(1)PaulSmithsCollegeTheCollege-优题课

How do you celebrate New Year’s Day? If I had to take a guess, you probably celebrate New Year’s Day surrounded by family and friends, enjoying drinks of your choice (probably wine and champagne) and watching the ball drop. If you’re particularly lucky, perhaps you share a kiss with that special someone when the clock hits 00:00am. Have you ever imagined how New Year’s Day would look in another country? Listed below are five of the top ten “Unique New Year Traditions from Around the World.”
1. Breaking Dishes on Neighbor’s Door——Denmark
A strange and weird Danish New Year tradition, depending on how you look at it, is throwing dishes at neighbor’s door. Strangely, this makes them happy instead of annoying them. The family with the tallest tower of broken plates, glasses, cups and other crockery is considered to be the luckiest person because it symbolizes their large amount of loyal friends.
2. Talking to Spirits——Mexico
Talking to spirits is a part of Mexican belief. Mexicans strongly believe that they can communicate with the souls of their dead loved ones. New Year’s Eve is considered the best time to communicate with dead spirits to convey a message or ask for guidance. And this is not done at home on an individual basis but is a legal Mexican practice. Taos Inn, in New Mexico for example, offers 15 minutes session of spiritualism and meditation(默念) for $15. Not a bad price for some helpful guidance!
3. Wearing Polka Dots ——Philippines
Imagine streets full of people wearing polka dots and dining room tables full of round shaped food and fruits on one single day of the year. This all actually happens in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve every year. Philippines believe that this will bring them prosperity by associating the round dots to coins and wealth.
4. Burning Scarecrow(稻草人) Dummy——Ecuador
Ecuador has a unique custom of crafting scarecrows and then burning them at midnight. They adorn them and fill the scarecrows with newspapers and pieces of wood. As midnight approaches, everyone gathers outside their home and each family burns their own scarecrow. The tradition says that this destroys all the bad things that took place in the past 12 months. The scarecrow also scares away bad luck, which in turn, fills their new year with luck and happiness.
5. Mistletoe(槲寄生) Leaves Are Placed Under Pillow to Find Husband——Ireland
The single women of Ireland wait desperately for New Year’s Eve because it is the night that can bring them the love of their lives. They place mistletoe leaves under their pillow hoping to catch their future husband. It is also believed in the Irish culture that this act will help them get rid of bad luck.
The world is a large and very different place. Yes, people of all nations may celebrate New Year’s much differently around the world, with different traditions, but there are a lot of general themes to be seen. We all want to start a new, fresh year with renewed enthusiasm and hope no matter what happened during the past year. We all want to be happier, find love, renew friendships increase our wealth and also hope for a little extra luck in the coming New Year.
When New Year’s Day is coming, people always celebrate it in many ways EXCEPT __________.

A．sharing the time with their lovers

B．getting together with their families

C．enjoying drinks with their friends

D．setting the ball drop

What can you learn when you are paying a visiting to Mexico during New Year’s Day?

A．You’d better talk to your ancestors just at home secretly, or you’ll break the law.

B．It’s New Year’s Day that Mexicans consider the best time to talk to spirits.

C．It’s commonly believed that the dead have spirits and souls living around.

D．You can ask for help free when you want to talk to the dead

The single women of Ireland always ________ hoping to catch their future husband on New Year’s Eve.

A．wear polka dots

B．burn scarecrow dummy

C．break dishes on neighbor’s door

D．place mistletoe leaves under their pillow

When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.
"I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.," he says of his father.
So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. "I'm jumping up and down, saying, 'Mom, can I go? Can I go?'"
The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to Story Corps. "My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off." the younger Dekalb says. "This is the life that I want to live someday."
Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together—father supervising（监督）son.
"You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow," his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced."
I received a phone call that night. And they said, 'Well, your son was at this fire.' I said, 'OK, which way is this conversation going to go? ' Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.
"And they said, 'But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'
And the word went around, 'Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!' So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad."
Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."
The underlined phrase tag along in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

A．put out fire

B．watch basketball

C．follow his father

D．ask his mother’s permission

Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________.

A．27

B．21

C．8

D．35

What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too.

B．Dekalb Walcott Jr. is proud to be a second-generation firefighter.

C．Dekalb Walcott Jr. wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III.

D．Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter.

Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son

B．Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy

C．Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter

D．Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief

E
Is there clear boundary between science and the liberal arts as a major for college students? The question of whether our government should promote science and technology or the liberal arts in higher education is not an either / or proposition (命题), although the current emphasis on preparing young Americans for STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) -related fields can make it seem that way.
The latest congressional report acknowledges the critical importance of technical training, but also stresses that the study of the humanities (人文学科) and social sciences must remain central elements of America’s educational system at all levels. Both are critical to producing citizens who can participate effectively in our democratic society, become innovative (创新的) leaders, and benefit from the spiritual enrichment that the reflection on the great ideas of mankind over time provides.
Parents and students who have invested heavily in higher education worry about graduates’ job prospects (前景) as technological advances and changes in domestic and global markets transform professions in ways that reduce wages and cut jobs. Under this circumstances, it’s natural to look for what may appear to be the most “practical” way out of the problem. “Major in a subject designed to get you a job” seems the obvious answer to some, though this ignores the fact that many disciplines in the humanities characterized as “soft” often, in fact, lead to employment and success in the long run. Indeed, according to surveys, employers have expressed a preference for students who have received a broadly-based education that has taught them to write well, think critically, research creatively, and communicate easily.
Moreover, students should be prepared not just for their first job, but for their 4th and 5th jobs, as there is little reason to doubt that people entering the workforce today will be called upon to play many different roles over the course of their careers. The ones who will do the best in this new environment will be those whose educations have prepared them to be flexible. The ability to draw upon every available tool and insight - picked up from science, arts, and technology - to solve the problems of the future, and take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves, will be helpful to them and the United States.
What does the latest congressional report suggest?

A．Higher education should be adjusted to the practical needs of society.

B．The liberal arts in higher education help enrich students’ spiritual life.

C．STEM-related subjects help students find jobs in the information society.

D．The humanities and STEM subjects should be given equal importance.

What does the author say about the so called soft subjects?

A．They are essential to students’ healthy growth.

B．They improve students’ communication skills.

C．They broaden students’ range of interests.

D．They benefit students in their future life.

What is the main concern of students when they choose a major?

A．The academic value of the courses.

B．Their interest in relevant subjects.

C．Their chances of getting a good job.

D．The quality of education to receive.

What advice does the author give to college students?

A．Try to take a variety of practical courses.

B．Prepare themselves for different job options.

C．Adopt a flexible approach to solving problems.

D．Seize opportunities to tap their potential.

D
My mom has eyes in the back of her head. She also taught me from an early age to be suspicious of strange men, especially when they give you presents. One day, a “nice man” bearing flowers managed to steal 20 euros from her purse, while she was holding it in her hands. “He said he was collecting for a church charity so I pulled out a euro,” she explains, “He said ‘no, no, that’s too much’ and offered to look in my purse to find a smaller coin. He must have slid out that 20 euro note at the same time. I did not even notice until an hour later. I felt so stupid.”
According to neuroscientists, the key requirement for a successful pickpocket is not having nifty (熟练的) fingers, it’s having a working knowledge of the loopholes (漏洞) in our brain. The most important of these loopholes is the fact that our brains are not set up to multi-task. Most of the time that is a good thing — it allows us to filter (过滤) out all but the most important features of the world around us. But a good trickster can use it to against you. This kind of trick involves capturing all of somebody’s attention with other movements. Street pickpockets often use this effect to their advantage by manufacturing a situation that can not help but overload your attention system. Other strategies are more psychological. Pickpockets tend to hang out a “beware of pickpockets” signs, because the first thing people do when they read it is check they still have their valuables, helpfully giving away where they are. And in my mom’s case, the thief’s best trick was not coming across like a pickpocket. “He was a very nice guy and very confident. Not someone that would cause you to suspect,” she says. Apollo Robbins, a stage pickpocket, said smart move, like moving your hand in an arc (弧) motion rather than a straight line, is another popular strategy employed by tricksters.
At last, it should be pointed out that most thefts are opportunistic. The skill level of most thieves is far less than you think. But they are opportunistic enough to keep up with new technology.
What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．People’s brains are not designed to multi-task.

B．People’s brains can filter out all but the most important features.

C．Somebody’s attention can be distracted by a certain trick.

D．Somebody’s overload attention system.

According to the passage, all of the following are pickpocket strategies except _________.

A．having nifty fingers

B．hanging out “beware of pickpockets” sign

C．displaying confidence

D．moving hand in an arc motion

In the author’s opinion, _________.

A．people’s brains have many loopholes

B．thieves are more skillful than opportunistic

C．his mom’s losing money is nothing but a by-accident experience

D．signs reminding people of pickpockets can play a negative role in protecting valuables

What will the author probably talk about next?

A．Mom’s another suffering

B．Pickpockets concerning new technology

C．Pickpockets’ tricks

D．Apollo Robbins’ stage pickpockets

C
Five Things You Should Know About Adult Asthma (哮喘)
About 44 million people in Asia Pacific suffer from asthma. The numbers are on the rise especially in China and India where there is rapid industrialization and urbanization. Dr Mariko Koh, Director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory and Asthma Programme at Singapore General Hospital, tells us more about adult asthma:
1. Chronic inflammation (炎症) of the airways
When the airways are inflamed, mucus (粘液) forms, blocking airflow, causing breathlessness, wheezing (喘息) and tightness in the chest.
2. Common triggers
Exposure to allergens (过敏原) such as mites, cockroaches, pets and pollen can trigger asthma. Tobacco smoke, respiratory infections, exercise and some medications like aspirin and beta blockers are also possible triggers.
3. Effective treatment
Asthma can be controlled with medication. The main treatment of asthma is inhaled (吸入) corticosteroids to reduce inflammation and block of the airways. Reliever medications may be used to treat acute symptoms. Take note: it is not too late to take medication after an asthma attack.
4. Take medication daily
To ensure good control over asthma, medication must be taken daily on a long term basis to prevent attacks. Also, go to your doctor for regular checkups.
5. Quality of life
Asthma sufferers can lead normal active lives as long as the symptoms are well controlled. Taking medication as directed and avoiding triggers can make a big difference to the quality of life.
All of the following are possible factors causing asthma except _________.

A．aspirin	B．pollen
C．polluted air	D．tobacco

What can be inferred from the passage?

A．There is no possible cure for allergic asthma.

B．Asthma is caused by acute inflammation of the airways.

C．China and India have the largest number of asthma sufferers in the world.

D．Regular checkups and exercise can ensure you a life free from asthma symptoms.

The author would most likely to agree that __________.

A．asthma sufferers can lead a normal life as ordinary people

B．daily intake of medication in the long run is helpful in controlling asthma

C．rapid industrialization and urbanization are the leading causes of asthma

D．once asthma attacks, it is too late to take medication

What is the purpose of this passage?

A．To explain the cause of asthma

B．To stress the importance of keeping away from asthma

C．To confirm a successful research about asthma

D．To inform readers several aspects about asthma