The old couple who lived in a cottage on the edge of the village were envied for the happiness of their marriage． They never quarreled and were always affectionate to one another． Sadly, after thirty-four years of this happiness, the husband became ill and died．
The wife was overcome with grief． Her children tried to comfort her, but to no avail． Her neighbors tried to comfort her, but with similar lack of success． Weeks and months went by, and still the woman was grieving; tears fell down her cheeks from morning till night．
Then a holy man came to the village． People told him about the woman, and asked him to try to help her． The holy man went to the woman’s house． Dressed in his rough woolen robe, he sat down with the grieving widow and listened, carefully, to her story． When she had spilled out all her sorrow, he reached into one of the deep pockets in his robe, and drew out a tiny, little mustard（芥末） seed． “I think I may have a cure for your grief,” he said． “I want you to go round the people in this region, and look for a family that has no sorrows． When you find this family, give them this little mustard seed, and then come back to me．
The woman set off in search of such a family． She visited every home in the district, and talked to the people． She listened to their stories, just as the holy man had listened to hers． In time, she almost forgot about the mustard seed, because every single family she met was carrying some kind of sorrow．
One day, she happened to meet the holy man again, and he stopped to ask how she was feeling． She was surprised at first, at his question, and then she suddenly remembered the mustard seed, still safely in her purse． “I’m sorry, I haven’t found a family without sorrows yet,” she told him． “But you yourself are cured of your grief,” he smiled． “The mustard seed is a great healer!”What does the underlined word “grieving” mean?
| A．amused | B．sad | C．angry | D．astonished |
What did the holy man ask her to do to end her sorrow?
| A．to go to church for help． |
| B．to live with the family that has no sorrows with the mustard seed． |
| C．to help others so that she can feel the happiness from the bottom of her heart． |
| D．to find a family that is always happy and give them the mustard seed before returning to him． |
How did the woman treat the families she visited?
| A．She was a good listener． |
| B．She helped them to solve the problems they met． |
| C．She gave every family a mustard seed．． |
| D．She told them her unfortunate story． |
Who on the earth heals the woman’s grief?
| A．The mustard seed | B．Her children |
| C．The families in the district | D．She herself |
Recently the barbican museum in London held an exhibition called the rain room. During the time this exhibition was open, my twitter stream was filled with photos of people standing in the rain room, accompanied by the caption “rain room@ the barbican!” and a location attachment to prove that they were indeed in the rain room.
This got me thinking. What were people actually saying by Tweeting about their visit? I think all they were doing was fulfilling the obligation that we have to share. Not sharing in the sense of treasuring a moment with people close to us, but sharing in the sense of “tell the world that I am doing a thing”.
It’s not sharing; it’s showing off. When we log in to Facebook or Twitter we see an infinitely updating stream of people enjoying themselves. It’s not real life, because people only post about the good things whereas all the dull or deep stuff doesn’t get mentioned. But despite this obvious fact, it subconsciously makes us feel like everyone is having a better time than us.
This is the curse of our age. We walk around with the tools to capture extensive data about our surroundings and transmit them in real-time to every friend we’ve made. We end up with a reduced understanding of reality because we’re more concerned about choosing a good Instagram filter(过滤器) for our meal than how it tastes.
I don’t think that it’s inherently wrong to want to keep the world updated about that you’re doing. But when you go through life robotically posting about everything you do, you’re not a human being. You’re just a prism that takes bits of light and sound and channels them into the cloud.
The key thing to remember is that you are not enriching your experiences by sharing them online; you are detracting from them because all your efforts are focused on making the look attractive to other people. Once you stop seeing things through the eyes of the people following you on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram, you can make your experiences significant, because you were there and you saw the sights and smelled the smells and heard the sounds, not snapped a photo of it through a half-inch camera lens.What do we learn from the first two paragraphs?
| A．Rain Room exhibition received a large audience in London. |
| B．Most of people feel obligated to share their experience with friends. |
| C．Many people want to inform others of their experience by Tweeting. |
| D．All people having gone to the Rain Room took pictures. |
It seems to the author that ___________.
| A．Facebook or Twitter is a good place where we share personal experience |
| B．people seldom show depressing stuff on the social networking websites |
| C．most of people tend to show off that they are having a better time than others |
| D．sharing experience on the social networking websites is not real life |
By talking of “a good Instagram filter for our meal” (Line 3-4, Para.4), the author wants to show _____________.
| A．we are surrounded by various tools to capture our daily data |
| B．we are more concerned about how our life seems to be to others |
| C．we transmit our experience immediately to everybody we know |
| D．we gain more extensive perception of reality with digital tools |
What suggestion does the author give in the last paragraph?
| A．Enrich your experiences by sharing them online. |
| B．Make efforts to make your life attractive to others. |
| C．Stop showing your personal experience. |
| D．Record the details of what you see, smell and hear. |
IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the man behind it is Ingvar Kamprad, one of the world’s most successful enterprisers. Born in Sweden in 1926, Kamprad was a natural businessman. As a child, he enjoyed selling things and made small profits from selling matches, seeds, and pencils in his community. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him some money as a reward for his good grades. Naturally he used it to start up a business—IKEA.
IKEA’s name comes from Kamprad’s initials (I.K.) and the place where he grew up (‘E’ and ‘A’). Today IKEA is known for its modern, minimalist furniture, but it was not a furniture company in the beginning. Rather, IKEA sold all kinds of miscellaneous goods.
Kamprad’s goods included anything that he could sell for profits at discounted prices, including watches, pens and stockings.
IKEA first began to sell furniture through a mail-order catalogue in 1947. The furniture was all designed and made by manufacturers near Kamprad’s home. Initial sales were very encouraging, so Kamprad expanded the product line．Furniture was such a successful aspect of the business that IKEA became solely a furniture company in 1951.
In 1953 IKEA opened its first showroom in Almhult, Sweden. IKEA is known today for its large stores with furniture in attractive settings, but in the early1950s, people ordered from catalogues. Thus response to the first showroom was overwhelming: people loved being able to see and try the furniture before buying it. This led to increased sales and the company continued to develop. By 1955, IKEA was designing all its own furniture.
In 1956 Kamprad saw a man disassembling(拆卸) a table to make it easier to transport. Kamprad was inspired. The man had given him a great idea: flat packaging. Flat packaging would mean lower shipping costs for IKEA and lower prices for customers. IKEA tried it and sales went up. The problem was that people had to assemble furniture themselves, but over time, even this grew into an advantage for IKEA. Nowadays, IKEA is often seen as having connotations(内涵) of self-sufficiency. This image has done wonders for the company, leading to better sales and continued expansion．
Today there are over 200 stores in 32 countries. Amazingly, Ingvar Kamprad has managed to keep IKEA a privately-held company. In 2004 he was named the world’s richest man. He currently lives in Switzerland and is retired from the day-to-day operations of IKEA. IKEA itself, though, just keeps on growing.The author states in Paragraph 6 that flat packaging___________.
| A．needs large space to assembly furniture |
| B．is a business concept inspired by Kamprad |
| C．helps reduce transportation costs |
| D．makes the company self-sufficient |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Ingvar Kamprad is the richest man in the world. |
| B．IKEA is the world’s largest furniture retailer. |
| C．The advantage of IKEA’s furniture is dissembling. |
| D．Ingvar Kamprad established IKEA and led it to great success. |
What is the author’s attitude towards IKEA’s future according to the last paragraph?
| A．Indifferent | B．Optimistic |
| C．Doubtful | D．Pessimistic |
It was time to break free．
I needed to run away and the Bloomsburg Fair was the best place to go．
I don’t know if you can call it running away when it was only an hour away from my home．But once I entered the fair grounds, I crossed over into another world．The loudspeaker offered background music over the sounds of people talking, bargaining and food sellers yelling for your attention．
I belonged here．I didn’t know if I had it in my blood or not, but I always wanted to have a small food stand and travel in my off season from fair to fair selling goodies．Perhaps one day．It certainly wasn’t a priority(优先考虑的事)in my life , Perhaps it should be．
After I was there a while, I needed to get away to a quiet spot．Most of the time, I could find that anywhere the farm animals were kept． They needed the quiet．So I went there to find peace with the cows, goats, horses, pigs and yes, the turkeys．You'd think being this close to "Thanksgiving", they'd be a little scared, but they were not．
It was in the dairy barn（仓库）where I found peace this time．I so admired the young folks who tended to farm animals．I thought they had a greater appreciation for life．They participated in it firsthand．I once watched a young farmer help bring a baby cow into the world．
My favorite scene was to come across a young cowboy lying in the hay asleep among the cows that had settled down for a rest．There, with his heads in a small soft spot alongside his favorite cow, I had seen him in a much deserved sleep．Perhaps better at rest there than in his own bed．
I had the pleasure of speaking with a young teenage farm girl that day．
"You look so comfortable," I said to her．
"Oh I am," she said．"Life makes it comfortable for me．"
“You mean being a farm girl?"
"No, Life! That's the name of my cow," she said, smiling as she gently patted the cow's side．
"I thought they called cows Betsy and Elsie．Why did you call her Life?"
“I discovered life again here．It was the only meaningful name that came to mind．I had been raised in the big city and really hated it．Then we moved to the country, running away from it．I think my parents called it a mid-life crisis," she said, laughing．
"Oh, I can understand that．I've been in one since birth," I said．
"It was on the farm that I learned to love life again．I was there when Life was born．It was so exciting．My whole outlook on the world changed．So I named her Life．Now, I can say I really love 'Life'," she said．
"How amazing! I write stories and J am always trying to get people to enjoy life, to wake up each day expecting the best from it．But they all too often go to bed with so much bad stuff in their soul, and on their mind, that they wake up feeling bad and expect it to only get worse from there． All too often it does, just because that's all they choose to see in that otherwise perfectly beautiful day," I told her．
"That's too bad．They need to see a cow born, a chicken hatch．I guess they need to wake up early and hug Life!" she said, laughing．
"When was the last time you hugged Life" she asked me．
"I am sorry to say even I have had trouble doing that lately," I said．
"Come here!" she said．
Then standing up and stepping aside, she said, "Go ahead…hug Life!"
I paused for a moment and dropping all thoughts of looking silly, I did．I hugged a cow．The writer went to the Bloomsburg Fair probably in order to．
| A．have fun | B．get ideas for writing |
| C．do shopping | D．escape something he disliked |
The following things happened in the Bloomsbury Fair except．
| A．food sellers' shouting |
| B．the writer's selling goodies |
| C．people's bargaining and talking |
| D．the loudspeaker's broadcasting music |
What can we learn from Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7?
| A．The writer tended to farm animals firsthand． |
| B．The cowboy was lazy and fell asleep among the cows． |
| C．The writer found peace where farm animals were kept． |
| D．The turkeys got into panic with "Thanksgiving" approaching |
The underlined word "it" refers to．
| A．the city | B．the country |
| C．the barn | D．the fair |
The writer was surprised at the farm girl's words and he thought people often______
| A．expected to get the best things |
| B．enjoyed perfectly beautiful days |
| C．ignored the bright side of each day |
| D．felt really bad due to poor sleep at night |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Farm Life and Happiness | B．Hugging Life |
| C．A Farm Girl and Her Cow | D．Enjoying Freedom |
Findings from a new study were presented at a recent meeting of the American Psychosomatic (身心的) Society. Researchers in the United States studied 100,000 women during an eight-year period, beginning in 1994. All of the women were fifty or older. The study was part of the Women’s Health Initiative organized by the National Institutes of Health.
The women were asked questions measuring their beliefs or ideas about the future. The researchers attempted to identify each woman’s personality eight years after gathering the information.
The study found that hopeful individuals were 14% less likely than other woman to have died from any cause. The hopeful women were also 30 less likely to have died from heart disease after the eight years, Hilary Tinkle from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania was the lead author of the report. She said the study confirmed earlier research that linked optimistic feelings to longer life.
The researchers also gathered information about people’s education, financial earnings, physical activity and use of alcohol or cigarettes. Independent of those things, the findings still showed that optimists had less of a chance of dying during the eight-year period.
Some women who answered the questions were found to be hostile (敌意的), or highly untrusting of others. These women were 16% more likely to die than the others. They also were 23% more likely to die of cancer.
The study also found women who were not optimistic were more likely to smoke and have high blood pressure or diabetes. They were also more likely mot to exercise.
Tindle says the study did not confirm whether optimism leads to healthier choices, or if it actually affects a person’s physical health. She also says the study does not prove that negative emotions or distrust lead to bad health effects and shorter life. Yet there does appear to be a link that calls for more research.In which part of a newspaper can you read the above passage?
| A．Nation. | B．Opinion. |
| C．Business. | D．Science. |
Researchers carry out the study to .
| A．decide who is more likely to enjoy a happier life. |
| B．gather information for the National Institutes of Health. |
| C．find out the link between personality and health. |
| D．compare each woman’s personality changes. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Negative emotions cause a shorter life indeed. |
| B．The more optimistic you are, the longer life you may enjoy. |
| C．It’s uncertain whether optimism affects one’s health. |
| D．There may be some link between personality. |
Who is more likely to die of cancer according to the passage?
| A．A woman who doesn’t exercise. |
| B．woman who always doubts what others say. |
| C．A woman with high blood pressure. |
| D．A woman with poor physical health. |
What’s Hilary Tindle’s opinion of the study?
| A．Necessary. | B．Useless. |
| C．Unfair. | D．meaningless. |
I received a call today asking if I would be willing to bring food to a family in need. The mother was having a major operation and would be lying down for several weeks. Of course, I responded with an immediate “Yes!”. As I planned the meal in my head, I reflected on how many times over the years I had been asked to prepare food. I have done so countless times with a very open heart.
But the truly amazing thing is that I have received double over the course of my life. When my mother passed away, our house was filled with fresh dinners for weeks. A woman from the church of our community stopped by each evening with some food. The gift of food was her small way of trying to ease our pain.
Later in my life, when I was on bed rest during my pregnancy with twins, women of the church again stepped in to help. They arranged babysitting for my two-year-old daughter, and brought lovely dinners to our house. Even when I was put in the hospital, my husband would bring cooked meals to my hospital room. How we relied on these dinners to feed my tired husband and young daughter.
Food is all about comfort. It feeds our bodies, but it can also feed our souls. When you hear people talking about their favorite holidays, it usually includes their feelings connected with sharing food. I know that I will have many more opportunities in my lifetime to prepare food for others. It is truly a gift I want to prepare and deliver to someone in need.The author has given lots of food to others because .
| A．she is poor at cooking. |
| B．she is a church member. |
| C．she is friendly to others. |
| D．she has received others’ food. |
We can learn from the first paragraph that the author .
| A．had to stay in bed for several weeks. |
| B．knew the family in need very well. |
| C．was glad to be able to lend a hand. |
| D．was tired of preparing food. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the author?
| A．Her mother died when she was in hospital. |
| B．She didn’t get enough food during her pregnancy. |
| C．She received food as well as comfort in her hard times. |
| D．She thinks offering food is the best way to show love. |
According to the passage, which of the following conclusion can we get?
| A．A good beginning makes a good ending. |
| B．One good turn deserves another. |
| C．Actions speak louder than words. |
| D．Every man has his faults. |