One evening, a young man at a certain college who was known to be something of a poet read one of his poems to a small group of his friends in a room．The poem was greatly admired．But afterwards, one of them, who was called Crick, said, "I was very interested in Hand’s poem, but it was stolen from a book."
His words were reported to Hand, who was very angry and required an apology．"Well," said Crick, "I don’t often take back what I said, but this time I admit (承认) I was mistaken．When I got to my room, I looked in the book which I thought the poem was stolen from, and I saw it was still here!"The poem Hand read one evening was written by .
| A．Hand | B．Crick |
| C．one of his friends | D．another poet |
Hand’s friends admired the poem mainly because .
| A．it was read by Hand | B．Hand was a poet |
| C．it was really wonderful | D．it was stolen from a book |
From the story, we know that Crick .
| A．was really mistaken | B．really took back what he said |
| C．was a poet himself | D．was quite familiar with the poem |
When Hand required an apology, Crick .
| A．didn’t do as Hand asked | B．admitted he was wrong |
| C．was unwilling to do so | D．showed the poem to Hand |
According to the passage, we can infer that Hand .
| A．was a young poet | B．liked poems very much |
| C．would be a poet | D．was regarded as a poet |
There are many ways of defining success. It is accurate to say that each of us has our own ideas of success to the extent that each of us is responsible for setting our own goals and determining whether we have met these goals satisfactorily. Because each of us possesses unique differences in genetic ability and favorable environments in which to express these abilities, it is necessarily true that we must define success broadly.
For some people，simply being able to live their life with the least misery and sufferings is considered a success. Think of the peace of mind of the poor shepherd who tends his sheep, enjoys his simple life with his family in the beauty of nature, and who is respected because he does a good job of achieving the goals expected of him and accepted by his family and his society. On the other hand, it seems that even though some people appear to be rich in material possessions, many of them seem to be miserable and consider themselves unsuccessful when judged by their own standards of success. Because not all ventures can be successful, one should not set unrealistic goals for achieving success, but if one has self-confidence it would be unfortunate to set one's goals at too low a level of achievement.
A wise man once said to a young man who was experiencing frustration(挫折）with his own professional success, “You do not have to set your goal to reach the moon in order to have success in traveling. Sometimes one can be very successful merely by taking a walk in the park or riding the subway downtown,” The man added, "You have not really failed and spoiled your chances for success until you have been unsuccessful at something you really like，and to which you have given your best effort. ”According to the first paragraph, what is implied as basic in achieving success?
| A．Ability and goals. | B．Goals and determination. |
| C．Ability and environment. | D．Goals and environment. |
Some rich people consider themselves unsuccessful because______.
| A．their life is busy and miserable |
| B．they haven't reached their own standards |
| C．they set their goals at too low a level |
| D．they are not rich in material possessions |
From the last paragraph we can tell that______.
| A．success means achieving great goals |
| B．success comes from great goal setting |
| C．success means efforts and favorites pay off |
| D．success has nothing to do with the distance of your travel |
The purpose of the passage is______.
| A．to give us a clear definition of what success is |
| B．to talk about how to achieve success |
| C．to state what our life goal is |
| D．to discuss the importance of goals |
Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day
Gift No. 1
Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say “no need，” but another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part? This one is free.
Gift No. 2
Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them.“Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life，”Dr Marie Savard said.
Gift No. 3
Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. “Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep，” Savard said. “We know that good sleep is very important to our health.”
Gift No. 4
Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity. Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things—many of which are “green”—and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity.What are you advised to do for your mother at doctor's visits?
| A．Take notes. | B．Be with her. |
| C．Buy medicine. | D．Give her gifts. |
What can be a gift of organization for your mother?
| A．Keeping her medical information together. |
| B．Buying all gifts for her from one company. |
| C．Making a list of her medical check-ups. |
| D．Storing her medicines in a safe place. |
Buying gifts from Presents for Purpose allows mothers to________．
| A．enjoy good sleep | B．be well-organized |
| C．get extra support | D．give others help |
I'm seventeen. I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles. People came to the counter and you put things in their bags for them and carried things to their cars. It was hard work.
While working, you wear a plate with your name on it. I once met someone I knew years ago. I remembered his name and said, "Mr Castle, how are you?" We talked about this and that. As he left, he said, "It was nice talking to you, Brett." I felt great, he remembered me. Then I looked down at my name plate. Oh, no. He didn't remember me at all, he just read the name plate. I wish I had put "Irving" down on my name plate. If he'd have said, "Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?" I'd have been ready for him. There's nothing personal here.
The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders. One of these was: you couldn't accept tips. Okay, I'm outside and I put the bags in the car. For a lot of people, the natural reaction is to take a quarter and give it to me. I'd say, "I'm sorry, I can't." They'd get angry. When you give someone a tip, you're sort of being polite. You take a quarter and you put it in their hand and you expect them to say, "Oh, thanks a lot." When you say, "I'm sorry, I can't." They feel a little put down. They say, "No one will know." And they put it in your pocket. You say, "I really can't." It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically to prevent him from tipping you. It was not in agreement with the store's belief in being friendly. Accepting tips was a friendlything and made the customer feel good. I just couldn't understand the strangeness of some people's ideas.
One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away. I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something.
I had decided that one year was enough. Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed. I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.What can be the best title for this text?
| A．How Hard Life Is for Box Boys | B．Getting along with Customers |
| C．Why I Gave up My Job | D．The Art of Taking Tips |
From the second paragraph, we can infer that ________.
| A．the writer didn't like the impersonal part of his job |
| B．with a name plate, people can easily start talking |
| C．Mr Castle mistook Irving for Brett |
| D．Irving was the writer's real name |
The box boy refused to accept tips because ________.
| A．customers only gave small tips |
| B．some customers had strange ideas about tipping |
| C．the store didn't allow the box boys to take tips |
| D．he didn't want to fight with the customers |
The underlined phrase "put down" in the third paragraph probably means_______.
| A．misunderstood | B．defeated |
| C．hateful | D．hurt |
Most Americans would have a difficult time telling you, specifically, what are the values which Americans live by. They have never given the matter any thought.
Over the years I have introduced thousands of international visitors to life in the United States. This has caused me to try to look at Americans through the eyes of foreign visitors. I am confident that the values listed in this booklet describe most ( but not all) Americans, and that understanding these values can help you, the international visitor, understand Americans.
It is my belief that if foreign visitors really understand how deeply these 13 values are ingrained in Americans, they will then be able to understand 95% of American actions-actions which might otherwise appear "strange", "confusing", or "unbelievable" when evaluated from the perspective of the foreigner's own society and its values.
The different behaviors of a people or a culture make sense only when seen through the basic beliefs, assumptions and values of that particular group. When you encounter ( meet) an action, or hear a statement in the United States which surprises you, try to see it as an expression of one or more of the values listed in this booklet.An ordinary American can't tell you his/her value system because _____.
| A．this is something an American lives by |
| B．everyone will have his/her own value system |
| C．he/she has never thought about it |
| D．values are something often in their thought |
The author lists 13 values in his booklet to _____.
| A．invite foreigners to visit America |
| B．look at Americans through the eyes of foreign visitors |
| C．describe the confusing actions of most Americans |
| D．help international visitors understand Americans |
The underlined word "ingrained" in Line 2, Paragraph 3 most probably means _____.
| A．rooted in the minds | B．found in the grains |
| C．planted for food | D．prepared with grain |
Visitors sometimes find Americans behave in a strange, confusing or unbelievableway, probably because _____.
| A．Americans are hard to understand |
| B．Americans have values which are entirely different from their own |
| C．they view Americans according to the values in their own society |
| D．it is difficult to understand any people when you first encounter them |
We are not who we think we are.
The American self-image is spread with the golden glow of opportunity. We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable—a place where brains, energy and ambition are what counts, not the circumstances of one's birth.
The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research led by Pew Charitable Trusts, looked at the economic fortunes of a large group of families over time, comparing the income of parents in the late 1960s with the income of their children in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Here is the finding: "The 'rags to riches' story is much more common in Hollywood than on Main Street. Only 6 percent of children born to parents with family income at the very bottom move to the top.
That is right, just 6 percent of children born to parents who ranked in the bottom of the study sample, in terms of income, were able to bootstrap their way into the top. Meanwhile, an incredible 42 percent of children born into that lowest are still stuck at the bottom, having been unable to climb a single rung of the income ladder.
It is noted that even in Britain---a nation we think of as burdened with a hidebound class system-children who are born poor have a better chance of moving up. When the studies were released, most reporters focused on the finding that African-Americans born to middle-class or upper middle-class families are earning slightly less, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than did their parents.
One of the studies indicates, in fact, that most of the financial gains white families have made in the past three decades can be attributed to the entry of white women into the labor force. This is much less true for African-Americans.
The picture that emerges from all the quintiles, correlations and percentages is of a nation in which, overall, "the current generation of adults is better off than the previous one", as one of the studies notes.
The median income of the families in the sample group was $55,600 in the late 1960s; their children's median family income was measured at $71,900. However, this rising tide has not lifted all boats equally. The rich have seen far greater income gains than have the poor.
Even more troubling is that our nation of America as the land of opportunity gets little support from the data. Americans move fairly easily up and down the middle rungs of the ladder, but there is "stickiness at the ends" —four out of ten children who are born poor will remain poor, and four out of ten who are born rich will stay rich.What did the Economic Mobility Project find in its research?
| A．Children from low-income families are unable to bootstrap their way to the top. |
| B．Hollywood actors and actresses are upwardly mobile from rags to riches. |
| C．The rags to riches story is more fiction than reality. |
| D．The rags to riches story is only true for a small minority of whites. |
It can be inferred from the undertone of the writer that America, as a classless society, should ________.
| A．perfect its self-image as a land of opportunity |
| B．have a higher level of upward mobility than Britain |
| C．enable African-Americans to have exclusive access to well-paid employment |
| D．encourage the current generation to work as hard as the previous generation |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The US is a land where brains, energy and ambition are what counts. |
| B．Inequality persists between whites and blacks in financial gains. |
| C．Middle-class families earn slightly less with inflation considered. |
| D．Children in lowest-income families manage to climb a single rung of the ladder. |
What might be the best title for this passage?
| A．Social Upward Mobility. |
| B．Incredible Income Gains. |
| C．Inequality in Wealth. |
| D．America Not Land of Opportunity. |