“Football is a very short-term career. Football really prepares you for almost nothing. The only thing I got out of football was the ability to work hard.” says Gales Sayers. So what do you do after your glory days on the field are over? Here’s what one of the top players, Gales Sayers did after he put down the pigskin.
Gales Sayers: #40, Chicago Bears, Running Back.
Gales Sayers became famous in 1965. After recovering from a serious knee injury in 1968, Sayers returned to the Bears in 1969 and was awarded the George Halas Award as “the most courageous player in professional football.” At the award ceremony, he owed his prize to his friend and teammate Brian Piccolo, who was dying of cancer.
Sayers couldn’t get away from the injuries, though, and another blow to his knee put an end to his football career in 1971. His personal life was unfortunate as well, as he and his wife, Linda, split up that year. Shortly after that, Sayers started a new life and career as an assistant athletic director in the University of Kansas. By 1976 he was moving up the ladder at Southern Illinois University, becoming the first African-American athletic director at a major university.
Sayers started a computer supplies company in 1984 with his second wife, Ardie, whom he married in 1973. The couple was looking for a field with a future, and computers seemed to have it all. Seventeen years later, the company that bears his name is a national provider of technology solutions, with 10 locations and over 350 employees across the country. Just like in the old days the honors started rolling in. Sayers was listed into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship(企业家) Hall of Fame in 1999.What does the underlined sentence “he put down the pigskin” mean?
A
. Sayers ended his football career.
B
. Sayers was too tired to go on playing.
C. Sayers intended to start a new career.
D. Sayers only wanted to rest for some time. How many times was Sayers honored in his life?
| A．Only once as a football star. |
| B．Only once as a businessman. |
| C．Twice in all. |
| D．We are not quite sure. |
Sayers started his new career mainly because of _______ .
| A．the first knee injury in l 968 |
| B．his unfortunate personal life |
| C．another more serious knee injury |
| D．a friend’s being deadly ill |
What can be learned from this passage?
| A．Football players are not successful all the time. |
| B．A successful businessman should be a ball player first. |
| C．A retired football player can easily make money. |
| D．Whatever you do, working hard is the most important. |
The cheetah(猎豹)is best known for being the world’s fastest land animal, reaching speeds of just over 110kph for short period of time. However, many people know little else about this wonderful animal. The word cheetah probably comes from a Hindi word spotted animal. It is very similar to other cats but also has some obvious differences. Its body is much leaner than most cats and it has much longer legs.
People sometimes make a cheetah a leopard(美洲豹)because they both have spots, but in fact they are very different. A leopard is far heavier and more powerful, but also much slower. The cheetah’s spots cover most of its body except for its stomach and throat. The cheetah’s tail has spots and these become rings at the end of the tail.
An adult cheetah weighs between 35-65 kilograms and is about 80 centimeters high at the shoulder. The cheetah’s head is quite small and the eyes are quite high up. A black line runs from each eye down to its mouth and makes it look a little sad. It has high shoulders that help it to walk so gracefully.
Cheetahs are very fast but they are not very strong. They are not good fighters and will run away rather than fight another animal to protect their food. If they make a kill, it is sometimes taken away from them by stronger animals such as lions and leopard. These animals will kill their young if they get the chance. The cheetah is not a threat to humans at all. It will not attack humans and prefers to stay away from occupied areas.Many people know that the cheetah________
| A．is a fast runner |
| B．runs faster than any other animal on land |
| C．runs as fast as it can |
| D．is very fast for periods of time |
The cheetah ________
| A．has spots all over its body including its tail |
| B．has spots on its stomach and throat |
| C．does not have spots on its stomach and throat |
| D．has spots everywhere except for its stomach and throat |
Cheetahs will not fight another animal to protect their food because _______
| A．they can quickly run away |
| B．they are very fast runners |
| C．They want to protect their young |
| D．They are poor fighters |
Last year, on the night before the first day of the Spring Festival, Hugo Pang was sitting in his huge flat on Hong Kong Island. It was late in the evening, and Hugo was sipping a glass of his favorite French brandy, and listening to music on his huge, expensive music center. Pang lived alone, apart from the six maid who cooked and cleaned for him, and the chauffeur（私家司机） who drove his Rolls-Royce。
Suddenly, the room seemed to begin spinning around him. Then there was a flash of light and a puff of smoke, and before him Pang saw an old man dressed in traditional Chinese clothes. Pang looked at his brandy glass, and looked again at the old man. He was so frightened he couldn’t speak.
“Come with me,” said the old man, “I’m going to show you something.” He took Pang’s hand, and immediately the room disappeared, and Pang was standing in a field outside a village in Guangdong Province. The houses were small and the village was poor, but in front of him Pang saw a little crowd of children were playing. It was Spring Festival, and the sound of firecrackers could be heard from inside the village, while smoke rose over the roofs of the houses. Then, among the children playing, Pang recognized himself. “We were poor then,” he said, “but we were happier. We had to work hard to get everything we had.” The first paragraph tells us that Hugo Pang was________
| A．fat, rich and lazy | B．busy and tired |
| C．rich but lonely | D．very happy |
When the old man first appeared, Pang looked at his brandy glass because__________
| A．he thought he had too much brandy |
| B．he wanted to offer the old man some brandy |
| C．the glass was empty |
| D．he wanted more brandy |
The village in the last paragraph was___________
| A．not a real village |
| B．very peaceful and beautiful |
| C．the place where Pang lived |
| D．where Pang had lived as a child. |
The old wanted to show Pang that________
| A．Spring Festival in Gang dong was fun |
| B．his money had not made him happier |
| C．life is better when you are a child |
| D．it is better to be rich and lazy that to be poor and hard working |
When we see well, we do not think about our eyes very often. It is only when we cannot see perfectly that we realize how important our eyes are.
People who are near-sighted can only see things that are very close to their eyes. Everything else seems blurry. Many people who do a lot of work, such as writing, reading and sewing become near-sighted. People who are far-sighted suffer from just the opposite problem. They can see things that are far away, but they have difficulty in reading a book unless they hold it at arm’s length. If they want to do much reading, they must get glasses, too.
Other people do not see clearly because their eyes are not exactly the right shape. They have what is called astigmatism (散光). This, too, can be corrected by glasses. Some people’s eyes become cloudy because of cataracts (白内障). Long ago these people often became blind. Now, however, it is possible to operate on the cataracts and remove them.
Having two good eyes is important for judging distances. Each eye sees things from a slightly different angle. To prove this to yourself, look at an object out of one eye; then look at the same object out of your other eye. You will find the object’s relation to the background and other things around it has changed. The difference between these two different eye views helps us to judge how far away an object is. People who have only one eye cannot judge distances as people with two eyes.We should take good care of our eyes________. .
| A．only when we can see well |
| B．only when we cannot see perfectly |
| C．even if we can see wel |
| D．only when we realize how important our eyes are |
When things far away seem indistinct(模糊不清) , one is probably________. .
| A．near-sighted | B．far-sighted |
| C．astigmatic | D．suffering from cataracts |
The underlined word blurry in the second paragraph probably means_______.
| A．obvious | B．possible | C．clear | D．unclear |
Having two eyes instead of one is particularly useful for_______
| A．seeing at night | B．seeing objects far away |
| C．looking over a wide area | D．judging distances |
Some people learn a second language easily. Other people have trouble learning a new language. How can you help yourself learn a new language, such as English? There are several ways to make learning English a little easier and more interesting.
The first step is to feel positive about learning English. If you believe that you can learn, you will learn. Be patient. You do not have to understand everything all at once. It is natural to make mistakes when you learn something new. We can learn from our mistakes. In other words, do not worry about taking risks,
The second step is to practice your English. For example, write in a journal, or diary, every day. You will get used to writing in English, and you will feel comfortable expressing your ideas in English. After several weeks, you will see that your writing is improving. In addition, you must speak English every day. You can practice with your classmates outside class. You will all make mistakes, but gradually you will become comfortable communicating in English.
The third step is to keep a record of your language learning. You can write this in your journal. After each class, think about what you did. Did you answer a question correctly? Did you understand something the teacher explained? Perhaps the lesson was difficult, but you tried to understand it. Write these accomplishments in your journal.To feel positive（积极的） about learning English means_______
| A．if you are patient, you will learn |
| B．you can understand everything all at once |
| C．if you make mistakes, you can learn from them |
| D．if you believe you can learn, you will learn |
When you learn English, you do not need to _______
| A．practice speaking it too much |
| B．to be patient and feel positive about it |
| C．express your ideas in English |
| D．understand everything all at once |
What is not helpful for you to enjoy learning English?
| A．To communicate in English |
| B．To worry about taking risks |
| C．To think about what has been done after class |
| D．To make a record of the achievements |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．It’s very important to learn a second language |
| B．Some people learn a second language easily while others don’t |
| C．There are ways to help you learn a second language easily |
| D．Don’t worry about taking risks when learning a second language |
If I were writing a history of my family, some of the darkest moments recorded would be those surrounding Christmas trees. One would certainly think otherwise; selecting and putting up our trees have always been filled with risk. For example, one afternoon dangerously close to Christmas Eve my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain, a glorious tree that was so full and tall that we could hardly get it into the house. Once we did, my father immediately realized that we would have to hire a carpenter to build a stand for it. Another December, perhaps the very next one, we bought a tree earlier than we ever had before. We were happy with its shape and delighted that its size was manageable. We easily placed it in a stand, decorated it from top to bottom, and then self-satisfiedly sat back by the fire in its soft light. Two or three days passed and the truth could not be hidden; we had bought a tree cut so long ago that its needles were coming off. There was nothing to do but undecorate it, take it down, and begin tree shopping again. Our most recent Christmas tree offered still another difficult task. When we brought it home, once again it seemed larger than it was in the great outdoors. To complicate matters, we had bought a new stand, one whose nuts （螺帽） and bolts （闩子） worked more mysteriously than those of our old stands. I persuaded two young neighbors to stop playing basketball and to help us get the tree into the house and set it correctly in the stand. Unfortunately, no one noticed the mud on our helpers' shoes, so only after removing several reddish brown spots from the carpet were we able to discuss the question of where the lights and ornaments （装饰）were stored. Perhaps those who cut their own trees have tales more painful than these. I don't care to hear them, as my family's experiences are enough to cause me to make the following suggestion:" Let's forget the tree next Christmas. Let's simply hang some flowers on the front door and over the mirror in the hall. "The darkest moments in the writer's family were with the fact that _____.
| A．the family bought big Christmas trees |
| B．they had problems decorating their Christmas trees |
| C．they had problems picking suitable Christmas trees |
| D．they had problems finding carpenters for putting up Christmas trees |
We can learn from the passage that the writer would like to _____.
| A．forget about Christmas stories |
| B．get the neighbors to put up their trees |
| C．buy a better tree to celebrate Christmas |
| D．make other decorations rather than Christmas trees |
When the writer said " my mother bought what she thought to be a bargain", he means ____.
| A．she bought the tree at a cheap price |
| B．she didn't really want to buy it |
| C．she had to bargain hard with the salesman |
| D．she couldn't afford a more expensive one |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．How to Select a Christmas Tree |
| B．No More Christmas Tree for Us |
| C．Dark Moments of Life |
| D．Christmas Without Trees |