It s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree．It has been there for the past 10 years or so．It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas—the commercial aspects of Christmas-overspending．Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to avoid the usual presents．The idea came in an unusual way．
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored by a church．These youngsters, dressed in ragged clothes, presenting a sharp contrast to our boys in their beautiful dresses and shoes．As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears．It was a luxury that the poor team obviously could not afford．Well, we ended up defeating them．Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "
I wish just one of them could have won," he said．"They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them．" That's when the idea for his present came．That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought wrestling headgear and shoes for the youngsters and sent them anonymously （匿名地） to the church．On Christmas Eve? I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me．His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in the following years．
For each Christmas, I followed the tradition．The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas．It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed expectation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to show its contents．As the children grew, they joined．
May we all remember the reason for Christmas, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always．God bless梡ass this along to your friends and loved ones．The author avoids usual Christmas presents because her husband _____．
| A．likes cheap Christmas presents |
| B．likes expensive Christmas presents |
| C．dislikes spending much on large Christmas presents |
| D．dislikes spending much on unmeaningful Christmas gifts |
The underlined word "luxury" in Paragraph 2 means "_____"．
| A．something of poor quality | B．something abundant |
| C．something strange | D．something expensive |
From the passage we can infer that in character the husband is _____．
| A．modest and mature | B．kind and practical |
| C．strong-willed and vain | D．optimistic and outgoing |
What is the most exciting thing for the family at Christmas?
| A．Preparing gifts． | B．Exchanging gifts． |
| C．Opening the envelope． | D．Writing Christmas cards． |
Artie Shaw was born in New York City in 1910. His name was Arthur Arshawsky. His parents were poor immigrants who had come to the United States from Eastern Europe. His family later moved to New Haven, Connecticut.
At the age of fourteen, he began to play the saxophone and then the clarinet. From a very young age, Artie Shaw wanted to play his clarinet better than anyone. He wanted his sound and music to be perfect. He worked at this task much of his life.
He began working as a professional musician when he was fifteen. He left home and began playing in bands across the United States.
In 1928, young Artie Shaw traveled to Chicago, Illinois to hear the great trumpet player, Louis Armstrong. He immediately understood that Armstrong's great jazz sound was the beginning of something new and exciting. Artie left Chicago with a growing interest in jazz music. Soon after, he moved to New York City.
He got work playing the clarinet for the Columbia Broadcast System radio network. In 1936, he was given a chance to form a small group and play at New York's famous Imperial Theater on Broadway. His group was not the top band in the show. But the crowd loved his music. This proved to be a major step in his career.
Artie Shaw was always trying something new, something different. He heard a young black woman sing and hired her for his band. This was the first time that a black woman sang with white musicians. Racial separation was the rule in many states. Artie Shaw did not care.
Artie Shaw wrote several books in his later years. He wrote stories for magazines. He spoke about music at colleges and universities. But he had very little to do with the world of recording or music. During those years however, he received many awards and honors for his music. These included a Hall of Fame award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.When he was very young, Artie Shaw was ________.
| A．born to a wealthy family |
| B．a famous singer |
| C．a man with a great dream |
| D．was in love with music when he was a baby |
To achieve his music dream, Artie Shaw ________.
| A．first began to play the clarinet |
| B．wanted to be the most famous musician around the world |
| C．began playing in bands across the United States |
| D．became a famous musician when he was fifteen |
When Artie Shaw became an adult, ________.
| A．he showed a growing interest in jazz music |
| B．he worked for Columbia Broadcast System radio network as a singer |
| C．he formed a small band when he was twenty three |
| D．he thought that racial separation should be the rule of the society |
In his later years, Artie Shaw ________.
| A．almost stopped playing music |
| B．worked for a magazine as an professional writer |
| C．he made many speeches about his life at colleges |
| D．he received many awards and honors for his books |
Which one can be the title of the passage?
| A．Artie Shaw’s Life Stories | B．Artie Shaw — A Crazy Musician |
| C．Artie Shaw — A Great Writer | D．Artie Shaw’s Music Life |
Eat nuts, live longer. Researchers have found that those who eat a handful of peanuts every day significantly decrease their risk of dying from all causes compared to those who do not eat nuts. A newstudyconcludes that all types of nuts seem to be protective.
Researcher Ying Bao is with the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. She and her colleagues looked at the impact of nut consumption by analyzing two huge studies that began in 1980 - the Nurses’ Health Study, which tracks the well-being of more than 76,000 women, and 42,000 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study.
Among the questions asked at the beginning of the studies was, 'how frequently do you eat nuts?' The information was updated every two to four years. Bao says the participants were followed for three decades.
“What we observed is that people who eat more nuts are less likely to die over the next 30 years," said Bao. "So, for example, if a person eat(s) nuts once per day, that person has a 20 percent lower risk of dying.”
Bao says eating a handful of nuts five or more times per week was associated with a 29 percent reduced risk of dying from heart disease and an 11 percent lower risk of cancer death. A serving size is 28 grams.
Nuts contain nutrients, including high quality proteins, vitamins and minerals, all of which have anti-cancer effects and may help protect the heart.
Bao says researchers are planning studies to find out how nuts are beneficial to human health.
The study on the health benefits of nuts was funded by the International Tree Nut Council Research and Education Foundation.People who often eat nuts ________.
| A．are more likely to live longer than people who often eat fruits |
| B．don’t need to go to hospital |
| C．may live longer than people who don’t eat nuts |
| D．don’t have to do sports |
The underlined word “well-being” in Paragraph 2 shares the same meaning as “________”.
| A．illness | B．health | C．diet | D．habit |
About Bao’s research, which statement is true?
| A．She has done the research by herself. |
| B．Her research was based on two studies. |
| C．Her research lasted about three years. |
| D．People should eat all kinds of nuts every day. |
Eating nuts may help us stay away from ________.
| A．cancer | B．fever | C．flu | D．headache |
The passage is most probably from a journal of ___________ .
| A．entertainment | B．diet | C．sports | D．science |
The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world's supply of water. With 97% of the world's water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage(短缺)seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world's agricultural industries experience constant water shortages.
Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配)are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys(山谷)are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements.
This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation (灌溉). In Texas, farmers' overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores. In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.
Saudi Arabia's attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.From the first two paragraphs we learn that________.
| A．much of the world's water is available for use |
| B．people in high rainfall countries feel lucky |
| C．water can be easily carried through pipes across the world |
| D．the costs of water redistribution should be considered |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．The water stores in Texas have been reduced by 75%. |
| B．Most industries in the world suffer from water shortages. |
| C．The underground water in Saudi Arabia might run out in 50 years. |
| D．Good management of water use resulted from the project in the Central Valley. |
What is most likely to be discussed in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Steps to improving water use management. |
| B．Ways to reduce the costs of building dams. |
| C．Measures to deal with worldwide water shortages. |
| D．Approaches to handling the pressure on water supply. |
The text is mainly about________.
| A．water supply and increasing population |
| B．water use management and agriculture |
| C．water redistribution and wildlife protection |
| D．water shortages and environmental protection |
Babies are born yogis. Once we were all able to pull our toes up by our ears and laugh about it. Then we aged, got injured, and began carrying stress in our shoulders and back. In short, we lost our balance.
Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．What’s Yoga? | B．The Benefits of Yoga |
| C．How I Do Yoga Poses | D．The Varieties of Yoga |
According to the third paragraph, yoga can help people __________.
| A．grow taller | B．lose weight |
| C．become flexible in thinking | D．make more friends |
People feel tired after yoga because __________.
| A．they spend too much time on yoga |
| B．they respond well to yoga poses |
| C．they force themselves into yoga poses |
| D．they consume energy in practicing yoga |
If this passage continues, what will the writer most probably write about in the next paragraph?
| A．Yoga as a means to keep fit. |
| B．Different yoga poses. |
| C．Popularity of yoga all over the world. |
| D．Encouraging people to do yoga. |
Remembering names is an important social skill. Here are some ways to master it.
Recite and repeat in conversation
When you hear a person’s name, repeat it. Immediately say it to yourself several times without moving your lips .You could also repeat the name in a way that does not sound forced or artificial.
Ask the other person to recite and repeat
You can let other people help you remember their names. After you’ve been introduced to someone, ask that person to spell the name and pronounce it correctly for you. Most people will be pleased by the effort you’re making to learn their names.
Admit you don’t know
Admitting that you can’t remember someone’s name can actually make people relaxed. Most of them will feel sympathy if you say, “I’m working to remember names better. Yours is right on the tip of my tongue. What is it again？”
Use association
Link each person you meet with one thing you find interesting or unusual. For example, you could make a mental note: “Vicki Cheng-tall，black hair”. To reinforce your association, write them on a small card as soon as possible.
Limit the number of new names you learn at one time.
When meeting a group of people, concentrate on remembering just two or three names. Free yourself from remembering everyone. Few of the people in mass introductions expect you to remember their names. Another way is to limit yourself to learning just first names. Last names can come later.
Go early
Consider going early to conferences, parties and classes. Sometimes just a few people show up on time. That’s fewer names for you to remember. And as more people arrive, you can hear them being introduced to others-an automatic review for you. If you can’t remember someone’s name, you may________
| A．tell them the truth | B．tell them a white lie |
| C．ask him for pity | D．ask others to help you |
The underlined word “reinforce” mostly means “______”.
| A．get | B．simplify | C．strengthen | D．collect |
When you meet a group of people, it is better to remember______
| A．all their names | B．a couple of names first |
| C．just their last names | D．as many names as possible |
What does the text mainly tell us?
| A．How to recite and repeat names | B．Importance of attending parties |
| C．How to make use of associations | D．Tips on an important social skill |