When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station. When other teens were studying or going out, she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University. And her amazing story has inspired a movie, “Homeless to Harvard：The Liz Murray Story” , shown in late April.
Liz Murray , a 22-- year-- old American girl, has been writing a real--life story of willpower and determination. Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug--addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house. Liz was the only member of the family who had a job. Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died, she decided to do something about it.
Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless. At night, she lived on the streets. “What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding, My understanding was that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night.
She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on. She used the benefits that come easily to others, such as a safe living environment, to encourage herself that "next to nothing could hold me down". She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University. But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. "I love my parents so much. They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they love me all the time."
Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is "as simple as making a decision". The word “setback” in the first paragraph most probably means___________?
| A．danger | B．difficulty | C．unhappiness | D．disaster |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Liz’s Harvard Dream | B．Bitter Childhood of Liz |
| C．Liz’s Love for Her Parents | D．Liz’s Struggle for Her Life |
What actually made Liz throw herself into her studies ?
| A．Her parents’ addiction to drugs | B．Her mother’ s disease |
| C．Lack of food and clothes | D．Her mother’ s death |
According to the passage, which is NOT true about Liz?
| A．strong-- willed | B．envious | C．determined | D．respectful |
Adult Basic Education (ABE) and GED Preparation
Task:
The Adult Basic Education Department serves a huge population of learners. Our task is to teach basic skills and help learners to get more knowledge to function effectively as a family member, citizen, worker, and lifelong learner in a changing world.
Description:
ABE is a non-credit program of self-improvement designed to improve basic skills for students who are of different educational level. Development of reading, writing, and math skills are paid special attention to, as well as life skills, employability, and technology. Students without a high school diploma(文凭)also have the opportunity to prepare for the GED exams in the five subject areas writing, social studies, science, literature, and math.
Prerequisites (条件):
ABE classes are open to anyone 18 or over who desires to improve basic reading, writing, and math skills at the pre-college level. Students who are 16 or 17 must first obtain an official release( 证书) from high school before attending class.
To be accepted, students must attend an Educational Planning Session. During the Educational Planning Session students will be given an overview of the ABE programs as well as PCC policies, fees, etc. Students will also have their reading, writing, and math abilities assessed (评估) during the Educational Planning Session The results of their assessment will help the teachers develop individual programs of study for students to guide them toward their personal goals. Students needing special help must get in touch with the Office for Students with Disabilities (503-977-4341) at least two weeks before the session is held.
Courses:
The ABE Department serves an aim to___________.
| A．provide learners with basic knowledge and skills to fit in with society |
| B．help learners successfully get a job in a changing world |
| C．offer diplomas to those who fail to finish secondary education |
| D．provide students with opportunities to prepare for the GED exams |
A 17-year-old is not accepted to ABE classes only because he_____________.
| A．is below 18 |
| B．can't offer a high school diploma |
| C．has left school without official permission |
| D．is assessed as poor in learning performances |
What is the Educational Planning Session intended for?
| A．Providing special help to disabled students. |
| B．Helping students be better at the four basic skills. |
| C．Finding out whether they can be accepted to ABE classes. |
| D．An assessment of students' basic skill levels. |
Different courses are offered to different students according to ___________.
| A．their own choices |
| B．the assessments during the Educational Planning Session |
| C．their performances in school |
| D．how much they pay for the courses |
Born in America in 1898, William was an extraordinary boy, gifted with an amazing IQ between 250 and 300. The genius went to a grammar school when he was only 6 years old and graduated just within 7 months. At the age of 11, he became the youngest student of the Harvard University. He graduated with high scores at the age of 16 and entered Harvard Law School at 18.
Gifted with an amazing IQ between 220 and 230, Terence Tao makes it to this list of the people with the highest IQ in the world. Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1975, this genius first displayed his incredible intelligence at a mere age of 2, when he managed to solve basic arithmetic questions on his own. At the age of 16, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees at the Flinders University. He has been considered as ''Mr. Fix it " by Charles Fefferman, who is a professor of Mathematics at Princeton University, and many other mathematicians want to interest him in their problems.
This 31-year-old Japanese-American astrophysicist lands him third in this list. At the age of 12, Christopher Hirata already worked on college-level courses, around the time most of us were just in the 7th grade. At the age of 13, this gifted kid became the youngest American to have ever won the gold medal in the International physics Olympiad.
At the age of 16, he was already working with NASA on its project to conquer planet Mars. After he was awarded the Ph.D. at Princeton University, he went back to California Institute of Technology.
The next person with very high IQ is Albert Einstein. With an IQ between 160 and 190, Albert Einstein is the genius behind the theory of relativity, which has had great impact on the world of science. He possessed such an amazing ability that after his death, researchers were eager to preserve and make research on his brain in search for clues to his exceptional brilliance, which to this day, has remained a mystery. About William, which of the following is true?
| A．His IQ reached between 220 and 230. |
| B．At the age of 16, he graduated from a grammar school. |
| C．At the age of 6, he graduated with both Master's and Bachelor's degrees. |
| D．At the age of 11, he became the youngest student at the Harvard University. |
How many people with remarkable IQ are mentioned in the passage?
| A．3 | B．4 | C．5 | D．6 |
Who once worked on the project to conquer planet Mars?
| A．William | B．Terence Tao | C．Christopher Hirata | D．Albert Einstein |
From the passage we can know that______.
| A．when William graduated from the Harvard University, he got the highest scores |
| B．at the age of 2, Terence solved basic arithmetic questions on his own |
| C．Christopher Hirata is a Japanese |
| D．researchers have found out why Albert Einstein was so brilliant |
Endless playing of songs like All I want for Christmas in shops during the festive season doesn’t just drive us mad —the songs also make us more careless with our money, research has warned.
While repeated performance of Jingle Bells may seem like an innocent attempt to raise customers’ spirits during the nightmare of Christmas shopping, the songs also have a more delicate impact.
“Background music, or “Muzak”, can be used by marketers to impose cultures ---such as the commercialization of Christmas--- onto consumers and influence their behaviour,” experts said.
Dr. Alan Bradshaw of Royal Holloway, University of London, said, “Festive jingles are force-fed to Christmas shoppers in a bid to change their mood, influence their sense of time and what sort of products they buy. In other words, this is an attempt to control your shopping habits in a way that you might hardly be aware of.”
“Often we are told that we have the freedom to choose where we want to shop, but during Christmas the use of music in this way is so common that our freedom to choose disappears.”
Dr. Bradshaw and Prof Morris Holbrook of Columbia University examined the phenomenon and found that retailers often “dumb down” the music played in shops to relax customers, meaning it is easier to control their behaviour.
It is thought that slowing down the rhythm of music in shops can trick customers into thinking less time has passed, and therefore spend more time examining the shelves, for example.
Some providers of background music have been known to promote their services by claiming they can boost profits by controlling the behaviour of customers.
“A common trick is to take a popular current song and record an instrumental version which can be slowed down or sped up at different time of the day to influence behaviour in different ways,” Dr. Bradshaw said.
Background music is often classed as “Muzak” in honor of the Seattle-based company which began producing its soft-sounding melodies in the 1930s.According to Dr. Bradshaw, in what ways does Christmas music influence customers?
①their mood②their income ③their sense of time ④ the sort of products they buy
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ | C．②③④ | D．①②④ |
Shopkeepers slow down the rhythm of music in shops to ___________.
| A．let customers spend more time shopping |
| B．make customers and sales assistants relaxed |
| C．let customers enjoy the beautiful music |
| D．help customers find what they really want |
What kind of music is now often adapted to influence customers in shops?
| A．Classical music | B．Popular modern songs. | C．Folk songs. | D．Jazz music. |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Music makes happy Christmas |
| B．Christmas “Muzak” |
| C．How to make Christmas music? |
| D．Christmas music makes us spend more |
When I asked my daughter which item she would keep: the phone, the car, the cooker, the computer, the TV, or her boyfriend, she said "the phone". Personally, I could do without the phone entirely, which makes me unusual. Because the telephone is changing our lives more than any other piece of technology.
Point 1 The telephone creates the need to communicate, in the same way that more roads create more traffic. My daughter comes home from school at 4:00 pm and then spends an hour on the phone talking to the very people she has been at school with all day. If the phone did not exist, would she have anything to talk about?
Point 2 The mobile phone means that we are never alone. !' The mobile saved my life, "says Crystal Johnstone. She had
an accident in her Volvo on the A45 between Otley and Skipton. Trapped inside, she managed to make the call that brought the ambulance(救护车) to her rescue.
Point 3 The mobile removes our secret. It allows marketing manager of Haba Deutsch, Carl Nicolaisen, to ring his sales staff all round the world at any time of day to ask where they are, where they are going, and how their last meeting went.
Point 4 The telephone separates us. Antonella Bramante in Rome says, "We worked in separate offices but I could see him through the window. It was easy to get his number. We were so near--but we didn't meet for the first two weeks!"
Point 5 The telephone allows us to reach out beyond our own lives. Today we can talk to several complete strangers simultaneously (同时地) on chat lines (at least my daughter does. I wouldn't know what to talk about). We can talk across the world. We can even talk to astronauts (if you know any) while they're space-walking. And, with the phone line hooked up to the computer, we can access(进入) the Internet, the biggest library on Earth.How do you understand" Point 1—The telephone creates the need to communicate,... "？
| A．People don't communicate without telephone. |
| B．People communicate because of the creating of the telephone. |
| C．People communicate more since telephone has been created. |
| D．People communicate more because of more traffic. |
Which of the following best shows people's attitude towards mobile phones?
| A．Mobile phones help people deal with the emergency. |
| B．Mobile phones bring convenience as well little secret to people. |
| C．Mobile phones are so important and should be encouraged. |
| D．Mobile phones are part of people's life. |
Which points do you think support the idea that phones improve people's life?
a. Point 1. b. Point 2. c. Point 3. d. Point 4. e. Point 5.
| A．c, d | B．a, e | C．a, c | D．b, e |
It is possible to talk to several complete strangers simultaneously through.
| A．the TV screen | B．a fax machine |
| C．the phone line hooked up to the computer | D．a microphone |
The best heading for the passage is.
| A．The power of Phones | B．Kinds of Phones |
| C．How to Use Phones | D．Advantage of Phones |
I have forgotten the name of an old lady who was a customer on my paper route when I was a twelve-year-old boy back in 1954. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in forgiveness that I can only hope to pass on to someone else someday.
On a Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing rocks onto the roof of the old lady's house. I found a smooth rock and sent it. The stone headed straight for a small window on the old lady's back door. At the sound of broken glass, we took off from the old lady's yard.
I was too scared about getting caught that first night. However, a few days later when I was sure that I hadn't been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune.
I decided to save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I thought would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window. Then I put the envelope through the letter slot in her door. My soul felt redeemed (救赎) and I couldn't wait for the freedom of, once again, looking straight into the old lady's eyes.
The next day, I. handed the old lady her paper. She thanked me for the paper and said, "Here, I have something for you. " It was a bag of cookies. I thanked her and ate the cookies as I continued my route.
After several cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was shocked. Inside was the seven dollars and a short note that said, “I'm proud of you. ”What work did the author do at the age of 12?
| A．Repairing roofs. | B．Collecting old papers. |
| C．Picking rocks. | D．Delivering newspapers. |
Why did the author and his friend escape from the old lady's yard?
| A．They broke the old lady's back door. |
| B．They broke the old lady's window. |
| C．They heard the old lady shouting. |
| D．They were seen by the old lady. |
What did the author do to make up for his mistake?
| A．He gave the old lady papers for free. |
| B．He saved some money to cover the cost. |
| C．He apologized in the old lady's presence. |
| D．He bought cookies for the old lady. |
According to the passage, the old lady was a person who was.
| A．strict | B．patient | C．generous | D．helpful |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Seven dollars | B．Being honest | C．A silly mistake | D．True forgiveness |