The story I am going to tell you happened about three years ago when I started to learn how to drive. At first, I was very frightened, and I thought I could never learn how to drive a car. Driving a car frightened me because in my home country women never drive, but in the United States every woman has to know how to drive. My husband paid an instructor to teach me how to drive. After that, my husband practiced with me for a long time. My husband always told me that I had to learn. It was important to me and my family.
However, I couldn’t get my license right away. I failed my driving test two times. After practicing for a long time, I decided to go for my third driving test. I had failed my first test because I was very nervous. Everybody encouraged me to continue practicing. Three weeks later, I decided to try it again, but I failed again. After that, I was very embarrassed(困窘的), and I said I couldn’t get it, so I stopped practicing for a while.
Not knowing how to drive was bad because I couldn’t do anything. I had two kids, my husband works, and I have to take care of everything. Driving was so necessary that I decided to try it again. And finally, that time, I passed the test. Now I have my license. I know how to drive, and it has changed my life in some important ways. Now I’m driving to the college, learning English and hoping I will get a good job in the future.Why did the author think that she could never learn how to drive a car?
A.Because she was not an American woman. |
B.Because she was afraid of a car or a bus. |
C.Because in her own country women never drive. |
D.Because her husband didn’t know how to teach her. |
The underlined word “instructor” in the first paragraph probably means __________.
A.someone who teaches a special skill |
B.someone who teaches a sport skill |
C.someone who teaches in an American college |
D.the information telling you how to drive a car |
How many persons in the author’s family are mentioned except the author herself?
A.2 | B.3 | C.4 | D.5 |
The passage mainly shows us that the author failed for quite a few times but she never gave up and __________.
A.she succeeded in driving her car to send her two children |
B.she succeeded in driving to the college to get a good job |
C.she succeeded in driving to the college and learned English |
D.she succeeded in passing driving test and got her license in the end |
The best title of this passage should be “__________”.
A.My Driving License | B.My Husband and I |
C.Passing the Test | D.Never Give Up |
From the beginning of human history, wild animals provided food, clothing and sometimes medicine for man. We may not depend as much on wild animals now. But we hear about them every day. Americans use the names of animals in many ways. Automobile manufacturers and gasoline companies especially like to use big cats to sell their products. They like lions, tigers and wildcats. When Americans say wildcat, they usually mean a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat. All these cats attack quickly and fiercely. So wildcats represent something fast and fierce.
An early American use of the word wildcat was quite different. It was used to describe members of Congress who declared war on Britain in 1812. A magazine of that year said the wildcat congressmen went home. It said they were unable to face the responsibility of having involved their country in an unnecessary war.
Wildcat also has been used as a name for money in the 1800s. At that time, some states permitted banks to make their own money. One bank in the state of Michigan offered paper money with a picture of a wildcat on it. Some banks, however, did not have enough gold to support all the paper money they offered. So the money had little or no value. It was called a wildcat bill or a wildcat banknote. The banks who offered this money were called wildcat banks. A newspaper of the time said those were the days of wildcat money. It said a man might be rich in the morning and poor by night.
Wildcat then was also used for an oil well or gold mine that had almost no oil or gold in it. Dishonest developers would buy such property. Then they would sell it and leave town with the money. The buyers were left with worthless holes in the ground. Today, wildcat oil wells are in areas that are not known to have oil.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Wildcats and their stories. |
B.Wildcats and their characters. |
C.Varieties of animal species. |
D.Relationship between animals and humans. |
The underlined words "a lynx, an ocelot or a bobcat" in Paragraph 1 may refer to "__________".
A.gasoline companies | B.automobile manufacturers |
C.brands of automobile | D.names of wildcats |
Which of the following would people like to have or trust according to the passage?
A.Wildcat congressmen. | B.Wildcat oil wells. |
C.Wildcat banks. | D.Wildcat cars. |
It can be inferred that during the days of wildcat money__________.
A.people couldn't buy anything with the money |
B.people complained and suffered a lot |
C.the rich invested too much on oil wells |
D.people didn't know how to save money |
Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests 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 incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.
One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn’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 yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. 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 then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated 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 sport is 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.created goodwill between the nations |
B.hardly showed any international friendship |
C.caused only false national pride |
D.led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred |
What did the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
A.There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
B.His team would no longer take part in international games. |
C.Hockey and the Federation are ruined by the unfair decisions. |
D.The Federation should be ended. |
The basketball example implied that .
A.too much patriotism was displayed in the incident |
B.the announcement to make the match last longer was wrong |
C.the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision |
D.The American team was right in receiving the silver medals |
Which statement best summarizes this passage?
A.The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved. |
B.Different teams often have disputes when fighting for the first place. |
C.Any team that has disrespectful behavior should be suspended. |
D.Athletes should compete as individuals. |
College libraries are designed primarily for research and study. To explain its use, let us choose a research topic and follow the step-by-step procedure of looking up the material for the paper.
Suppose your assignment is to write a paper on a novel called The Sun Also Rises by American writer Hemingway.The first step is to go to the main catalog.Many small drawers on the large wooden cabinets are lined up in alphabetical(字母的) order.Each of the drawers contains hundreds of alphabetical ordered cards.These cards are printed references to all material available in the library.Title cards are cataloged by the first word of the book title, leaving out the articles like “a”, “an” and “the”.And then you get the cards for the books you need.On the upper left corner of each card is the call number.This is the numerical code that shows where the book is located in the library.The library has open and closed stacks.If your book is on the open stacks, you can go to the open-stack room, and according to the call number find it out by yourself.There are only about 30,000 books on open stacks, while most of the 800,000 books in our library are kept in closed stacks, which are accessible only to teachers and graduate students.
For undergraduates like you, borrowing books from the closed stacks have to be done with the help of our librarian.In that case, you must fill out a call slip(纸条) for the book, showing the call number, author and title.You can get call slips on tables near the catalog cabinets.You show your call slip together with your library card to a librarian at the information desk.He or she will help you find the book out in the closed stacks.What is the main purpose of this text?
A.To present readers a brief introduction to a college library. |
B.To guide readers how to find books needed in a college library. |
C.To tell readers how to fill out a call slip in a college library. |
D.To show readers where to find books in a college library. |
What letter you should look for on the title card for the book The Old Man and the Sea by the Hemingway?
A.The letter “t”. | B.The letter “h”. | C.The letter “o”. | D.The letter “s”. |
How are books arranged and shelved in the library?
A.By call numbers. | B.By call slips of authors’ names. |
C.In alphabetical order. | D.By the first word of book title. |
. Suppose you are an undergraduate and you want to borrow a book from the closed stacks, which is the correct order to do it?
a. go to the main catalog b. show your call slip and library card
c. find out the call number d. fill out a call slip
e. get the cards for the books
A.a-b-e-d-c | B.b-a-c-d-e | C.a-e-c-d-b | D.b-c-a-e-d |
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows (誓约)mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends. And they are good to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the destination, I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face, Learn to be happy, And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.The best title of this passage probably is______ .
A.Love your friends | B.Live a real life |
C.Don’t waste time | D.Be a good mother and wife |
. How did the author form her view of life?
A.Through social experience. |
B.By learning from her friends. |
C.Through an unfortunate experience. |
D.From her children and husband. |
. What’s the author’s attitude toward work?
A.Do it well to serve others |
B.Earn enough money to make life better |
C.Try your best to get higher position and pay |
D.Don’t let it affect your real life. |
Why play games? Because they are fun, and a 1ot more besides. Following the rules…planning your next move...acting as a team member…these are all “game” ideas that you will come across throughout your life.
Think about some of the games you played as a young child, such as rope-jumping and hide-and-seek. Such games are entertaining and fun. But perhaps more importantly, they translate life into exciting dramas that teach children some of the basic rules they will be expected to follow the rest of their lives, such as taking turns and cooperating (合作) .
Many children’s games have a practical side. Children around the world play games that prepare them for work they will do as grown-ups. For instance, some Saudi Arabian children play a game called bones, which sharpens the hand-eye coordination(协调)needed in hunting.
Many sports encourage national or local pride. The most famous games of all, the Olympic Games, bring athletes from around the world together to take part in friendly competition. People who watch the event wave flags, knowing that a gold medal is a win for an entire country, not just the athlete who earned it. For countries experiencing natural disasters or war, an Olympic win can mean so much.
Sports are also an event that unites people. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. People on all continents play it—some for fun and some for a living. Nicolette Iribarne, a Californian soccer player, has discovered a way to spread hope through soccer. He created a foundation(基金会) to provide poor children with not only soccer balls but also a promising future.
Next time you play your favorite game or sport, think about why you enjoy it, what skills are needed, and whether these skills will help you in other aspects of your life.Through playing hide-and-seek, children are expected to learn to ________.
A.be a team leader | B.predict possible danger | C.act as a grown-up | D.obey the basic rules |
The underlined part in Paragraph 2 most probably means that games can________.
A.describe life in an exciting way |
B.turn real-life experiences into a play |
C.change people’s views of sporting event s |
D.make learning life skills more interesting |
According to the passage, why is winning Olympic medals so encouraging?
A.It proves the exceptional skills of the winners. |
B.It inspires people’s deep love for the country. |
C.It helps the country out of natural disasters. |
D.It earns the winners fame and fortune. |
Iribarne’s goal of forming the foundation is to _______.
A.give poor kids a chance for a better life |
B.bring fun to poor kids |
C.provide soccer balls for children |
D.appeal to soccer players to help poor kids |
What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Sports can get all athletes together. |
B.Games benefit people all their lives. |
C.People are advised to play games for fun. |
D.Sports increase a country’s competitiveness. |