I've cheated in school when I thought that I could get away with it. I'm not proud of it and I don't usually feel very good about myself afterward, but sometimes it's the only way possible to survive in a pressure cooker. My parents are really set on my getting good grades. They study my report card the same way they examine the newspaper's stock market page. And they make me feel that I've got to live up to their expectations.
But often each teacher acts as if his is the only subject we have. They think nothing of piling on our homework or giving surprise quizzes. Sometimes we have to take two or three tests in different subjects on the same day. I'd like to see a lot of adults I know preparing for that.
When the pressure becomes too high, some kids may resort to(诉诸于) cheating. If you have three or four subjects to study for, you're not going to be able to devote enough time to each subject in order to be well prepared for each class. Besides, it may be the only way left to live up to your parents' expectations and compete with the top students in the class.
Everybody knows that if you cheat, it's important not to get caught. Few things can cause more of chaos. Once, my elder brother got caught cheating on a math final. My parents acted as though he'd committed a federal crime. The assistant principal called them to school, but although the incident caused several conferences, I don't think that anybody ever really understood what my brother was going through. We're just supposed to perform outstandingly as well as always act honestly, but how many adults can actually live up to the standards they set for us?
My father has gotten countless traffic tickets for parking in no parking zones or for not coming to a full stop at stop signs. And you're always hearing about people who don't file their income tax honestly. How about all the corruption in government? Successful adults often accept dishonesty in order to achieve their business goals. Are kids the only ones who are supposed to be perfect?
Most of my friends have cheated on tests in school at one time or another. The kids who never cheat are usually either afraid of getting caught or just don't know how to do it safely. Nobody wants to cheat. But if it's a choice of being honest or of getting a grade, most kids will try for the A. That may sound wrong, but we didn't make the rules, we're just trying to get by.
1. What is the best title of this passage?
A. No one wants to cheat！ B. Everyone likes to cheat！
C. No one can survive a cheat！ D. Everyone can fight a cheat!
2. The author owes children’s cheat to the following EXCEPT ___________.
A. parents B. teachers C. children D. examinations
3. In the fifth paragraph, the author mainly wants to say __________.
A. his father always cheats in his life
B. kids are always supposed to be perfect
C. all the adults can not live up to the standards they set for children
D. children shouldn’t learn from successful adults
4. Which of the following is true according to this passage?
A. The author thinks it is children’s right to cheat in school.
B. Most of the author’s friends like cheating on tests in school.
C. The author shows a positive attitude towards a surprise quiz in school.
D. The author thinks it wrong to cheat in school.
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory, Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” 
chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．Leading the following paragraphs. |
| B．Showing the main idea of the passage. |
| C．Introducing the background of the passage. |
| D．Giving a summary of the passage. |
Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
| A．is weaker than | B．is stronger than |
| C．is better than | D．is worse than |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving. |
| B．When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical. |
| C．A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical. |
| D．Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other. |
Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?
| A．Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places. |
| B．Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants. |
| C．Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory. |
| D．Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own |
What is mainly discussed in the passage?
| A．How to decide whether an ant is dead or not. |
| B．Why ants have special chemicals on their bodies. |
| C．reasons for the removable behavior of ants. |
| D．How ants manage to keep their nests clean. |
A jobless man applied for the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.
“You are employed,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start. ”
The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail. ”
“I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you do not exist. And who doesn’t exist cannot have the job. ”
The man left with no hope at all. He didn’t know what to do, with only ten dollars in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy 10kg tomatoes. He then sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home happily with 60 dollars.
The man realized that he can survive in this way, and started to go every day earlier, and return late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles. Five years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the US.
He started to plan his family’s future and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker and chose a protection plan.
When the conversation was concluded the broker asked him his e-mail. The man replied, “I don’t have an e-mail. ”
The broker answered curiously, “You don’t have an e-mail, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”Why can’t the man have the job at Microsoft?
| A．Because he was lazy. |
| B．Because he didn’t pass the test. |
| C．Because he didn’t have an e-mail. |
| D．Because he didn’t have a computer. |
The underlined word “triple” can be replaced by ______.
| A．become large |
| B．become 3 times |
| C．increase quickly |
| D．decrease quickly |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The man is one of the biggest food retailers in the world. |
| B．The man didn’t give up though he failed the interview. |
| C．He started his career by selling tomatoes in the supermarket. |
| D．Those who have e-mails can work at Microsoft. |
The man can be described as _______.
| A．helpful and considerate |
| B．positive and generous |
| C．smart and hardworking |
| D．stubborn and unselfish |
Which proverb can best describe the story?
| A．Misfortune may be an actual blessing. |
| B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．Accidents will happen. |
| D．No pains , no gains. |
When I was seven my father gave me a Timex, my first watch. I loved it, wore it for years, and haven’t had another one since it stopped ticking a decade ago. Why? Because I don’t need one. I have a mobile phone and I’m always near someone with an iPod or something like that. All these devices(装置)tell the time----which is why, if you look around, you’ll see lots of empty wrists; sales of watches to young adults have been going down since 2007.
This is ridiculous（荒唐的）. Expensive cars go faster than cheap cars. Expensive clothes hang better than cheap clothes. But these days all watches tell the time as well as all the other watches. Expensive watches come with extra functions----but who needs them? How often do you dive to 300 metres into the sea or need to find your direction in the area around the South Pole? So why pay that much of five years’ school fees for watches that allow you to do these things?
If justice were done, the Swiss watch industry should have closed down when the Japanese discovered how to make accurate watches for a five-pound note. Instead the Swiss reinvented the watch, with the aid of millions of pounds’ worth of advertising, as a message about the man wearing it. Rolexes are for those who spend their weekends climbing icy mountains; a Patek Philippe is for one from a rich or noble family; a Breitling suggests you like to pilot planes across the world.
Watches are now classified as “investments”(投资). A 1994 Philippe recently sold for nearly $350,000, while 1960s Rolexes have gone from $15,000 to $30,000 plus in a year. But a watch is not an investment. It’s a toy for self-satisfaction, a matter of fashion. Prices may keep going up----they’ve been rising for 15 years. But when fashion moves on, the owner of that $350,000 beauty will suddenly find his pride and joy is no more a good investment than my childhood Timex.The sales of watches to young people have fallen because they_______.
| A．have other devices to tell the time |
| B．think watches too expensive |
| C．prefer to wear an iPod |
| D．have no sense of time |
It seems ridiculous to the writer that _______.
| A．people dive 300 metres into the sea |
| B．expensive clothes sell better than cheap ones |
| C．cheap cars don’t run as fast as expensive ones |
| D．expensive watches with unnecessary functions still sell |
What can be learnt about Swiss watch industry from the passage?
| A．It targets rich people as its potential customers. |
| B．It’s hard for the industry to beat its competitors. |
| C．It wastes a huge amount of money in advertising. |
| D．It’s easy for the industry to reinvent cheap watches. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Timex or Rolex? |
| B．My Childhood Timex |
| C．Watches? Not for Me! |
| D．Watches----a Valuable Collection |
Who taught you to speak English? Your parents, while you were a child? Your teacher at school? Perhaps even the BBC as a grown-up. Whoever it was, somehow you have developed an understanding of what is rapidly becoming a truly global language.
There are now about 376 million people who speak English as their first language, and about the same number who have learnt it in addition to their mother tongue. There are said to be one billion people learning English now and about 80% of the information on the Internet is in English.
Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? Should we celebrate the fact that more and more of us can communicate, using a common language, across countries and cultures? Or should we worry about the dangers of “ mono-culturalism”, a world in which we all speak the same language, eat the same food and listen to the same music?
Does it matter if an increasing number of people speak the same language? I would have thought the other way around(相反) although I have never accepted the argument that if only we all understood each other better, there would be fewer wars. Ask the people of India ( where many of them speak at least some English) and Pakistan( the same situation with India) ...
If we all speak English, will we then all start eating McDonalds burgers? Surely not. If English becomes more dominant(占主导地位的), it will kill other languages? I doubt it. When I travel in Africa or Asia, I am always surprised by how many people can speak not only their own language but often one or more other related languages, as well as English and perhaps some French or German as well.
When we discussed this on Talking Point a couple of years ago, we received a wonderfully poetic email from a listener in Ireland. “The English language is a beautiful language. Maybe it’s like a rose,” he said. “But who would ever want their garden just full of roses?”
Well, I love roses, and I think they make a beautiful addition to any garden. But the way I see it, just by planting a few roses, you don’t necessarily need to pull out everything else. If more and more people want to plant English roses, that’s fine by me. By saying “ Ask the people of India... and Pakistan” ( in Paragraph 4) , the author is trying to show that_______.
| A．speaking the same language doesn’t necessarily bring peace |
| B．wars can destroy the relationship between two countries |
| C．English doesn’t kill other languages |
| D．English is widely used in the world |
What does “garden” in the last two paragraphs stand for（代表）?
| A．Language. | B．Family. | C．The world. | D．The universe. |
The author would probably agree that_________.
| A．it’s very hard to plant many kinds of flowers in a garden |
| B．it’s good for people from other countries to learn English |
| C．more and more people like to plant roses in their gardens |
| D．English is easier to learn than other languages |
This passage is mainly about________.
| A．why English has become a global language |
| B．how many people in the world speak English |
| C．how people in the world learn English as a foreign language |
| D．whether we need to worry about English being a world language |
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. |