After battling hard times and danger for over nine months, British teenager Mike Perham made history last month as the youngest person to sail solo around the world.
The 17-year-old made the record after he cleared the Panama Canal and then sailed through the Caribbean and got home across the Atlantic.
Mike is only three months younger than Zac Sunderland, the 17-year-old American boy who had taken the crown as the youngest solo around-the-world sailor in July.
The two youngsters met in Cape Town in South Africa as they crossed the globe in different directions. Mike insisted they were not rivals(竞争对手). “No. It's two teenagers going out there, living their dream and having the adventure of a lifetime,” he said.
Mike may be young, but he is no stranger to sailing adventures. He picked up the hobby at the age of 6 when his father took him out in a small boat on a local lake. Father and son sailed separate boats across the Atlantic when Mike was 14, making him the youngest person to cross that ocean solo. That record gave him the taste for this even greater challenge.
On the recent journey, the scariest moment for Mike came when his sailboat was hit by storms in the southern Indian Ocean.
“We were picked up by what felt like a 60-foot wave and threw down on our side at 90 degrees,” he said.
“It felt like I was going right over. Stuff was flying around and I just thought ‘Oh no’.”
At other times, he had to dive into the Pacific and fix problems. He tied himself to the boat, jumped into the water and went to work with a knife in 30-second dives underneath the boat to cut a rope away.
Mike said he felt proud that he made his dream come true. “You've got to have confidence in yourself that you will make it,” he said.. What's the main idea of the passage?
| A．A British teenager became the youngest person to sail solo around the world. |
| B．How a British teenager developed his sailing hobby. |
| C．A British teenager's brave experience. |
| D．A British teenager's confidence. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．Mike Perham crossed the Panama Canal. |
| B．Mike and Zac took the crown as the youngest solo around-the-world sailor at the same age. |
| C．The two youngsters crossed the globe in different directions. |
| D．Mike was never frightened during the sailing. |
What does the underlined word “taste” in the fifth paragraph mean?
| A．Flavor. | B．Preference. | C．Experience. | D．Ability. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Both Mike and Zac had adventured spirits. |
| B．Mike is older than Zac. |
| C．They both are brave but they have different goals. |
| D．Mike took up the hobby of sailing adventures at 14. |
What did Mike believe in?
| A．Having confidence in yourself will make you successful. |
| B．Braveness is important in sailing. |
| C．One should pick up a hobby as a child. |
| D．Pride goes before a fall. |
Tips for developing an exercise plan for your brain
You know that eating a sensible diet and getting plenty of exercise help your body healthy and strong. But did you know that there are ways to make your brain healthier and smarter?
Studies show that when the brain is compelled to do something new, it creates new neural pathways（神经通路）. The more pathways you have, the faster you can think and the better memory you will have.
Ten steps toward a smarter brain
Limit your TV time
Watching an average TV show requires very little brain power and brings the same result as neglecting physical exercise. Your brain will become weak just as your muscles do. If you watch TV, choose something educational and informative.
Travel
Traveling to a new country forces you to see and do things in a new way, providing stimulation（刺激） to the brain.
Learn a new language
Acquiring a new language involves different learning methods. Learning a language sharpens your brain and helps prevent memory problems in later years.
Master a new subject
Each week, select an animal, a bird or a fish, and read everything you can about it. Stretch （最大限度利用）your brain as you become an expert on the subject.
Use your non-dominant hand
If you are right-handed, use your left hand for everyday activities, or use your right hand if you are left-handed. Doing familiar things in a new way will cause your brain to create new neural networks.
Read often
As you read, take the time to look up people or places that aren’t familiar. Reading expands your vocabulary if you search for words and definitionsthat you don’t know.
Do puzzles
According to the Mayo Clinic, doing sudoku and crossword puzzles keeps the brain sharp into your senior years.
Calculate while you shop
As you put things in your grocery cart, total everything in your head. See how much close you get to the actual total.
Play video games
Studies have found that certain video games force you to use critical decision-making skills and can even improve students’ math scores.
Tweet!（推特，类似中国的微信）
Read messages from people who represent a wide range of interests. And some say that learning to express yourself in just 140 characters is a great brain challenge!
So get in the habit of challenging your brain, and make yourself smarter!What’s the main idea of the passage?
Get in the habit of learning something new
Develop an exercise plan
Make Your Brain Smarter
Tips to make yourself healthierWhat does the underlined word “compelled” mean?
| A．requested | B．allowed |
| C．completed | D．forced |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Educational and informative TV shows are helpful to limit your TV time. |
| B．Doing sudoku and crossword puzzles may make you confused. |
| C．Playing certain video games may help you sharpen your mind. |
| D．Writing short messages often can also make you healthier . |
When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.
One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight years old, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching (紧握) at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into the camera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.
The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growing interest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach my children to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to our refrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.
“We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing,” I said. “We’ll share what we have with them.”
I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods. While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games.
“I’ll help you find something for the little girl when I’m done with this,” I said.
The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third box with clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy’s flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on the top of other toys.
“Oh, Honey,” I said “You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.”
Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. “Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she’ll make that other little girl happy, too.”
Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys the lesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. True generosity is giving that which you value most.
Honest benevolence (善行) is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girl she doesn’t know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.
The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.
A slow smile spread across Brett’s face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch some of his prized Matchbox cars.
Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan’s gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.
Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.
It’s easy to give that which we don’t want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn’t it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.Why does the author give a detailed description of a particular picture in the Sunday newspaper?
| A．To create an atmosphere of fear and depression brought by the tornado. |
| B．To call on unconcerned people to donate for the poor families. |
| C．To show the helplessness and hopelessness of the family mentioned in the paper. |
| D．To make known what touched her and made her decide to help the hopeless family. |
Why did Brad and Brett also donate their favorite things finally?
| A．They were encouraged to donate some valuable things by the mother. |
| B．Meghan’s decision inspired them to donate their favorite things. |
| C．They also wanted to show generosity by giving away their valuable things. |
| D．Meghan’s gesture reminded them to replace their favorite things with new ones. |
By “swallowing hard”, the writer means that ______.
| A．she was deeply puzzled by what the little girl did |
| B．she had trouble persuading Meghan not to give away Lucy |
| C．she was greatly moved by Meghan’s unexpected decision |
| D．she was uncertain what results Meghan’s action would bring about |
It is suggested in the sentence “the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart” that ______.
| A．sincere donation means offering help to others whole-heartedly |
| B．true giving means giving others what you treasure most |
| C．true generosity means helping others at the cost of your own benefit |
| D．honest benevolence means devoting yourself to the career of donation |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．The Greatest Love | B．A Beautiful Heart |
| C．True Generosity | D．A Precious Gift |
High-quality customer service is preached (宣扬) by many, but actually keeping customers happy is easier said than done.
Shoppers seldom complain to the manager or owner of a retail store, but instead will warn their friends, relatives, co-workers, strangers—and anyone who will listen.
Store managers are often the last to hear complaints, and often find out only when their regular customers decide to frequent their competitors, according to a study jointly conducted by Verde Group and Wharton School.
“Storytelling hurts retailers and entertains consumers,” said Paula Courtney, President of the Verde Group. “The store loses the customer, but the shopper must also find a replacement.”
On average, every unhappy customer will complain to at least four others, and will no longer visit the specific store. For every dissatisfied customer, a store will lose up to three more due to negative review. The resulting “snowball effect” can be disastrous to retailers.
According to the research, shoppers who purchased clothing experienced the most problems. Ranked second and third were grocery and electronics customers.
The most common complaints include filled parking lots, cluttered (塞满了的) shelves, overloaded racks, out-of-stock items, long check-out lines, and rude salespeople.
During peak shopping hours, some retailers solved parking problems by getting moonlighting (业余兼职的) local police to work as parking attendants(服务员). Some hired flag wavers to direct customers to empty parking spaces. This guidance rid the need for customers to circle the parking lot endlessly, and avoided conflict between those eyeing the same parking space.
Retailers can relieve the headaches by redesigning store layouts(布局), pre-stocking sales items, hiring speedy and experienced cashiers, and having sales representatives on hand to answer questions.
Most importantly, salespeople should be diplomatic(外交手腕的) and polite with angry customers.
“Retailers who’re responsive and friendly are more likely to smooth over issues than those who aren’t so friendly,” said Professor Stephen Hoch. “Maybe something as simple as a greeter at the store entrance would help.”
Customers can also improve future shopping experiences by filing complaints to the retailer, instead of complaining to the rest of the world. Retailers are hard-pressed to improve when they have no idea what is wrong.Why are store managers often the last to hear complaints?
| A．Most customers won’t take the trouble to complain even if they have had unhappy experiences. |
| B．Customers would rather tell their unhappy experiences to people around them. |
| C．Few customers believe the service will be improved. |
| D．It’s difficult for customers to get in touch with store managers. |
What does Paula Courtney imply by saying “…the shopper must also find a replacement” (Para. 4)
| A．New customers must replace old ones. |
| B．It is not likely the shopper can find the same products in other stores. |
| C．Most stores provide the same kind of service. |
| D．Not complaining to the manager causes the shopper some trouble too. |
Shop owners often hire moonlighting police as parking attendants so that shoppers________.
| A．can stay longer buying goods in the store |
| B．can park their cars without trouble |
| C．won’t have any worries about safety |
| D．can find their cars easily after shopping |
What contributes most to smoothing over issues with customers?
| A．Manners of the salespeople. |
| B．Hiring of efficient employees. |
| C．Huge supply of goods for sale. |
| D．Design of store layout. |
To achieve better shopping experiences, customers are advised to ________.
| A．put pressure on stores to improve their service |
| B．settle their arguments with stores in a diplomatic way |
| C．voice their dissatisfaction to store managers directly |
| D．shop around and make comparisons between stores |
About five years ago, an American electrical engineer named Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie came up with the idea of putting solar panels (控制板) on the ground rather than the roof. Then they began to develop the Solar Roadway. The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun while providing safer driving conditions, along with power and data delivery. They predict that the Solar Roadway will pay for itself through the generation of electricity along with other forms of income and that the same money that is being used to build and resurface current roads can be used to build the Solar Roadways.
Each Solar Road Panel measures roughly 4 meters by 4 meters and contains a microprocessor (微处理器) that monitors and controls the panel, while communicating with neighboring panels and the vehicles traveling overhead. The inventors suggest that this provides a communications device every 4 meters on every road which could be used for example to warn drivers of cars which are moving across a centre line and various other speed control problems. The top of the Solar Road panels is made of super-strong glass that would offer vehicles the tractions (抓地力) they need.
According to the inventors, the Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and therefore electric vehicles can be recharged at any conveniently located rest stop, or at any business that has paved Solar Road Panels in their parking lots.
The inventors say their Solar Roadway has many functions and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths, sidewalks and runways. The Federal Highway Administration has given Brusaw ＄100,000 to develop the invention and Brusaw hopes to build a smart-road parking lot in the coming spring .In the inventors’ opinion, the Solar Roadway .
| A．is too expensive to build at present |
| B．costs no more money than current roads |
| C．can provide as many data as present computers |
| D．will bring them a large sum of money |
The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refers to.
| A．the panels | B．the inventors | C．the researchers | D．the vehicles |
The Solar Roadway includes all the following advantages except .
| A．providing safer driving conditions |
| B．helping drivers communicate with each other while driving |
| C．creating and carrying clean renewable electricity |
| D．warning drivers of various speed control problems |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．the Solar Roadway has already been put into use |
| B．＄100,000 is only enough to build a smart-road parking lot |
| C．the Solar Roadway is not available for gas-powered cars |
| D．future electric vehicles can be charged anytime and anywhere |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Solar-powered smart road of the future |
| B．The great changes on the roadway |
| C．The influence the Solar Roadway has on people |
| D．The Solar Road—a much faster road |
A person, like a commodity (商品), needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration(夸张), however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantages. To show personal attractiveness in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A skilled packager knows how to add art to nature without any signs of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is not a commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.
A young person, especially a female, shining with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted. Youth, however, comes and goes in a flash. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to hide the marks made by years. If you still enjoy life enough to keep self-confidence and work at pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your attractiveness and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life, which now arrives at a self - satisfied stage of quietness and calmness with no interest in fame or wealth. There is no need to make use of hair dyeing. The snow-capped mountain itself is a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old in step with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the company of the elderly is like reading a thick book of good edition, which attracts one so much that one is unwilling to part with it. As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity sets up its brand by the right packaging.The underlined word in the first paragraph is closest to the word ______ in meaning.
| A．decoration | B．clarification |
| C．movement | D．recognition |
It can be concluded from the text that ______.
| A．people should be packaged at all ages |
| B．people should be packaged in a special way |
| C．elderly people also care about packaging |
| D．proper packaging makes people attractive |
For the middle-aged, attractiveness ______ .
| A．hardly exists | B．is the strongest |
| C．comes from the inside | D．comes from the appearance |
According to the author, if you want to keep in harmony with nature, you should ______.
| A．dye your hair | B．make up at a young age |
| C．follow the ageing process | D．give up fame and wealth |
The underlined sentence means that elderly people ______.
| A．are usually packaged like a finely-made book |
| B．experience a lot and have rich knowledge of life |
| C．do a lot of traveling and can give you much information |
| D．enjoy reading thick books about beautiful nature and fairyland |