In this century the traditional American family is constantly faced with the threat of breakdown. Some sociologists suggest that one little-noticed cause may be the introduction of the TV dinner.
Before the appearance of television sets, the American dinner was a big event for the family. In many homes, dinner time may be the only time when everyone got together. A typical dinner was usually in three stages. In the preparation stage, the children and Father frequently helped with setting while Mother put the last touches on the roast. In the eating stage, family members shared the day’s experiences and more than food was eaten. In this stage families got to know one another and made joint decisions around the dinner table, and thus the family unit was strengthened. In the cleaning-up stage, children or Father again gave their hands, so that their importance to the home community was clear. Unfortunately, all of these have been removed by a product-the television set.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the typical American family dinner was just twenty minutes long. The speed-up of the once-leisurely experiences is clearly connected to the pace of modern life and maybe a model of the modern life is the TV dinners-meals designed to be eaten from the beginning to the end of a half-hour program. The once family affair has now become nothing more than the use of a fork and knife.
The underlined word in the second paragraph can be replaced by
| A．big | B．important | C．combined | D．separate |
In the past, Americans tended to .
| A．spend more time eating their food at dinner table | B．eat more food than they have today |
| C．spend more time talking about their day’s experiences at dinner table | |
| D．talk so much that they forgot to eat |
The shortening of the dinner time in America is related to .
| A．The TV programs | B．the pace of modern life |
| C．the wide use of electrical equipment | D．the popularity of fast food |
. The best title for this passage might be
| A．Talk at Dinner Table | B．TV Dinner | C．Pace of Modern Life | D．Problems Caused by TV |
What is the nature of the scientific attitude, the attitude of the man or woman who studies and applies physics, biology, chemistry, geology, engineering, medicine or any other science?
We all know that science plays an important role in our societies. However, many people believe that our progress depends on two different aspects of science. The first aspect is the application of the machines, products and systems of knowledge that scientists and technologists develop. The second is the application of the special methods of thought and actionthat scientists use in their work.
What are these special methods of thinking and acting? First of all, it seems that a successful scientist is curious - he wants to find out how and why the universe works. He usually pays attention to problems which he notices have no satisfying explanation, andlooks for relationships even if the data available seem to be unconnected. Moreover,he thinks he can improve the existing conditions and enjoys trying to solve the problems which this involves.
He is a good observer, accurate, patient and objective（客观的） and uses the facts he observes to the fullest. For example, trained observers obtain a very large amount of information about a star mainly from the accurate analysis of the simple lines that appear in a spectrum（光谱）.
He does not accept statements which are not based on the most complete evidence available. He rejects authority as the only basis for truth. Scientists always check statements and make experiments carefully and objectively.
Furthermore,he does not readily accept his own idea, since he knows that man is the least reliable of scientific instruments and that a number of factors tend to disturb objective investigation.
Lastly,he is full of imaginationsince he often has to look for relationships in data which are not only complex but also frequently incomplete. Furthermore,he needs imaginationif he wants to guess how processes work and how events take place.
These seem to be some of the ways in which a successful scientist or technologist thinks and acts.Many people believe that science helps society to progress through ________.
| A．knowledge | B．more than one aspect |
| C．technology | D．the use of machines |
Which of the following statements about a curious scientist is TRUE?
| A．He doesn’t find confidence and pleasure in work. |
| B．He makes efforts to investigate potential connections. |
| C．He is interested in problems that are explained. |
| D．He looks for new ways of acting. |
According to the passage, a successful scientist would NOT ________.
| A．easily believe in unchecked statements |
| B．easily criticize others’ research work |
| C．always use his imagination in work |
| D．always use evidence from observation |
Which word can be used to describe the data that a good scientist uses?
| A．complete | B．accurate | C．objective | D．complicated |
What does the passage mainly discuss?
| A．Application of technology |
| B．Progress in modem society. |
| C．Scientists’ ways of thinking and acting |
| D．How to become a successful scientist. |
It is easy for us to tell our friends from our enemies. But can other animals do the same? Elephants can! They can use their sense of vision and smell to tell the difference between people who pose a threat and those who do not.
In Kenya, researchers have found that elephants react differently to clothing worn by men of the Maasai and Kamba ethnic groups. Young Maasai men spear animals and thus pose a threat to elephants; Kamba men are mainly farmers and are not a danger to elephants.
In an experiment conducted by animal scientists, elephants were first presented with clean clothing or clothing that had been worn for five days by either a Maasai or a Kamba man. When the elephants detected the smell of clothing worn by a Maasai man, they moved away from the smell faster and took longer to relax than when they detected the smells of either clothing worn by Kamba men or clothing that had not been worn at all.
Garment color also plays a role, though in a different way. In the same study, when the elephants saw red clothing not worn before, they reacted angrily, as red is typically worn by Maasai men. Rather than running away as they did with the smell, the elephants acted aggressively toward the red clothing.
The researchers believe that the elephants’ emotional reactions are due to their different interpretations of the smells and the sights. Smelling a potential danger means that a threat is nearby and the best thing to do is run away and hide. Seeing a potential threat without its smell means that risk is low. Therefore, instead of showing fear and running away, the elephants express their anger and become aggressive. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
| A．Maasai people are a threat to elephants. |
| B．Kamba people raise elephants for farming. |
| C．Both Kamba and Maasai people are elephant hunters. |
| D．Both Kamba and Maasai people traditionally wear red clothing. |
How did the elephants react to smell in the study?
| A．They attacked a man with the smell of new clothing. |
| B．They needed time to relax when smelling something unfamiliar. |
| C．They became anxious when they smelled Kamba-scented clothing. |
| D．They were frightened and ran away when they smelled their enemies. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Elephants attack people who wear red clothing. |
| B．Elephants use sight and smell to detect danger. |
| C．Scientists are now able to control elephants’ emotions. |
| D．Some Kenyan tribes understand elephants’ emotions very well. |
What can be inferred about the elephant’s behavior from this passage?
| A．Elephants learn from their experiences. |
| B．Elephants have sharper sense of smell than sight. |
| C．Elephants are more intelligent than other animals. |
| D．Elephants tend to attack rather than escape when in danger. |
A man claiming to be a pastor(牧师) apparently tried to stiff a waiter on a tip, explaining that his work for God allowed him not to leave one.
A photo of the receipt, posted to Reddit.com, shows a bill for $34.93 with an automatic 18 percent gratuity(小费) (or $6.29) added above a blank space for an additional tip.
“I give God 10%,” the diner wrote on the receipt, scratching out the automatic tip. “Why do you get 18?” He then wrote “Pastor” above his signature, and an emphatic “0” where the additional tip would be. (The automatic gratuity, however, had already been added to the total.)
The Reddit user who submitted the image explained in the comments section that the receipt was part of a total bill for a party of 20, which is why the gratuity was automatically added.
“Parties up to eight ... may tip whatever they’d like, but larger parties receive an automatic gratuity," the server wrote. "It’s in the computer; it’s not something I do.”
The server added: “They had no problem with my service, and told me I was great. They just didn’t want to pay when the time came.”
Scribbling(乱涂) notes on receipts has become something of a trend. Earlier this month, the manager of a North Carolina Red Robin surprised an overdue pregnant woman by comping her meal.
“Once seated, a manager came up to us and started talking,” the woman's husband told Consumerist. “He was extremely friendly and jokingly asked my wife if this was her last meal before heading to the hospital.”
When the check came, a note from the manager next to her portion of the bill read: “MOM 2 BEE GOOD LUC.”
“It was a pleasant surprise and made my tired-of-being-pregnant wife a little more cheery,” the man said.What did the pastor mean by saying, “I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?”
| A．He was bargaining with the waiter. |
| B．He didn’t mean to pay the gratuity at all. |
| C．God gave him the privilege not to pay a gratuity. |
| D．The gratuity had already been paid by his friends. |
What do you learn from the article?
| A．The pastor paid ten percent gratuity of the meal to God. |
| B．A party of six diners can choose whatever gratuity they want to pay. |
| C．According to the husband, the wife enjoyed the process of being pregnant. |
| D．The pastor paid $34.93 in total for the meal. |
What does the underlined word “stiff” mean?
| A．amuse | B．abuse | C．persuade | D．fail to pay |
Fourteen – year – old Richie Hawley had spent five years studying violin at the Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles when he took part in a violin contest. Ninety two young people were invited to the contest and Hawley came out first．
The contest could have been the perfect setup for fear, worrying about mistakes, and trying to impress the judges. But Hawley says he did pretty well in staying calm. “I couldn’t be thinking about how many mistakes I’d make — it would distract me from playing,” he says. “I didn’t even remember trying to impress people while I played. It’s almost as if they weren’t there. I just wanted to make music.”
Hawley is a winner. But he didn’t become a winner by concentrating on winning. He did it by concentrating on playing well．
“The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part,” said the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin. “The important thing in life is not the triumph (胜利) but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”
A characteristic of high performers is their intense, pleasurable concentration on work, rather than on their competitors or future glory or money, says Dr. Charles Garfield, who has studied 1,500 achievers in business, science, sports, the arts, and professions. “They are interested in winning, but they are most interested in self - development, testing their limits.”
One of the most surprising things about top performers is how many losses they’ve had and how much they’ve learned from each. “Not one of the 1,500 I studied defined losing as failing,” Garfield says. “They kept calling their losses ‘setbacks’.”
A healthy attitude toward setbacks is essential to winning, experts agree．
“The worst thing you can do if you’ve had a setback is to let yourself get stuck in a long depression. You should analyze carefully what went wrong, identify specific things you did right and give yourself credit for them.” Garfield believes that most people don’t give themselves enough praise. He even suggests keeping a diary of all the positive things you’ve done on the way to a goal．Hawley won the contest because ________．
| A．he put all his mind to his performance |
| B．he cared much about the judges’ feelings |
| C．he tried his best to avoid making mistakes |
| D．he paid close attention to the people around |
According to the passage, successful people concentrate on ________．
| A．challenging their own limits | B．learning from others |
| C．defeating their opponents | D．avoiding setbacks |
The passage tells us that “praise” in times of trouble ________．
| A．helps people deal with their disappointment |
| B．makes people forget their setbacks |
| C．makes people regret about their past |
| D．helps people analyze what went wrong |
Riding a London subway, a person from other countries will notice one major difference: in London, people do not look at each other．In fact, eye contact is avoided at all times. That’s not rudeness ― people are just too busy to bother looking．
Busy doing what, you ask? Well, they’re certainly not using the time for a moment of quiet thinking．Nor are they reading a book．New technology has replaced quiet habits．Today the only acceptable form of book on the London underground is an e-book．
Apple must earn a fortune from London commuters（使用月票上下班者）. Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, over 40, 000 ― yes, 40, 000 “apps” have been designed．
Commuters love them because they are the perfect time - fillers. One “app”, called iShoot, is a game that features tanks．Another one, Tube Exits, tells passengers where to sit on the train to be closest to the exit of their destination. iSteam clouds the iPhone screen when you breathe into the microphone. You can then write in the “steam” on your phone screen．
For those without an iPhone, another Apple product, the iPod, may be the distraction (消遣) of choice. It’s not just teenagers who “plug in” to their music － iPods are a popular way to pass the time for all ages．
And if games, e-books and music aren’t enough to keep you occupied, then perhaps you would prefer a film? The development of palm DVD technology means many commuters watch their favorite TV shows or films on the way to work．With all these distractions, it’s amazing that people still remember to get off the train．Those who want to save time to reach where they go can download ________ to their iPhones
| A．iShoot | B．Tube Exits | C．iSteam | D．iPod |
People in London do not make eye contact on the subway because ________．
| A．they are going to work and have no time to communicate with each other |
| B．they love reading books and do not want to be disturbed |
| C．they feel sleepy because of getting up early |
| D．they’re busy playing games, reading e-books, listening to music or watching films |
The underlined word “apps” in the third paragraph means ________．
| A．computers |
| B．programs downloaded for the iPhone |
| C．computer companies |
| D．fortune from London commuters |
The main idea of the passage is that ________．
| A．London commuters are unfriendly to strangers |
| B．Apple has earned a lot of money from selling 40, 000 apps |
| C．technology is changing how London commuters spend their traveling time |
| D．riding a London subway is a must when visiting London |