Just 25 years ago, the top three career hopes for young people in Britain were teacher, banker and doctor. Now, they want to be sports star, pop star and actor, according to a survey by the Guardian newspaper.
Rachel, a character in the popular TV show Glee, may be said to speak for British teenagers. “Nowa
days being nobody is worse than being poor.” He said.
Emma Brockes, a reporter with the Guardian, believes it is “the bad influence of celebrity(名人) culture” that is to blame. “When children wanted to be doctor, it wasn’t because they were really more interested in the functions of human organs than they are now; you go where the respect is.” She wrote.
It could explain why there has been such an increase in levels of anxiety and depression. Dr Carlo Stranger, of Tel Aviv University, studied the sense of self for his new book The Fear of Insignificance: Searching for Meaning in the 21st Century. He told the Daily Mail that young people now are “affected by the close connection to the global entertainment network, which has turned ranking and rating people according to wealth and celebrity into an obsession(痴迷).”
“As humans, we naturally measure ourselves to those around us, but now we live in a global village. We are comparing ourselves with the most ‘important’ people in the world and finding ourselves wanting…” he said. Today, even high achievers constantly fear that they are insignificant when they compare themselves to success stories in the media.
The way out? Simply stop measuring your achievement through a fantasy of wealth and celebrity. Dr Strenger said that it is a process called “active self-acceptance through a constant search for self-knowledge through life.”
“The fear of insignificance can only be overcome through strong individual and cultural identity over and above measurable achievement,” he said..Nowadays, young people in Britain want to .
| A．choose jobs based on interests | B．become famous |
| C．be teacher, banker and doctor | D．earn more money |
.．According to Emma Brockes, what causes the increasing level of anxiety?
| A．Choices of future careers. | B．Access to the global network. |
| C．Bad influences of celebrities. | D．Endless comparison with others. |
.．Which of the following is true of Dr Carlo Strenger?
| A．He is a newspaper reporter. | B．He is the spokesman of teenagers. |
| C．He tells success stories on TV. | D．He is against ranking people with wealth. |
.．Dr Carlo Strenger suggests that young people should .
| A．seek active self-acceptance | B．stick to their own dreams |
| C．make great achievements | D．search for the secret of wealth |
.The text is mainly written to .
| A．talk about job choices | B．analyse a social phenomenon |
| C．encourage celebrity culture | D．introduce three famous people |
Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new baby. They find out that the new baby is going to be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sings to his sister in Mommy's stomach.
In time, the labor pains come. But complications arise during delivery. Finally, Michael's little sister is born. But she is in serious condition. With alarm in the night, the ambulance rushes the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee. The days go by. The little girl gets worse. The pediatric (儿科的) specialist tells the parents, “There is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst.”
Karen and her husband contact a local cemetery about a burial plot. They have fixed up a special room in their home for the new baby, but now they plan a funeral. Michael keeps begging his parents to let him see his sister, "I want to sing to her," he says. But kids are never allowed in Intensive Care.
Karen makes up her mind. She will take Michael whether they like it or not. If he doesn’t see his sister now, he may never see her alive.
She dresses him in an oversized suit and marches him into ICU. He looks like a walking laundry basket, but the head nurse recognizes him as a child and shouts, "Get that kid out of here now. No children are allowed. Never disturb patients here.” The mother rises up strongly and said," He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!"
Karen leads Michael to his sister's bedside. He gazes at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. And he begins to sing. In the pure hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sings:" You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray......" Instantly the baby girl responds. The pulse rate begins to calm down and becomes steady.
“Keep on singing, Michael." encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. "You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away."
The next day, the very next day, the little girl is well enough to go home! Woman's Day magazine called it "the miracle of a brother's song". The medical staff just called it a miracle. Karen called it a miracle of Gods love!
Never give up on the people you love.What may the underlined words "the infant" refer to?
| A．The baby | B．Karen | C．Mary | D．Michael |
What do we know about the little sister after she was born?
| A．She was driven to St. Mary's shop. |
| B．A doctor came to see her in her house. |
| C．She was very thin and couldn't speak. |
| D．She was in great danger. |
Why did Karen firmly let little Michael see his sister in ICU?
| A．Because he could make his sister alive. |
| B．Because his sister would be sent to a far hospital. |
| C．Because his sister was going to die soon. |
| D．Because his father wanted to take him away. |
What do we know about the head nurse?
| A．The head nurse was careful. | B．The head nurse was rude. |
| C．The head nurse was responsible. | D．The head nurse had no sympathy. |
What is the general idea of the text?
| A．A boy' s singing saved his sister' s life. |
| B．The little girl is well enough to go home. |
| C．Michael's little sister is born with a serious disease. |
| D．No children are allowed to enter the intensive care unit. |
Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together, they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international competitions encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sport encourages international brotherhood. Not only was there the tragic incident including the murder of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by incidents caused mainly by smaller national contests.
One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, the losers objecting to the final decisions. They were sure that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said, “This wasn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension（停赛）of the team for at least three years.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals, or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism(爱国主义).According to the author, recently the Olympic Games have ______.
| A．created goodwill between the nations |
| B．brought about only false national pride |
| C．hardly showed any international friendship |
| D．put an end to misunderstanding and hatred |
The underlined word “disallowed”(in Paragraph 2) means “______”.
| A．permitted to pass | B．considered as reasonable |
| C．won by the other side | D．refused to accept |
What did the manager mean by saying, “Hockey and the International Hockey Federation
are finished"?
| A．His team would no longer take part in international games. |
| B．Hockey and the Federation are both ruined by the unfair decisions. |
| C．There should be no more Hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
| D．The Federation should break up. |
The author gives the example in paragraph 2 to show ______.
| A．how false national pride led to undesirable incidents in international games |
| B．that sportsmen are often against the final decisions |
| C．that competitiveness in the games discourages international friendship |
| D．that unfair decisions are common in the Olympic Games |
What conclusion can be drawn from the passage?
| A．The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved. |
| B．Athletes should compete as individuals in the Olympic Games. |
| C．A game should be played competitively rather than for the love of the game. |
| D．More and more athletes will compete for their own honor. |
Writing being largely a self-taught occupation, texts on how to get about it -though great in number- seldom are of much use.
You try, and fail. Then try again. Until at last, if you have some gift for it, the failures become less frequent, or at any rate less apparantly.
It is this ability to cover up one’s defects that is finally regarded as accomplishment or achievement.
Along the way there are the discouragements of unkind criticism, outright rejection, troublesome insecurity and irregular inability to meet debts.
It is uncommon, therefore, to come across a book containing advice of much practical value for anyone toying（漫不经心地考虑） with the dangerous idea of staring on a writing life.
A friend recently lent me such a book, however - one I wish I’d had the luck to read years ago, and which I would recommend to any young person devoted to making a career of words. It is the autobiography （自传） of the English novelist Anthony Trollope, first published in 1883, the year after his death.
Needing some means to support himself, Trollope at age 19 worked as a junior clerk in the British postal service. He was at his desk at 5:30 each morning to write for three hours. And he remained in the mail service 33 years, long after reputation and prosperity had come to him.
Now, what of his advice in his works?
1. For safety’s sake, arm yourself with some other skills, some other line of work to fall back on（求助）。 That way, failure at writing, though the disappointment may appear, will not mean ruin.
2. Do not depend too much on inspiration. Writing is a craft, which Trollope compared to the craft of shoemaking. The shoemaker who has just turned out one pair of his work sets to work immediately on the next pair.
3. Have a story to tell, but, more important than that, people with characters who will speak and move as living creatures in the reader’s mind. Without memorable characters, story alone is nothing.
4. Meet your deadlines. Life is endlessly “painful and troublesome” for writers who can’t finish their work on time.
5. Do not be carried away by praise. And, above all, do not be injured by criticism.
6. Understand the risks of writing for a living. “The career, when successful, is pleasant enough certainly; but when unsuccessful, it is of all careers the most painful.”This passage mainly discusses__________.
| A．the difficulties and risks of making a career of words |
| B．the uselessness of instructions contained in writing guidebooks |
| C．the autobiography of the 19th century English novelist Anthony Trollope |
| D．sound advice provided in Anthony. Trollope’s autobiography |
From the context we can figure out that the underlined word “defect” in Paragraph 3 means__.
| A．advantage | B．fault | C．truth | D．disadvantage |
According to the author, writing _______.
| A．is basically a self-taught occupation and no instructions on how to deal with it are of any practical use |
| B．is a “trial and error” process and it does not count whether you have the gift for writing or not |
| C．for a living is the most pleasant of all careers, full of praise and enjoyment |
| D．sometimes provides good hopes of winning public praise and escaping povert |
From the passage we may infer that the author is most probably
| A．an instructor of writing | B．a writer |
| C．an educator | D．a publisher |
Forgiving someone who has hurt you or let you down is never an easy thing. Several new studies, however, say that it could have a lot of health benefits. When you think of forgiveness, you probably don’t think of it as being a health or medical problem. Studies from Stanford University, on the other hand, show that something like anger can change your well-being.
When cartoon book characters like the incredible（难以置信） Hulk get angry, they change colours and often gain special power. In the real world, anger is less obvious and may be more dangerous. That’s why Professor Fred Luskin, founder of the Stanford Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good, says holding on to anger and hatred can harm your physical and mental health. Two new studies seem to show the same idea.
The studies find that people who are able to forgive feel less stress, less back pain, and less depression（沮丧）。 They also have fewer headaches, lower blood pressure, and fewer problems on sleeping.
So it doesn’t matter if your anger is caused by the traffic or other things. Learning to let it go is important. Techniques such as deep breath or thought can help. Or just ask yourself if it’s worth hurting yourself by staying angry with someone else.
Forgiveness does not mean that you simply accept what happened and say it’s OK. Instead, it’s a way of making peace with yourself about what happened in the past. The author of the passage tries to make his viewpoint clear ______.
| A．by raising his own examples. | B．based on his own experience. |
| C．by mentioning some studies. | D．by mentioning some typical patients. |
The example of the cartoon book characters is taken in the passage to____.
| A．support the viewpoint that anger and hatred harm physical and mental health. |
| B．introduce a famous expert. |
| C．let the reader know the different colours of cartoon faces. |
| D．show how to control one’s temper. |
The underlined phrase “holding on to” in this passage possibly means“__”。
| A．removing. | B．keeping up. | C．getting rid of. | D．learning about. |
The best title for this passage is probably _______.
| A．Forgiveness. | B．Forgiveness Is Good for Health. |
| C．A Secret to Keeping Health. | D．Anger Is Bad for Health. |
Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers．Brain-computer interface（BCI） technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines．
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated（展示）a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person’s thoughts．
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand．He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts．
“Our brain has billions of nerve cells．These send signals through the spinal cord（脊髓）to the muscles to give us the ability to move．But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles,” Tavella says．“Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices．”
The researchers designed a special cap for the user．This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp（头皮）and sends them to a computer．The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair． The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path．They help the computer react to commands from the brain．
Prof．Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands．“The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices．One example is this wheelchair．”
He says his team has set two goals．One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from．And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time．BCI is a technology that can .
| A．help to update computer systems |
| B．link the human brain with computers |
| C．help the disabled to recover |
| D．control a person's thoughts |
How did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
| A．By controlling his muscles． |
| B．By talking to the machine． |
| C．By moving his hand． |
| D．By using his mind． |
The team will test with real patients to.
| A．make profits from them |
| B．prove the technology useful to them |
| C．make them live longer |
| D．learn about their physical condition |
Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
| A．Switzerland, the BCI Research Center |
| B．New Findings About How the Human Brain Works |
| C．BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled |
| D．Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries |