Have you heard of the story of the four-minute miles? Many years ago, people believed that it was impossible for a human being to run a mile in less than four minutes until Roger Banister proves it wrong in 1954.
What happens if you put an animal in a pond? Any animal, big or small, will swim its way through. What happens when people, who do not know how to swim, fall in deep waters? They drown. If an animal who has not learned swimming could escape by swimming, why not you? Because you believe you will drown while the animal does not.
Have you ever wondered why the letters are organized in a particular order on your keyboard? You might have thought it is to increase the typing speed. But the fact is that this system was developed to reduce the typing speed at a time when typewriter parts would jam (堵塞) if the operator typed too fast.
These three cases show the power of our beliefs. There is no other more powerful directing force in human behavior than belief. Your beliefs have the power to create and to destroy. A belief delivers command to your nervous system.
I used a snake in my workshops of children to learn how unrealistic some of their beliefs are. Students of a school in India, said snakes were slippery, slimy(黏糊糊的) and poisonous. After doing an exercise for changing beliefs, they handled my snake and found it to be dry and clean. They also remembered that only three types of poisonous snakes exist in India.
Did this story end the way you thought? Review your beliefs now and find out which ones you need to change.From the first paragraph, we know that _________.
A.several people have run a mile in four minutes. |
B.Roger Banister set a record |
C.nobody has run a mile in three minutes. |
D.Roger Banister tied a world record |
By comparing a drowning animal and a person, the writer tried to show _________.
A.the power of confidence |
B.the responses of humans and animals to dangers |
C.the difference between humans and animals |
D.the power of belief |
Which of the following statements would the writer agree with?
A.Our beliefs are impossible to change |
B.How we act mainly depends on our beliefs. |
C.Our beliefs create or destroy our nervous system |
D.Our beliefs always go against the truth |
The children visiting the writer’s workshops might_________.
A.learn how to keep off snakes |
B.become brave and realistic |
C.become clever and strong |
D.learn to review their beliefs |
Advertising can be a service to the customer. This is true when advertisements give reliable information about the goods advertised. Such information is needed if the customer is to make a sensible choice when he buys. It is useful in that it lets him know of the kinds of goods in the shops. Printed advertisements do this job best. Customers can collect them and compare them. They can be taken along to shops and their claims can be checked against the actual goods in the shops.
However, some advertisements are not very useful to the customer. Instead of helping him to satisfy his real needs, they set out to make him want things. They set out to create a need. These advertisements are cleverly done. The people who produce them understand our weaknesses. They set out to make us believe that what they advertise will make us cleverer, prettier and more handsome, if only we use it. Actually, it is our money they are after and we should be on guard.
Some advertisements mislead customers by using part of the truth to suggest something false, and it is skillfully made to give that idea to the careless reader, listener or viewer.
At its best advertising can be useful to the customer. At its worst it can mislead him. Many newspapers check on the goods for which the advertisements made claims. Most newspapers are very careful about the small advertisements, which try to sell goods directly to the readers by post. Many newspapers print information about this on their small advertisement pages. Advertising has become a very big business, and good firms in it do all they can to make sure it is conducted with some attention to truth. This is a help to the customer. But the best way is for customers to be on the lookout.
59. It can be inferred from the passage that advertisements can be useful if they ________.
A. how a long list of the goods advertised
B. give true information about goods
C. tell customers what to buy
D. appear on TV and in newspapers at the same time
60. Advertisements that play on our weaknesses make us ________.
A. desire things we do not need B. purchase the goods we need
C. attracted by them D. become loyal reader, listener or viewer
61. according to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
A. All advertising firms do not care to tell the truth about the goods they advertise.
B. All advertising firms only care to make money, as advertising is a big business.
C. Most advertising firms make sure that advertisements do not purposely cheat.
D. The advertised goods are often of poor quality.
62. The underlined word "They" refers to ________.
A. Goods B. Customers C. Shops D. Advertisements
第四节阅读理解(20×2分)
James Langston Hughes finally arrived in New York on September 4, 1921 to attend Colombia University. Langston felt frustrated at Colombia due to the discrimination of his white classmates. His grades began to suffer and finally he left and looked for a job.
Job were still hard to come by for most blacks. He longed to work on a ship that would sail abroad. After much persistence, he headed to Africa on a freighter ( 货船 ). Hughes was disturbed by the African tribes’ lack of political and economical freedom. The Africans considered him white because of his brown skin and stranded dark hair. It was here that he met a mulatto (白黑混血)child who was ignored by the Africans and the whites. This was a sourced of inspiration for his play, “Mulatto”.
Hughes found work on another freighter and ended up in Pairs. While there he worked at a night club that featured southern cooking and jazz performers. While moving on to Italy, Hughed was robbed and left stranded (helpless) wanting to return to the United States. He tried to get a job on a ship heading for the U.S.A. but was told they only hired the white. In this depressed state of mind he wrote, “I, Too, Sing America.”
He returned to America and found the Harlem Renaissance was spreading across racial boundaries(种族界线). Many black poets and authors were now published in mainstream publications. Hughes was warmly welcomed by his peers (同辈)and recognized for the poetry he wrote while traveling.
56. What inspired James Hughes to white the play “Mulatto”?
A. Neither the African nor the whites took care of a mulatto child he met.
B. The African did not like white people.
C. Blacks found it hard to find a decent job.
D. There was no political nor economical freedom in Africa.
57. How did Hughes pay for his trip from Africa to Paris?
A. He sold his poems.B. He got a job on ship.
C. He worked for a night club. D. His African friends gave him some money. 58 . What happened to Hughes at Colombia University?
A. His white classmates were kind and helpful to him.
B. He was recognized as a promising poet.
C. He graduated with honors.
D. He was very disappointed.
In recent weeks , small groups of young people appeared on downtown sidewalks in Changsha, Beijing and other cities , holding signs with the words "free hugs ,and offered embraces to any passer-by who would care for one. "
Calling themselves " the hug league" ,they said they were inspired an international news story of a similar type and intended to promote human contact in the face of growing alienation(疏远)in urban china.
We Chinese ,contrary to what is shown in our love movies and television shows , rarely run into each other's arms and cry our hearts out .We are raised in a culture of emotional restraint(克制)。We mark our meetings and departures with a wave of hand and a handshake of light touch . Not so long ago , even young lovers hugging in public places were considered rude.
But that doesn't mean we are immune(免疫的)to the wonderful feeling of human tactility(触感)。I remember my mother was visibly moved when I hold her hand for the first time while walking her across a busy street in the U.S. The circumstance made it more natural .But cultures don't evolve overnight ."It's hard to get rid of the old belief that man and woman shouldn't have any physical contact ,"some explained .In the late 1970s some feared that social dance would lead to sexual (侵扰).But the awkwardness was overcome as more and more people came to accept dancing with partners who were not their spouses (配偶)as a perfectly normal form of recreation.
In this environment of changing social customs manners , how people act could be the working many factors ,including their personality.Some offer bear hugs to everyone they know while others would shiver at the thought of medical personnel touching them with a stethoscope(听诊器)。The line between proper and improper often shifts(移动)with the sands of circumstances.
Offering hugs to strangers on the street is too radical(激进的)a step to have any meaningful impact on our customs.If anything , the huggers should start with their loved ones.
72.The writer think that __________
A free hug is not acceptable at present
B free hug is a proper custom in china
C offering hugs to strangers is nothing new in China
D man and woman should not have any physical contact
73.According to the passage , free hug_________
A was invented by some Chinese youths
B was introduced from other countries
C was intended to find lovers among the strangers
D was beneficial to a person's emotional health
74.The words "contrary to " in Paragraph 3 mean"_______"
A opposite to B different fromC similar to D the same as
75.The writer give the example of the social dance to ______
A prove that we are immune to the feeling of human touch
B indicate that the society is always changing
C show that many western customs are being accepted
D show that cultures don't evolve overnight
TUVALU, a tiny country in the Pacific Ocean, has asked for help as it will be swallowed up by the sea.
Storms and huge waves are a constant threat and none of Tuvalu’s nine little islands is more than five meters above sea level. Salt water is already entering the country’s drinking water supply, as well as damaging plants that produce fruit and vegetable. Without urgent help, the country’s days are numbered.
But Tuvalu is not the first place to face sinking into the sea. Venice, a historic city in Italy best known for its canals, has sunk about 24cm over the past 100 years. Experts say that it will have sunk another 20-50cm by 2050. A century ago, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest point city, flooded about nine times a year. Nowadays, it happens more than 100 times. While Venice is slowly sinking into the mud on which it stands, global warming causes Tuvalu’s rising sea level.
The average global temperature has increased by almost 0.5 centigrade degrees over the past century; scientists expect it rise by extra 1-3 degrees over the next 100 years.
Warmer weather makes glaciers (冰川) melt, and adds more water to the ocean. The warmer temperatures also make water expand, so it takes up more space, causing the sea level to rise. The sea level has risen about 10-25 cm in the last 100 years.
The main cause of global warming is human pollution. Through burning coal, oil and gas, people have been increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as CO2. This adds to the power of the greenhouse effect, making the planet even warmer.
Many scientists believe that, if the warming is not stopped, there will be huge climate changes. The sea level could rise by one meter this century.
Should this come true, the sea will swallow up millions of homes and the world will be flooded with “climate refugees” looking for somewhere to live.
68. We can infer from the second paragraph that .
A. Tuvalu is in danger of being swallowed up by the sea
B. all Tuvalu’s islands are about five meters above the sea level
C. drinking water in Tuvalu has been destroyed
D. Tuvalu is often flooded by storms and waves
69. Put the following events in the right order.
a. Glaciers began to melt. b. People burn coal ,oil and gas.
c. The greenhouse effect is growing. d. The earth is getting warmer and warmer
e. The sea level is rising. f. More CO2 is produced.
g. Many places are sinking into the sea.
A. d,f,b,c,a,e,g B. b,f,c,d,e,a,g C. f,c,b,d,a,e,g D. b,f,c,d,a,e,g
70. What does “climate refugees” mean?
A. Climate changes. B. Climate effect.
C. People forced away from their homeland by climate.
D. Rare animals moving from place to place for climate changes.
71 Which of the following is False according to the passage?
A. The sea level has risen about 10-25 cm in the last 100 years for warmer temperatures.
B. The average global temperature has risen by 1-3 centigrade degrees over the past 100 years.
C. The warmer temperature causes the sea level to rise.
D. There will be huge climate changes unless the warming is stopped
Every Christmas the giant tree in Rockefeller Center sparkles with thousands of lights. From the beginning, when construction workers raised the first one during the depths of the Depression, it has been a symbol of hope. Diana Abad, like most Americans, loved that tree.
In 1999, however, Diana was writing her will. The 33-year-old woman from Staten Island, New York, was diagnosed with leukemia(白血病)and wanted to put her things in order. Doctors told her she had nine months to live.
Her slim chance for survival lay in finding a bone marrow(骨髓)donor. The most likely source for a match is always among relatives -- but her family was tested and there was none.
Then one day in February 2000, she got a call from the hospital saying that out of the four million people enrolled in the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, there was only one match. The potential donor was thinking about it. In March the donor agreed, and the transplant procedure was scheduled for March 27.
On that day, a doctor came in with the marrow in a bag, and Diana remembers him saying: “This is it. If it doesn’t graft within four to six hours, nothing will bring you back.” Diana asked a priest (牧师)to give her last rite(祈祷).
Almost immediately after the two-hour procedure, she felt stronger. Doctors told her it looked like the graft had taken.
Donors are anonymous, but when she was better, Diana sent a note through the Registry: “You don’t know the joy that I am experiencing,” she wrote. “I hope that one day we can meet and I can thank you in person.”
It was several months before the donor replied. At first he didn’t even give his name. He was 34-year-old David Mason, and he lived in Dedham, Massachusetts. But eventually the two exchanged phone numbers and began to talk.
Then unexpectedly and unannounced, he turned up at her door in Englishtown, New Jersey, on December 23. She says it was love at first sight. He says he didn’t feel it until they met the second time.
That meeting began a long-distance romance that culminated(修成正果)under the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center in December 2004. That’s where David proposed(求婚)to Diana. She, of course, said yes.
64.Which of the following may be the title of the passage?
A.Perfect Match B.Successful Graft
C.Anonymous Donor D.Lucky Christmas Tree
65.What can we know about the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center?
A.It was planted by the local inhabitants of Rockefeller in the United States.
B.Diana got saved under the Christmas tree and so loved it.
C.Many Americans love the tree because it was raised during the depths of the depression.
D.The tree is very tall and beautifully decorated by people at Christmas time.
66.It can be inferred from the passage that .
A.leukemia is so serious a disease that nobody can survive in America
B.patients who suffer from leukemia may feel very weak
C.bone marrow transplant is very easy to carry out in America
D.the man donor knew Diana would become his wife in advance
67.Which of the following is true about their first meeting with each other?
A.Diana met David at the hospital on the day when she was operated on.
B.Diana went to David’s home in Dedham in order to thank him in person.
C.David and Diana fell in love with each other when they first met.
D.David didn’t telephone Diana to inform her of the date of his visiting her.