Do your spirits soar (猛增) on a sunny day? Do you relax at the sound of flowing water?
Some scientists suggest that these contacts with nature are good for your health. In one study, hospital patients with a view of trees had shorter hospital stays and less need for pain medications. Another study indicated that prisoners with a view of the outdoors had fewer doctor visits.
“Why do we desire nature? Maybe we’re programmed to need it, since our ancestors’ survival was so dependent on their connection with nature,” suggests biologist E.O. Wilson.
Want to find out if contact with nature improves your outlook on life? Try a few of these ideas.
Hang out a bird feeder and watch the birds that visit it.
Sit down in the backyard or a nearby park. Close your eyes. What do you hear? Birds singing? The wind in the trees? Crickets (蟋蟀) chirping?
Find an anthill. Sit down and watch the ants work.
Take a walk right after a rainstorm. What looks different? Smells different?
Go barefoot on a sandy beach.
Open the curtains and the window, if the weather allows it.
On a windy day, watch the trees.
Go to a creek, river or park fountain. Listen to the sound of water in motion.
Camp out in the backyard or at a nearby state park. Use a tent or sleep on the ground.
Find a wide-open space to study the stars. Learn about the different constellations (星座).
Raise a garden. Or plant some seeds in a flowerpot.
Go hiking with your family. Talk about all of the colors you see in nature.
Take a camera and capture your nature experience.From Paragraph 2 we can learn that ______.
| A．prisoners don’t like to go to the doctor when ill | B．trees can be used as pain medications |
| C．prisoners should often get out of prison to come into contact with nature | |
| D．contacts with nature are very helpful for hospital patients |
According to E.O. Wilson, we desire nature probably because ______.
| A．it can help us feel relaxed |
| B．we have inherited (继承) from our ancestors who were dependent on nature |
| C．people have lived with nature for thousands of years |
| D．contacts with nature can improve a person’s outlook on life |
From the passage, we can learn that ______.
| A．studying the constellations is important to everyone | |
| B．you can know all the colors only by going hiking | |
| C．nature is quite important to us | D．walking in a rainstorm can be very helpful |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Go hiking with your family | B．Let nature nurture you. |
| C．Visit your doctor less. | D．Watch the trees more often. |
In a recent class I was asked “What is a short story?” My first answer was that it was something that could be read in one sitting and brought an illumination（启示）to the reader, sudden and golden like sunlight cracking(破裂,砸开) through a heavy cloud. I went on to say that in my opinion a “real” short story was closer to poetry than to a novel.
Here are some definitions of the short story. My favorite is Benet’s: “something that can be read in an hour and remembered for a lifetime”. One writer said, “The theme of a novel won’t fit into the framework of a short story; It’s like trying to squeeze a large painting done on a wall into the frame of a miniature （微型画）。 And as in a miniature painting, the details need to be sharp. ”
The short story is an example of one aspect of human nature. Often a character undergoes some event, something that offers him or her change. This is why it’s said that short stories usually “say something ”， often a small something, but sometimes delivered with such accuracy that the effect is strongly felt, even a life-moment for some readers, something similar to a religious experience or to witnessing a never-to-be-repeated scene in nature.
Ok, let’s form a definition here: A short story is an account, rarely over 10, 000 words or below 500 words-more commonly 1, 500 to 5, 000 words-a single-sitting read, but with enough time and weight to move the reader. It is narrow and focused to produce an effect through the story, most commonly through events affecting some change in an individual.
Writer Isabelle Allende once wrote: “Novels are, for me, adding up details, just work, work, work, then you’re done. Short stories are more difficult-they have to be perfect, complete in themselves. ”The writer of the passage is probably a ______.
| A．poet | B．painter | C．teacher | D．student |
What should the ideal short story be in length?
| A．at most 10, 000 words | B．below 500 words | C．over 5, 000words | D．around 2, 000 words |
The underlined word “undergoes ” in the third paragraph probably means “________ ”。
| A．experiences | B．discovers | C．discusses | D．appreciates |
What’s the difference between novels and short stories?
| A．Novels are too long for us to read. |
| B．Short stories are too short for us to read. |
| C．Short stories have more details than novels. |
| D．Short stories are more perfect and difficult than novels. |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．How Do You Write a Short Story? | B．What Exactly Is a Short Story? |
| C．Is a Short Story Similar to Poetry? | D．Are Short Stories Perfect and Complete? |
Not many years ago，a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five， he gave ￡ 12，000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness，many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection （注射） in my neck each evening.”he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injectionJohnson became a rich man through _________.
| A．doing business. |
| B．making whisky. |
| C．cheating. |
| D．buying and selling land |
The gift of money to the school suggests that Johnson __________.
| A．had no children. |
| B．was a strange man. |
| C．was very fond of children. |
| D．wanted people to know how rich he was. |
Many people wrote to Johnson to find out __________.
| A．what kind of whisky he had. | B．how to live longer. |
| C．how to become wealthy. | D．in which part of the neck to have an injection. |
The newspaperman ____________.
| A．should have reported what Johnson had told him. |
| B．shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had. |
| C．was eager to live a long life. |
| D．should have found out what Johnson really meant. |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening，he really meant that ______.
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening. |
| B．he needed an injection in the neck. |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck. |
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（奖学金）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（吸毒）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, by understanding that there was a whole other way of being. I had only experienced a small part of the 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”.In which order did the following things happen to Liz?
a. Her mother died of AIDS. b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admitted into Harvard. d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble finding a place to sleep.
| A．b, a, e, c, d | B．a, b, c, e, d | C．e, d, b, a, c | D．b, e, a, d, c |
The main idea of the passage is ________.
| A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University | B．what a hard time Liz had in her childhood |
| C．why Liz loved her parents so much | D．how Liz struggled to change her life |
What actually made her go towards her goal?
| A．Envy and encouragement. | B．Willpower and determination. |
| C．Decisions and understanding. | D．Love and respect for her parents. |
When she wrote “What drove me to live on...I had only experienced a small part of the society”, she meant that ________.
| A．she had little experience of social life | B．she could hardly understand the society |
| C．she would do something for her own life | D．she needed to travel more around the world |
Some people believe that international sports create goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: that international competitions encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the tragic incident involving the murder of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused mainly by minor national competitions.
One country received its second-place medals with visible indignation（愤慨）after a hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, the loser’s objection to the final decision. They were sure that one of their goals should not have been disallowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was very angry and he said, “This wasn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension（停赛）of the team for at least three years.
The American basketball team announced that they would not give up the first place to Russia, after a disputable end to their competition. The game had ended in disturbance. It was thought at first that the United States had won, by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player popped the ball into the basket. It was the first time the USA had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury discussed the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sports are played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals, or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism（爱国主义）.According to the author, recent Olympic Games have ________.
| A．caused national pride for athletes |
| B．created goodwill between the nations |
| C．hardly showed any international friendship |
| D．led to less misunderstanding between countries |
What did the manager mean by saying “Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
| A．His team would no longer take part in international games. |
| B．There should be no hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
| C．Hockey and the Federation are both ruined by the unfair decisions. |
| D．The International Hockey Federation should be dismissed forever. |
By taking the basketball game for example, the author wants to prove that ________.
| A．too much patriotism was displayed in the games |
| B．the announcement to prolong the match was wrong |
| C．the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision |
| D．the team was right in refusing to accept the silver medals |
What conclusion can be drawn from the passage?
| A．Sports should be played for the love of one’s nation. |
| B．Unfair decisions are common in the Olympic Games. |
| C．International competitions will lead to misunderstanding. |
| D．The organization for the Olympic Games must be reformed. |
That“Monday morning feeling”could be a crushing pain in the chest which leaves you sweating and gasping for breath. Recent research from Germany and Italy shows that heart attacks are more common on Monday mornings and doctors blame the stress of returning to work after the weekend break.
The risk of having a heart attack on any given day should be one in seven, but a six-year study helped by researchers at the Free University of Berlin of more than 2, 600 Germans showed that the average person had a 20 percent higher chance of having a heart attack on a Monday than on any other day.
Working Germans are particularly not protected against attack, with a 33 percent higher risk at the beginning of the working week. Non-workers, by comparison, appear to be no more at risk on a Monday than any other day.
A study of 11, 000 Italians proved 8 a. m. on a Monday morning as the most stressful time for the heart, and both studies showed that Sunday is the least stressful day, with fewest heart attacks in both countries.
The finding could lead to a better understanding of what is the immediate cause of heart attacks, according to Dr Stefan Willich of the Free University. “We know a lot about long-term risk factors such as smoking and cholesterol（胆固醇）but we don’t know what actually causes heart attacks, so we can’t give clear advice on how to prevent them, ”he said.
Monday mornings have a double helping of stress for the working body as it makes a rapid change from sleep to activity, and from the relaxing weekend to the pressures of work.
“When people get up, their blood pressure and heart rate go up and there are hormonal（内分泌）changes in their bodies, ”Willich explained. “All these things can have an unfavorable effect in the blood system and increase the risk of a clot（血凝块）which will cause a heart attack.”
“When people return to work after a weekend off, the pace of their life changes. They have a higher workload, more stress, more anger and more physical activities,”said Willich.Monday morning feeling, as this passage shows, ________.
| A．is not as serious as people thought |
| B．is the first killer in Germany and Italy |
| C．is created by researchers in Germany and Italy |
| D．is harmful to working people in developed countries |
To protect people from a heart attack, doctors have paid much attention to ________.
| A．people’s working time | B．people’s living place |
| C．people’s diet and lifestyle | D．people’s nationalities |
It can be learned from this passage that the heart attack has something to do with all the following EXCEPT ________.
| A．blood pressure | B．heart rate | C．hormonal changes | D．blood type |
If the researchers give us some advice to avoid Monday morning feeling, what might it be?
| A．Improve working conditions. | B．Never go to work on Mondays. |
| C．Stay with a doctor on Mondays. | D．Get up late on Monday mornings. |