English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every seven human beings can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and three quarters of international mail are in English. Of all languages, English has the largest vocabulary — perhaps as many as two million words.
However, let’s face it: English is a crazy language. There is no egg in an eggplant, neither pine nor apple in a pineapple and no ham in a hamburger. Sweet-meats are candy, while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But when we explore its paradoxes (探讨它的矛盾), we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, public bathrooms have no baths in them.
And why is it that a writer writes, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, shouldn’t the plural of booth be beeth? One goose, two geese — so one moose, two meese?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell the next?
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects (反映) the creativity of human beings. That’s why, when stars are out, they are visible (能看见的); but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it; but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
1. According to the passage ______.
A. sweet-meats and sweetbreads are different things
B. there should be egg in an eggplant
C. pineapples are the apples on the pine tree
D. boxing rings should be round
2. Which of the following is the correct plural?
A. Beeth. B. Geese. C. Meese. D. Tooth.
3. Which of the following includes two items which have the similar meaning?
A. A wise man and a wise guy. B. Overlook and oversee.
C. Quite a lot and quite a few. D. Hot as hell and cold as hell.
4. The underlined words “wind up” in the last paragraph probably mean “______”.
A. blow B. roll up C. get hurt D. finish
5. Through the many paradoxes in the English language, the writer wants to show that human beings are ______.
A. clever B. crazy C. lazy D. dull
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”
Remembering that I’ ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choice in life.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that was incurable, and that I would live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is my doctors’ code for preparing yourself to die.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. I was completely in despair. Later that evening, I had another examination and my wife told me that tumor turned to be curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’ m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death. To tell the truth, no one wants to die. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. It clears out the old to make room for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
Your time is so limited that you shouldn’t waste it repeating someone else’s life. Don’ t be trapped by dogma（教条）—which is living with the results of other people’ s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart. It somehow already knows what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.The doctor advised the author to go home and get his affairs in order because_________.
| A．he had to rest at home | B．his disease couldn’t be cured |
| C．his disease was not serious at all | D．he had to wait for the result of the test |
How did the author feel after the diagnosis?
A．Hopeless |
B．Excited | C．Optimistic | D．Angry |
What does the author think of death?
| A．He thinks it is impossible to avoid. |
| B．He thinks it is not the end of life. |
| C．He thinks it is nothing to be scared of. |
| D．He thinks it is the beginning of a new life |
In the author’ s opinion, we should ____________.
| A．follow others’ advice | B．take no notice of diseases |
| C．take exercise and keep healthy | D．have the courage to follow our heart |
Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes -- like tuxedos (小礼服) and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas (豇豆) for good luck -- but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?
| A．The United States. | B．Spain. |
| C．France. | D．The passage doesn’t say. |
What is a resolution?
| A．Something you burn. | B．Something you eat. |
| C．Something you say. | D．Something you wear. |
What is the topic of the fourth paragraph?
| A．Bringing good luck. | B．Keeping away bad l uck. |
| C．Planning for the next year. | D．Remembering the past. |
Which is probably true about eating black-eyed peas on New Year?
| A．Black-eyed peas taste bad. |
| B．One pea brings one day of luck. |
| C．The peas are very difficult to cook. |
| D．It is bad luck to eat a lot of black-eyed peas. |
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs．
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house.” It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of a horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.”
That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch．He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch．”
He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a 
note that read, "See me after class.” Why can the writer use Roberts's house to raise money for youth at risk programs?
| A．Because they are good friends. |
| B．Because Monty Roberts has a poor childhood. |
| C．Because Monty Roberts like to help youth． |
| D．Because the youth has the same dream as Montv Roberts. |
What do you think of Monty Koberts' goal of a horse ranch at that time?
| A．dream | B．romantic | C．real | D．false |
What would happen after the teacher gave a note "See me after class.”?
| A．Monty Roberts got very angry at this. |
| B．The teacher would criticize him. |
| C．The teacher wanted to tell him that his dream would come true． |
| D．The teacher would encourage him. |
Aimlessness has hardly been typical of the postwar Japan whose productivity and social harmony are the envy of the United States and Europe. But increasingly the Japanese are seeing a decline of the traditional work-moral values. Ten years ago young people were hardworking and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being, but now Japan has largely fulfilled its economic needs, and young people don't know where they should go next.
The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teenagers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Japans rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs. In a recent survey, it was found that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students were fully satisfied with school life, compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United States. In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs than their counterparts did in the ten other countries surveyed.
While often praised by foreigners for its emphasis on the basics, Japanese education tends to stress test taking and mechanical learning over creativity and self-expression." Those things that do not show up in the test scores, personality, ability, courage or humanity are completely ignored," says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's education committee." Frustration against this kind of thing leads kids to drop out and run wild." Last year Japan experienced 2,125 incidents of school violence, including 929 assaults on teachers. Amid the outcry, many conservative leaders are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis on moral education. Last year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World WarⅡ had weakened the "Japanese morality of respect for parents."
But that may have more to do with Japanese life-styles." In Japan," says educator Yok
o Muro, "it’s never a question of whether you enjoy your job and your life, but only how much you can endure." With economic growth becoming centralization, fully 76 percent of Japans, 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated, two generation households. Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is beginning to tell. In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still well below that of the United States, has increased by more than 50 percent, and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter. In the Westerners eyes, the postwar Japan was_____ .
| A．under aimless development | B．a positive example |
| C．a rival to the West | D．on the decline |
According to the author, what may chiefly be responsible for the moral decline of Japanese society?
| A．Women's participation in social activities is limited. |
| B．More workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. |
| C．Excessive emphasis has been placed on the basics. |
| D．The life-style has been influenced by Western values. |
Which of the following is true according to the author?
| A．Japanese education is praised for helping the young climb the social ladder. |
| B．Japanese education is characterized by mechanical learning as well as creativity. |
C．More stress should be placed on the cultivation of creativity. |
| D．Dropping out leads to frustration against test taking. |
The change in Japanese life-style is revealed in the fact that____.
| A．the young are less tolerant of discomforts |
| B．the divorce rate in Japan exceeds that in the U.S. |
| C．the Japanese endure more than ever before |
| D．the Japanese appreciate their present life |
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from the population, it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. If on the other hand we take two identical twins they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.www.examda.com
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays.
This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.Which of these sentences best describes the writer's point in Paragraph 1?
| A．To some extent, intelligence is given at birth. |
| B．Intelligence is developed by the environment. |
| C．Some people are born clever and others born stupid. |
| D．Intelligence is fixed at birth, but is developed by the environment. |
It is suggested in this passage that_______.
| A．unrelated people are not likely to have different intelligence |
| B．close relations usually have similar intelligence |
| C．the closer the blood relationship between people, the more different they are likely to be in intelligence |
| D．people who live in close contact with each other are not likely to have similar degrees of intelligence |
Brothers and sisters are likely to_______.
| A．have similar intelligence | B．have different intelligence |
| C．go to the same university | D．go to the same factory |
The best title for this article would be_______.
| A．On Intelligence | B．What Intelligence Means |
| C．We Are Born with Intelligence | D．Environment Plays a Part in Developing Intelligence |