阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
I began working in journalism when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was supper time, I walked back home.
“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“None.”
“Where did you go?”
“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“What did you do?”
“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“You just stood there?”
“Didn’t sell a single one.”
“My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle(五分镍币). It was the first nickle I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.
Why did the boy start his job young?
A.He wanted to be famous in the future | B.The job was quite easy for him. |
C.His mother had high hopes for him. | D.The competition for the job was fierce. |
From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
A.excited | B.interested | C.ashamed | D.disappointed |
What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?
A.She forced him to continue. | B.She punished him. |
C.She gave him some money. | D.She changed her plan. |
The phrase “this battle”in the last paragraph refers to .
A.the war between the boy’s parents |
B.the arguing between the boy and his mother |
C.the quarrel between the boy and his customers |
D.the fight between the boy and his father |
What is the text mainly about?
A.The early life of a journalist. |
B.The early success of a journalist. |
C.The happy childhood of the writer. |
D.The important role of the writer in his family. |
Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job's pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating(使孤立)jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers?
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy?
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Isolating jobs usually drive people mad. |
B.Interactive jobs make people shy easily. |
C.Extreme people tend to work with others. |
D.Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs. |
What does the underlined sentence in paragraph one mean?
A.Before you select your job, you should assess your skills and match them with your position |
B.There are more important things than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job. |
C.Nothing is important than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job. |
D.You should ignore your skills when you select job. |
What is the missing word about a job search in the following chart?
A.Design. | B.Changes. | C.Cooperation. | D.Hobbies. |
What is the best title for this passage?
A.Lifestyles and Job Pay | B.Jobs and Environment |
C.Job Skills and Abilities | D.Personalities and Jobs |
From good reading we can derive pleasure, companionship, experience, and instruction. A good book may absorb our attention so completely that for the time being we forget our surroundings and even our identity. Reading good books is one of the greatest pleasures in life. It increases our contentment when we are cheerful, and lessens our troubles when we are sad. Whatever may be our main purpose in reading, our contact with good books should never fail to give us enjoyment and satisfaction.
With a good book in our hands we need never be lonely. Whether the characters portrayed are taken from real life or are purely imaginary, they may become our companions and friends. In the pages of books we can walk with the wise and the good of all lands and all times. The people we meet in books may delight us either because they resemble human friends whom we hold dear or because they present unfamiliar types whom we are glad to welcome as new acquaintances. Our human friends sometimes may bore us, but the friends we make in books need never weary us with their company. By turning the page we can dismiss them without any fear of hurting their feelings. When human friends desert us, good books are always ready to give us friendship, sympathy, and encouragement. One of the most valuable gifts bestowed by books is experience. Few of us can travel far from home or have a wide range of experiences, but all of us can lead varied lives through the pages of books. Whether we wish to escape from the seemingly dull realities of everyday life or whether we long to visit some far-off place, a book will help us when nothing else can. To travel by book we need no bank account to pay our way; no airship or ocean liner or stream-lined train to transport us; no passport to enter the land of our heart's desire. Through books we may get the thrill of hazardous adventure without danger. We can climb lofty mountains, brave the perils of an Antarctic winter, or cross the scorching sands of the desert, all without hardship. In books we may visit the studios of Hollywood; we may mingle with the gay throngs of the Paris boulevards; we may join the picturesque peasants in an Alpine village or the kindly natives on a South Sea island. Indeed, through books the whole world is ours for the asking. The possibilities of our literary experiences are almost unlimited. The beauties of nature, the enjoyment of music, the treasures of art, the triumphs of architecture, the marvels of engineering, are all open to the wonder and enjoyment of those who read.Why is it that we sometimes forget our surroundings and even our identity while reading?
A.No one has come to disturb you. |
B.Everything is so quiet and calm around you. |
C.The book you are reading is so interesting and attractive. |
D.Your book is overdue; you are finishing it at a very fast speed. |
How would you account for the fact that people like their acquaintances in books even more?
A.They resemble human friends exactly. |
B.They are unfamiliar types we like. |
C.They never desert us. |
D.They never hurt our feelings. |
Which of the following is true?
A.Your wish to visit some far-off place can be realized through the pages of the books. |
B.To escape from the dull realities of everyday life you should take up reading. |
C.Books can always help you to live a colorful life. |
D.You may obtain valuable experience from reading good books. |
The word “weary” means ______.
A.“to attract someone’s attention” |
B.“to distract someone’s attention” |
C.“to make someone very tired” |
D.“to make someone interested” |
“... the whole world is ours for the asking” implies that ____________.
A.in books the world is more accessible to us |
B.we can ask to go anywhere in the world |
C.we can make a claim to everything in this world |
D.we can make a round-the-world trip free of charge |
阅读下面短文并回答问题,然后将答案写到答题卡相应的位置上(请注意问题后的词数要求)。
[1]Global difference in intelligence is a sensitive topic, long filled with a large number of different opinions. But recent data has indeed shown cognitive (认知的) ability to be higher in some countries than in others. What's more, IQ scores have risen as nations develop --- a phenomenon known as the "Flynn effect". Many causes have been put forward for both the intelligence difference and the Flynn effect, including education, income, and even non-agricultural labor. Now, a new study from researchers at the University of New Mexico offers another interesting theory:intelligence may be linked to infectious-disease rates.
[2]The brain, say author Christopher Eppig and his colleagues, is the "most costly organ in the human body". Brainpower consumes almost up to 90 percent of a newborn's energy. It's clear that if something affects energy intake while the brain is growing, the impact could be long and serious. And for vast parts of the globe, the biggest threat to a child's body -- and therefore brain ---is parasitic (由寄生虫引起的) infection. These illnesses threaten brain development __________. They can directly attack live tissue, which the body must then try every means to replace. They can invade the digestive pipe and block nutritional intake. They can rob the body's cells for their own reproduction. And then there's the energy channeled (输送) to the immune system to fight the infection.
[3] Using data on national "disease burdens" (life years lost due to infectious diseases) and average intelligence scores, the authors found they are closely associated. The countries with the lowest average IQ scores have the highest disease burdens without exception. On the contrary, nations with low disease burdens top the IQ list.
[4]If the study holds water, it could be revolutionary for our understanding of the still-confusing variation in national intelligence scores.What is the main idea of the text? (no more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________Complete the following statement with proper words. (no more than 4 words)
Those countries that have the___________ are always at the bottom of the IQ list.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words. (no more than 5 words)
What can cause intelligence difference? (no more than 8 words)
What does the word "they" (Line 3, Paragraph 3) probably refer to? (no more
than 8 words)
They may be just passing your office, computer bag slung (悬挂) over one shoulder. Or they may be sitting in a car outside it, causally tapping away at a laptop. They look like innocent passers-by. In fact, they are stealing your corporate secrets.
Drive-by hacking is the trendy term given to the practice of breaking into wireless computer networks from outside the buildings that house them. A recent study in the UK, sponsored by RSA Data Security, found that two-thirds of organizations with wireless networks were risking their data in this way. Security experts patrolled (巡逻) several streets in the City of London seeking evidence of wireless networks in operation.
Of 124 that they identified, 83 were sending data without encrypting(加密)them. Such data could readily be picked up by a passer-by armed only with a portable computer, a wireless modem and a few pieces of software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet.
The data could include sensitive company documents containing valuable information. Or they could be e-mail identities and passwords that could be used by hackers to log into corporate networks as if they were legal users.
Most companies using wireless networking technology do not take even the simplest of measures to protect their data. Nearly all wireless network technology comes with some basic security features that need only to be activated (激活) in order to give a minimum level of security, for example, by encrypting the data being passed over the network.
Raymon Kruck, business development manager at Check Point Software, a security technology specialist, believes this could be partly a psychological problem. People see the solid walls of their building as safeguards and forget that wireless networks can extend up to 200 meters beyond physical walls.
Companies without any security at all on their wireless networks make it ridiculously easy for hackers to break in. Switching on the security that comes with the network technology should be automatic. Then there are other basic steps a company can take, says Mr. Kruck, such as changing the passwords on the network from the default (默认) setting.
Companies can also install firewalls, which form a barrier between the internal network and the public Internet. They should also check their computer records regularly to spot any abnormal activity, which might betray the presence of a hacker.According to the study sponsored by RSA Data Security, two thirds of the subjects _______.
A.had most of their company data stolen |
B.depended on wireless computer networks |
C.were exposed to drive-by hacking |
D.were unaware of the risk of wireless hacking |
Which of the following is NOT considered in the study?
A.The number of computer hacking incidents. |
B.The number of wireless computer networks identified. |
C.The way in which data are sent and received. |
D.The way in which data are hacked and stolen. |
Most wireless network technology has_________.
A.data encryption program |
B.password security programs |
C.illegal-user detection |
D.firewall |
Raymond Kruck most probably agrees that wireless network security involves ________.
A.wireless signal administration |
B.changes in user’s awareness |
C.users’ psychological health |
D.stronger physical walls |
The passage is most likely to be seen in a __________
A.book review | B.science fiction | C.textbook | D.computer magazine |
With the Tesla Roadster and other plugin (插入式) electric vehicles hitting the road,demand is growing for accessible refueling points to recharge them. Carbon Day Automotive, a Chicagobased company,has now demonstrated a solarpowered recharging point, known as the Solar PlugIn Station,which lets motorists easily charge their cars using electricity that has been produced without any environmental damage.
The Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show in Chicago as part of the city’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. According to Carbon Day Automotive,the Solar PlugIn Station on show in Chicago is part of the vital infrastructure(基础设施) required for electric vehicles in Chicago and was the focus of a recent visit by the International Olympic Committee.
These solarpowered electricity points will be used daily to fuel the city’s electric vehicles with power from the sun. By producing the electricity from pollutionfree solar cell, the CO2 emissions are reduced to zero.
“Solar energy and electric vehicles are a partnership that is one more step to reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” says Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies.Coulomb Technologies recently developed the components (部件) required for individual recharging stations,marketed as ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations.Carbon Day Automotive is the Midwest distributor for the ChargePoint stations. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of giant solar panels (电池板) that shade the tiny ChargePoint Networked Charging Station.The solar panel is connected to an underground battery pack,ready for everyday refueling.
“Without these stations it would be like driving around in a traditional car without the availability of gas stations,” says Scott Emalfarb,CEO at Carbon Day.“The day of true plugin electric vehicles will be here sooner than most people realize and the world needs to be ready to accommodate them.”The Solar PlugIn Station is used as part of the bid to host the Olympics mainly because ________.
A.it’s environmentally friendly |
B.it makes up for the lack of electricity |
C.it’s a new idea and attracts people’s attention |
D.it brings convenience to electric vehicle users |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
A.to recharge the electric vehicles takes a long time |
B.the Solar PlugIn Station will come into use in 2016 |
C.the Solar PlugIn Station has gone on show internationally |
D.Chicago is promoting the use of electric vehicles |
According to the passage,how many of the following statements are TRUE?
a. Tesla Roadster is a kind of plugin electric vehicle.
b. The Solar PlugIn Station uses solar power to charge all of the cars.
c. Chicago is a city,which is rich in oil.
d. The Solar PlugIn Station consists of underground battery packs.
e. Scott Emalfarb is optimistic about the future of plugin electric vehicles.
A.2. | B.3. | C.4. | D.5. |
The passage implies that when the Solar PlugIn Station becomes popular,________.
A.more visitors will come to Chicago |
B.the citizens of Chicago will be able to go to work faster |
C.more space for electric vehicles will be needed |
D.the cost of electric vehicles will be lower than traditional cars |
What would be the best title for the passage?
A.Chicago Will Soon Be Full of Electric Vehicles |
B.Chicago Calls on People to Buy Electric Vehicles |
C.Chicago Fights for Its Bid to Host the 2016 Olympics |
D.Chicago Shows Its Solarpowered Recharging Stations |