During the day, Mercer, is a hard-working dog , helping his owner and making sure she stays safe. But at night, the big, black dog slips out of the house, tries his paws at ice-skating, and even makes hot chocolate for himself .
Or at least that's what he does in Marvelous Mercer, a new book written by the dog's 12-year-old owner, Shea Megale. Shea has spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that makes her muscles very weak. She uses a motorized wheelchair. Mercer is an assistance dog that is specially trained to do many of the things Shea can't.
Shea is writing a series of six books about Mercer Marvelous mercer arrived in stores this fall, and the second book is due out early next year.
Cool Tricks
During his training, Mercer learned to carry out 60 different commands, Shea now uses them to tell Mercer what she needs as she goes about her day. “Under ”tells down. “Car” tells him to get into a vehicle.
Shea’s favorite command is “lap”, which tells Mercer to put his front paws across her lap. “I love that ”, Shea says .
At school, Mercer carries Shea’s backpack and helps her order her lunch in the dining room. During class, he stays under her desk in case she drops her pencil. At night, he pulls the covers up for her and turns out her bedroom light.
Leading a Paw
Shea and Mercer aren’t the only ones benefiting from their special relationship. “Thanks to the book series . We’re helping a lot more people now ,” Shea says.
Some of the books profits are going to help pay for research into the disease Shea is suffering from. Money from the books also will be used to train assistance dogs for U.S. soldiers who were injured in Iraq.
Despite all of the attention –and his star status success hasn’t gone to Mercer’s head. In fact , when WR News interviewed Shea, Mercer slept through the whole thing-most likely dreaming about his next adventure !
67．We know from the passage that Mercer is .
A．Shea’s pet dog B．an assistance dog helping Shea
C．a 12-year-old dog D．a character Shea makes up in her book
68．According to the passage , Shea’s “Cool Tricks ”include the following EXCEPT .
A．commanding Mercer to lie down B．commanding Mercer to get into a car
C．telling Mercer to open her backpack
D．telling Mercer to put his front paws across her lap
69．The underlined expression “Lending a Paw ”is closest in meaning to “ ”
A．giving a helping hand B．acting as a guide
C．benefiting from friendship D．exploring adventures
70．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage ?
A．Shea has written 6 books about Mercer
B．Mercer is glad to be the focus of attention
C．Mercer isn’t allowed in Shea’s classroom
D．Though disabled , Shea helps lots of people
I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”
At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.
I stood watching her, speechless .What on earth?
She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room--if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”
Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.
After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood（情绪）had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.Why did the author shout at the telephone?
| A．He was mad at the telephone. |
| B．He was angry with his agent. |
| C．He was anxious about his wife. |
| D．He was impatient with the secretary. |
What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?
| A．She said nothing. |
| B．She shouted at him. |
| C．She called the agent. |
| D．She threw the phone away. |
What made the author laugh?
| A．His own behavior. |
| B．His wife’s suggestion. |
| C．His changeable feelings. |
| D．His wife’s sweet kiss. |
What does the underlined word “antics” refer to?
| A．Smart words. | B．Unusual actions. |
| C．Surprising looks. | D．Anxious feelings. |
Holidays
| Holiday News Vacancies (空位) now and in the school holidays at a country hotel in Devon. This comfortable, friendly home-from-home lies near the beautiful quiet countryside, but just a drive away from the sea. The food is simple but good. Children and pets are welcome.Reduced prices for low season. |
| The Snowdonia Center The Snowdonia Center for young mountain climbers has a mountain 1068.The beginners’ costs are ￡57 for a week, including food and rooms. Equipment is included except walking shoes, which can be hired at a low cost. You must be in good health and prepared to go through a period of body exercises. This could be the beginning of a lifetime of mountain climbing adventure. |
| The World Sea Trip of a Lifetime Our World Sea Trip of 2008 will be unlike any holiday you have ever been on before. Instead of one hotel after another, with all its packing and unpacking, waiting and traveling, you just go to bed in one country and wake up in another. On board the ship, you will be well taken care of. Every meal will be first-class and every cabin like your home. During the trip, you can rest on deck(甲板), enjoy yourself in the games rooms and in the evening dance to our musical team and watch our wonderful play. You will visit all the places most people only dream about – from Acapulco and Hawaii to Tokyo and Hong Kong. For a few thousand pounds, all you’ve ever hoped for can be yours. |
What can you do if you like to go on holidays with pets?
| A．Choose the holiday in Devon. |
| B．Go to the Snowdonia Centre |
| C．Join the World Sea Trip of 2008 |
| D．Visit Acapulco and Hawaii |
In what way is the Snowdonia Centre different from the other two holidays?
| A．It provides chances of family gatherings. |
| B．It provides customers with good food. |
| C．It offers a sport lesson. |
| D．It offers comfortable rooms. |
What is special about the World Sea Trip of 2008?
| A．You can have free meals on deck every day. |
| B．You can sleep on a ship and tour many places. |
| C．You will have chances to watch and act in a play. |
| D．You have to do your own packing and unpacking. |
At the Snowdonia Centre, the beginners’ costs of ￡57 do not cover .
| A．food | B．rooms | C．body exercises | D．walking shoes |
On my first day in America, I was excited, but nervous as well. It was my dear neighbor Susan who helped me get used to my new life far away from home. There was a knock at the door. When I opened it, Susan came in with a home-made apple pie. She hugged me and said：“You must be the precious Chinese doll!” With a big smile, she went on：“Alice, I am sure you have never, ever tried a home-made apple pie before! You are going to love it so much!” To be honest, I was greatly surprised by this welcome from a stranger. And the apple pie made me feel at home.
Susan was very helpful to me. When I was thinking about a costume to wear on Halloween, she suggested I dress up like a traditional Chinese girl. “I happen to have a traditional Chinese dress and guess what, I am a great make-up artist!” she said. Susan didn’t hide her excitement, when, after an hour of hard work, she pushed me to the mirror to examine our work. The clothes fit me perfectly! I am sure that I stood out from the crowd that Halloween, and I am very grateful to Susan for her help.
My first Thanksgiving was another highlight. On the festival morning, I was surprised to find a gift box in my front yard. There was a note on it：“Hello Alice, I am the Thanksgiving bunny! Enjoy your gift!” I looked around and caught Susan looking at me from the porch. Seeing that she had been caught, she awkwardly picked up a newspaper and pretended to read it. I couldn’t help laughing. When I walked up to her, she said：“It was not me. It was the Thanksgiving bunny!” Susan is such a lovely person; she is the American above all others I need to thank.
I saw that the spirit of the Chinese saying, that “Neighbors carry more weight than distant relatives,” is alive and well in America. Susan filled my heart with warmth and joy, just as angels do. What made the writer feel at home in America?
| A．Her Chinese doll. |
| B．Susan’s thanksgiving bunny for Halloween. |
| C．Gifts from her parents in China. |
| D．Susan’s visit on the first day. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The writer lent a Chinese dress to Susan to wear at Halloween. |
| B．Susan often looked at her neighbors to find out what they were doing. |
| C．The writer had never had an apple-pie before she went to America. |
| D．Susan helped the writer to appreciate American festivals. |
What does the phrase “stood out” mean in the passage?
| A．To be more eye-catching. | B．To rise up. |
| C．To be much better. | D．To be strange. |
This passage is most probably taken from_______.
| A．a newspaper | B．a travel guide |
| C．an advertisement | D．a science magazine. |
You have two eyes and they are set close together on the front of your face. Have you wondered why? The reasons are simple and important to the way you see the rest of your world.
Your eyes are like two small cameras. A camera catches an image of an object and records it on film. Similarly, when you look at something, each eye takes in what it sees and sends this image to the back of the eyeball. Because your eyes are set close together, they view the world from about the same height but from slightly different angles. Working as a team, the eyes send the images to your brain, which puts them together into a single, centered image.
Seeing in stereo means seeing with two eyes working together, which is called stereoscopic sight. This allows you to view the world in three dimensions, or 3-D. Seeing depth helps you to judge the distance between you and the objects you see and to adjust to the changing angle at which you see something as you move closer to or farther away from it. If images are coming from only one eye, however, only two of these dimensions----height and width----can be perceived. A world seen with one eye is thus two-dimensional, as in a photograph.
Now consider why your two eyes are on the front of your face. Think of other animals with the same arrangement. They are all animals that hunt, like lions and wolves. Their eyes face directly in front of them. This provides a field of sight about 180 degrees wide, which is called binocular(双眼的) sight. On the other hand, animals that are hunted have eyes on the sides of the head, which provides nearly360-degree field of sight. In order to stay alive, they need to see things coming from the sides and from behind. However, without stereoscopic sight, they have difficulty determining how far a danger is.
With sight both stereoscopic and binocular, humans share with animal hunters the ability to see from side to side and to accurately determine the distance. If you think it would be great to have another type of sight, perhaps with hundreds of tiny eyes like many insects do, think again! Each tiny insect eye sees only a tiny part. Besides, what if you needed glasses? Be glad for the eyesight that you have.According to the passage, the similarity of an eye and a camera is that they both.
| A．can imagine objects | B．can record images |
| C．provide centered images | D．work at the same height |
Stereoscopic sight is a result of having.
| A．two eyes close to each other that work together |
| B．hundreds of eyes, all seeing tiny parts of an image |
| C．a three-hundred-sixty-degree field of sight |
| D．one eye on either side of the head, each seeing a different image |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “perceived” in Para3 most similar to?
| A．known | B．seen | C．taken | D．understood |
We can infer from the last paragraph that.
| A．our eyes work like cameras |
| B．animal hunters are glad for the sight they have |
| C．the three dimensions are depth, height and width |
| D．human beings are fortunate to have such eyesight |
Many of us enjoy doing it: you turn on the camera on your mobile phone and hold it at a high angle, making your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more defined. You turn to your best side and click. There it is — your selfie.
Over the past year, “selfie” has become a well-known term across the globe. This August the Oxford dictionary added the word to their online dictionary and defined it as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and up-loaded to a social media website.”
Today it’s not difficult to find social networking pages full of photos people have taken of themselves and their friends. And selfie culture has become especially relevant for young people. As many as 91 percent of teenagers have posted photos of themselves online, according to a recent survey by the US Pew Research Center.
So what are the reasons for the rise of selfie culture?
“The cult (狂热) of the selfie celebrates regular people,” Pamela Rutledge, a professor at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, told Vogue magazine. “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models.”
Posting selfies also allows you to control your image online. “I like having the power to choose how I look, even if I’m making a funny face,” Samantha Barks, 19, a high school student in the US, told Vogue.
In addition to self-expression and documentation, selfies “allow of a close friendship for long-distance friends, because you can see each other’s faces every day”, wrote Casey Miller at The Huffmgton Post.
But US psychologist Jill Weber is concerned that selfies might lead to social problems, “There’s a danger that your self-esteem may start to be tied to the comments and ‘likes’ you get when you post a selfie, and they aren’t based on who you are — they’re based on what you look like,” Weber told Vogue. “When you get nothing or a negative response, your confidence can plummet.” With the first paragraph, the author intends to .
| A．tell us the fun of taking a selfie |
| B．describe what a selfie is |
| C．introduce where the selfie came from |
| D．inform readers that the selfie is popular among teenagers |
Why is selfie culture so popular according to the article?
a. It enables people to choose how they look.
b. It helps people improve their self-esteem.
c. It’s a chance for ordinary people to show off themselves.
d. It is believed to be a helpful way to develop a new friendship.
e. It is considered a good way to stay connected with friends that are far away.
| A．a, c, e | B．b, c, d | C．a, b, c | D．b, d, e |
What is Jill Weber’s attitude toward selfies?
| A．She thinks they are a good form of self-expression and documentation. |
| B．She believes the disadvantages of selfies outweigh the advantages. |
| C．She is worried that people’s self-esteem might be affected by how others react to their selfies. |
| D．She thinks that selfies can help people learn about their friends based on who they really are. |
The underlined word “plummet” in the last paragraph probably means .
| A．rapidly develop | B．greatly exaggerate |
| C．become dangerous | D．quickly fall |