Among the arguments for uniforms, one of the first is that in the eyes of most people they look more professional than civilian (百姓的) clothes. People have become conditioned to expect superior quality from a man who wears a uniform. The television repairman who wears uniform tends to inspire more trust than one who appears in civilian clothes. Faith in the skill of a garage mechanic is increased by a uniform. What easier way is there for a nurse, a policeman, a barber, or a waiter to lose professional identity (身份) than to step out of uniform ?
Uniforms also have many practical benefits. They save on other clothes. They save on laundry bills. They are tax- deductible ( 可减税的). They are often more comfortable and more durable than civilian clothes.
Primary among the arguments against uniforms is their lack of variety and the consequent loss of individuality experienced by people who must wear them. Though there are many types of uniforms, the wearer of any particular type is generally stuck with it, without change, until retirement. When people look alike, they tend to think, speak, and act similarly, on the job at least.
Uniforms also give rise to some practical problems. Though they are long-lasting, often their initial expense is greater than the cost of civilian clothes. Some uniforms are also expensive to maintain, requiring professional dry cleaning rather than the home laundering possible with many types of civilian clothes.It is surprising that Americans who worship variety and individuality ___________.
| A．still judge a man by his clothes |
| B．hold the uniform in such high regard |
| C．enjoy having a professional identity |
| D．will respect an elevator operator as much as a general in uniform |
The chief function of a uniform is to ___________.
| A．provide practical benefits to the wearer |
| B．make the wearer catch the public eye |
| C．inspire the wearer's confidence in himself |
| D．provide the wearer with a professional identity |
According to the passage, people wearing uniforms _____________.
| A．are usually helpful | B．have little or no individual freedom |
| C．tend to lose their individuality | D．enjoy greater popularity |
The best title for this passage would be ____________.
| A．Uniforms and Society |
| B．The Importance of Wearing a Uniform |
| C．Practical Benefits of Wearing a Uniform |
| D．Advantages and Disadvantages of Uniforms |
Tens of thousands of ancient pictures carved into the rocks at one of France’s most important tourist sites are being gradually destroyed. Scientists and researchers fear that the 36,000 drawings on rocks in Mont Bego in the French Alps are being damaged so rapidly that they will not survive for future generations.
The mountain, believed to have once been a site for prayer, is scattered (散布) with 4,000-year-old drawings cut into bare rock. They include pictures of cows with horns, cultivated fields (耕地) and various gods and goddesses. But as the popularity of the site increases, the pictures are being ruined by thoughtless graffiti (涂鸦).
Jean Clottes is the chairman of the International Committee on Rock Art. He says, “People think that because the pictures have been there so long they will always continue to be there. But if the damage continues at this rate there will be nothing left in 50 years.”
He describes seeing tourists stamping on the drawings, wearing away the rock and definition (清晰) of the artwork as they do so. Some visitors, he says, even cut off parts to take home as souvenirs. “When people think they can’t take a good enough photograph, they rub the drawings to get a clearer picture,” he said. “The drawings are polished by the weather, and if the sun is shining and the visitors can’t see them properly they simply rub them to make them look fresher.” Other researchers describe how people arrive carrying long sticks with sharp ends to scratch (刮) their own drawings, or even their names, in the rocks.
But experts are divided over the best way to preserve the drawings. Henry de Lumley, director of the Museum of Natural History in Paris, believes that the only way to save the site is to turn the whole mountain into a “no-go” area, preventing the public from going there except on guided tours. Otherwise, he says, not only will the site be completely destroyed but important research work will be reduced.
Clottes disagrees, “The measure suggested by Henry de Lumley is the most severe, and while it is the most effective, it is also certain to bring about protests from people who live there,” he said. “The site was classified as a historic monument years ago by the Ministry of Culture, and we must do as much as possible to save what is there.”
David Lavergne, the regional architect, also wants to avoid closing the site. “Henry de Lumley’s idea isn’t ideal,” he said. “Our department feels that the best solution is to let people look at the site, but because the area is very big it is difficult to prevent visitors from damaging it. I would prefer that everyone was able to look at it, but the main problem is money. We do not have the funds to employ the necessary number of guards. We may have to consider charging a fee. It doesn’t seem to be possible to get the government support.”
In Nice, Annie Echassoux, who also worked on researching the site, is alarmed that as the mountain becomes easier to reach — tourists can now avoid the three-and-a-half-hour walk by hiring vehicles — the damage will increase rapidly. She thinks that the only solution is to rope off the area and provide guides. “You can’t say the plan can’t go ahead because there is no money,” she said. “That is not good enough. Money must be provided because the Ministry of Culture has classified this area as a historic site. If we don’t take steps, we will be responsible for losing the drawings for the next generation.”Jean Clottes says that people who visit the mountain____.
| A．do not believe the drawings are old. |
| B．believe they are allowed to paint there |
| C．think the drawings should be left alone |
| D．think the drawings will not disappear |
According to Jean Clottes, some of the visitors to the area have____.
| A．helped to clean the drawings |
| B．taken bits of the rock home |
| C．been unable to take photographs |
| D．misunderstood what the pictures mean |
Henry de Lumley is eager to ____.
| A．set up research projects |
| B．protect public rights |
| C．keep out individual visitors |
| D．ban traffic in the area |
Which word best describes Annie Echassoux’s attitude towards saving the historic site?
| A．Supportive. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Worried. | D．Hesitant. |
This passage has been written about Mont Bego to ____.
| A．advertise the closing of the site |
| B．warn visitors about the dangers of the site |
| C．encourage scientists to visit the site |
| D．describe fears for the future of the site |
In 2009, the Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers were invited to perform in Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxemburg. In 2011, they were voted as one of the world’s top five performance groups by audiences of Japan Broadcasting Corporation’s Amazing Voice program.
Thinking back the group’s first tour in Europe, Camake Valaule, a physical education teacher and the founder of the Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers, admitted that he felt very nervous. He was worried that the audience would fall asleep since most of the 75-minute performance was a cappella, that is, singing without instrumental sound. Surprisingly, the audience listened with full focus and high spirits. Camake said, “They told me afterward that through our performance, they had a vision of our country, our village, without having to visit it. This experience greatly increased our confidence.”
According to Camake Valaule, singing traditional ballads has helped students and their parents to re-understand their culture. “It used to be that the only ones who could sing these songs were tribal elders aged between 50 and 60. Now with the children performing the pieces, parents are beginning to ask, ‘Why do we not know how to sing these ballads?’ Many times nowadays, it is the children who teach the songs to their parents, putting back the pieces of a blurred memory.”
Winning international fame, however, was neither the original intention nor the main reason why Camake founded the group in 2006. The most important thing was to make children understand why they sing these songs and to preserve and pass on their culture. Referring to the relocation of Taiwu Elementary School and Taiwu Village following Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, Camake said, “We could not take the forest or our houses in the mountains with us; but we were able to bring our culture along. As long as the children are willing to sing, I will always be there for them, singing with them and leading them to experience the meaning of the ballads.”Which of the following is true about Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers?
| A．The group was first established in 2009. |
| B．The group was founded by a PE teacher. |
| C．The singers usually sing popular folk songs. |
| D．The singers learn to sing from their parents. |
On his first trip to Europe, why did Camake think the audience might fall asleep?
| A．The average age of the audience was between fifty and sixty. |
| B．Most of the performance was not accompanied by any instrument. |
| C．Nobody could understand the language and the meaning of the songs. |
| D．The audience could not visualize the theme sung by the school children. |
What does the underlined part “the pieces of a blurred memory” in the third paragraph most likely refer to?
| A．The fading memories about old tribal people. |
| B．The children’s ignorance of their own tradition. |
| C．The broken pieces of knowledge taught at school. |
| D．The parents’ vague understanding of their own culture. |
What did Camake realize after the incident of Typhoon Morakot?
| A．The significance of the relocation of Taiwu Elementary School. |
| B．The need to respect nature to avoid being destroyed by it. |
| C．The importance of passing on the traditional culture. |
| D．The consequence of building houses in the forest. |
Of the several films Hirokazu has made about childhood and children, this one is the most modest, but no less pleasing for its delicate style and small setting. This wise and funny film works small miracles in describing such a moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves.
The sweetly reflective hero, a sixth-grader named Koichi, starts out by wishing for a volcano to erupt. Not just any volcano, but the one that towers above his town, smoking heavily and giving off ash. An eruption would lead to a withdrawing, which would lead, at least in his mind, to a reunion with his father and kid brother, who’ve been living in Hakata while Koichi lives with his mother and retired grandparents in Kagoshima. The volcano, knowing nothing of this, refuses to erupt, but Koichi hears of another approach to realizing the desired miracle.
One of the pleasures of I Wish is watching how kids behave — how Koichi attacks his dinner, for example. Another pleasure is rediscovering how kids think. These kids can be logical and ever so tricky. But children’s thought processes can also be fancy. A boy wishes he could play baseball like one of baseball stars, who eats curry for breakfast; so he, too, starts eating curry for breakfast, instead of practicing on the field. Another boy tries to wish his dead dog, Marble, back to life. And what does Koichi finally wish for? I wish you’d see this delightful film to find out. Koichi wishes the volcano to erupt so that he can ______.
| A．enjoy the wonderful scene of a volcano |
| B．help those who suffer from the eruption |
| C．get together with his family members |
| D．work miracles during the disaster |
Which of the following statements is true of the film?
| A．It is set in a volcano eruption. |
| B．It is a serious science fiction movie. |
| C．It shows some dull and ridiculous behaviors. |
| D．It shows a lively and thoughtful world of children. |
What does the writer intend to do in this text?
| A．To recommend a film. |
| B．To make a review on a film. |
| C．To share pleasures of watching a film. |
| D．To discuss kids’ behavior and thoughts. |
Are you trying to learn a new language in a foreign land? You might be better off if you stopped looking at that picture of your family and friends.
New research from Columbia University found that prompting (提示) someone who is learning a new language with images and reminders of their own culture could temporarily ruin everything that the brain was trying to build.
When native Chinese students were asked to talk with a Caucasian avatar (白种人的虚拟头像) and a Chinese avatar, their English skills were so different. Simply exposing students to a Chinese person affected their ability to speak English. Subjects who talked with the Chinese version felt more comfortable in their speech, but they produced 11% fewer words per minute. They actually became less fluent speakers.
To make sure it wasn’t just the avatar, researchers also showed people random images of China while the participants told a story. When pictures of their homeland appeared, fluency dropped 16% and volunteers were 85% more likely to use a literal (照字面的) translation, for example, calling pistachios “happy nuts”, because that’s literally what the Chinese word for pistachio means.
When the students were shown pictures of fish with one swimming ahead of the others, their culture would change how they look at the photo. With Chinese prompt, like photos of the Great Wall or Chinese Dragon, etc. they saw more students thinking that the fish was being chased, while an American prompt, like pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Superman, saw those students believing that it was a leader fish.
The bottom line is: when attempting to learn a new culture it is far better to surround yourself with that culture than create an island of the old one.Why does the author use a question in the first paragraph?
| A．To raise a question. |
| B．To arouse readers’ awareness. |
| C．To introduce the topic. |
| D．To tell a story. |
The underlined word “pistachios” in the fourth paragraph refers to ______.
| A．pictures | B．volunteers |
| C．an image | D．a kind of food |
From the passage we can infer that ______.
| A．different images would change with different people |
| B．different cultures would affect how students look at the photo |
| C．with Chinese prompts, more students thought that it was a leader fish |
| D．with an American prompt, more students thought that the fish was being chased |
According to the research, which is a better way for a student in a foreign land to learn a new culture?
| A．To surround himself with that culture. |
| B．To create an island of the old one. |
| C．To see random images of China. |
| D．To talk with a Caucasian avatar. |
Fly Alone for the First Time
I began flying lessons at the age of 14; but the Federal Aviation Administration requires you to be 16 before you make flight by yourself. So I had to wait for two long years until I could fly a plane by myself. I used that time to master the basic maneuvers (要领) of flying. I learned emergency procedures and practiced hundreds of takeoffs and landings until I could land the airplane smoothly without bouncing it down the runway. It wasn’t always easy, and many times I would come home feeling discouraged and thinking maybe everyone was right – I would never learn to fly, but by the next day, I was always eager to try again.
On the day of my 16th birthday, I made my first solo flight, which meant I could finally fly alone. The night before, my dad, who was my flight instructor, explained that the winds were forecast to be high. He said if we were in the air by dawn, the winds would probably be calm enough for me to solo. The next morning it was cold, but the sky was completely clear, and the winds were calm. I expected my dad to stay in the plane for at least three takeoffs and landings. But after the first one, he told me to pull off the runway, and he got out of the plane.
I was alone. As I climbed higher and higher, the world began to change. Everything on the ground became miniature. Houses, cars, and all looked like tiny toys that could fit in the surface of my hand. I made three takeoffs and landings that day. Each landing was perfect. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
Today, as a flight instructor, I stand alongside runways watching as my own students take to the sky on their first solo flights. I understand the joy faces, which always bring me back to that day when my dream came true. I learned that no matter how people tell you that you can’t do something, if you believe in yourself, you can succeed.When practicing flying, the author ______.
| A．met several times of emergencies |
| B．was worried about his own safety |
| C．couldn’t wait to fly alone in the sky |
| D．sometimes doubted his ability to fly |
The underlined word “miniature” probably means “______”.
| A．distant | B．unclear | C．small | D．high |
What was the father concerned about before his son flied alone?
| A．Whether his son was brave enough. |
| B．Whether it would be too windy. |
| C．Whether he was able to protect his son. |
| D．Whether there were negative comments. |
What lesson does the author learn from his experience?
| A．Be confident and you will succeed. |
| B．Be responsible and you can grow up. |
| C．Give up something and you may win more. |
| D．Think hard and you can achieve your dream. |