All day long he flew, and at night-time he arrived at the city. “Where shall I put up?” he said; “I hope the town has made preparations.”
Then he saw the statue(雕像) on the tall column.
“I will put up there, ” he cried; “it is a fine position, with plenty of fresh air.” So he flew down and settled just between the feet of the Happy Prince.
“I have a golden bedroom,” he said softly to himself as he looked around, and he prepared to go to sleep; but just as he was putting his head under his wing, a large drop of water fell on him.
“What a curious thing!” he cried; “there is not a single cloud in the sky, the stars are quite clear and bright, and yet it is raining. The climate in the north of Europe is really terrible. ”
Then another drop fell.
“What is the use of a statue if it cannot keep the rain off?” he said; “I must look for a good chimney-pot,” and he determined to fly away.
But before he had opened his wings, a third drop fell, and he looked up, and saw –AH! What did he see?
The eyes of the Happy Prince were filled with tears, and tears were running down his golden cheeks. His face was so beautiful in the moonlight that the little Swallow was filled with pity.
“Who are you? ” he said.
“ I am the Happy Prince. ”
“ Why are you weeping(哭泣) then?” asked the Swallow; “you have quite wetted me.”
“When I was alive and had a human heart, ” answered the statue, “I did not know what tears were, for I lived in Palace of Sans-Souci(无忧宫),where sorrow is not allowed to enter. In the daytime I played with my companions in the garden, and in the evening I led the dance in the Great Hall. Round the garden ran a very high wall, but I never cared to ask what lay beyond it, everything about me was so beautiful. People called me the Happy Prince, and happy indeed I was, if pleasure be happiness. So I lived, and so I died. And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city, and though my heart is made of lead(铅), yet I can’t choose but weep.”
“ What! Is he not solid gold? ” said the Swallow himself. He was too polite to make any personal remarks out loud.
1. The Swallow wanted to put up when he arrived at the city because_______.
A. he saw the Statue of the Happy Prince.
B. he flew into a lovely golden bedroom.
C. he had a whole-day flight and wanted to sleep.
D. it was night and a rain was likely to come soon.
2. Why did the Swallow feel curious when a drop of water fell on him?
A. Because of the heavy rain though there was no cloud in the sky.
B. Because the statue couldn’t keep the rain off though made of gold.
C. Because he thought it was raining despite bright and clear stars.
D. Because he couldn’t understand why the Happy Prince was weeping.
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Seeing the Prince’s beautiful face, the Swallow had pity on him.
B. The Swallow flew away immediately he found it was raining.
C. The Prince lived happily because he didn’t know what tears were.
D. The Swallow had wanted to find a good chimney-pot but failed.
3. What made the Happy Prince weep according to the passage?
A. The high wall stopping him from going out.
B. His not being able to play with his companions.
C. His sudden death and his statue being too high.
D. The hard life of the people and his inability to help.
Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be simple fact? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?
If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk. The fourth, who got hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.
Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a “simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.
To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a“simple fact”, try this simple experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell you it’s hot! What makes people think about simple facts differently?
A.The fact that simple facts differ from one another. |
B.The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact. |
C.The fact that people often disagree with one another. |
D.The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts. |
Which of the following temperatures can the word “lukewarm” be applied to?
A.Around 1℃ | B.Above 60℃ | C.Around 25℃ | D.Below 0℃ |
After reading the last paragraph, we may think of.
A.Newton’s law | B.Gallileo’s theory of falling objects |
C.Einstein’s theory of relativity | D.Marx’s On Capital |
The main idea of this passage is.
A.people often judge something according to his own experience |
B.people often agree about simple facts |
C.it’s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact |
D.don’t care too much about simple facts |
Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday.” “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing,” said business consultant Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale(士气). Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productive. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.” David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict” because.
A.he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt |
B.he couldn’t stand a clean appearance |
C.he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time |
D.he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes |
David Smith wears casual clothes now, because.
A.they make him feel at ease when working |
B.he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes |
C.he looks handsome in casual clothes |
D.he no longer works for any company |
According to this passage, which of the following statements is FALSE?
A.Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code. |
B.Comfortable clothes make employees more productive. |
C.A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees. |
D.All the employers in the US are for casual office wear. |
In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT.
A.saving employees’ money |
B.making employees more attractive |
C.improving employees’ motivation |
D.making employees happier |
You wake up in the morning,the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time.Then the telephone rings,you say hello, and the drama starts.The person on the other end has a depressing(令人沮丧的) tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to.Yon are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!
Communicating with negative people can wash out your happiness.It may not change what you think,but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.
Life brings ups and downs,but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer.They only feel glad when they make others feel bad.No wonder they can hardly win others’pity or respect.
When you communicate with positive people,your spirit stays happy and therefore more positive things are attracted.When the dagger(匕首)of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all,brings you down.
Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people.This could be a co-worker,or relative.In this case,say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out-your anger back to a negative person,but all this does is to lower you to that same negative level and they won’t feel ashamed of themselves about that.
Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized.The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to(附着)you throughout the rest of your day,which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness.Life is too short to feel negative.Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.The purpose of the first paragraph is to .
A.make a comparison | B.offer an evidence |
C.introduce a topic | D.describe a daily scene |
How can negative people have effect on us?
A.By influencing our emotion. | B.By telling US the nature of life. |
C.By changing our way of thinking. | D.By comparing their attitude to life with ours. |
Some negative people base their happiness on .
A.other people’s pity for them |
B.making other people unhappy |
C.building up a positive attitude |
D.other people’s respect for t hem |
According to the passage, to reduce negative people’s influence on us,we are advised .
A.to change negative people’s attitude to life |
B.to show our dissatisfaction to negative people |
C.to make negative people feel ashamed of themselves |
D.to communicate with negative people as little as possible |
What can we learn about negativity?
A.Its effect can last. |
B.Its effect can be completely avoided. |
C.It hardly happens among family members. |
D.Its effect is smaller than the effect created by a positive person. |
Why doesn’t the unemployment rate ever reach zero? Economists, who generally believe that supply tends to meet demand, have long thought about this question. Even in good times, i.e. not now, there are people who can’t find work. And even in bad times, i.e. now, there are job openings. With over 14 million people out of work and looking for a job, you would think every available job would be filled. But that’s not the case. Not now and not ever.
On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the prize for economics to the three scholars who have done the most to explain this phenomenon. Two of the winners are Americans, Peter Diamond of MIT and Dale Mortensen of Northwestern. The third winner is Christopher Pissarides, who teaches at the London School of Economics and was born on Cyprus.
Like most of economics, what they have found about why the jobless and ready-employers don’t find each other seems obvious. You have to find out there is job opening you are interested in. Employers need to get resumes (简历). It takes a while for both employers and employees to make the decision that this is what they want. And these guys came up with a frame-work to study the problem of why people stay unemployed longer than they should and what can be done about it.
So what would today’s Nobel Prize winners do to solve the current problem of the unemployed? And does the awarding of the prize contribute to the politicians’ lowering joblessness?
Speaking from his north London home, Pissarides told The Associated Press the announcement came as “a complete surprise” though his work had already helped shape thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.
For example, the New Deal for Young People, a British government policy aimed at getting 18-24-year-olds back on the job market after long periods of unemployment, “is very much based on our work,” he said.
“One of the key things we found is that it is important to make sure that people do not stay unemployed too long so they don’t lose their feel for the labor force,” Pissarides told reporters in London. “The ways of dealing with this need not be expensive training – it could be as simple as providing work experience.”According to the writer, which is true about finding jobs?
A.It is always difficult to find a job. |
B.Everyone can find a job in good times. |
C.Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to find a job in bad times. |
D.It is possible to find a job even in times as bad as now. |
What is it that leads to their winning the prize?
A.They have found the reason for unemployment. |
B.They have put forward a set of ideas to deal with unemployment. |
C.They have found out why people don’t want to be employed. |
D.They have long studied the problem of unemployment. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
A.Pissarides thinks his work surprising. |
B.The work of Pissarides has influenced many economists. |
C.Some of the winners’ ideas have been put into practice. |
D.It is probable that unemployed young people in Britain benefit from Pissarides’ work. |
According to Pissarides, _________ is effective in dealing with unemployment.
A.spending large sums of money on training |
B.teaching some knowledge of economics |
C.providing work experience |
D.keeping people unemployed for some time |
Sydney Airport International Terminal—Arrival Area
SPECIALTY RETAIL
Newslink: Two separate Newslink stores cater to all your reading needs including newspapers, magazines and the latest bestsellers.
Downtown Duty Free: Make sure you shop at Downtown Duty Free for great savings on a range of items including perfume, alcohol, skincare and cigarettes. It’s your last chance before customs.
Beach Culture: A must for those into the latest in beach clothing. Top surfer street and fashion labels including Mambo, Stussy and Quicksilver, including children’s sizes.
DINING
Blue Sky Cafe: Speedy service leaves you time to keep an eye on the arrivals gate. Fresh milk, coffee, lemon juice, beer, whisky, ice-cream, soda water, cakes and dumplings are on sale.
Macdonald’s: hamburgers, fries, pancakes, toasted potatoes, muffins, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and chocolates—all your family favorites. Breakfast served until 10:30.
SERVICES
ATM: ATMs are conveniently located throughout Arrival and Departures. Dollars, pounds and francs and RMB are all available.
Vodafone Rentals: This communications center offers the very latest technology for mobile phone rentals, sales and serving.Where is the passage likely to appear?
A.A morning newspaper. | B.A monthly magazine. |
C.A geography book. | D.An official guide. |
The underlined phrase “cater to” probably means ________.
A.satisfy | B.afford | C.support | D.help |
You may have better choices to deal with _________.
A.your hunger problem in Blue Sky Cafe and your thirsty problem in Macdonald’s |
B.your thirsty problem in Blue Sky Cafe and your hunger problem in Macdonald’s |
C.your hunger and thirsty problems in the Blue Sky Cafe |
D.your hunger and thirsty problems in the Macdonald’s |