
The promotion is applicable to online shopping payments to appointed business partners only, and all the transactions need to be completed via UnionPay online.
Amazon (U.S.) personal credit cards with card number starting with “62” and with the UnionPay logo on the card are eligible for the promotion.
As the promotion has no pre-defined upper limit on the number of transactions, all transactions meeting the criteria above will enjoy the cash rebate.
The value of eligible transactions will be the settlement amount in RMB according to the UnionPay system.
All single transactions of RMB 500 or more with payment made by UnionPay credit card issued by Bank of China (card number starting with ’62’) via UnionPay online platform will enjoy a 5% cash rebate, capped at RMB 100 per card per month.
Cardholders will receive the cash rebate within 90 calendar days after every promotion period. If the cardholder has any questions on the amount of rebate, please contact Bank of China Credit Card Customer Care Hotline（4006695566）within 30 calendar days since receiving the rebate; if no question is raised within 30 calendar days, the bank with deem the client agreeable to the amount of rebate. The date of cash rebate arriving in client’s account could be later than the date described above due to force majeure that is not unforeseeable.
Transaction value for the main credit card and supplementary cards will be calculated separately, and transaction value for credit cards of different card numbers will be calculated separately. Only transactions made with specified credit cards to appointed business partners will be eligible for the cash rebate promotion; in case of refund, no cash rebate will be made. At the same time, Bank of China reserve the right to recall any unqualified cash rebate already made.
Cardholders will need to ensure no late payment, card freeze or other abnormal occasions during the promotion period, otherwise the cardholder will not be eligible for the promotion.
Income tax associated with the cash rebate will be taken care of by the cardholder. Cardholders hold the responsibility to declare the income and settle the tax payment.
Which of the following cards can get the cash rebate?


A	B

C	D

How much rebate can I get from a 500 dollars payment?

A．About 5RMB	B．About 25 RMB
C．About 100 RMB	D．About 125 RMB

According to this passage, the third-party platform doesn’t include_______.

A．Business cards

B．PAYPAL

C．Alipay

D．Kuai payment

In which of the following payment can we get the cash rebate?

A．$60 for a sweater on Amazon.

B．$80 for a bottle of wine from a shop in Paris.

C．$100 for a souvenir bought in the duty-free shop of LAX.

D．$200 for a child safety seat on Amazon.

We can learn from the passage that ___________.

A．The cash rebate will arrive in our account within 30 calendar days.

B．We can’t get the cash rebate unless we pay the income tax associated.

C．Both the customers and Amazon(U.S.) will benefit from this promotion.

D．Any transactions of RMB 500 or more can get the cash rebate.

More and more people take part in marathons these days – over 30,000 people will run the London Marathon this weekend, for instance. But it’s not just the 26 miles and 385 yards that could be a daunting prospect. “I have to admit to being completely frustrated by the blocking and for 18-19 miles was just keeping away from people and being held up,” one participant grumbled after the 2012 London Marathon. “I had to overtake a lot of people and ended up with bruised（淤肿的）forearms from all the elbows,” said another.
How do such crowding problems arise, and could they be reduced? Some researchers believe that we can find the answers through a more familiar system in which jams appear – road traffic flow. Martin Treiber, of the Technical University of Dresden in Germany, has previously developed models for traffic flow. One of the first attempts to model traffic flow was made in the 1950s by James Lighthill and his collaborator Gerard Whitham of Manchester University. They considered the traffic as a kind of liquid flowing down a pipe, and looked at how the flow changes as the fluid gets denser(浓稠). At first the flow rate increases as the density increases, since you simply get more stuff through in the same period of time. But if the density becomes too high, there’s a risk of jams, and the flow rate drops sharply.
Treiber’s model of a marathon uses this same principle that the flow rate first increases and then decreases as the density of runners increases, thanks to an sudden switch from free to crowded flow. He assumes that there is a range of different preferred speeds for different runners, which each maintains throughout the race. With just these factors, Treiber can calculate the flow rate of runners, knowing the “carrying capacity”(承载能力)at each point on the route.
This allows Treiber to figure out how blocking might depend on the race conditions – for example, for different starting procedures. Some marathons start by letting all the runners set off at once (which means those at the back have to wait until those in front have moved forward). Others assign runners to various groups according to ability, and let them start in a series of waves.
Treiber has applied the model to the annual Rennsteig half-marathon in central Germany, which attracts around 6,000 participants. The traditional route had to be changed in 2013, because the police were no longer willing to close a road to ensure that runners could cross safely. It could pass either over a 60m wooden bridge or through a tunnel. Treiber used his model to predict the likely blocking caused in the various options. The model predicted that a mass start would risk an overload of runners if the bridge were to be used. Only by moving the starting point further back from the bridge could the danger be avoided – and even then, if some of the numbers assumed in the model were only slightly inaccurate, there was still a risk of jams at the bridge. On the other hand, no dangerous blocking seemed likely for the tunnel route. The run organizers consulted Treiber’s team, and eventually chose this option.
What is the worst thing while running a marathon?

A．The long distance.	B．Too many participants.
C．The dangerous blocking.	D．Serious injuries in forearms.

Which of the following statements is true?

A．James Lighthill is the first expert trying to model traffic flow.

B．The denser the flow is, the faster the flow rate becomes.

C．The flow rate increases in the beginning because fewer people passed together.

D．The flow rate increases first and then decreases later when the flow is too denser.

What is NOT true about the Rennsteig?

A．It has much less participants than the London Marathon in 2014.

B．It has a shorter distance than the London Marathon.

C．The route was changed because the traditional one is not safe any longer.

D．The participants running this marathon will pass a tunnel because this choice is safer.

What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Make a comparison between marathon and road traffic.

B．Running a marathon is somewhat dangerous if it is not well organized.

C．Introduce a new technology to solve the blocking problem in marathon.

D．Some advice for people who are to run a marathon.