Tsai Chin Chung is one of Taiwan’s most famous cartoonists, and his cartoons are enjoyed by people in many different countries in Asia. His books of cartoons have now become best sellers in Singapore, Malaysia, and even Japan.
As soon as he could hold a pencil, Tsai Chin Chung lived only for drawing. Every day he practised drawing people and things around him and from his favorite stories.
When he was only 15 years old, he left home to work for a publisher in Taipei. He worked hard to draw pictures for books. Two years later, he left his job and started to work on drawing cartoon series, which he liked better. He made up his mind to succeed as a cartoonist.
Now Tsai Chin Chung has achieved something unusual for a modern cartoonist. He has become extremely successful at changing Chinese literature (文学) and philosophy (哲学) into humorous comic stories. In this way, he has made the Chinese classics (古典文学) known to thousands of people.
Because of his great achievement, several years ago Tsai Chin Chung was given a prize as one of the 10 Outstanding Young People of Taiwan. Since then, he has won many prizes, and his cartoons have become popular throughout Asia, America and Europe. So far, he has published more than 20 comic books. Ten of these are about ancient Chinese philosophers based on Chinese historical and literary classics.
Many of Tsai Chin Chung’s books of cartoons and comics have now been published in English in countries like Singapore. His books have also been translated into several other languages, including Japanese, Korean and Thai. Even publishers in France and Indonesia have recently signed agreements for permission to publish his cartoon series. Tsai Chin Chung first worked as ________.
| A．a book seller | B．a cartoonist |
| C．a writer of Chinese stories | D．an artist drawing pictures for books |
Tsai Chin Chung left his first job because he ________.
| A．preferred drawing cartoons | B．wanted to go back to school |
| C．enjoyed drawing pictures for books | D．wanted to be famous |
Tsai Chin Chung first became interested in drawing when he _______.
| A．left school | B．was a very small child | C．was 15 | D．started to be a cartoonist |
Half of the books he has published are related to _______.
| A．Chinese and foreign comics | B．countries in Asia, America and Europe |
| C．foreign languages learning | D．Chinese history and literature |
Because of his great achievements, Tsai Chin Chung _______.
| A．travelled a lot in Asia and Europe | B．went to live in Singapore | C．won an important prize in Taiwan | D．has become famous in Africa. |
Three boys and three girls boarded a bus to Lauderdale, Florida, dreaming of golden beaches. When the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo, who sat in front of them, dressed in a plain, ill-fitting suit.
Deep into the night, the bus pulled into Howard Johnson Restaurant, and everybody got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the young people began to wonder: perhaps he was a sea captain, a runaway from his wife, an old soldier going home.
Shortly after a snack, they went back to the bus and one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.
After a while, slowly and painfully, he told his story. He had been in prison in New York for the past four years. Last week he was released from imprisonment and now going home.
“When in prison I wrote to my wife,” he said. “I told her that I was going to be away a long time, and that if she couldn’t stand it, she could just forget me; I’d understand. We used to live in Brunswick, and there’s a big oak tree just as you come into town. Last week, I wrote her again. I told her that if she’d take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, and I’d get off and come home. If she didn’t want me, forget it and I’d go on through.”
She told the others, and soon all of them were in it, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up out of their seats, screaming and crying, doing small dances of joy. The oak tree was covered with yellow handkerchiefs, 20 of them, 30 of them, maybe hundreds, a tree that stood like small flags of welcome flying in the wind. As the young people shouted, Vingo rose and made his way to the front of the bus to go home.What attracted the six young people when their bus passed through New Jersey?
| A．The Howard Johnson Restaurant. |
| B．A silent man. |
| C．Golden beaches. |
| D．A well-dressed man |
The young people on the bus try to imagine Vingo may be a person EXCEPT_________.
| A．a sea captain |
| B．an old soldier going home |
| C．an old soldier going home |
| D．a prisoner escaping from prison |
Vingo wrote a letter to his wife again last week to ________.
| A．ask for her forgiveness |
| B．beg her to allow him back home |
| C．tie a yellow handkerchief to the oak tree |
| D．make sure if she was still in love with him |
Why did all the young people shout with joy when they arrived in Brunswick?
| A．They were approaching their destination. |
| B．They were surprised to see so many welcoming people. |
| C．They were sure that Vingo’s wife was expecting him home. |
| D．The oak tree was still standing there welcoming Vingo back home. |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going home |
| B．Vingo and his wife |
| C．Yellow handkerchiefs |
| D．The relationship between Vingo and the young people |
The disease Ebola is spreading in West Africa. The situation frightens both local citizens and travelers.
There is no vaccine or special treatment. It is difficult to stop Ebola from spreading. It moves easily from person to person. The disease strikes its victims through direct contact with the blood or other fluids from the body of an infected person.
The bodies of victims still contain the virus days after they die. Local traditions and burial and funeral customs also make the sickness hard to control. Doctors say it is important to identify an Ebola case early to prevent others from becoming infected. Patients suffer from high body temperature, bleeding and diarrhea(腹泻).
Only a few prevention measures exist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. suggest staying away from countries with confirmed Ebola cases. People at increased threat include those working in animal research, health care workers and others caring for patients in the community.
In the past, cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Sudan, and Uganda.
Doctors advise careful protective measures if you must go to an area where Ebola exists.
If Ebola has been identified directly around you, the C.D.C. and W.H.O. strongly suggest wearing protective clothing. Cover your face and hands. Goggles can protect the eyes. Try to remove Ebola germs with cleaners that fight infection.How does the disease Ebola spread? (No more than 16 words)
What makes the sickness hard to control? (No more than 10 words)
What symptoms do the Ebola patients have? (No more than 7 words)
Who are at increased threat according to the passage? (No more than 17 words)
Quickly ask yourself: What did you eat today? Now tell me how you actually feel. If you’re complaining of stress, anxiety, depression, aches and pains, foggy thinking, or just a general lack of energy, a new medical theory will blow your mind. The chances are that those disease-like symptoms are all the result of what’s called hidden food allergies(过敏反应).
This is what Ken Drew found out when he was lucky enough to be recommended to medical practitioner Dr. Patel. Patel is considered something of a genius, and has been called a modern day Louis Pasteur. You’ve heard of him, of course—Pasteur figured out how to keep milk from getting spoiled. Dr. Patel is like a Louis Pasteur for keeping your body from getting spoiled from chronic(慢性的) diseases.
“Foggy thinking, slightly constipated(便秘的), heart pain,…you name it. It’s part of getting old,” you say. “It’s just stress.” Most of the body’s immune defenses are all located in your stomach, so when you have a hidden food allergy and you expose yourself to harmful foods, your defenses malfunction(故障) and disease-carrying bacteria take over. Had you not eaten that one food you were allergic to for breakfast, you would never have got sick.
Together, Dr Patel and Ken Drew have developed the Reverse My Disease program, which claims it can bulletproof your body against diseases like arthritis(关节炎), Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease and cancers. You won’t need a prescription and there isn’t any kind of medical procedure involved. There’s no medical jargon, no complicated diet to do. What it does do is claim to tell you how to hack your body’s natural defense system.
Dr. Patel has remained under the radar of the entire medical establishment because his ideas are so threatening to doctors who don’t want you to stop being sick enough for them to write you prescriptions. Those doctor visits cost you, so check out Reverse My Disease if you want to prevent disease by learning how to eat food that won’t harm your body.We can learn from the passage that Louis Pasteur ________.
| A．made great contributions to keeping human body from getting spoiled from chronic diseases. |
| B．has developed the Reverse My Disease program with Dr. Patel. |
| C．recommended Ken Drew to Dr. Patel. |
| D．might be a great scientist who did research on bacteria. |
According to Ken Drew and Dr. Patel, people get slightly constipated and have heart pain because _______.
| A．they are getting old. |
| B．their immune defenses are all located in your stomach. |
| C．they don’t eat the right food. |
| D．they are involved in a medical procedure. |
What does the underlined word “bulletproof” most probably mean?
| A．damage | B．defend |
| C．diagnose | D．demand |
What can we know from the passage?
| A．Once you get sick or depressed, you should go to the doctor for a prescription. |
| B．You can find a prescription or a complicated diet from the Reverse My Disease program. |
| C．Exposing yourself to harmful foods causes problems to your defense system. |
| D．Reverse My Disease program has been well-accepted by doctors. |
What is the author’s attitude towards Reverse My Disease?
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Cautious. | D．Negative |
Big trees are incredibly important ecologically. For a start, they provide food for countless other species and shelter for many animals. With their tall branches in the sun, they capture vast amounts of energy. This allows them to produce massive crops of fruit and flowers that sustain much of the animal life in the forest.
Only a small number of tree species have the genetic ability to grow really big. The biggest are native to North America, but big trees grow all over the globe, from the tropics to the forests of the high latitudes (纬度). To achieve giant size, a tree needs three things: the right place to establish its seedling, good growing conditions and lots of time with low adult death rate. Lose any of these, and you will lose your biggest trees.
In some parts of the world, populations of big trees are dwindling(逐渐变少) because their seedlings cannot survive. In southern India, for instance, an aggressive non-native bush, Lantana camara, is invading the floor of many forests. Lantana grows so thickly that young trees often fail to take root. With no young trees to replace them, it is only a matter of time before most of the big trees disappear.
Without the right growing conditions, trees cannot get really big and there is some evidence to suggest tree growth could slow in a warmer world, particularly in environments that are already warm. Having worked for decades at La Selva Biological Station in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, David and Deborah Clark and colleagues have shown that tree growth there declines markedly in warmer years. “During the day, their growth shuts down when it gets too warm, and at night they consume more energy because their metabolic (新陈代谢) rate increases,” explains David Clark. With less energy produced in warmer years and more being consumed just to survive, there is even less energy available for growth.
The darks’ theory, if correct, means tropical forests would shrink over time. The largest, oldest trees would progressively die off and tend not to be replaced. According to the Clarks, this might cause a destabilization(不稳定) of the climate; as older trees die, forests would release some of their stored carbon into the atmosphere, causing a cycle of further warming, forest shrinkage and carbon emissions.
Besides, big trees face threats from elsewhere.According to the passage, big trees make great contributions to the ecosystem because .
| A．they can capture large amounts of energy. |
| B．they determine the change of global climate. |
| C．they provide the essentials for many creatures. |
| D．they can avoid a new cycle of further warming. |
All the following factors are a must for making big trees EXCEPT .
| A．no deadly damage |
| B．genetic contribution |
| C．ideal environment for growth |
| D．high-latitude location |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Big trees in trouble. |
| B．Advantages of big trees. |
| C．Results of big trees’ disappearing. |
| D．Importance of big trees to humans. |
What will the author most probably discuss after the last paragraph?
| A．More threats to the existence of big trees. |
| B．The effect of human activities on big trees. |
| C．Benefits of big trees to the whole atmosphere. |
| D．Comparison between common trees and big ones. |
People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot be eaten. If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus (章鱼) a great delicacy. You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On the other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat --the normally accepted practice in many northern countries. The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives.
No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail(蜗牛). Cooked in wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world. There are countless people who, ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, lives in a country where snails are not liked. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own. For years he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him.
The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after heavy shower, I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a stroll on some of my prized plants. Acting on a sudden impulse, I collected several dozen, put them in a paperbag,and took them to Robert. Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift. I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours. 1 had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner. Snails would, of course, be the main dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room. To our dismay, we saw that there were snails everywhere: they had escaped from the paper bag and had taken complete possession of the hall! I have never been able to look at a snail since then.The underlined word “repulsive” in Paragraph 1 most probably means .
| A．disgusting | B．pleasant |
| C．acceptable | D．delicious |
We can infer from Paragraph 3 that when collecting the snails, the author .
| A．was glad that he could share them with his friend. |
| B．was angry because they might damage his beloved plants. |
| C．was excited about being able to give his friend a surprise. |
| D．was depressed because it was hard to catch them all. |
The author finds that snails .
| A．are as delicious as octopus. |
| B．are disliked in his hometown. |
| C．are the most controversial food. |
| D．are as popular as fried potatoes. |
The best title for the passage might be “”
| A．One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison |
| B．Foods and Cultures |
| C．Snail and Octopus |
| D．People Are Illogical in Front of Delicacies |