A businessman had two sons. While he gave the younger son a lot of love and gifts, he neglected (忽视) the elder son. It was completely puzzling (令人费解) and no one knew why.
When the boys grew up, they were asked to manage the father’s business. The elder son was absorbed in the business. From morning till late in the evening, he was busy working. Within a few years, he ran the business very well and even expanded (扩大) it.
What about the younger son? He didn't have much to do except have a good time. But the father believed that his favorite son would be a success. If the elder son could be a successful businessman, surely the younger one, with a higher education, would do much better.
A few years later, the results of his decision became clear. Uninterested in business, the younger son continued spending his time enjoying himself. And he went out of business. But the elder son’s far smaller share (份
) of business had expanded and he had proved himself to be a good decision maker.
Ashamed at the turn of events, the father met the elder son and was angry with the younger one. The elder son, who was listening to all this quietly, suddenly said he wanted to set up an independent business and live on his own.
“Why?” asked the father.
“I blame (责备) one person for the way my brother has turned out, and it’s not him. You can’t blame children for the faults (过失) of their parents, can you?” asked the elder son.Before the younger son went into the father’s business, he______.
| A．was interested in business | B．had achieved great success |
| C．often looked down upon his brother | D．was well-educated at school |
Why did the father treat the two sons differently?
| A．the elder son didn’t work hard | B．no one knew why he did it |
C．the you nger son was hardworking |
D．he wanted to do an experiment |
Which is NOT the reason for the younger son’s going out of business?
| A．he himself didn’t work hard |
| B．his father didn’t educate him properly |
| C．he was not interested in business at all |
| D．he was busy working every day |
What does the text really want to teach us?
| A．Parents are responsible for children’s development. |
| B．Once something is done, you should do it well. |
| C．Interest is the most important for success. |
| D．One has responsibility for what he himself has done. |
【改编】Can you believe everything that you read? It seems as if every day, some new articles come out about a new discovery about this or that. For example, water is bad for you, or good for you. The answer depends on which scientific study has just come out. People cannot decide which food items are healthy, how pyramids were constructed, and why dinosaurs disappeared. When we look for answers we sometimes can believe persuasive researches and scientists. But how trustworthy are they really? Here are two examples of scientific hoaxes.
As far back as 1726, Johann Beringer was fooled by his fellow scientists into thinking he had made an amazing discovery. The fossils of spiders, lizards, and even birds with the name of God written on them in Hebrew were unlike anything that had been found before. He wrote several papers on them and was famous for those only to have it revealed that they were planted by jealous colleagues to ruin his reputation.
When an early human being was discovered in 1912, scientists at this time were wild with excitement over the meaning it had for the theory of evolution. There were hundreds of papers about this Piltdown man over the next fifty years until it was finally discovered to be a complex hoax. The skull (头骨) of a man had been mixed with the jawbone of an orangutan (猩猩) to make the ape (猿) man.
The next time you read the exciting new findings of a study of the best scientist, do not automatically assume that it is true. Even qualified people can get it wrong. While we certainly should not ignore scientific research, we do need to take it with a grain of salt. Just because it is accepted as the truth today does not mean it will still be trustworthy tomorrow.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Everything in the newspaper is doubtful. |
| B．People are encouraged to suspect everything. |
| C．Not everything you read is believable. |
| D．Sometimes scientists may make mistakes. |
What does the underlined word “ hoaxes” mean?
| A．Truths. | B．Tricks. | C．Researches. | D．Result. |
From the second paragraph we can know______.
| A．Johann Beringer was envied by his colleagues. |
| B．Johann Beringer lived in the seventeenth century. |
| C．Johann Beringer found the Piltdown man. |
| D．Johann Beringer found he was fooled by others in time. |
According to the passage ,the discovery of Piltdown man______.
| A．was significant to the theory of evolution. |
| B．proved orangutan developed from man. |
| C．didn’t prove false until 50 years later. |
| D．proved that scientists were very careless. |
From the last paragraph we can infer the author thinks_____.
| A．scientists are unreliable. |
| B．everyone can make a mistake. |
| C．we should ignore scientific research. |
| D．we should treat scientific research reasonably. |
【原创】The spread of Western eating habits around the world is bad for human health and the environment. Those findings come from a new report in the journal Nature.
There are ways to solve this diet-health-environment problem. But they will require a change in eating habits. And what we eat can be a product of culture, personal taste, price and ease.
David Tilman , a professor of ecology, examined information from 100 countries to identify what people ate and how diet affected health and found as nations industrialized, population increased and earnings rose, more people began to adopt what has been called the Western diet.
The Western diet is high in refined or processed sugar, fat, oil and meat. By eating these foods, people began to get fatter -- and sicker.
David Tillman says overweight people are at greater risk for non-infectious diseases like diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
Unfortunately when people become industrialized, if they adopt this Western diet, they are going to have these same health impacts, and in some cases if you are Asian, you have them more seriously than what happens in the West."
China, he says, is an example where the number of diabetes cases has jumped. And that’s happening all across the world, in Mexico, Nigeria and so on.
A diet bad for human beings is also bad for the environment. As the world's population grows, experts say more forests will become farmland for crops or grasslands for grazing cattle.
"We are likely to have more greenhouse gas released in the future from agriculture because of this dietary shift than all the greenhouse gas that comes out of cars, airplanes, boats and ships. So our change in diet is likely to be worse for the world for climate warming than all the transportation sources we use right now."
He says one possible solution is leaving the Western diet behind. What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The advantage of the Western diet |
| B．The disadvantage of the Western diet. |
| C．The diseases caused by the Western diet. |
| D．The popularity of the Western diet. |
Why do more and more people eat Western diet?
| A．Because Western diet is good for health. |
| B．Because people have more money. |
| C．Because Western diet is cheaper. |
| D．Because Western diet can make people thin. |
According to the passage, what is good for our environment?
| A．Giving up the Western diet. |
| B．Returning to Chinese diet. |
| C．Growing more crops |
| D．Raising more cattle. |
In which section of a newspaper can you find this passage?
| A．Science and Technology. | B．Education and Culture. |
| C．Environment and Health. | D．Agriculture and Climate. |
Which statement is true?
| A．The Western diet has little effect on Asians . |
| B．The China diet is rich in fat and oil. |
| C．Leaving the Western diet behind is easy for people. |
| D．More forests will become farmland as the world's population grows . |
Do you know the open-air art gallery in London's Blackall Street? Probably -not. Not many Londoners know it either, but Henri does and he is willing to show it to you.
Henri used to sleep in parks until he met a charity(慈善机构) that helps homeless people get back on their feet by becoming tour guides.
Rather than show traditional London sights, “Unseen Tours" take people off the beaten track. Henri has been teaching tourists about the history and architecture of Shoreditch, where he slept on public benches for three years.
When he felt separated from the society, contact with the volunteer network "The Sock Mob" gave Henri hope. "Not everyone just looked down on me," he said. The tours aren't the only actions trying to help those who have suffered a misfortune to stand tall again.
An innovative(创新的) college for homeless people in London, the first of its kind in the country, is attracting hundreds of students. The Recovery College, set up by St Mungo's charity, is providing courses designed to improve technical skills and life skills.
According to Andy Williams, who helps to organize the college, the most popular courses have proved to be about raising self-confidence and developing self-pride.
Steve, now in his 50s, told a reporter how much of a difference it makes to "have a bit of confidence". He had difficulty learning to read and had to leave school when he was 12. Because Steve's problem was not recognized at the time, he was "seen to be unable to read or write", and suffered with depression and alcohol addiction. He says the status of "student" is itself important for people who are used to being treated as outcasts（被遗弃者）
Some charities aim not only to help the homeless become independent but also to make them popular. The Homeless World Cup started ten years ago. Today the tournament draws teams from 48 countries made up of players-men and women-who are, or have been, living in the streets. It gives them a chance to become football heroes.The underlined part "take people off the beaten track" means "take people to______.”
| A．famous galleries | B．traditional sights |
| C．unusual places | D．public benches |
How does the Recovery College help the homeless people?
| A．By training them to be guides. |
| B．By offering them different courses. |
| C．By keeping in contact with them. |
| D．By asking more students to help them. |
At the age of 12, Steve _______ .
| A．wasn't treated as a normal student |
| B．had much confidence in himself |
| C．didn't want to study at school |
| D．left school because of depression |
The purpose of the Homeless World Cup is to help the homeless people _______.
| A．become football stars | B．improve life skills |
| C．gain self-confidence | D．find proper jobs |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Confidence Back Now. | B．London Tour. |
| C．The Popular Homeless. | D．Football Heroes. |
【改编】In the fall of 1985, I was a bright eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty one years later I am still a bright eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.
My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65.She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.
Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic—and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No.3.In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.
You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8！Our home was a complete zoo—a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college fulltime. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.
The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.
In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!
I am not special, just single minded. It always struck me that when you're looking at a big challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you're in the midst of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won't arrive in your life on one day. It's a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.How did the writer develop the passage?
| A．By giving examples. | B．By comparison. |
| C．By giving explanations. | D．By time order. |
How did the author feel when she had to leave home to study?
| A． Relieved. | B．Happy. |
| C．Guilty. | D．Disappointed. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word” withdraw”?
| A．Continue. | B．Drop. |
| C．Graduate. | D．Learn. |
Which word can be used to described the author?
| A．Considerate and strong-willed. |
| B．Generous and learned. |
| C．Clever and sensitive. |
| D．Honest and brave. |
What can we learn from this story?
| A．Well begun is half done. |
| B．God helps those who help themselves. |
| C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
| D．Pride hurts, modesty benefits. |
Microsoft has a problem：It desperately wants the remaining Windows XP users to upgrade to a newer version of the operating system but a good many of them still haven’t started．The latest numbers from NetMarket show that Windows XP still accounts for around 29．5％of all desktops in use even though Microsoft is due to end support for the l3-Year-old platform on April 8th．ZDNet reports that Microsoft plans to force remaining XP users to start next week by sending them notices reminding them again that it will end XP support within a month．
However, as Computerworld reports，Microsoft may have a tough time convincing some Windows XP users to upgrade because it's trying to sell them on Windows 8，the newest operating system that has angered many longtime PC users by removing the traditional Start menu and by adding the interface(界面)a special feature．Computerworld writes that many Windows users expressed anger last month when Microsoft asked them to help switch as many people as they could from Windows XP to Windows 8 partly because Microsoft hasn’t offered any sort of discount for Windows XP users making the switch．
This is particularly tiresome, these users said，because switching from XP to Windows 8 won’t just require a software upgrade but will instead likely force them to buy new machines capable(能够)of running Microsoft’s new operating system．Some users were also annoyed that Microsoft only mentioned Windows 8 and not Windows 7 as upgrade possibilities．
In the end，it looks like when Microsoft ends support for Windows XP next month there will still be a large part of the desktop PC world using the platform．Hackers who have been saving up all their best new malware(恶意软件)for the day when Windows XP support ends are about to have a field day．What problem does Microsoft have now?
| A．Windows XP is out of date and needs improvement． |
| B．Windows 8 runs worse than Windows XP． |
| C．No people like to upgrade their operating system． |
| D．Lots of users refuse to switch from XP to Windows 8． |
How will Microsoft remind users of the stop of XP support?
| A．By sending them notices． |
| B．By sending them daily emails． |
| C．By adding the interface a special feature． |
| D．By removing the traditional Start menu． |
Which is probably one of the reasons why users dislike Window 8?
| A．Microsoft hasn’t offered any discount for it． |
| B．They like Window 7 more than Window 8． |
| C．Microsoft refuses to offer them a new machine． |
| D．It’s impossible for them to use the new operating system． |
What does the underlined phrase “have a field day” probably mean in the last paragraph?
| A．Show up without warning． |
| B．Make rapid progress． |
| C．Make full use of the opportunity． |
| D．Come to an end completely． |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．Windows XP will completely be out of use in a month． |
| B．Windows XP will still be in use for a period of time． |
| C．Windows 8 will have a longer history than Windows XP． |
| D．Windows 7 will easily be attacked by Hackers． |