No one else knew about the extra club (球棍)in Zach Nash’s golf bag. It belonged to a friend, and Zach forgot it was there as he played his way to victory in a junior tournament last summer in Wisconsin, US.
The 14-year-old accepted his medal, celebrated with his grandparents who had come from a long way to watch. But when he stopped by his country club to share the news, a professional player noticed something wrong. “Count your clubs,” he told the teenager.
Fifteen—one more than allowed. Zach’s eyes filled with tears.
If Zach had just won a basketball championship or a soccer game and someone had discovered a violation(违反) after the win, it would not have mattered. Bending the rules has become acceptable, if not encouraged, in much of sports.
Golf is different. In a win-at-all-costs world, the game holds itself to a higher standard. Golf isn’t a game where referees watch closely. In golf tournaments, dozens of competitors are spread across acres of land, so officials cannot hope to see each shot. Competitors call penalties(处罚)on themselves.
“It was a sport for gentlemen, and gentlemen did not care about winning. They care about doing the right thing,” said Robert Simon, a golf coach at Hamilton College in New York.
Honesty became a medal of honor. When one of the game’s early stars, Bobby Jones, was praised for calling a penalty on himself at the 1925 US Open, he replied: “You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.”
So even the error had no effect on Zach’s final score—he has never used the extra club, the teenager packed up his medal and dropped it in the mail. “But this is golf, and rules are rules. I just knew what I had to do,” he said.
Then came another tournament. Before teeing off(开球), Zach counted his clubs—four times..
What can we infer from the text?
A.A friend put an extra club in Zach’s bag. |
B.Zach returned the medal that he had won. |
C.Zach’s grandparents encouraged him to play fair. |
D.Zach regretted meeting with the professional player. |
.
According to Robert, golf is different from other sports in that ______.
A.honor comes before victory |
B.players are superior to coaches |
C.referees have to watch each shot |
D.players needn’t care about medals |
.
What can be learned from the underlined sentence?
A.One should be praised for not robbing a bank. |
B.Bobby looked down upon bank robbers. |
C.Little did Bobby care about the penalty. |
D.Observing rules demands no praise. |
.
Why did Zach count his clubs four times before the following tournament?
A.He remembered the lesson. | B.He lacked self-confidence. |
C.He felt a little too nervous. | |
D.He was no good with numbers. |
B
Babies love chocolate, and sometimes they also eat the paper around it. My cat enjoys a meal of good, thick paper, old letters, for example . She doesn't like newspapers very much .
Of course, the best paper comes from wood. Wood comes from trees , and trees are plants: Vegetables and fruit are plants too, and we eat a lot of them . So can we also eat wood and paper?
Scientists say: “ All food comes in some way from plants. ” Well, is that true? Animals eat grass and grow fat. Then we eat their meat. Little fish eat sea-plants; then bigger fish swim along and eat them . Chickens eat bits of grass and give us eggs . What food does not come from plants in some way?
Scientists can do wonderful things with plants . They can make food just like meat. And they can make it without the help of animals . It is very good food, too . Now they have begun to say : “ We make our paper from wood . We can also make food from wood . The next thing is not very difficult . ”
What is the next thing? Perhaps it is food from paper. Scientists say;“We can turn paper into food . It will be good , cheap food too : cheaper than meat or fish or eggs . ”
So please keep your old books and letters . One day , soon , they will be on your plate. There is nothing like a good story for breakfast .
6.People live mainly on ______.
A.paper B.plants C.fish D.meat
7.Scientists have ______.
A.made a lot of paper B.fed eggs to chickens
C.made food just like meat D.made meat cheaper than food from paper
8.Chickens eat bits of grass . In the sentence “bits of” means _________________________.
A.a little of B .lots of C.big pieces of D .small pieces of
9.Which of the following is NOT true?
A.Scientists say, “All food comes in some way from plants . ”
B.Scientists can make wood into food some day.
C.Scientists can make food from paper some day.
D.Scientists advise us to eat old books and letters at meals .
10.Choose one of the following as the topic for the passage .
A.Paper----Our Future Food B.No More Meat in Future
C.Save Old Books for Breakfast D.Paper----The Best Cat Food
III.Reading comprehension: (40%)
A
For every five men in the Civil War who died in battle , two or three died of disease. Doctors of that time knew very little about causes of sickness or ways of preventing it. Thousands of men in poor health became soldiers. Many of them could not resist epidemic (瘟疫)diseases that went through the places where they lived .
Army life was hard. Soldiers got little fruit or vegetables. There was no milk unless they happened to find a cow. Neither their clothes nor their living places protected the troops from rain, snow, and cold . Sickness and disease were spread by insects , rats , and unclean drinking water . Often the men drank straight from muddy streams .
Gunshot wounds were serious, as in any war, but they did not cause as many deaths as disease did.
1. Disease caused ___.
A.only a few deaths B.fewer deaths than wounds did
C.more deaths than wounds did D.both A and B
2.Men who were accepted as Civil War soldiers were ______.
A.known to have already had some epidemic diseases
B.required to be in perfect health
C.able to resist epidemic disease easily D.sometimes in poor health
3.Army life was hard for troops because ______
A.the place where they lived didn't keep them safe from bad weather
B.they had no warm clothing
C.they seldom had good, healthful food D.all of the above
4.Insects and rats were dangerous because they ______
A.destroyed food B.carried diseases
C.made the water unclean D.tore the soldiers' clothes into pieces
5.The best title for this selection is ______.
A.The Cause of Disease B.The Greatest Danger in the Civil War
C.Insects, Rats, and Gunshot Wounds D.The History of Epidemic Disease
The research carried out by the University of Bari in Italy could help prove hospitals who are accused of wasting money on art and decoration as it suggests a pleasant environment helps patients ease discomfort and pain.
A team headed by Professor Marina de Tommaso at the Neurophysiopathology Pain Unit asked a group of men and women to pick the 20 paintings they considered most ugly and most beautiful from a selection of 300 works by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli. They were then asked to look at either the beautiful paintings, or the ugly painting, or a blank panel while the team zapped(照射) a short laser pulse at their hand, creating a sensation as if they had been stuck by a pin. The subjects rated the pain as being a third less intense while they were viewing the beautiful paintings, compared with when looking at the ugly paintings or the blank panel. Electrodes measuring the brain's electrical activity also confirmed a reduced response to the pain when the subject looked at beautiful paintings.
While distractions, such as music, are known to reduce pain in hospital patients, Prof de Tommaso says this is the first result to show that beauty plays a part.
The findings, reported in New Scientist, also go a long way to show that beautiful surroundings could aid the healing process.
"Hospitals have been designed to be functional, but we think that their artistic aspects should be taken into account too," said the neurologist. "Beauty obviously offers a distraction that ugly paintings do not. But at least there is no suggestion that ugly surroundings make the pain worse. " "I think these results show that more research is needed into the field how a beautiful environment can alleviate suffering."
Pictures they liked included Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Pictures they found ugly included works by Pablo Picasso, the Italian 20th century artist Anonio Bueno and Columbian Fernando Botero. "These people were not art experts so some of the pictures they found ugly would be considered masterpieces by the art world," said Prof de Tommaso.
1.The underlined word “alleviate” in the fifth paragraph probably means “_________”.
A. cure B. ease C. improve D. kill
2.How many artists have been mentioned in the passage?
A. 4. B. 5.C. 6.D. 7.
3.Which of the following is TURE about the view of Prof de Tommaso’s?
A. Beautiful surroundings could help to heal sufferings completely .
B. Hospitals must take their artistic aspects into consideration first.
C. Ugly surroundings will surely make the pain worse.
D. Both music and beauty can reduce pain in hospital patients.
4.Which of the following is the suitable title for the passage?
A. Beautiful surroundings can ease pain.
B. Ugly paintings could be masterpieces.
C. More research should be done in the field.
D. Latest environmental research.
The key to happiness is how quickly you can get back your focus on what’s important.
-----Anonymous
Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, who almost caused a big accident, started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did.
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do any more."
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about. The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here's my bet. You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't.
1. What happened one day when the author was taking a taxi?
A. The taxi almost hit another car.
B. The taxi driver was injured.
C. The author scolded the driver of the other car.
D. The author learned a lesson from the driver of the garbage truck.
2. How did the taxi driver respond to the behaviour of the driver of the black car?
A. He yelled back at the driver.
B. He sent the driver to the hospital.
C. He was friendly towards the driver.
D. He dumped some garbage in front of his car.
3. What does the taxi driver think of people according to Paragraph 3?
A. Many people like to drive garbage trucks.
B. Many people dump garbage wherever they like.
C. Many people are warm-hearted to make others happy.
D. Many people tend to be very much depressed.
4. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A. The author used to have a lot of garbage trucks.
B. The author used to complain a lot.
C. The author used to have a lot of money.
D. The author used to be a good manager.
5. According to the passage, what should you do if people “dump garbage” on you?
A. Ignore them and go on with our own work.
B. Try our best to persuade them not to do that again.
C. Tell them to dump the garbage in the right place.
D. Take over their work and carry the garbage to somewhere else.
Working hard for fun
No more pencils! No more books
No more teacher’s serious looks!
After a long period of study and work, the young Americans burst through the school doors singing.
But unfortunately, American students do very poorly and are among the worst students in the world. In the entire field of subjects---from geography and maths to science and general knowledge. American students are the poorest performers. Why? What’s the reason behind the scene? One problem lies in the fact that so little is expected from them. The standards of success are too low. Teachers are not willing to give out low grades and fail students. Besides, the existing negative results are few and mean little to students if their performance in study is poor . Of course some students realize that a high school diploma is a measure of success and will be important to get a job or get admitted into college. But they only have to go through the motions without really trying. They learn to get by with a minimum of effort.
In America, it is simply too easy for high school students to enter college. This forms a sharp contrast with the students in China and other Asian countries who have to suffer heavy pressure from parents, teachers and cruel social facts. Chinese students have to study hard for long years to pass the national college entrance examination which few Americans will take such trouble to enter to university. The majority American students know that they will be able to get into some college, so they do not really worry about it.
It turns out that American high school students are just too busy to find time to study. They spend almost no time on study while students from other countries spend four or five hours per day on homework. American students on the average give less than five hours per week to their studies. Learning and reading for future are not important to them. Many American never read. It is little wonder why Americans knows less than students from other countries.
1. Why are American students the poorest performers in the entire field of subjects?
A. Because they are too busy to find time to study.
B. Because they are too stupid and too lazy.
C. Because they care little about their study.
D. Because so little is required from them
2. Which of the following is Not true ?
A. Most of American students spend less than five hours on their study every week.
B. Few American students have trouble to enter college.
C. American students can be admitted into college even without a high school diploma.
D. It is hard for the students in China to enter college.
3. What seems to be the writer’s attitude towards American students?
A. He probably thinks much should be expected from them.
B. He is in favour of American students’ learning methods.
C. He shows no interest in American students’ study.
D. He thinks American students study hard.