Do you want to improve the way you study? Do you feel nervous before a test? Many students say that a lack of concentration is their biggest problem. It has bad effects on their ability to study, so do their test results.
If so, use these tips to help you.
Study Techniques
You should always study in the same place.² You shouldn’t sit in a position that you use for another purpose. For example, when you sit on a sofa to study, your brain will think it is time to relax. Don’t watch TV while you are studying. Experts warn that your concentration may be reduced by 50 percent if you attempt to study in this way. Always try to have a white wall in front of you, so there is nothing to distract (make less concentrated) you. Before sitting down to study, gather together all the equipment you need. Apart from your textbooks, pens, pencils and knives, make sure you have a dictionary. If your study desk or table is needed when you are not studying, store all your equipment in a box beside it.
Your eyes will² become tired if you try to read a text which is on a flat surface. Position your book at an angle of 30 degrees.
Be realistic and don’t try to complete too² much in one study period. Finish one thing before beginning another. If you need a break, get up and walk around for a few minutes, but try not to telephone a friend or have something to eat.
Test-taking Skills
All your hard work² will be for nothing if you are too nervous to take your test. Getting plenty of rest is very important. This means do not study all night before your test! It is a better idea to have a long-term study plan. Try to make a timetable for your study which lasts a few months.
Exercise is a great way to reduce² pressure. Doing some form of exercise every day will also improve your concentration. Eat healthy food too.
When you arrive in the examination² room, find your seat and sit down. Breathe slowly and deeply. Check the time on the clock during the test, but not too often. Above all, take no notice of everyone else and give the test paper your undivided attention.
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．You should study in a different place every day so that you don’t get bored. |
| B．Your concentration will improve if you study and watch TV at the same time. |
| C．Check the time during the exam at a certain time. |
| D．Staying up all night is tiring, but you will learn a lot using this method. |
What does the underlined word “it” refer to?
| A．Your study desk or table. | B．Your textbook. |
| C．Your dictionary. | D．The equipment you need. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．You shouldn’t look at everyone else during the test. |
| B．You’ll have enough energy to deal with and concentrate on your study and exams better by eating healthy diet. |
| C．You’ll concentrate more if there is nothing to distract you. |
| D．If you need a break during study, you can walk around for a few minutes. |
Three Boys and a Dad
Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax, he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favourite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife. “I’ll look after the kids, and you can go visit your mom.”
Things started well, but just after eight o’clock, his three little “good kids”—Mike, Randy, and Alex—came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast, daddy.” Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.
Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom, while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants. Nobody could find clean socks, although they were before their very eyes. Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes. Brad knew the talk show had already started.
By ten o’clock, things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his colour pencils. Randy, thankfully, appeared to be reading quietly in the family room, but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.
At exactly11:17, Brad called the daycare centre (日托所). “I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes? ” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.When his wife left home, Brad expected to __________.
| A．go out for a walk in the park |
| B．watch TV talk show with his children |
| C．read the newspaper to his children |
| D．enjoy his first day off work |
Which of the following did Randy do?
| A．Drew on the wall. | B．Read in a room . | C．Fed the fish. | D．Ate apple jam. |
Who is “Not Me”(underlined in Para.3)?
| A．One of the family’s neighbor |
| B．One of the three kids |
| C．The father |
| D．The text doesn’t mention |
This text is developed _________.
| A．by space | B．by comparison | C．by time | D．by process |
I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more long-lasting emotion. Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to exciting parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir(回忆录) after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, and long-time loneliness.
The way people hold on to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually decreases their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very efforts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, charitable work and self-improvement.According to the passage, “fun activities” ____________.
| A．are the things we do before we find happiness |
| B．may help us relax and forget our problems sometimes |
| C．will lead us to the true happiness |
| D．could provide long-last positive effects |
In the author’s opinion, those Hollywood stars ____________.
| A．possess happiness because they are rich and famous |
| B．experience almost all kinds of happy things |
| C．tell us happiness isn’t equal to fun using their own stories |
| D．have to suffer a lot before they become successful |
It is difficult for people to find real happiness because ____________.
| A．they believe happiness is the fun life without pain |
| B．they find pain equals unhappiness |
| C．they fear to lose what they already have in life |
| D．They are afraid all their efforts were in vain |
The main purpose of the text is to ____________.
| A．describe the difference between happiness and fun |
| B．show the true meaning of happiness |
| C．encourage people to pursue fun activities |
| D．advise people to find their real life |
“I THIRST”
Each day water-related diseases kill 3,900 of the world’s children.
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation (卫生设备).
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
* The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometres.
* Only 58 percent of children in sub-Sharan Africa are drinking safe water, and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
* Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1) Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2) Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3) Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S. based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows, some organizations are large, others small-scale, some operate world-wide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America. Support them generously.The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that ______.
| A．poverty can result in water-borne diseases |
| B．people have no access to clean drinking water |
| C．women’s rights are denied in some developing countries |
| D．safe drinking water should be a primary concern |
The intended readers of the passage are _______.
| A．Americans | B．overseas sponsors |
| C．Congressmen | D．U.S. based water organizations |
The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to ______.
| A．get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries |
| B．donate money to people short of water through religious groups |
| C．fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem |
| D．take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations |
No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DONQUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic(卖弄学问的). They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified (加强), not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.Which is NOT the standard in the following when evaluating a great book?
| A．Although not a best seller for a year or two, it must be the most widely read. |
| B．A great book can be read without any effort. |
| C．Great books are never out of date. |
| D．Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well. |
According to the author, GONE WITH THE WIND is ______.
| A．a best seller |
| B．disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare |
| C．read more often than Don Quixote |
| D．a great book |
After reading the passage, we can infer that ______.
| A．different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for people to choose from |
| B．if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an advanced one |
| C．Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out |
| D．great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have confidence in settling them |
The best title for this passage is ______.
| A．Great Books in Your Life | B．Great Books in Your Specialty |
| C．How to Find a Great Book? | D．What Is a Great Book? |
Ever since he got into the Hong Kong film industry in 1994 with He’s a Woman, She’s a Man, Hong Kong director, Peter Chan has been one of the industry’s most powerful voices. Later in 1996, another milestone Comrades: Almost a Love Story came into being. Chan’s latest film, American Dreams in China is a carefully-calculated film with an eye toward opening the mainland cinema market.
American Dreams in China is a film purely for Chinese audiences, but how it plays there remains to be seen. It sends the right messages, but whether that’s enough to make it a hit is everyone’s guess. Mainland audiences aren’t quite that easy to “speak” to.
The film began during the period of economic reforms in China in the 1980s. The bookish farm boy Cheng Dongqing (Huang Xiaoming), the ambitious and confident boy Meng Xiaojun (Deng Chao) and the poetic Wang Yang(Tong Dawei), were three friends at university in Beijing and preparing for American visa interviews. Wang was the first to be granted the visa but he gave it up for his western girlfriend, and Cheng was repeatedly denied. Only Meng actually got a study visa. As he was leaving, he told his friends that he wouldn’t come back.
Several years later, Cheng and Wang built a successful school, New Dream, from the ashes of Cheng’s misfortune(his girlfriend got a visa too, and Cheng lost his university teaching job) and Wang’s ability to connect with students often through Hollywood movies. In America, Meng suffered a lot. Disappointed, he went home and joined his friends at New Dream. Later, the three friends’ relationship became worsened, but finally was improved under the weight of their common goals. Which of the following films made Peter Chan a most influential director in Hong Kong?
| A．American Dreams in China |
| B．Comrades: Almost a Love Story |
| C．New Dream |
| D．He’s a Woman, She’s a Man |
The underlined word “granted” (in paragraph 3) probably means “_________”.
| A．prepared | B．given | C．involved | D．permitted |
When the three men made preparations for American visa interviews, how many was/were offered a visa?
| A．None | B．One. | C．Three. | D．Two |
What led Cheng and Wang to start a business?
| A．The connection with Hollywood movies. |
| B．The weight of their common goals. |
| C．Cheng’s misfortune and Wang’s ability. |
| D．Meng’s disappointment and sufferings. |