In many ways, the earliest periods of photography are the most satisfying. Learning to use the controls is easy and comes quickly, and you can measure the results in terms of sharp and correctly developed pictures. Once you have mastered that, you can start on the second step of your photographic work. Using these basic skills in the wide variety of situations to give the pictures you want, noticing what you see through the viewfinder and turning that into the most effective picture becomes totally interesting.
All good photographs have one thing in common: there is no doubt what the subject of the picture is meant to be. Every photographer must use those same standards to his or her work, not only to finished results but to the subject before he or she takes it. Always work out quite clearly what the subject of the picture is to be and why you are taking the picture. For example, "I am going to take a picture of this street to show the different styles and ages of the buildings and that people have been living, working and shopping in them since time began." By doing this you have a better idea of what to include in the picture and what to leave out. How often have you been shown photographs taken by people away on a trip somewhere? The judgment is always similar, something about "the car park is out of the picture to the left", or "you can't quite see from this picture but if you go up the street". The photographs are usually collections of buildings, people, parked cars, possibly a distant look of an ancient church, and best of all, a figure which you are told is Aunt Henrietta, disappearing in the middle distance. When photographers show you their pictures, they have a clear idea of what they want to bring to your attention, but it often does not appear in the picture. If they had given just a little of their time to think about their future judgment before taking the picture, then the picture would relate its own story. Good pictures can show their subjects quickly and easily.
64. What does the author mean by saying "in many ways, the earliest periods of photography are the most satisfying"?
A. The skills of photography are not as satisfactory nowadays as before.
B. The earliest pictures were the best pictures people have ever taken.
C. The present-day photography depends more on technology than on art.
D. Learning to produce a sharp and correctly developed picture is only the first step in photography and is easily learned.
65. What will it bring you if you decide the purpose of the photograph in advance?
A. It will allow you to leave out unnecessary material.
B. It will allow you to stand in the best place.
C. It will help you to vary the subjects of your pictures.
D. It means you will waste less time.
66. Many photographers fail because ______.
A. their pictures include both buildings and people
B. everything is not clear in their pictures
C. the subjects of their pictures are not obvious
D. the explanation given for their pictures is mistaken
67. What book is this passage most likely taken from?
A. A book on photography for news reporters. B. A book on how to photograph people.
C. A book on choosing the right camera. D. A book on improving photographic techniques.
“Indeed,”George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785,“some kind of fly,or bug,had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.”But the father of America was not the father of bug.When Washington wrote that,Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century,and Americans had already created lightningbug(萤火虫).But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language,leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person,referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity.Although fan became the usual term,sports fans used to be called racing bugs,baseball bugs,and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object,for example,a bugshaped car.The bug could also be a burglar alarm,from which comes the expression to bug,that is,“to install (安装) an alarm”.Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversations.Since the 1840s,to bug has long meant“to cheat”,and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design.That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison.In 1878 he explained bugs as“little problems and difficulties”that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product.In 1889 it was recorded that Edison“had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.”We learn from Paragraph 1 that ________.
A.Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug |
B.George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug |
C.the word bug was still popularly used in England in the nineteenth century |
D.both Englishmen and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century |
What does the word“flaw”in the last paragraph probably mean?
A.Explanation. | B.Finding. |
C.Origin. | D.Fault. |
The passage is mainly concerned with________.
A.the misunderstanding of the word bug |
B.the development of the word bug |
C.the public views of the word bug |
D.the special characteristics of the word bug |
Your glasses may someday replace your smartphone,and some New Yorkers are ready for the switch.Some in the city can’t wait to try them on and use the maps and GPS that the futuristic eyewear is likely to include.
“ I’d use it if I were hanging out with friends at 3 a.m.and going to the bar and wanted to see what was open,”said Walter Choo,40,of Fort Greene.
The smartphonelike glasses will likely come out this year and cost between $250 and $600,the Times said,possibly including a variation of augmented(增强的) reality,a technology already available on smartphones and tablets (平板电脑) that overlays information onto the screen about one’s surroundings.So,for example,if you were walking down a street,indicators would pop_up showing you the nearest coffee shop or directions could be plotted out and come into view right on the sidewalk in front of you.
“As far as a mainstream consumer product,this just isn’t something anybody needs,”said Sam Biddle,who writes for Gizmodo.com.“ We’re accustomed to having one thing in our pocket to do all these things,”he added,“and the average consumer isn’t gonna be able to afford another device (装置) that’s hundreds and hundreds of dollars.”
9to5Google publisher Seth Weintraub,who has been reporting on the smartphonelike glasses since late last year,said he is confident that this type of wearable device will eventually be as common as smartphones.
“It’s just like smartphones 10 years ago,”Weintraub said.“A few people started getting emails on their phones,and people thought that was crazy.Same kind of thing.We see people bending their heads to look at their smartphones,and it’s unnatural,”he said.“ There’s gonna be improvements to that,and this a step there.”One of the possible functions of the smartphonelike glasses is to ________.
A.program the opening hours of a bar |
B.supply you with a picture of the future |
C.provide information about your surroundings |
D.update the maps and GPS in your smartphones |
The underlined phrase“pop up”in the third paragraph probably means“ ________”.
A.develop rapidly |
B.get round quickly |
C.appear immediately |
D.go over automatically |
According to Sam Biddle,the smartphonelike glasses are ________.
A.necessary for teenagers |
B.attractive to New Yorkers |
C.available to people worldwide |
D.expensive for average consumers |
We can learn from the last two paragraphs that the smartphonelike glasses ________.
A.may have a potential market |
B.are as common as smartphones |
C.are popular among young adults |
D.will be improved by a new technology |
In 1974,after filling out fifty applications,going through four interviews,and winning one offer,I took what I could get—a teaching job at what I considered a distant wild area:western New Jersey.My characteristic optimism was alive only when I reminded myself that I would be doing what I had wanted to do since I was fourteen—teaching English.
School started,but I felt more and more as if I were in a foreign country.Was this rural area really New Jersey?My students took a week off when hunting season began.I was told they were also frequently absent in late October to help their fathers make hay on the farms.I was a young woman from New York City,who thought that“Make hay while the sun shines” just meant to have a good time.
But,still,I was teaching English.I worked hard,taking time off only to eat and sleep.And then there was my sixthgrade class—seventeen boys and five girls who were only six years younger than me.I had a problem long before I knew it.I was struggling in my work as a young idealistic teacher.I wanted to make literature come alive and to promote a love of the written word.The students wanted to throw spitballs and whisper dirty words in the back of the room.
In college I had been taught that a successful educator should ignore bad behavior.So I did,confident that,as the textbook had said,the bad behavior would disappear as I gave my students positive attention.It sounds reasonable,but the text evidently ignored the fact that humans,particularly teenagers,rarely seem reasonable.By the time my boss,who was also my taskmaster,known to be the strictest,most demanding,most quick to fire inexperienced teachers,came into the classroom to observe me,the students exhibited very little good behavior to praise.
My boss sat in the back of the room.The boys in the class were making animal noises,hitting each other while the girls filed their nails or read magazines.I just pretended it all wasn’t happening,and went on lecturing and tried to ask some inspiring questions.My boss,sitting in the back of room,seemed to be growing bigger and bigger.After twenty minutes he left,silently.Visions of unemployment marched before my eyes.
I felt mildly victorious that I got through the rest of class without crying,but at my next free period I had to face him.I wondered if he would let me finish out the day.I walked to his office,took a deep breath,and opened the door.
He was sitting in his chair,and he looked at me long and hard.I said nothing.All I could think of was that I was not an English teacher;I had been lying to myself,pretending that everything was fine.
When he spoke,he said simply,without accusation,“You had nothing to say to them.”
“You had nothing to say to them.”he repeated.“No wonder they’re bored.Why not get to the meat of the literature and stop talking about symbolism.Talk with them,not at them.And more important,why do you ignore their bad behavior?”We talked.He named my problems and offered solutions.We roleplayed.He was the bad student,and I was the forceful,yet,warm,teacher.
As the year progressed,we spent many hours discussing literature and ideas about human beings and their motivations.He helped me identify my weaknesses and my strengths.In short,he made a teacher of me by teaching me the reality of Emerson’s words:“The secret to education lies in respecting the pupil.”
Fifteen years later I still drive that same winding road to the same school.Thanks to the help I received that difficult first year,the school is my home now.It can be inferred from the story that in 1974________.
A.the writer became an optimistic person |
B.the writer was very happy about her new job |
C.it was rather difficult to get a job in the USA |
D.it was easy to get a teaching job in New Jersey |
According to the passage,which of the following is most probably the writer’s problem as a new teacher?
A.She had blind trust in what she learnt at college. |
B.She didn’t ask experienced teachers for advice. |
C.She took too much time off to eat and sleep. |
D.She didn’t like teaching English literature. |
What is the writer’s biggest worry after her taskmaster’s observation of her class?
A.She might lose her teaching job. |
B.She might lose her students’ respect. |
C.She couldn’t teach the same class any more. |
D.She couldn’t ignore her students’ bad behavior any more. |
Which of the following gives the writer a sense of mild victory?
A.Her talk about symbolism sounded convincing. |
B.Her students behaved a little better than usual. |
C.She managed to finish the class without crying. |
D.She was invited for a talk by her boss after class. |
The students behaved badly in the writer’s classes because________.
A.they were eager to embarrass her |
B.she didn’t really understand them |
C.they didn’t regard her as a good teacher |
D.she didn’t have a good command of English |
The taskmaster’s attitude towards the writer after his observation of her class can be best described as ________.
A.cruel but encouraging |
B.fierce but forgiving |
C.sincere and supportive |
D.angry and aggressive |
The baby monkey is much more developed at birth than the human baby.Almost from the moment it is born,the baby monkey can move around and hold tightly to its mother.During the first few days of its life the baby will approach and hold onto almost any large,warm,and soft object in its environment,particularly if that object also gives it milk.After a week or so,however,the baby monkey begins to avoid newcomers and focuses its attentions on“mother”—the real mother or the mothersubstitute(母亲替代物).
During the first two weeks of its life warmth is perhaps the most important psychological(心理的)thing that a monkey mother has to give to its baby.The Harlows,a couple who are both psychologists,discovered this fact by offering baby monkeys a choice of two types of mothersubstitutes—one covered with cloth and one made of bare wire.If the two artificial mothers were both the same temperature,the little monkeys always preferred the cloth mother.However,if the wire model was heated,while the cloth model was cool,for the first two weeks after birth the baby monkeys picked the warm wire mothersubstitutes as their favorites.Thereafter they switched and spent most of their time on the more comfortable cloth mother.
Why is cloth preferable to bare wire?Something that the Harlows called contact(接触)comfort seems to be the answer,and a most powerful influence it is.Baby monkeys spend much of their time rubbing against their mothers’ skins,putting themselves in as close contact with the parent as they can.Whenever the young animal is frightened,disturbed,or annoyed,it typically rushes to its mother and rubs itself against her body.Wire doesn’t “rub” as well as does soft cloth.Prolonged(长时间的)“contact comfort” with a cloth mother appears to give the babies confidence and is much more rewarding to them than is either warmth or milk.
According to the Harlows,the basic quality of a baby’s love for its mother is trust.If the baby is put into an unfamiliar playroom without its mother,the baby ignores the toys no matter how interesting they might be.It screams in terror and curls up into a furry little ball.If its cloth mother is now introduced into the playroom,the baby rushes to it and holds onto it for dear life.After a few minutes of contact comfort,it obviously begins to feel more secure.It then climbs down from the mothersubstitute and begins to explore the toys,but often rushes back for a deep embrace(拥抱)as if to make sure that its mother is still there and that all is well.Bit by bit its fears of the new environment are gone and it spends more and more time playing with the toys and less and less time holding onto its “mother”.Psychologically,what does the baby monkey desire most during the first two weeks of its life?
A.Warmth. | B.Milk. |
C.Contact. | D.Trust. |
After the first two weeks of their life,baby monkeys prefer the cloth mother to the wire mother because the former is________.
A.larger in size |
B.closer to them |
C.less frightening and less disturbing |
D.more comfortable to rub against |
What does the baby monkey probably gain from prolonged“contact comfort”?
A.Attention. | B.Softness. |
C.Confidence. | D.Interest. |
It can be inferred that when the baby monkey feels secure,________.
A.it frequently rushes back for a deep embrace when exploring the toys |
B.it spends more time screaming to get rewards |
C.it is less attracted to the toys though they are interesting |
D.it cares less about whether its mother is still around |
The main purpose of the passage is to ________.
A.give the reasons for the experiment |
B.present the findings of the experiment |
C.introduce the method of the experiment |
D.describe the process of the experiment |
Jimmy is an automotive mechanic,but he lost his job a few months ago.He has a good heart,but always feared applying for a new job.
One day,he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview.His appointment was at 10 am and it was already 8:30.While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed,he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car.Obviously there was something wrong with the car.Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand.When Jimmy finished working on the car,the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service.Jimmy said there was no need to pay him;he just helped someone in need,and he had to rush for an interview.Then the old man said,“Well,I could take you to the office for your interview.It’s the least I could do.Please,I insist.”Jimmy agreed.
Upon arrival,Jimmy found a long line of applicants waiting to be interviewed.Jimmy still had some grease on him after the car repair,but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt.One by one,the applicants left the interviewer’s office with disappointed looks on their faces.Finally his name was called.The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window.Rocking the chair back and forth,he asked,“Do you really need to be interviewed?”Jimmy’s heart sank.“With the way I look now,how could I possibly pass this interview?”he thought to himself.
Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy’s surprise,it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning.It turned out he was the General Manager of the company.
“Sorry I had to keep you waiting,but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into this office.I just know you’d be a trustworthy worker.Congratulations!”Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of welldeserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.Why did Jimmy apply for a new job?
A.He was out of work. |
B.He was bored with his job. |
C.He wanted a higher position. |
D.He hoped to find a better boss. |
What did Jimmy see on the way to the interview?
A.A friend’s car had a flat tyre. |
B.A wild man was pushing a car. |
C.A terrible car accident happened. |
D.An old man’s car broke down. |
Why did the old man offer Jimmy a ride?
A.He was also to be interviewed. |
B.He needed a travelling companion. |
C.He always helped people in need. |
D.He was thankful to Jimmy. |
How did Jimmy feel on hearing the interviewer’s question?
A.He was sorry for the other applicants. |
B.There was no hope for him to get the job. |
C.He regretted helping the old man. |
D.The interviewer was very rude. |
What can we learn from Jimmy’s experience?
A.Where there’s a will,there’s a way. |
B.A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
C.Good is rewarded with good. |
D.Two heads are better than one. |