There was a story many years ago of a school techer-Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she oved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn’t play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.
Then. Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother’s perfume(香水).
Teddy said, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy’s mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed. Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.(医学博士).
The story doesn’t end there. On his wedding day, Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference.”
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference, I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”What did Mrs. Thompson do on the first day of school?
A.She made Teddy feel ashamed. |
B.She asked the children to play with Teddy. |
C.She changed Teddy’s seat to the front row. |
D.She told the class something untrue about herself. |
What did Mrs. Thompson find out about Teddy?
A.He often told lies. |
B.He was good at math. |
C.He needed motherly care. |
D.He enjoyed playing with others. |
In what way did Mrs. Thompson change?
A.She taught fewer school subjects. |
B.She became stricter with her students. |
C.She no longer liked her job as a teacher. |
D.She card more about educating students. |
Why did Teddy thank Mrs. Thompson at his wedding?
A.She had kept in touch with him. |
B.She had given him encouragement. |
C.She had sent him Christmas presents. |
D.She had taught him how to judge people. |
I made a pledge (誓言) to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical(圣经的)passage about husbands being thoughtful of their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been
a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.”
“Oh, Tom, you noticed,” she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled.
After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that's how the whole vacation passed. I made a new pledge to keep on remembering to choose love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress (悲痛), “do you know something I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup(体检)I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me?Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to sink in. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”
From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage __________.
A.with his family | B.with Evelyn | C.alone | D.with his children |
During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because __________.
A.she looked lovely in her new clothes |
B.he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm |
C.he was determined to be a good husband |
D.she was seriously ill |
The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What was the one thing that went wrong?
A.He praised her sweater, which puzzled her. |
B.She insi![]() |
C.He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her. |
D.He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying. |
By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that __________.
A.he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life |
B.he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband |
C.he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change |
D.he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before |
In the past industries had more freedom than they have now, and they did not need to be as careful as they must today. They did not need to worry a lot about the safety of the new products that they developed. They did not have to pay much attention to the health and safety of the people who worked for them. Often new products were dangerous for the people who used them; often conditions in the work place had very bad effects on the health of the workers.
Of course sometimes there were real disasters which attracted the attention of governments and which showed need for changes. Also scientists who were doing research into the health of workers sometimes produced information which governments could not ignore. At such times, there were inquiries into the causes of the disaster or the problems. New safety rules were often introduced as a result of these inquiries; however,the new rules
came too late to protect the people who had died or become seriously ill.
Today many governments have special departments which protect customers and workers. In the U.S., for example, there is a department which tests new airplanes and gives warnings about possible problems. It also makes the rules that aircraft producers must follow. Another department controls the foods and drugs that companies sell. A third department looks at the places where people work, and then reports any companies that are breaking laws which protect the health and safety of workers.
According to Paragraph 1, compared with today, industries in the past __________.
A.were controlled less strictly |
B.were worse off |
C.affected more peoples health |
D.put out more unhealthy products. |
It is implied in Paragraph 2 that years ago governments __________.
A.paid much attention to the results of scientific discoveries |
B.seldom introduced safety laws before disasters occurred |
C.hardly ever looked into the causes of tragedies |
D.imposed safety rules as soon as disasters occurred |
The main topic of the passage is __________.
A.industries in the past and at present |
B.changes in the development of industries |
C.the protection of industrial workers and customers |
D.the freedom of industries |
The purpose of this passage is to __________.
A.inform | B.criticize | C.entertain | D.persuade |
The desire to make explorations is born with man. Wherever his imagination goes, man also has a strong wish to go. A large part human history is connected with the exploration of the world in which we live. Again and again people have set out with surprising courage and patience to look into unknown regions and lands to see what had not yet been seen, to make known the unknown. With kites, balloons and aircraft they left the ground to pass through the lower atmosphere. Now the outer space receives their attention.
Why should man take the trouble of conquering space? It is hard to list the specific practical benefits that will result in. But one knows, from past experience in other areas, that man will surely see and discover new things in space that will increase our scientific knowledge, and this new knowledge will find its way into valuable practical uses. What we learn about man himself, from his experience in space, and from the effects of space and the space flight environment on him, will be extremely valuable. The new techniques developed to carry out the exploration of space, and to keep man alive in space, will certainly find practical uses in everyday life
in some way. The areas that will benefit are manifold. They include communication, generation of power, transportation and travel, food production, materials, fuels and many others. But to say definitely just what the practical results will be is almost impossible.
The main idea of the first paragraph is that __________.
A.man desires to explore what is unknown |
B.man often goes wherever his dreams go |
C.man is no longer interested in the study of the land and sea now |
D.man’s history is the exploration of the world |
The word “manifold” in the second paragraph probably means __________.
A.vast | B.various | C.valuable | D.practical |
The author seems to be in favor of__________.
A.doubting the necessity of the space exploration |
B.the exploration of space |
C.exploring more in space than in the sea |
D.his experience in space |
I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.
After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.
I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn’t enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.
Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me! When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.
The author asked for room service because _______.
A.a lot of money would be saved in this way |
B.he didn’t like to eat with other people around |
C.he didn’t wanted to be recognized by the waiters |
D.seeing people laughing and talking made him feel bad |
How did the waiter feel when he saw the author come in at 6:25?
A.Dissatisfied. | B.Pleased. | C.Surprised. | D.Angry. |
From the third paragraph, we can learn that the waiter at the front desk ______.
A.knew how to attract more customers to his restaurant |
B.found it hard to balance his work and his family |
C.was getting tired of his present job |
D.had never had such a chance to talk about his worries |
The author wants to tell us that ______.
A.people are actually all lonely in their own way |
B.restaurants should put the need of customers first |
C.the kindness of strangers can make you less lonely |
D.restaurants are full of surprises for lonely people |
Ears are for hearing — everyone knows that. But for a creature called the Cuvier’s beaked whale, hearing starts in the throat (喉咙), a new study found.
The observation might help explain how all whales hear. The work might also help scientists understand how animals are affected by underwater sonar (声呐). This sonar, used by some ships, sends out sound waves to locate underwater objects.
The Cuvier’s beaked whale is a so-called toothed whale. Toothed whales dive deep into the ocean in search of food. As the whales hunt, they produce sounds that reach objects and then return to the whales. This allows the animals to “see” the shape, size, and location of objects, even when they’re 1,000 meters under the sea, where it is totally dark.
To better understand how the whale hears, researchers from San Diego State University in California took X rays of two Cuvier’s beaked whales. The whales had died and washed up on the beach.
Ted Cranford and his colleagues used the images to make a computer model of a Cuvier’s beaked whale’s head. Then, they modeled the process of sound traveling through the head.
The researchers knew that some sounds get to the ears of a toothed whale through a structure (构造) called “the window for sound”. Found on the lower jaw, this structure is very thin on the outside and has a large pad (垫) of fat on the inside.
When the researchers used their computer model to work out how sound waves travel in the whale’s head, they were surprised to find that sounds coming from right in front of the whale actually travel under the animal’s jaw. From there, sound waves move through the throat, into a hole in the back of the jaw, and finally to the pad of fat near the animal’s ears.
Toothed whales look for food under the sea by ______.
A.watching the shape and size of their objects | B.diving deep into the sea |
C.sending and receiving sounds | D.making lots of noises |
Researchers took X rays of two Cuvier’s beaked whales in order to ______.
A.find out why they had died and washed up on the beach |
B.make a computer model of a Cuvier’s beaked whale’s head |
C.make sure that sound travels through the head |
D.know more about the way the whale hears |
Which of the following describes the way taken by sound waves through a Cuvier’s beaked whale?
A.A hole in the back of the jaw → the ears → the jaw → the throat. |
B. The jaw → the throat → a hole in the back of the jaw → the ears. |
C. The throat → the jaw → the ears → a hole in the back of the jaw. |
D.The ears → the throat → a hole in the back of the jaw → the jaw. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?
A.The throat is important to the Cuvier’s beaked whale’s hearing. |
B.Ships send out sound waves like a Cuvier’s beaked whale. |
C.The ears are actually useless to the Cuvier’s beaked whale. |
D.The researchers haven’t found how the whales hear. |