A1.6metertallrobotmaysoonbecom-优题课

You could feel sorry for Alberto Torres, who is blind. The last thing he remembers seeing was his daughter being born 13 years ago. Then the world went blank; he can only imagine what his only child looks like now, as a teenaged honor student. Bad luck is no stranger to this warm and thoughtful 37-year-old man. His mother died of cancer when he was 4, and his father, who was often ill, had to give him up to the care of the state when he was 11. He later worked for 19 years in a workshop making household goods, deathly boring work. Earlier this month, Alberto Torres’s wife, who had just been laid off from her job, had to have a breast removed due to cancer and now faces a year of radiation treatments. Things seemed always to go from almost incredibly bad to worse. Even Mr. Torres’s good luck has a dark side: Five years ago, his lovely guide dog pulled him out of the path of a truck. Mr. Torres was not hurt. The dog was killed.
But Mr. Torres does not feel sorry for himself. “These are just little bumps you have to go over in your life,” he said. At 5 a.m. on a recent morning, we caught up with Mr. Torres at a subway stop in Brooklyn, New York, near where he lives in a third-floor apartment (with no elevator). He had been up since 3 a.m., feeding his new dog, making coffee, getting ready. “When you’re blind, it takes a little longer to do things,” he said.
Mr. Torres was beginning his two-hour trip to his job developing film in the X-ray department of the emergency room of the Bronx hospital. He would take the G train to Queens Plaza station to the R train, heading towards Manhattan. He would then ride the R train to 59th Street where he would walk upstairs to switch to the Number 6 train. At one point along the journey, he might chat with a stranger. At another, someone would pat his dog, calling him by name. People offered assistance, even seats. At 125th Street, Mr. Torres would transfer to the Number 4 train by crossing the platform. At 149th Street, he would go down to the Number 2. He would take that to East 180th Street where he nearly always has a long wait for his final train, to Pelham Parkway. Then he and his dog would walk 20 minutes to the hospital.
It was a hard job to come by. Before he got the job, Mr. Torres was determined to escape the workshop run by an organization dedicated to help people who can’t see. He wanted a job developing X-ray film, something that everyone must do in the dark. He had to handle the long trip, as well as the work. “Our philosophy here is that blind people can do just about anything except drive buses,” it was the thinking about disabled people at the Bronx hospital. “We find what a person can do rather than what he can’t do,” said the hospital’s director.
One day a while ago marked the first anniversary of Mr. Torres’s hiring. He developed 150 or so X-rays, his usual output, to celebrate. Mr. Torres works by himself in a small, dark room that smells of chemicals. He cannot wear gloves, because he needs to feel. It is hard work, related to emergency of lives. His immediate supervisor says he trusts him 100%. Mr. Torres makes $20,000 a year. But his motivation goes beyond money. “If I start feeling like a victim, that makes me bitter. And why be bitter? That makes you go into a hole and stay there.” he said. “I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary,” insisted Mr. Torres as he quickly completed the task.
Mr. Torres became blind when________.

A．his daughter was just born

B．he was thirteen years old

C．his mother died of cancer

D．his wife was out of work

Mr. Torres does not feel sorry for himselfbecause he ________.

A．was once saved by his lovely guide dog

B．is taken good care of by the government

C．thinks it’s natural to have setbacks in life

D．believes it takes a little longer to do things

The description of Mr. Torres’s long trip to work shows ________.

A．the effective traffic system

B．the kindness of New Yorkers

C．the loyalty of his guide dog

D．his will to overcome difficulty

What is the principle of the hospital in employing a worker?

A．Sympathy counts most.

B．Ability comes first.

C．Preference for the blind.

D．Easy job for the weak.

Mr. Torres works very hard in order to ________.

A．make plenty of money

B．win his supervisor’s trust

C．live like a normal person

D．complete his daily task

In the eyes of the writer, Alberto Torres is a man of _______.

A．deep thinking	B．weak motivation
C．special talents	D．great independence

Studies show that you may be lied to every day anywhere from 10 to 200 times. We say, “Nice song.” “Honey, you don’t look fat in that, no.” But another study showed that strangers lied three times within the first 10 minutes of meeting each other. We lie more to strangers than we lie to coworkers. Men lie eight times more about themselves than they do other people. Women lie more to protect other people. If you’re married, you’re going to lie to your wife/ husband in one out of every 10 communications. If you’re unmarried, that number drops to three. But look, if at some point you got lied to, it’s because you agreed to get lied to. Truth about lying: lying’s a cooperative act. Not all lies are harmful. Sometimes we’re willing to lie for the sake of social dignity (尊严), maybe to keep a private secret.
Lying is complex. It’s woven into the fabric of our daily and business lives. We’re deeply disturbed by the truth. We explain it, sometimes for very good reasons, other times just because we don’t understand the gaps between ideals and realities in our lives. We’re against lying, but secretly we’re for it in ways that our society has practiced for centuries and centuries. It’s as old as breathing. It’s part of our culture and history. Think the stories from Dante, Shakespeare, the Bible, News of the World.
Lying has great value to the evolution of human being. Researchers have long known that the more intelligent the species, the more likely it is to lie. We human like to become leaders. It starts really early. How early? Well, babies will pretend to cry, pause, wait to see who’s coming and then go right back to crying. One-year-olds learn hiding truth. Two-year-olds bluff (虚张声势). Five-year-olds lie outright and try to control via flattery (讨好). Nine-year-olds, masters of covering up. By the time you enter college, you’re going to lie to your mom in one out of every five interactions. By the time we enter this work world to be breadwinners, we’ve entered a world that is just full of fake digital friends, business media, identity thieves, world-class cheats, ——in short, a post-truth society.
What do you do? Well there are steps we can take to guide our way through the bushes. Trained lie spotters get to the truth 90% of the time. The rest of us, we’re only 54% accurate. Why is it so easy to learn? There are clever liars and stupid liars. There’re no real original liars. We all make the same mistakes. We all use the same techniques.
From Para.1 we learn that lying is very ________.

A．harmful	B．easy
C．interesting	D．common

According to the passage, a lie works when _________.

A．the liar’s words are sweet enough

B．it is given to a complete stranger

C．someone gives the liar cooperation

D．we are willing to lie for the dignity

Lying is complex because ________.

A．it is practiced by clever ones

B．people are for it as well as against it

C．ancient stories are full of lies

D．it is the whole part of great culture

The examples of kids lying in the passage show ________.

A．lying is a sign of intelligent development

B．lying is good for children’s growing up

C．at what age children begin to tell lies

D．9-year-old children are masters of lying

What will the writer most likely talk about if he continues the passage?

A．How to become clever liars.

B．How to avoid stupid lies.

C．How to get through the bushes.

D．How to tell truth from lies.

Below is a page adapted from About Wikipedia (维基百科) on how to take full advantage of Wikipedia.
Wikipediais a web-based, free-content encyclopedia (百科全书) in many languages.
§Exploring Wikipedia
Many visitors come to Wikipedia to acquire knowledge, while others come to share knowledge. At this very instant, dozens of articles are being improved, and new articles are also being created. Over 3,500 articles have been listed by the Wikipedia community as featured articles. Another 15,000 articles are listed as good articles. Wikipedia is available in more than 280 languages including English. Its related projects include a dictionary, quotations, books, manuals, and scientific reference sources, and a news service. All of these are kept, updated, and managed by separate communities, and often include information and articles that can be hard to find through other common sources.
§Basic navigation in Wikipedia
Wikipedia articles are all linked, or cross-referenced. In every article, there are links to some related articles or Wikipedia pages with further in-depth information. Holding the mouse over a certain link will often show to where the link will lead. There are other links towards the ends of most articles, for other articles of interest, related websites and pages and so on. Some articles may also have links to dictionary definitions, audio-book readings, quotations, the same article in other languages etc.
§Using Wikipedia as a research tool
Wiki articles are never considered complete and may be continually edited and improved. Over time, this generally results in an upward trend of quality and a growing agreement over a representation of information. Users should be aware that not all articles are of encyclopedic quality from the start. Indeed, many articles start their lives as displaying a single viewpoint; and, after a long process of discussion, debate, and argument, they gradually take on a neutral point of view reached through agreement. Others may, for a while, become caught up in a heavily unbalanced viewpoint which can take some time—months perhaps—to achieve better balanced coverage of their subject.
§Wikipedia vs. paper encyclopedias
Wikipedia has advantages over traditional paper encyclopedias. Wikipedia has a very low “publishing” cost for adding or expanding entries and a low environmental impact in some respects, since it never needs to be printed. In addition, Wikipedia has wikilinks instead of in-line (内嵌) explanations and its articles provide not only summaries but also plenty of details. Additionally, the editorial cycle is short. A paper encyclopedia stays the same until the next edition, while editors can update Wikipedia at any instant, around the clock, to help ensure that articles keep up with the most recent events.
We know from the passage that Wikipedia________.

A．provides very accurate information

B．offers links to most leading media

C．covers rich resources of knowledge

D．comes available in any language

The underlined word “they” in the passage probably refers to “________”.

A．users

B．articles

C．editors

D．subjects

The links in Wikipedia to other resources are mainly to________.

A．provide details of the same articles

B．help the users to be better informed

C．guarantee the quality of the service

D．offer basic guidance on web research

The passage is presented in a way of ________.

A．discussion	B．description
C．instruction	D．summary

Surfing the net when you should be finishing a work report, changing clothes when you have a train to catch, or perhaps even lying in bed when you’ve promised yourself you’ll work out. Sound familiar? You aren’t alone. We all procrastinate (拖延) sometimes, especially when it comes to things we aren’t really fond of. And while the number of activities we delay doing in any given week varies from person to person, it’s fair to say that none of us is super-efficient 100 percent of the time.
A study revealed that we spend about 218 minutes procrastinating every day, which amounts to 55 days of lost time each year. We might not think these figures particularly worthy of worry, but when we look at the overall impact of procrastination on our lives, it’s a different story. Not only does this cost financial loss, it also affects peace of mind. And procrastination isn’t just a money thief —— it steals time too. In general, people who continually put things off are unhappier, as well as being less wealthy and healthy.
So why do we do it? “When we avoid taking action, we’re really avoiding pain,” explains psychiatrist (精神病学家) Phil Stutz. For most of us, pain avoidance isn’t limited to one situation. It applies to almost anything that’s painful. Most of us try our best never to leave a comfort zone. That’s why we sacrifice something much more valuable: time. “Our time on earth is limited,” Stutz adds. “Every moment is an opportunity we’ll never have again. Procrastinators act as if they have all the time in the world. But deep down, they know they’re wasting parts of their life. The trouble is, most of them don’t know how to free themselves.”
One way he says we can reach this level of freedom is by overcoming the pain of avoidance using daily visualization (想象). “Picture the pain you’re avoiding as a black cloud in front of you,” Stutz says. “Notice how you’re fed up with the ways this pain has held you back in life, and tell yourself that you’re determined to conquer it. Then it’s time to get through the cloud and to the other side — where you’re free.” It is obvious that this tool works when we want to procrastinate. We then get into the habit of moving “towards” pain instead of away from it.
In addition to the fact that procrastinators suffer more health problems, procrastination also destroysteamwork and personal relationships because it shifts the burden of responsibilities onto others. So next time you think about putting something off, remember the impact it will have. Experts insist: procrastinators can change their behavior, it takes a lot of self-work but in the end, it’s worth the effort. And start today, not tomorrow.
The writer begins the passage by ________.

A．presenting abnormal things

B．asking related questions

C．mentioning habitual activities

D．comparing different opinions

By saying “it’s a different story”, the writer thinks procrastination _______.

A．leads to different results for different persons

B．is likely to have bad effects on people’s life

C．may not be particularly worthy of concern

D．tends to cause unhappiness among people

According to the passage, people procrastinate because they_______.

A．get accustomed to taking action

B．prefer to stay in the comfort zone

C．don’t know how to free themselves

D．are not aware of the limited time

One possible way to stop procrastination is to ________.

A．overcome it mentally

B．avoid the pain

C．take some self-work

D．reach the freedom

What’s the writing purpose of the passage?

A．To analyze the trouble procrastination causes.

B．To show what contributes to procrastination.

C．To solve the problems caused by procrastination.

D．To encourage people to defeat procrastination.

It was a weeknight. We were a half dozen guys in our late teens, hanging around “the flat” — as usual. The flat was poorly furnished, which, after some time, grew tiresome. We wanted action.
We got in a car, big enough for all of us to crowd into — and off we went, in search of adventure. We soon found ourselves at Blue Gum Corner, a place named after the huge old blue gum tree that stood by there, a well-known local landmark. It stands at a minor crossroad leading to our town. The trunk is tall and smooth with no handholds for climbing. About six metres from the ground the first branch sticks out over the road. We parked beneath the huge old tree and discussed what we might do. All of a sudden we hit upon an idea — a hanging! I was chosen as “hangee”.
The plan was quite simple. As I stood upon the roof of the car, the rope(绳子) was threaded down my jacket through my collar and down one leg of my jeans. I put my foot through the loop at the bottom. There I hung, still. The boys rolled about laughing until, a car, I hear a car! Before they ran to hide in the nearby field, they gave me a good push so that “the body” would swing as the car drove by.
To our disappointment, the car simply turned off for town without even slowing. The boys came out of their hiding places and we discussed the situation. Surely they had seen me, hadn’t they? Then we heard another car. The act was repeated, but still without any obvious reaction. We played the game about five or six times, but as no one seemed to notice, we abandoned the trick.
What we did not know was that every car that had passed had unquestionably seen “the body” and each one, too scared to stop, had driven directly to the local Police Station. Now at that time of the night, the local policeman was sound asleep in his bed, so the first person sent to the scene was the traffic officer that happened to be on duty that particular night. He had been informed that some person had been killed, by hanging, at Blue Gum Corner. When he arrived, the body was gone! And he was hearing “unnatural sounds” from the surrounding area. As far as he knew, some fierce animal was hiding in the field before him, possibly dragging a body behind him — and we thought we were scared!
He went to his radio and made a call that really began to worry us. I lay so close that I could hear every word. He called for the “armed police” and a “dog team, better make it two” and he had a “serious situation” at Blue Gum Corner. Then the police officer arrived. After a briefing from the traffic officer he decided not to go into the field until armed police and dog teams arrived. Now two spotlights were on the field and none of us could move.
As luck would have it, police cars cannot leave their spotlights on all night without charging their batteries. So, after a time, the two officers began lightening the field by turns, allowing us the opportunity to move on our fours for freedom. One by one, we all managed to steal away and make our way home. Behind us we left what must have looked like a small city of lights, police cars, roadblocks, barking dogs, armed officers and an old rope hanging from a tree.
When I think back to that night, to that tree, to what the drivers of the cars think happened, to what police believe happened, and to what I know happened, I am reminded of a simple truth — our eyes see darkness and light, color and movement, our ears hear only vibrations(振动) in the air. It is how we explain these vivid pictures that shapes our “reality”.
The boys made the “hanging” plan in order to ______.

A．make a fool of the police	B．draw public attention
C．seek fun and excitement	D．practise acting skills

Seeing that no car passing by stopped, the boys must have felt ______.

A．discouraged

B．proud

C．annoyed

D．confident

Why was the traffic officer sent to the scene of “hanging”?

A．Because a fierce animal kept the traffic in disorder.

B．Because the local policeman was not available at that time.

C．Because some naughty kids ware playing a terrifying game.

D．Because many scared drivers turned directly to him for help.

The boys managed to escape from the field when ______.

A．the two police cars were being charged

B．the police officer was taking over the duty

C．the traffic officer was making a call for help

D．the two spotlights were not working together

What is conveyed in the passage?

A．Actions speak louder than words.

B．The truth lies beneath the surface.

C．Experience is the best teacher.

D．To see is to believe.

What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Blue Gum Tree

B．A Body Found Hanging

C．Escape to Freedom

D．A Disappointing Experience