Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water or mud. As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn't sure what to do. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate's sake （缘故）, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety seemed admirable. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.Why did the writer change his direction while walking down a path?
| A．To get close to a butterfly. | B．To look over the bad situation. |
| C．To escape a sudden attack. | D．To avoid getting his shoes dirty. |
What made the man feel funny?
| A．Making the attacker pause. | B．Being attacked by a butterfly. |
| C．Being stepped on by his mate. | D．Discovering the energetic butterfly. |
From this experience the man learned .
| A．what he should do when faced with trouble |
| B．people should show sympathy to the weak |
| C．how he should deal with attacks |
| D．people should protect butterflies |
Which of the following words can best describe the butterfly?
| A．Careless. | B．Amusing. | C．Courageous. | D．Aggressive. |
Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮).
Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years, ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.
The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.What does this text mainly talk about?
| A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars. |
| B．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time. |
| C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort. |
| D．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing. |
Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?
| A．To visit more ski areas. |
| B．To ski on natural snow. |
| C．For a large collection of ski suits. |
| D．For better services and equipment. |
The underlined words “leisure industry” in Paragraph 3 refer to
| A．transport to ski resorts |
| B．production of family cars |
| C．business of providing spare time enjoyments |
| D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs |
What is the main problem in running a ski resort?
| A．Difficulty in hiring land． |
| B．Lack of business experience． |
| C．Price wars with other ski resorts |
| D．Shortage of water and electricity. |
A child, who has once got interested in a tale, likes, as a rule, to have it retold in almost the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as formal texts. It is always much better to “tell” a story than just “read” it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce his own as an improvement on the printed text, according to his child’s actual situation, so much the better.
There is a charge made against some fairy tales, as they probably harm children by frightening them or leaving them sad feelings. To prove it, an experiment has been done to show that children who have heard terrible fairy stories often feel more uneasy than those who have not. As for fears, there are some cases where children get timid (胆怯的) by some fairy story. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition may weaken the pain of fear.
There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that the stories are not objectively true, and that those giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets etc. do not really exist, so children should be taught to learn the reality by studying history, instead of being got fond of the strange side in fairy tales. Those, who prefer to create such stories, are so peculiar (奇怪的) that it is hard to argue with them. If their creative exaggeration (夸张) were sound, the world should be full of mad men attempting to fly from New York to Philadelphia on a stick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their beloved girl-friend.
Not once is a fairy story ever declared to be a description of the real world, but not every child is clever enough to be aware of it. Parents should choose their children’s “bed-time” reading materials with much care. Only the fairy stories containing positive effect will make a clever and caring child with rich imagination.The author considers that a fairy story is more effective when it is ______.
| A．repeated without any change |
| B．treated as no more than a joke |
| C．made some changes by parents |
| D．set in the present situation |
According to the passage, when a child hears a terrible fairy story, ______.
| A．he will get more interested |
| B．great fear can take place in him |
| C．he will like it to be repeated |
| D．an experiment is being done |
The word “sound” in Para.3 can be understood as ______.
| A．fashionable | B．forgettable | C．available | D．believable |
The author mentions “sticks” and “telephones” to prove that ______.
| A．fairy stories are all made up |
| B．fairy tales lead to misunderstanding |
| C．children are cheated by old stories |
| D．there is more concern for children |
One of the reasons why some people are not in favor of fairy tales is that ______.
| A．they are made up far from the truth |
| B．they are so full of imagination |
| C．they are not interesting at all |
| D．they make history difficult to teach |
It makes sense that parents choose fairy stories with ______ as “bed-time” reading materials..
| A．formal printings | B．creative scenes | C．positive effect | D．terrible characters |
When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car. Before they left, they asked me for advice about how to find accommodation (住所). I suggested that they should stay at ‘bed and breakfast’ houses, because this kind of accommodation gives foreign visitors a good chance to speak English with the family. My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories.
“We didn’t stay at ‘B&B’ (bed and breakfast) houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were away on holiday.”
I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to house where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels!
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means fun. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, their car was soon stopped.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French. I meant that I would like some more. However , to my surprise the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you”.My Spanish friends wanted advice about ______.
| A．learning English in England |
| B．finding places to stay in England |
| C．driving their car on English roads |
| D．going to England to have fun |
I suggested that they stay at ‘B&B’ houses because ______.
| A．it would be available for them to practice English |
| B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels |
| C．it would be convenient for them to have dinner |
| D．it would be easy to find accommodation there |
“NO VACANCIES” in English means ______.
| A．no free rooms | B．with free rooms | C．not away on holiday | D．no holidays at all |
If you see a road sign that says “DIVERSION”, you will ______.
| A．get held by the traffic policemen |
| B．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself |
| C．find the road is blocked by people |
| D．have to take another different road |
When someone offered me more coffee and I said “Thank you” in French, I ______.
| A．didn’t really want any more coffee |
| B．wanted the coffee pot taken away |
| C．really wanted some more coffee |
| D．wanted to express my politeness |
Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials (商业广告) thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. “Buy Super Clean Toothpaste.” “Drink Good Wet Root Beer.” “Fill up with Pacific Gas. “Only when you have fallen asleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, can you get separated from the unending cry of “You Need It! Buy It Now!”
As for the ride itself, the beginning of it is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you’ve traveled that way before. Usually some things are keeping changing out of the windows — various houses, crop fields, attractive bridges, … and sometimes even a small accident. Your bus driver may have a unique style of driving and it’s fun trying experience it the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless (鲁莽的) or daring, the ride can be as thrilling (惊心动魄的) as an adventurous story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you’ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.
The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know the riding will soon be over and there’s a kind of expectation and excitement with that. The seat, of course, has become harder for the hours having passed. By now you may sit with your legs crossed, or with your hands in your lap, or with your hands on the arms, or even with your hands crossed behind your head. That is to say that the end comes just at no more ways to sit.According to the passage, what do the passengers usually see when they are on a long bus trip?
| A．Buses on the road. | B．Films on television. |
| C．Advertisements on the billboards. | D．Gas stations. |
What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To give the writer’s opinion about long bus trips. |
| B．To persuade you to take some long bus riding. |
| C．To explain how bus trips and television shows differ. |
| D．To describe the billboards along the road. |
The writer of this passage would probably prefer ______.
| A．those reckless bus drivers |
| B．driving with no one around |
| C．a television set on the bus |
| D．no billboards along the road |
The writer feels long bus rides are like TV shows because ______.
| A．the commercials both on TV shows and on billboards along the road are fun |
| B．they both have a beginning, a middle and an end, with commercials in between |
| C．the drivers are always reckless on TV shows just as they are on buses |
| D．both traveling by bus itself and watching TV programs on bus are not exciting. |
The writer thinks that the end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning because both are .
| A．exciting | B．comfortable | C．tiring | D．boring |
Two friends have an argument that breaks up their friendship forever, even though neither one can remember how the whole thing got started. Such sad events happen over and over in high schools across the country. In fact, according to an official report on youth violence, "In our country today, the greatest threat to the lives of children and adolescents is not disease or starvation or abandonment, but the terrible reality of violence". Given that this is the ease, why aren't students taught to manage conflict the way they are taught to solve math problems, drive ears, or stay physically fit?
First of all, students need to realize that conflict is unavoidable. A report on violence among middle school and high school students indicates that most violent incidents between students begin with a relatively minor insult. For example, a fight could start over the fact that one student eats a peanut butter sandwich each lunchtime. Laughter over the sandwich can lead to insults, which in turn can lead to violence. The problem isn't in the sandwich, but in the way students deal with the conflict.
Once students recognize that conflict is unavoidable, they can practice the golden rule of conflict resolution: stay calm. Once the student feels calmer, he or she should choose words that will calm the other person down as well Rude words, namecalling, and accusations only add fuel to the emotional fire. On the other hand, soft words spoken at a normal sound level can put out the fire before it explodes out of control.
After both sides have calmed down, they can use another key strategy for conflict resolution : listening. Listening allows the two sides to understand each other. One person should describe his or her side, and the other person should listen without interrupting. Afterward, the listener can ask non-threatening questions to clarify the speaker's position. Then the two people should change roles.
Finally, students need to consider what they are hearing. This doesn't mean trying to figure out what's wrong with the other person. It means understanding what the real issue is and what both sides are trying to accomplish. For example, a shouting match over a peanut butter sandwich might happen because one person thinks the other person is unwilling to try new things. Students need to ask themselves questions such as these: How did this start? What do I really want? What am I afraid of? As the issue becomes clearer, the conflict often simply becomes smaller. Even if it doesn't, careful thought helps both sides figure out a mutual solution.
There will always be conflict in schools, but that doesn't mean there needs to be violence. After students in Atlanta started a conflict resolution program, according to Educators for Social Responsibility, “64 percent of the teachers reported less physical violence in the classroom; 75 percent of the teachers reported an increase in student cooperation; and 92 percent of the students felt better about themselves”. Learning to resolve conflicts can help students deal with friends, teachers, parents, bosses, and coworkers. In that way, conflict resolution is a basic life skill that should be taught in schools across the country.This article is mainly about ________.
| A．the lives of school children |
| B．the cause of arguments in schools |
| C．how to analyze youth violence |
| D．how to deal with school conflicts |
From Paragraph 2 we can learn that ________.
| A．violence is more likely to occur at lunchtime |
| B．a small conflict can lead to violence |
| C．students tend to lose their temper easily |
| D．the eating habit of a student is often the cause of a fight |
Why do students need to ask themselves the questions stated in Paragraph 5?
| A．To find out who is to blame. |
| B．To get ready to try new things. |
| C．To make clear what the real issue is. |
| D．To figure out how to stop the shouting match. |
After the conflict resolution program was started in Atlanta, it was found that ________.
| A．there was a decrease in classroom violence |
| B．there was less student cooperation in the classroom |
| C．more teachers felt better about themselves in schools |
| D．the teacher-student relationship greatly improved |
The writer's purpose for writing this article is to ________.
| A．complain about problems in school education |
| B．teach students different strategies for school life |
| C．advocate teaching conflict management in schools |
| D．inform teachers of the latest studies on school violence |