David Beckham had a dream: to be the first English player to appear in four World Cups.But now it appears that dream is over after a serious injury to his Achilles tendon (跟腱) which means he could be out of action for around six months.With this year's World Cup in South Africa only three months away, sadly Beckham looks set to miss out.The injury happened while Beckham was playing for AC Milan against AC Chievo in the Italian league.After attempting to kick the ball he fell to the ground and hobbled off the pitch before being stretchered (被担架抬走)away.
It is not yet known whether he has completely severed (切断)his Achilles tendon or only torn it.The player has now flown to Finland for assessment and treatment by a knee specialist.
England manager Fabio Capello fears the worst for Beckham's World Cup chances.
"We have to wait for the results of the scan but it looks like he is out of the World Cup," he said in a statement."I spoke with him after the game on Sunday night to offer my support.
"David is a great professional and has worked very hard to be ready for the World Cup, so missing it will be a big blow."
Beckham's former manager at American club LA Galaxy, Alexei Lalas, echoed (共鸣)Capello's words of support:
"It is a horrible situation for Beckham.I know how much it meant to him to be in the World Cup and how important he was to the England team.
David Beckham is now 34 and some are asking whether this serious injury could mean his whole career is over.
Whatever happens, as one of football's best-known and popular players, Beckham will have no shortage of encouragement from fans around the world.
Some will remember Beckham's miraculous recovery from an Achilles injury in 2006, when he was back on the pitch after only eight weeks.
If he could repeat the same feat in time for the World Cup it really would be the stuff of fairytales.
So, perhaps all is not lost.Optimists will take heart from Alexei Lalas' words:
"You never want to write off David Beckham as he has shown us his ability to bounce back(恢复原状)." .What is the best title of the passage?
A.Beckham had a dream? |
B.Beckham--- a great football player! |
C.The end for Beckham? |
D.World Cup in South Africa! |
.What does the author mean by saying “missing it will be a big blow” in paragraph 4 ?
A.Missing the world cup will be a big success. |
B.Missing Beckham means a great failure . |
C.Missing Beckham means an important opportunity for the American club LA Galaxy. |
D.Missing the world cup means a big disappointment for Beckham . |
.We may infer from the passage that ________ .
A.Beckham will definitely not be able to play football again |
B.Beckham was cured by a great knee specialist he found |
C.Beckham has his ability to bounce back |
D.Beckham is likely to miss the world Cup |
.What does the underlined words “take heart” probably mean ?
A.get disappointed | B.get help | C.get encouraged | D.get hurt |
Dear Dad,
Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father's Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you. Yet as I selected and read, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.
You'll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father's Days together. I haven't always been with you on Father's Day but I've always been with you in my heart.
You know, Dad, there was a time when we were separated by the generation gap. You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other.
The Father-Daughter Duel shifted into high gear ( 档位) when you taught me to drive the old Dodge and I decided I would drive the '54 Chevy whether you liked it or not. The police officer who sent me home, after you reported the Chevy stolen, didn't have much tolerance for a stubborn 16 year old, while you were so tolerant about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.
Our relationship greatly improved when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we began making babies right and left. Somewhere along the line, the generation gap disappeared. I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.
But the strangest thing happened last week. I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car. It didn't immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and fragile behind the wheel of that huge car. It was rather like a slap in the face delivered from out of nowhere. Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day.
I guess what I'm trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today. Honoring a father on Father's Day is about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking. It's about loving someone more than words can say, and it's wishing that never had to end.
I love you, Dad.
Love,
JennyHow did Jenny probably feel on the night she was sent home by the police?
A.Disappointed. | B.Nervous. |
C.Guilty. | D.Frightened. |
We can learn from the passage that Jenny and her father_________.
A.kept in touch by writing each other |
B.are separated due to the generation gap |
C.have been getting along very well |
D.had a hard time understanding each other |
Why did Jenny feel strange when she saw her father last week?.
A.She seldom saw him driving that huge car. |
B.She had never realized his being old and weak. |
C.She didn't expect to meet with him there. |
D.She had never seen him driving so slowly before. |
Jenny wrote his father this letter to _________
A.tell him about their conflicts |
B.say sorry for her being stubborn |
C.express her gratitude to him |
D.remind him of the early incident |
If you could take a large snapshot (照片) of everyone in the United States today, it would contain six minion more females than males. In this country, women outlive men by about seven years. Throughout the modern world, cultures are different, diets are different, ways of life and causes of death are different, but one thing is the same--- women outlive men.
It starts before birth. At conception, male fetuses(胎儿) outnumber female by about 110 to 100; at birth, the rate has already fallen to about 105 boys to every 100 girls. By the age of 30, there are only enough men left to match the number of women. Then women start taking a lead. Beyond the age of 80, there are nearly twice as many women as men.
“If you look at the top ten or twelve causes of death,” said Deborah Wingard, a disease expert at the University of California at San Diego, “every single one kills more men.” She listed out one sad fate after another – heart disease, lung cancer and so on. Each kills men at roughly twice the rate of that it does women.
More than a century ago American men surpassed and outlived the women. But in the 20th century, women began living longer, primarily because pregnancy(怀孕) and giving birth to children had become less dangerous. The gap grew steadily. In 1946, for the first time ever in the United States, females outnumbered males.
Parts of the reasons are self-made. Men smoke more, drink more and take more life-threatening chances than women. Men are murdered (usually by other men) three times as often as women are. They commit suicide at a higher rate and have more than twice as many fatal car accidents as women do. Men are likely to be involved in alcohol-related deaths.
But behavior doesn’t explain away the longevity gap.
Today, some scientists studying the gender gap believe that the data point to one conclusion Mother Nature may be partial(偏袒) to women.
Every living thing is assembled according to instructions on its chromosomes (染色体), and humans have 23 pairs of them. But in males, one of these is a weak non-matching pair, expressed by “xy”. The agreement pair in females is “xx”, and its genetic “backup” power is sometimes listed as a clue to woman’s superior restoring force. If the male’s single “x” chromosome isn’t perfect, it is possible for a serious genetic disorder to appear. Some blood diseases, for instance, are diseases caused by a shortcoming in a single gene on the “x” chromosome. They are far more common in males than females.What may the underlined word “outlive” in Paragraph1 mean?
A.Become stronger than. | B.Live longer than. |
C.Be wiser than. | D.Be born more earlier than. |
What can we infer from the second paragraph?
A.Female fetuses are more than male. |
B.The female are surpassing the male with age increasing. |
C.By the age of 30, the female are more than the male. |
D.Over 90, men are more than women in the United States. |
How many exact diseases are mentioned as examples killing twice men than women?
A.Two. | B.Three. | C.Ten. | D.Five. |
The best title for this passage is _____
A.Why women live longer than men |
B.Women are different from men |
C.American men once lived longer than the women |
D.Men smoke and drank more than women |
What did your school smell like? Was it noisy or peaceful? It might not seem important, but a growing body of research suggests that smells and sounds can have an impact on learning, performance and creativity.
Bridget Shield has been conducting studies and advising people on the effects of all sorts of noises, such as traffic and sirens, as well as noise made by the children themselves. "Everything points to a harmful impact of the noise on children’s performance, in numeracy, in literacy, and in spelling,” says Shield.
Shield says the sound of “babble” -the chatter of other children, is particularly distracting in the classroom.。People are very distracted by speech-particularly if it is understandable, but you’re not involved in it.” This phenomenon is also known as the irrelevant speech effect, she says, adding that “it’s a very common finding in open-plan offices as well.’’
In a series of studies published last year, Ravi Mehta found that people were more creative when the background noises were played at a medium level than when volume was low. Loud background noise, however, damaged their creativity. Ravi Mehta suggests there maybe some benefit to playing music or other sounds in an art class or other situations where creativity is the key.
Many teachers all over the world already play music to students in class. Many are inspired by the belief that hearing music can boost IQ in their tasks, the so-called Mozart effect. While the evidence actually suggests it’s a guess to say classical music boosts brainpower, researchers do think pleasant sounds before a task can sometimes lift your mood and help you perform well, says Ravi Mehta," If you like the music or you like the sound-even listening to a Stephen King novel-then you did better. It didn’t matter about the music,“ he says.
However, it’s worth considering that music is not always helpful while you’re trying to work. Trying to perform a task which involves serial recall - for instance, doing mental mathematics-will be distracted by sounds with audio variation, says Ravi Mehta. Songs with lyrics, on the other hand, are more likely to interfere(干扰)with tasks that involve languages-such as reading comprehension.
This isn’t the only sense being related to affecting learning.The second paragraph implies that _________.
A.general noise also has a harmful effect. |
B.students are sensitive to noise. |
C.some children need special sounds to do tasks. |
D.children aren't affected by their own noise. |
The irrelevant speech effect refers to the fact that _________.
A.you don’t understand what others are talking |
B.you are interrupted by the chatting of others |
C.you are unwilling to chat with other people |
D.you find what others are talking irrelevant to you |
According to the text, Ravi Mehta believes that __________.
A.music matters when you want to do better. |
B.music will help you do mental arithmetic. |
C.any music can be beneficial as long as you like it. |
D.songs with lyrics will improve your reading comprehension. |
What might be discussed in the following paragraph?
A.Whether music is helpful all the time. |
B.What sound can promote a person’s creativity. |
C.When smell can improve students’ behavior. |
D.How smell affects children’s performance. |
“A very disruptive (调皮捣蛋的) six-year-old child kicked my legs and clawed at my hand,” said one teacher. “I broke up a fight and was kicked between my legs,” said another. Many people have heard stories like this. But the situation is more worrying still and it involves parents.
Every child, regardless of the circumstances into which they are born, has the right to achieve their potential, regardless of their parents’ wealth and class. And we recognize that, as a nation, it is a long way to achieve this goal. But with rights come responsibilities and what worries people is that we are in danger of neglecting the latter.
Far too many children are behaving badly at school, even to the point of being violent to staff. This is terrible enough, but it is hard to be surprised since many children are just mirroring the behaviour of their parents. Too many are starting school unable to hold a knife and fork, unused to eating at a table, and unable to use the lavatory(卫生间) properly.
We are in danger of becoming a nation of families living separate lives under one roof. The bedroom, once a place to sleep, has become the living space for the young. Spending hours in front of computer screens, on social networking sites or being immersed (沉迷于) in computer games, children and young people spend little time with their parents. Parents are unable to monitor just what their children are watching.
Schools cannot right the wrongs of society and teachers cannot become substitute parents. Both parties need to work together. Parents must be helped and given confidence to take back control. They are responsible for setting boundaries for their children’s behaviour and sticking to those boundaries. They are responsible for setting a good example to their children and for devoting that most precious of resources---time---so that children come to school ready and willing to learn.In the opinion of the writer, what problem do people ignore?
A.The violence in the school |
B.The pressure of students’ learning |
C.The right to achieve students’ potential |
D.The responsibilities of the students. |
The underlined part in paragraph 4 means________.
A.parents care little about children’s life at home |
B.parents and children live in their separate rooms |
C.children don’t live with their parents in the same house |
D.children live a different life from that of parents at home |
The writer’s attitude to the behaviours of parents may be_______.
A.unconcern | B.understanding |
C.dissatisfied | D.tolerant |
Searching for airfares(飞机票价) often seems like a game that passengers are bound to lose.
Prices change from day to day, even minute to minute. Looking through multiple websites for the best deal can be a big challenge. Even when you do book, there’s no guarantee that you are going to get the best price.
"You just don’t know when to pull the trigger. It’s not like buying anything else I can think of,” said George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com.
Harriet Levy paid $179 for a recent round-trip flight on American Airlines between New York and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sitting just one row behind her, Shirley Harrison paid $215. A few rows back, Ellis and Dianne Traub paid $317 each.There were at least 12 fares on the flight, ranging from $169 to $360.
There’s no reason for it, Harrison said.
Fares can change significantly in just a few hours. One Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles jumped from $755 to $1,143 from a Friday to Saturday in late April, then fell to $718 0n Sunday.
The flight was one of a dozen the Associated Press followed over three months for a vacation between July 16 and 22. The number one finding: avoid booking tickets on weekends. It’s the most expensive time to buy.
There’s no way to guarantee the best fare. But before booking, travelers should pay attention to this additional advice:
Book on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. That’s when airlines most often offer sales.
Buy in advance, but not too early. The best time is four to six weeks before traveling. In general, prices for any given flight are highest eight to ten weeks and two to three weeks in advance.
Make use of social media. Airlines are giving more benefits like exclusive(独有的 ) sales to travelers who interact with them on Twitter and Facebook. Those specials are often gone within hours.
The so-called discount airlines - JetBlue, Air-Tran, Southwest and Frontier-adjust their fares less frequently than other airlines, so you can feel more confident that the price will stay the same. But their prices aren’t always the lowest.Researching multiple airlines’ fares is the only way to get a good deal.What can we infer from the first sentence of the text?
A.Passengers are unable to search for airfares. |
B.Airlines often play games with passengers. |
C.Airfares are set in different situations. |
D.It’s difficult for passengers to get the best price. |
The underlined phrase "pull the trigger" in Paragraph 3 probably means ________.
A.start searching | B.get the highest price |
C.make a purchase | D.get on board the plane |
By using a lot of figures, the author intends to ________.
A.show there is standard price for every single airline |
B.discover the rules behind airfares |
C.guarantee passengers a low price |
D.prove airfares can vary widely |
Passengers are advised to book flights ________.
A.in the middle of the week |
B.on special websites |
C.several months before traveling |
D.with airlines which are famous for offering discount prices |