Most of the 20th century has been a development on the Industrial Revolution taken to an extreme: people now own more products than ever before; there are enough unclear weapons to destroy the earth several times over; there is hardly any forest left and pollution has got to the point where we buy water. Within a few years I predict you will be able to buy air. (There once was a time when you didn’t need to buy food or shelter either.)
Important developments in the last century are the breading down of the class structures left over from the Industrial Revolution stage, bringing with it the empowerment of the “common man ”: the working day is set by law to only 8 hours a day, everyone has the vote, the media has less obvious government control, people have landed on the moon, sent spacecrafts to Mars and so on. Families have also shrunk drastically（强烈地）; the nuclear family came about, and especially in the last half of the 20th century, one-parent families are becoming more common. This shrinking in the size of the family shows the increased independence of people—once upon a time people had to live in large groups to survive.
As humans have “become the gods”, they have realized their individuality and independence and taken their control of the world to an extreme. In many countries the land is almost completely used in the land is almost completely used in the production of food and as living space and they live in small cities which are entirely human constructed, made from materials which are also entirely human constructed(concrete, bricks) with hardly any remains of nature. Weeds are poisoned because they are messy; even parks have trees grown in tidy lines; grass is mowed to keep it short and so on. I think the massive drug “problem” troubling people is a result of too much of this influence, humans needing to escape the stark world they have created by entering fantasy worlds.
Over the last 100 years, the 20th century consciousness has spread throughout the world; most of Asia has been thoroughly “Westernized”, and most of the Third World is being overrun by western ways of doing things and living.What’s the author most concerned about?
| A．The influence of pollution. |
| B．Strong effects of development. |
| C．Changed positions of humans as gods. |
| D．The process of the Industrial Revolution. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the changes of the 20th century?
| A．Objective. | B．Tolerant. | C．Vague. | D．Negative. |
What does the underlined word “stark” in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．Unfair. | B．Illegal. | C．Dull. | D．Violent. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Men’s individuality is over controlled. |
| B．People have damaged nature too much. |
| C．Men’s independence is partially limited. |
| D．People show concern for nuclear families. |
HOLIDAY FUN AT THE POWERHOUSE
500 HARRIS STREET ULTIMO •TELEPHONE (02)9270111
Join in the holiday fun at the Powerhouse this month linked to our new exhibition, Evolution & Revolution: Chinese dress 1700s to now. DON’T FORGET our other special event, the Club Med Circus School which is part of the Circus（马戏团）！150 years of circus in Australia exhibition experience!
◆ Chinese Folk Dancing: Colorful Chinese dance and musical performances
by The Chinese Folk Dancing School of Sydney. Dances include: the Golden and the Chinese drum dance. A feature will be the Qin dynasty Emperor’s count dance.
Also included is a show of face painting for Beijing opera performances.
Sunday 29 June and Wednesday 2 July in the Turbine Hall, at 11.30 am & 1.30 pm.
◆ Australian Chinese Children’s Arts Theatre: Well-known children’s play experts from Shanghai leas this dynamic youth group. Performance include Chinese fairy tales and plays.
Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 July in the Turbine Hall, at 11.30 am & 1.30 pm.
◆ Chinese Youth League: A traditional performing arts group featuring
performance highlights such as Red scarf and Spring flower dances, and a musician
playing Er Hu.
Sunday 6 to Tuesday 8 July in the Turbine Hall, 11.30 am to 1.30 pm.
◆ Kids Activity : Make a Paper Horse: Young children make a paper horse
cut-out. (The horse is a frequent theme in Chinese painting, including a kind of
advancement.) Suitable for ages 8-12 years.
Sunday 28 June to Tuesday 8 July in the Turbine Hall, 12.30 pm to 1.00 pm.
◆ Club Med Circus School: Learn circus skills, including the trapeze, trampolining and magic. Note only for children over 5. There are 40 places available in each 1 hour session and these must be booked at the front desk, level 4 on the day.
Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 July at 11.30am & 1.00 pm.
Enjoy unlimited free visits and many other benefits by becoming a family
member of the Powerhouse. Our family memberships cover two adults and all children under the age of 16years at the one address.
Members receive Powerline, our monthly magazine, discounts in the shops and
restaurants, as well as free admission to the Museum. All this for as little as $50,00 a year! Call (02)9217 0600 for more details.When can you watch the Chinese drum dance?
| A．On July 2. | B．On July 3. |
| C．On July 6. | D．On July 8. |
To learn the magic tricks, you can go to.
| A．Kids Activity. |
| B．Chinese Youth League. |
| C．Club Med Circus School. |
| D．Children’s Arts Theatre. |
What is required if you want to enjoy free visits to the Museum?
| A．Calling (02)92170600. |
| B．Gaining family membership. |
| C．Coming for the holiday fun. |
| D．Paying Powerline $50.00 a year. |
What is the main purpose of the text?
| A．To attract visitors. |
| B．To present schedules. |
| C．To report the performances |
| D．To teach kids Chinese arts. |
Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be a simple fact? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?
If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk. The fourth, who took hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of theelephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.
Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a “simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.
To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a “simple fact”, try this simple experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell you it’s hot.What makes people think about simple facts differently?
| A．The fact that simple facts differ from one another. |
| B．The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact. |
| C．The fact that people often disagree with one another. |
| D．The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts. |
The writer’s advice is that ________.
| A．we should never think about simple facts |
| B．we should never judge something with a one-sided view |
| C．we should not agree about simple facts |
| D．we must learn from the six blind men |
What’s the main idea of this passage?
| A．People often judge something according to their own experience. |
| B．People often agree about simple facts. |
| C．It’s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact. |
| D．Don’t care too much about simple facts. |
Education is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them. Our purpose is to fit them for life.
In some modern countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that by free education for all-whether rich or poor, clever or stupid-one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough; we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees refuse to do what they think to be "low" work, and, in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries. But we have only to think a moment to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is far more important than that of a profess-or, we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns.
In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever work suited to his brains and ability and, secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that is very bad to be ashamed of one's work. Only such a type of education can be considered valuable to society.From the passage we can conclude that______.
| A．education can settle all of the world's problems |
| B．free education for all probably leads to a perfect world |
| C．free education won't help to solve social problems |
| D．all the social problems can't be solved by education |
The writer wants to prove that _____.
| A．our society needs all kinds of jobs |
| B．our society needs free education for all |
| C．a farmer is more important than a professor |
| D．people with university degrees refuse to do what they think to be "low" work |
According to the passage _____.
| A．work with hands is dirty and shameful |
| B．work with hands is low work |
| C．work with hands is the most important |
| D．we can't regard work with hands as low work |
The purpose of education is _____.
| A．to choose a system of education |
| B．to prepare children mainly for their future work |
| C．to let everyone receive education fit for him |
| D．to build a perfect world |
The passage tells us about _____.
system of education
B. means of education
C. value of education
D. type of education
We often find that weekends and holidays feel so short while classes and work feel so long. In reality, though, we know that this is not true. But we still wonder where that strange feeling comes from.
In fact, this is one of the ways that we're tricked by time, according to the website All That Is Interesting. The website lists several wrong impressions we often have about time. Let's have a look.
First of all, emotions affect our time-keeping abilities: Negative emotions, especially anxiety and boredom, make time seem longer because they make us concentrate more on the passage of time. However, when we are enjoying ourselves, we pay more attention to what we are doing and are likely to lose track of(失去对…的意识) time.
Here is another example. In 2007, a group of scientists carried out a test. In the test, people fell 50 meters into a safety net and were then asked about their experience. Although the experience took shorter than 3 seconds, the people thought it was much longer than it actually was.
This is because of the way our bodies reply to danger, according to the scientists. Our bodies produce a chemical called adrenaline(肾上腺素) when we are faced with danger. It allows us to concentrate better so that we can stay alive. As a result, we are able to remember far more details over a short period of time, which makes it seem like time is going more slowly.
Another occasion when we make mistakes about time is when we take afternoon naps(午觉). Have you ever had trouble telling what time it is after a long nap? That's because the best amount of time for a nap is 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you enter a new stage of sleep called slow-wave sleep. If you wake up mid-way in this stage, it will take a while before you can correctly perceive(感知) time again.
Yes, time can be mysterious and there is no way to control it So, perhaps the best thing to do is to make good use of every minute. How many examples of being tricked by time are mentioned in the article?
| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four | D．Five |
When people feel that an experience is longer than it really is, _________.
| A．a chemical called adrenaline is playing a role |
| B．they are concentrating on what they are doing |
| C．they are responding faster to the changes around them |
| D．they could be facing danger or feeling bored |
According to the passage, in which situation do we make mistakes about time?
| A．We have a math test when we fall down from a high place. |
| B．We have trouble telling what time it is after a 20 minutes’ nap. |
| C．We have many problems left in the test paper, but the time is up. |
| D．We go to school on the school bus as usual on weekdays. |
What is the article mainly about?
| A．How emotions affect time keeping abilities. |
| B．Tests which scientists carried out about time. |
| C．The best amount of time for an afternoon nap. |
| D．Mistakes that people make in their understandings of time. |
※Health, Wellness and the Politics of Food
9:00—9:45 a.m. Blue Tent
Panelists (成员)：Jami Bernard, David Kamp, Marion Nestle and Peter Singer.
Hosted by Denise Grady, science writer for the New York Times.
How does what we eat not only affect our bodies, but also the world？The food and nutrition experts debate the role that the diet plays in both personal and global health, and present a look at food politics.
※Sports Writing：For the Love of the Game
9:50—10:35 a.m. Blue Tent
Panelists：Christine Brennan, Ira Rosen, Joe Wallace and Joe Drape.
Hosted by William C. Rhoden, sports writer for the New York Times.
Whether catching that key moment of victory or defeat, or covering breaking news, sports writers are anything but audience. Listen as some professionals discuss the special experience in reporting of sports news.
※The Art of the Review
11:15—12:00 a.m. Green Tent
Panelists: John Freeman, Barry Gewen, David Orr, Celia McGee and Jennifer Schuessler.
Hosted by Sam Tanenhaus, editor for the New York Times Book Review.
How much of an effect does the book review have on book sales？Join this group of critics(评论家) as they discuss the reality of book review and bestseller lists, and how they choose books for review.
※New York Writers, New York Stories
3:00—3:45 p.m. Green Tent
Panelists: Cindy Adams, Richard Cohen, RicKlass and Lauren Redness.
Hosted by Clyde Haberman, columnist (专栏作家) for the City Section of the New York Times.
Join this inspiring group of New Yorkcentric writers as they talk about why New York is a gold mine of ideas for their work.If you are free in the afternoon, you can attend_____________.
| A．Health, Wellness and the Politics of Food |
| B．Sports Writing: For the Love of the Game |
| C．The Art of the Review |
| D．New York Writers, New York Stories |
All the four activities above ______________.
| A．are about writing | B．will last 45 minutes each |
| C．can be attended freely | D．will attract many readers |
We can learn from the text that______________.
| A．sports writers are a type of audience |
| B．the New York Times is popular |
| C．Denise Grady will discuss politics |
| D．book reviews may affect book sales |