I arrived at the bus station much too early for the London bus, which was not to leave until five to twelve. I pushed through the crowds, looking for somewhere to sit down. Scores of people were standing about, or struggling along with their bags and the cases to find the right lines. There was a party of school girls. I could see teachers trying to keep them in order. But there was nowhere for me to sit.
I stepped into the station buffet. I looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. I found a seat opposite a large mirror on the wall. Just then a friend of mine called Jim came in and sat with me. "What time is your bus?" asked Jim. "Oh, there's a plenty of time yet," I answered. "Oh, I'll get some drinks then," said Jim. We talked while drinking. Then I looked at the clock again. "Good heavens! It's going backward!" I cried. "A moment ago it was twenty to twelve and now it's half past eleven." "You are looking at the clock in the mirror," said Jim. I could kick myself for being so stupid. I had not realized that the marks for one and eleven on the face of the clock were the same. The next bus was not to leave for another hour. I have never liked mirror since then. The London bus left ________.
| A.at five to twelve | B.before five to twelve |
| C.after five to twelve | D.until five to twelve |
The writer went to the station buffet because ________.
| A.he was thirsty |
| B.he saw the station buffet was not so crowded |
| C.it was still early for his bus and he couldn't find a place to sit at the bus station |
| D.he had changed his mind; he wouldn't go to London |
The writer sat ________.
| A.behind a mirror | B.facing a mirror |
| C.under a mirror | D.near a mirror |
Jim came to the station buffet at about ________.
| A.twenty to twelve | B.twenty past twelve |
| C.half past one | D.twenty past eleven |
What time was it when the writer looked at the clock again?
It was ________.
| A.half past eleven | B.twelve thirty |
| C.twelve twenty | D.eleven thirty |
Michelle Obama has launched her campaign against childhood obesity in the US,saying that it is a problem that concerns her both as the first lady and as a mother.
Mrs.Obama said that the campaign was designed to encourage people to live healthier lives,but admitted that she herself was not immune to the temptations of junk food.
“I love burgers and fries.And I love ice cream and cake.And so do most kids,” she said.But,she added,“We’re not talking about a lifestyle that excludes all that.”
“The question is how we help people balance their diet so that they’re not facing lifethreatening,preventable illnesses,but they’re enjoying their food,they’re eating their vegetables,they’re doing their running,walking and playing,and they still have time to get a good,fun meal every once in a while.”
One in three American children are overweight or obese,putting them at the higher risk of developing diabetes(糖尿病),high blood pressure,high cholesterol(胆固醇) and other illnesses.
Billions of dollars are spent every year treating obesityrelated conditions.
“None of us wants this future for our kids,” Mrs.Obama said at the White House.
“We have to act,so let’s move.”
Her campaign has four parts:helping parents make better food choices,serving healthier food in school vending machines(自动售货机) and lunch menus,making healthy food more available and affordable,and encouraging children to exercise more.
The campaign,which Mrs.Obama starts,is aimed at solving the childhood obesity problem in a generation,so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight.
“This isn’t like a disease where we’re still waiting for the cure to be discovered.We know the cure for this,” she said at the opening ceremony.
President Barack Obama praised his wife for solving what he called one of “the most urgent health issues facing the country”.
“This has enormous promise in improving the health of our children,in giving support to parents to make the kinds of healthy choices that are often very difficult,” he said.The best title of the passage would be “________”.
| A.The first lady begins to fight against childhood obesity |
| B.The most urgent health issues facing the country |
| C.The Obamas care about the health of fat children |
| D.The first lady can’t resist the temptations of junk food |
Why did Michelle Obama launch the campaign?
| A.To fight against adulthood obesity. |
| B.To help children to eat less junk food. |
| C.To encourage Americans to live more healthily. |
| D.To call on people to exercise more after work. |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A.She is addicted to buying junk food. |
| B.She is also fond of junk food sometimes. |
| C.Many people are able to resist junk food. |
| D.Her immune system was not strong enough. |
What do we know about Americans?
| A.They all enjoy junk food. |
| B.They don’t eat their vegetables. |
| C.They have some time for exercise. |
| D.Many have obesityrelated illnesses. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A.People don’t know the cure for obesity. |
| B.President Barack Obama supports his wife. |
| C.The campaign has solved the problem. |
| D.Obesity is the most urgent problem facing America. |
On May 23,1989, Stefania Follini came out from a cave at Carlsbad, New Mexico. She hadn’t seen the sun for eighteen and a half weeks. Stefania was in a research program, and the scientists in the program were studying body rhythms (节奏)。In this experiment Stefania had spent 130 days in a cave, 30 feet in depth.
During her time in the cave, Stefania had been completely alone except for two white mice. Her living place had been very comfortable, but there had been nothing to fell her the time. She’d had no clock or watches, no television or radio. There had been no natural light and the temperature had always been kept at 21℃.
The results were very interesting. Stefania had been in the cave for over four months, but she thought she had been there for only two. Her body clock had changed. She hadn't kept to a 24-hour day. She had stayed awake for 20-25 hours and then had slept for 10 hours. She had eaten fewer meals and had lost 17lbs in weight as a result! She had also become rather depressed (抑郁).
How had she spent her time in the cave? As part of the experiment she'd done some physical and mental tests. She'd recorded her daily activities and the results of the tests on a computer. This computer had been specially programmed for the project. Whenever she was free, she'd played cards, read books and listened to music. She'd also learned French from tapes.
The experiment showed that our body clocks are affected by light and temperature, For example, the pattern of day and night makes us wake up and go to sleep. However, People are affected in different ways. Some people wake up naturally at 5:00 am, but others don't start to wake up till 9:00 or 10;00 am. This affects the whole daily rhythm. As a result, the early risers are at their best in the late morning. The late risers, on the other hand, are tired during the day and only come to life in the afternoon or evening! Stefania stayed in the cave for a long time because___________.
| A.she was asked to do research on mice | B.she wanted to experience loneliness |
| C.she was the subject of a study | D.she needed to record her life |
What is a cause for the change of Stefania’s body clock?
| A.Eating fewer meals. | B.Having more hours of sleep |
| C.Lacking physical exercise. | D.Getting no natural light. |
Where does the text probably come from?
| A.A novel | B.A news story | C.A pet magazine | D.A travel guide |
It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth (收费站). “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”
It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.
Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.
Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.
“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”
The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?
| A.She knew the car drivers well. |
| B.She wanted to show kindness. |
| C.She hoped to please others. |
| D.She had seven tickets. |
Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she .
| A.thought it was beautifully written |
| B.wanted to know what it really meant |
| C.decided to write it on a warehouse wall |
| D.wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom |
Who came up with the phrase according to the passage?
| A.Judy Foreman. | B.Natalie Smith. |
| C.Alice Johnson. | D.Anne Herbert. |
Which of the following statements is closest in the meaning to the underlined sentence above?
| A.Kindness and violence can change the world. |
| B.Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior. |
| C.Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves. |
| D.Kindness and violence can shape one’s character. |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A.People should practice random kindness to those in need. |
| B.People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others. |
| C.People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet. |
| D.People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver. |
We have met the enemy and he is ours We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest suddenly turns up in children in the American .Midwest it’s hard not to wonder of the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections (感染)we think of as human infections started in other animals “ says Stephen Morse director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are; we’re also bringing them closer to us Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them “says Isaksen
“Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing “says Peter Schantz Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases A new bug(病毒)may be kind at first. But it may develop into something harmful(有害的)Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease But is not impossible to pass the disease from person to personWe learn from Paragraph I that the pet sold at the shop may_______.
| A.come from Columbia |
| B.prevent us from being infected |
| C.enjoy being with children |
| D.suffer from monkey-pox |
Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?
| A.They attack human beings |
| B.We need to study native animals |
| C.They can’t live out of the rain forest |
| D.We do not know much about them yet |
What does she phrase “the wake-up call” in paragraph 3 most probably mean?
| A.a new disease | B.a clear warning |
| C.a dangerous animal | D.a morning call |
The text suggests that in the future we.
| A.may have to fight against more new diseases |
| B.may easily get infected by diseases from dogs |
| C.should not be allowed to have pets |
| D.should stop buying pests from Africa |
Since the first Earth Day in 1970,American have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment . “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.
But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many ,many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports , emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9 .Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with , the world is a safer and healthier place .A kind of “Green thinking ” has become part of practices .
Great improvement has been achieved .In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs ,today in 1995 there are about 6,600 .Advanced lights ,motors , and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution .
Twenty –five years ago , there were hardly any education programs for environment .Today , it’s hard to find a public school , university , or law school that does not have such a kind of program .” Until we do that , nothing else will change! ” say Bruce Anderson .According to Anderson , before 1970, Americans had little idea about ___
| A.the social movement |
| B.recycling techniques |
| C.environmental problems |
| D.the importance of Earth Day |
Where does the support for environmental protection mainly come from?
| A.The grass –roots level |
| B.The business circle |
| C.Government officials |
| D.University professors |
What have \Americans achieved in environmental protection ?
| A.They have cut car emissions to the lowest |
| B.They have settled their environmental problems |
| C.They have lowered their CO levels in forty cities. |
| D.They have reduced pollution through effective measures . |
What is especially important for environmental protection according to the last paragraph ?
| A.Education | B.Planning | C.Green living | D.CO reduction |