MOSCOW — The Olympic flame in Vancouver had only been put out before President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia, angered over his country’s disappointing performance at the Winter Games, began calling for athletic officials’ heads.
“Those who are responsible for training for the Olympics must take responsibility,” Mr. Medvedev, who canceled his scheduled trip to the closing ceremony, said in Moscow on Monday. “They must have the courage to hand in their resignation(辞职报告). And if they do not have this determination, we will help them.”
Such language from the typically measured Mr. Medvedev strengthens the disappointment here with the nation’s athletics just four years before Russia hosts the next Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Russia is pumping billions of dollars into preparations for the 2014 Winter Games, which officials have considered as a symbol of Russia’s return to the top of the world stage.
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin said last week that Russia’s performance at the Olympics should be given “serious critical analysis.” “This critical analysis should be directed at improving the situation and creating the necessary conditions for the preparation and successful performance of our team in the Sochi Olympics in 2014,” he said. Russian athletes took home just three gold medals from Vancouver, compared with eight in the last Winter Games, in Turin, Italy.
Russia came in sixth place in the overall medal count with 15, just ahead of South Korea and trailing far behind its former cold war athletic rival, the United States, which led with 37.
For Russians used to seeing their athletes top international competitions, the last two weeks have been awful. Russian figure skaters fell, bobsledders turned over and, in a final embarrassment, the country’s much proud hockey team was smacked by Canada 7-3 and did not even make the medal round.
53. The underlined word smack in the last paragraph means:
A. guided B. trained C. beaten D. controlled
54. Which sentence is true according to the passage?
Russian athletes got 8 medals in the last Winter Games.
South Korea ranked 5 in the overall medal count in this Winter Games.
The next Winter Games will be held in Russia four years later.
The Russian hockey team got the third place in this Winter Games.
55. What do we know about President Dmitri A. Medvedev ?
A. He attended the closing ceremony of the Winter Games in Vancouver.
B. He ordered a serious analysis about the Russia’s performance at the Olympics.
C. He will resign due to Russia’s performance at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
D. He had planned to go to Vancouver but didn’t make it.
56. What is the main idea of this passage ?
A. Russian figure skaters fell in this Winter Olympics
B. Russian will host the next Winter Olympics
C. Russians are angry about their athletes’ performance.
D. Russians are making preparations for the next Winter Olympics.
Maggie was very glad that James was not a frequent visitor to the house. So far as the children were concerned, they had a mystery about him that stirred their imagination. He stirred Maggie’s anger, however, so that she often said to her husband, “It’s mercy that brother of yours doesn’t come oftener.”
In fact James came once a year, unexpectedly, around eight o’clock in the evening, and he stayed for six hours of close discussion with his brother. His arrival was a signal to the children that their bedtime would be delayed. Not that he ever spoke to them or played with them. He took no notice of them, as if he was unable to see children, at least until the time came for him to go. Instead, after his first greeting and a careless kiss, James took no notice of Maggie either, except to add, “You’ll be getting on with the supper, Maggie.” Such was his regard for her.
Maggie paid him back in her own way. She kept the children up, the four of them, to keep her company, she said, but of course they sang and made a noise and broke the endless sound of James’s voice. Very late, they dropped off to sleep in their chairs. Then, when James was about to go, Maggie woke them up and so more or less forced him to part with four shillings before he left. That gave her some satisfaction, for James, though rich, was mean. He always went home by the last train, just after two o’clock.
Maggie’s children secretly stared at their uncle. They could not forget that he had, in their mother’s words, “lost two wives and taken a third, ” They wondered about those two unfortunate lost ladies. They asked each other what their fate had been, and if neither could ever be found again. James never brought his third wife with him nor ever mentioned her. The children decided that he must be so frightened of losing her that he never allowed her outside the door. The underlined word “mercy” in the text most probably means _______.
| A．loss | B．wonder | C．lucky thing | D．terrible thing |
Maggie never prepared anything special for James because _______.
| A．he was a man difficult to please |
| B．she never knew when he was coming |
| C．she was too busy looking after her children |
| D．he never stayed long enough for a meal |
What do we know about James’ behavior?
| A．He was a kind man, with love for the family. |
| B．He was generous, especially towards his brother. |
| C．He was anxious to please the family, especially the kids. |
| D．He was rude to his sister-in-law. |
Maggie felt pleased when _______.
| A．she paid James the money that she owed him |
| B．James gave some money to the children |
| C．she had to wake James up to catch his train |
| D．James thanked her for the nice supper |
Spending as little as $5 a day on someone else could significantly boost happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found on Thursday.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia. They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual (yearly) income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, girls for others and donations to charity.
“Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000. “Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
“These findings suggest that very minor alterations (changes) in spending allocations (shares)—as little as $5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day，”Dunn said. What is the general idea of the passage?
| A．The more you earn, the greater happiness you will get. |
| B．Spending more money on yourself will make you happier. |
| C．Money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else. |
| D．You can spend only 5$ a day to get happiness. |
The underlined word “boost” in the first paragraph probably means_______.
| A．help to find | B．help to bring | C．help to increase | D．help to get |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Those who spend more money on others can get much more bonus. |
| B．People usually think spending money on themselves will make them happier. |
| C．Very small changes in spending your money may be enough to gain happiness. |
| D．Researchers think that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn. |
It can be inferred from the 6th paragraph that ______.
| A．the volunteers not given 5$ or 20$ spent their own money on themselves. |
| B．those who spent the money on someone or something else felt happier about it. |
| C．the volunteers were given 5$ or 20$ as a reward for the experiment. |
| D．half of the volunteers could spend the money as they liked. |
As far back as he could remember，Larry had longed to go to Hollywood and become a film star．The young man’s hopes for success were broken again and again，however．Hollywood just did not seem interesting．When he first came to California，Larry had decided never to give up and return home without success．Therefore，he kept on trying．Someday，he told himself，his big opportunity would come．
Larry found a job parking cars for one of Hollywood’s big restaurants．His pay was elementary，but since the guests were kind enough to give him more money，he managed to make a living．One day he recognized an important film director driving into the parking lot （停车场） and getting out of his car．Larry had recently heard that the man was ready to make a new picture．
Larry got into the car and prepared to drive it on into the lot and park it．Then he stopped，jumped out，and ran over to the director．“Excuse me，sir，but I think it’s only fair to tell you that it’s now or never if you want me in your next picture．A lot of big companies are after me．”
Instead of pushing away the boy，the director laughed，then wrote something on a card and handed it to the young man．“Come and see me tomorrow．”
Larry got a small part in the director’s next film．He was on his way！Which of the following was Larry interested in?
| A．Working as a waiter． | B．Becoming a film star |
| C．Parking cars for film stars． | D．Owing a big company |
Why did Larry find a job parking cars?
| A．Because he liked the job． |
| B．Because the parking lot was near Hollywood． |
| C．To make a living and wait for the opportunity． |
| D．To see a lot of film stars and work for them． |
After reading the story what can we infer （推断） about the film director ?
| A．He wanted to laugh at Larry． |
| B．He recognized Larry at first sight． |
| C．He was kind and gave Larry a try． |
| D．He thought Larry would become a star． |
what does the word “elementary” mean in this passage?
| A．基本的 | B．充足的 | C．较高的 | D．不达标的 |
“He was on his way”refers to the fact that ________．
| A．he gave up and returned home |
| B．he began to work towards success |
| C．he took a journey to Hollywood |
| D．he had difficulty in playing the small part |
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech．At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned．Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why ? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser．When such moments occur, don’t worry about them. Just continue as if nothing happened．
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that don’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech – “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumble（结巴）his words twice during the speech．Most likely, however, you don’t remember．Why? Because you were fixing your attention on its message rather than on his way of speech-making. People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition．But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that expresses the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly．Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speaker’s attractiveness by making him more human．
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being imperfect．Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely．The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ___________．
| A．be smarter than you | B．notice your mistakes |
| C．do better than you | D．know what you are talking about |
You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ___________．
| A．your attention is on the content |
| B．you don’t fully understand the speech |
| C．you don’t know what the speaker plans to say |
| D．you find the way of speech-making more important |
It can be inferred from the passage that ___________
| A．giving a speech is like giving a performance |
| B．one to two mistakes in a speech may not be bad |
| C．the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made |
| D．the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．How to Be a Perfect Speaker |
| B．How to Make a Perfect Speech |
| C．Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech |
| D．Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech |
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 behaviour. 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 |