When my first wartime Christmas came, I was in basic training in New Jersey and not sure if I could make it home for the holidays. Only on the afternoon of December 23 was the list of men who would have three-day passes (通行证) posted. I was one of the lucky soldiers.
It was Christmas Eve when I arrived, and a light snow had fallen. Mother opened the front door. I could see beyond her, into the corner of the living room where the tree had always stood. There were lights, all colors, and ornaments (装饰物) shining against the green of a pine.
“Where did it come from？” I asked.
“I asked the Gates boy to cut it,” my mother said. “I wouldn’t have had one just for myself, but when you called--- oh, such a rush! He just brought it in this afternoon…”
The pine reached to the proper height, almost to the ceiling, and the Tree Top Krystal Star was in its place. A few green branches reached about a little awkwardly (不够美观地) at the side, I thought, and there was a bit of bare trunk showing in the middle. But the tree filled the room with warm light and the whole house with pleasant smell of Christmas.
“It’s not like the ones you used to find,” my mother went on. “Yours were always in good shape. I suppose the Gates boy didn’t know where to look. But I couldn’t be picky.”
“Don’t worry, ” I told her. “It’s perfect.”
It wasn’t, of course, but at the moment I realized something for the first time: all Christmas trees are perfect.From the passage, we can infer that ________.
| A．the writer spent his Christmas during the war |
| B．soldiers did not all go home for Christmas during the war |
| C．all the soldiers had three-day passes |
| D．the writer could not go home for Christmas |
When the writer got home, ________.
| A．it was December 23 |
| B．it was snowing heavily |
| C．he found a Christmas tree in the living room |
| D．the Gates boy was cutting a Christmas tree for his mother |
From the passage, we can conclude that ________.
| A．the writer used to cut very beautiful Christmas trees |
| B．his mother didn’t like perfect trees |
| C．his mother didn’t want to have a tree |
| D．the writer wouldn’t have a tree cut by someone else |
“All Christmas trees are perfect”, because they can remind you of ________.
| A．the wartime | B．the green of a pine | C．the pleasant smell | D．the sweet home |
The best title for this passage would be “________”.
| A．How to Choose a Christmas Tree | B．How Soldiers Spent Christmas |
| C．The Perfect Christmas Tree | D．The Christmas Without a Tree |
Expo 2010 Shanghai China
Duration: May 1 to Oct 31, 2010
Welcome to the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China. In order to ensure a safe and orderly visit, the organizer of Expo 2010 has formulated (制订) these rules.
Operation Time
The operation time of the Expo Site shall be 9:00~24:00. The opening hours of the pavilions shall be 9:30 ~ 22:30. Visitors shall enter the Expo Site before 21:00 and leave before 24:00 on the day of admission. Those with evening admission tickets may enter the Expo Site between 17:00 and 21:00.
Orderly Entry
Visitors shall go through ticket check and security check before entering the Expo Site. Those who refuse to cooperate may be denied entry. Children eligible (有资格的) for free admission and other visitors with walking difficulties may only enter the Expo Site when accompanied by adults.
Codes of Conduct
Visitors are required to observe public order within the Expo Site, and shall queue up to enter the pavilions or event venues (场馆). In the Expo Site, visitors are prohibited from:
(1) damaging any buildings, facilities or exhibits.
(2) climbing over any buildings or fences
(3) conducting any exhibitions or promotional or fundraising activities without permission.
Special Management Measures
In case of bad weather, too many visitors and technical problems, the organizer may restrict the entry of visitors into the Expo Site, pavilions or event venues.
___________________
Visitors Service Centers are available in the Expo Site, providing visitors with such services as inquiries, rental, lost and found, first aid, mother-baby service, and assistance for lost persons. The centers also accept and process visitors’ complaints. Free rental of wheelchairs are available for the disabled.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The 2010 Shanghai World Expo is expected to last about half a year. |
| B．The disabled people will be forbidden to enter the Expo Site. |
| C．Visitors without tickets can enter the Expo Site if they accept security check. |
| D．Children and people with walking difficulties will be banned from entering the Expo Site. |
If you have evening admission tickets, you are allowed to enter the Expo Site at ______.
| A．4 p.m. | B．10 a.m. | C．6 p.m. | D．10 p.m. |
Before entering the Expo Sites, visitors are required to ______.
| A．have a physical examination | B．have a security check |
| C．buy some food | D．show their ID cards |
Which of the following can be filled in the blank in the last part?
| A．Visitor Service | B．Visitor Complains |
| C．Reservation | D．Exhibitions and Performances |
We can infer that the organizer is intended to help _______.
| A．parents with children under 5 | B．foreigners | C．women | D．the disabled |
Before Nicholas Clapp got there, he had half hoped that he might run into some of Ubar’s ruins sticking(凸出) out of the sand. But finding the city wasn’t that easy. During the summer, he and his 40 helpers dug at 35 different spots. The only things they found were ground spiders, giant ticks, and deadly snakes.
Just before Thanksgiving says Clapp, “We were within a whisker of total failure.”
But then Clapp’s team looked at the high-tech maps again and saw something surprising. Many of the caravan routes(沙漠商队路线)on the high-tech maps came together on the same spot marked “Omani Marketplace” on Ptolomy’s map. Two maps, made almost 2000 years apart, pointed the team toward the same area!
In December 1991, Clapp arrived at the spot where, according to the maps, the caravans met. Clapp had a handheld instrument that could detect(探测) objects below the ground. It showed ruins under the sand! He and his team started digging. And then they found it! A tower buried in the sand. They slowly unearthed a giant, eight-sided fortress(堡垒). It had nine towers and many rooms. People had lived in this fortress 2000 years ago. Outside its walls, they had found buried remains of nearly 40 campsites. They seemed to be camping areas for traders(商人).
More digging found shards, or pieces of pottery(陶瓷) from ancient Rome, Greece, China, Egypt, and Syria. Diggers and scientists agree that people were here for about 5000 years. Clapp and his team were excited as they continued to discover more pieces of the past that seemed to prove that it was the lost city of Ubar.
“We started with this hopeless myth(神秘),” says Clapp, “and then finally found the truth behind the myth.” But is this unearthed site really the once-great Ubar? Experts aren’t totally persuaded.
Donald Whitcomb is an archeologist(考古学家) at the University of Chicago. He doubts that Clapp really discovered Ubar. “There’s probably some truth to this myth,” he says. “But Ubar is described as a place with walls all made of gold, and the rubies and emeralds(宝石).” No gold or precious stones have been found by Clapp.
“I’m not sure whether they discovered Ubar because I’m not sure if Ubar really existed,” Whitcomb says.The following statements are true according to the reading EXCEPT_____.
| A．Clapp made this discovery with the help of caravan routes on the maps |
| B．Clapp made this discovery with the help of some high technology |
| C．Clapp was not sure that he had found Ubar |
| D．Donald Whitcomb was not sure if Clapp had found Ubar |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined part?
| A．We were ready for any failure |
| B．We were on the point of giving up hopes |
| C．We would never stop digging though there was difficulty. |
| D．We decided that we had failed to find Ubar. |
It can be inferred from the reading that Nicholas Clapp is _____
| A．a person of courage |
| B．a person of determination |
| C．a very young person |
| D．a person who is good for nothing |
Bringing Art into Hospitals.
The medical world is slowly realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play an important role in helping patients to recover(康复).
As part of a nationwide effort in Britain to bring art out of the museums and into public places, some of the country’s best artists have been called in to change older hospitals and to soften the hard, modern buildings. Of the 2500 national health service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have collections of art in passages(走廊), waiting areas and treatment rooms.
These recent movements were first started by one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in northeastern England during the early 1970’s. He felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by more people.
A common hospital waiting room might have as many as 5000 visitors each week. What a good place to hold exhibitions(展览) of art! Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the waiting area of the Manchester Royal Hospital in 1975. Believed to be Britain’s first hospital artist, Senior was so much in demand that he was soon joined by a team of six young art school graduates.
The effect is amazing. Now in the passages and waiting rooms the visitors experience a full view of fresh colors, playful images(形象) and restful courtyards.
The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering from an illness. A study has shown that a patient who had a view onto gardens needed half the number of strong pain killers compared with(与……相比) patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at.Some best artists of Britain have been called in to_____
| A．set up new hospitals |
| B．make the corners of hospital collect paintings |
| C．bring art into hospitals |
| D．help patients recover from serious illness |
After the improvement of the hospital environment, _____
| A．patients no longer take drugs to kill their pains |
| B．patients don’t have to stay long in hospital |
| C．patients need fewer pain killers when they suffer from an illness |
| D．patients feel happy in hospital |
It can be inferred from the passage that_____
| A．the role of hospital environment is being recognized |
| B．hospital artists have done more than doctors |
| C．exhibitions attract more people in hospitals than in museums |
| D．the hospitals is a better place for people than the museum in Britain |
That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was, walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theater. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.
As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible robbers(抢劫犯). Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.
About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.
Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.
Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck(垃圾车) pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, holding up a small square shape.
It was nearly 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn’t get much sleep that night, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.How did the writer feel when she was walking home after work?
| A．Cold and sick | B．Lucky and hopeful |
| C．Satisfied and cheerful | D．Disappointed and helpless |
From the first paragraph, we learn that the writer was busy_____.
| A．solving her problem at the bank |
| B．taking part in various city activities |
| C．learning acting in an evening school |
| D．preparing for the first night show |
On her way home the writer_____
| A．lost her wallet unknowingly |
| B．was stopped by a garbage truck driver |
| C．was robbed of her wallet by a man with a knife |
| D．found some homeless people following her |
In the fifth paragraph, why did the writer say she was dreaming?
| A．Someone offered to take her back home |
| B．A red-haired man came to see her. |
| C．She heard someone call her name |
| D．Her wallet was found in a garbage truck |
From the text, we can infer that the writer_____
| A．would stop working at night |
| B．would stay on in San Francisco |
| C．would make friends with cleaners. |
| D．would give up her job at the bank |
Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time; if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people’s. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle…They compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake. If it is a matter in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time in such routine(日常的) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can’t find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what he does not know.According to the passage, the best way for children to learn things is by_____.
| A．listening to skilled people’s advice. |
| B．asking older people many questions |
| C．making mistakes and having them corrected |
| D．doing what other people do |
Which of the following does the writer think teachers should NOT do?.
| A．Give children correct answers |
| B．Allow children to mark mistakes. |
| C．Point out children’s mistakes to them. |
| D．Let children mark their own work |
According to the writer, teachers in school should _____
| A．allow children to learn from each other |
| B．point out children’s mistakes whenever found |
| C．correct children’s mistakes as soon as possible |
| D．give children more book knowledge |
The passage suggests that learning to speak and learning to ride a bicycle are____
| A．different from learning other skills |
| B．the same as learning skills |
| C．more important than other skills |
| D．not really important skills |
The title of this passage could probably be_____
| A．Let Us Teachers Stop Work |
| B．Let Us Make Children Learn |
| C．Let Children Correct Their Exercises |
| D．Let Children Learn by Themselves |