Who’s in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it’s other people – society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course．We were brainwashed．We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us．As Oscar Wilde puts it，“Most people are other people．Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions，their lives a mimicry(模仿)，their passions a quotation．”
So when people tell us how wonderful we are，it makes us feel good．We long for this good feeling like a drug—we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can．Therefore，we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives，failing to do the things we really want to．Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix(一剂毒品)，we worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval．
But just as with any drug，there is a price to pay．The price of the approval drug is freedom--the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think．People have their own schedule，and they come with their own baggage and，in the end，they’re more interested in themselves than in you．Furthermore，if we try to live by the opinions of others，we will build our life on sinking sand．Everyone has a different way of thinking，and people change their opinions all the time．The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process．
So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way--make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think．We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values—not values imposed (强加于) from the outside by others，but inborn values which come from within．If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others，we will live a more authentic，effective，purposeful and happy life．What Oscar Wilde says implies that ．
| A．we have thoughts similar to those of others |
| B．other people’s thoughts are more important |
| C．most people’s thoughts are controlled by others |
| D．most people have a variety of thoughts |
What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph?
| A．We may lose ourselves to please others． |
| B．Changing opinions may cost us our freedom． |
| C．We need to pay for what we want to get． |
| D．The price of taking the drug is freedom． |
It can be concluded from the passage that ．
| A．it’s better to do what we like |
| B．it's important to accept others’ opinions |
| C．we shouldn’t change our own opinions |
| D．we shouldn’t care what others think |
The author tries to persuade the readers to accept his arguments mainly by .
| A．making suggestions |
| B．providing examples and facts |
| C．discussing questions |
| D．analyzing causes and effects |
Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information from the passage.
Write ONE WORD for each answer.
A technical secondary school in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, planned to order Korean-style school uniforms for students, but parents opposed the move, believing that the new uniforms looked too good and would encourage early romances among the students, the Jinling Evening Paper reported Monday.
Parents
“My daughter was so excited about the Korean-style uniform, saying it’s her dream to wear mini-skirt to school every day,” a mom surnamed Cheng complained. “My daughter also called her classmates to talk about how handsome the boys looked in the uniform!”
Cheng looked on the Internet and found that most Korean schoolboy uniforms are similar to western suits. “They are so handsome! My daughter is a fan of Korean fashion, that’s why she is crazy about the uniform!” Cheng said. “If the students wear such beautiful uniforms, how can they study well? I prefer the sports wear which makes me think of health and positive thinking.”
School
“The plan to change the current school uniform from sports wear has been cancelled,” an employee of the school told the Jinling Evening Paper.
“The students dislike the current uniform, so the school took advice from the students last November, knowing that most of students prefer Korean-or Japanese-style school uniforms. We know cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou have changed their sports wear school uniforms to more fashionable uniforms,” an employee surnamed Lin said.
“However, we had to stop the plan because many parents are strongly against it. Some parents think it’s just a way for the school to make money, and others think the new uniforms will take students’ attention away from their studies,” Lin said.
When asked about the possibility of problems with early romance between students because of the more fashionable uniforms, Lin said he hadn’t considered it. He, however, agreed that the Korean-style uniform makes the students more charming.
Students
The students are very disappointed about the school’s final decision. They think the sports wear uniforms make them look androgynous (难分性别).
They said the Korean-style uniform has many advantages such as raising interest in class; lifting confidence; improving solidarity and creating good temperaments.
As for concerns about romance, the students believe that love is love and bears no relationship to the uniform.
Education department
“We don’t have a unified (统一的) standard for school uniforms. The schools can choose their own styles. Either sports wear or uniforms are ok,” an official from the Nanjing Bureau of Education said.
Title Do pretty school uniforms lead to early romance?
Event A technical secondary school planned to order Korean-style school uniforms for students.
Different (76)_____ to it Parents are strongly (77)______ the move.◆With such beautiful designs, the new uniforms might
(78)__________ early romances between boys and girls.
◆In the new uniforms, students will fail to focus their
(79)_________ on their studies.
◆It is just a way for the school to make money.
Students are
in (80)______ of the move.◆The sports wear uniforms make them look androgynous.
◆Korean-style uniform can make them more (81)_________and more interested in class as well as improving solidarity and creating good temperaments.
Two responses From the school◆The students dislike the current uniform.
◆More (82)__________ school uniforms are allowed in
some big cities in China.
◆The school spokesman Lin said they hadn’t taken the
possibility of early romance into (83)_________, though
he agreed the Korean-style uniform would make the
students more charming.
From the education department There is no unified standard for school uniforms, so the schools can choose their own styles.
Result
The school had to (84)________ the plan and the students felt (85)_________.
Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage and the required words limit. Write your answers on your answer sheet.
Like fine food, good writing is something we approach with pleasure and enjoy from the first taste to the last. And good writers，good cooks，do not suddenly appear full-blown. Quite the contrary, just as the cook has to undergo an intensive and hard-working training, mastering the skills of his trade, the writer must sit at his desk and devote long hours to achieving a style in his writing, whatever its purpose－schoolwork, matters of business,or purely social communication. You may be sure that the more painstaking the effort，the more effective the writing and the more rewarding.
There are still some remote places in the world where you might find a public scribe(抄写员) to do his / her business or social writing for a fee. There are a few managers who are lucky enough to have the service of that rare kind of secretary who can take care of all sorts of letter writing with no more than a quick note . But for most of us, if there is any writing to be done, we have to do it ourselves.
We have to write school papers, business papers or home papers. We are constantly called on to put words to paper. It would be difficult to count the number of such words，messages，letters，and reports put into the mails or delivered by hand，but the daily figure must be enormous. What is more，everyone who writes expects，or at least hopes, that his writing will be read. We want to arouse and hold the interest of the readers. We want whatever we write to be read， from first word to last, not just thrown into some "letters－to－be－read" file （档案）or into a wastepaper basket. This is the reason we make our efforts toward learning and practicing the skills of interesting, effective writing.
71. What is good writing compared to in this passage and why? ( No more than 10 words.)
_________________________________________________________.
72. Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “painstaking”.
_________________________________________________________.
73. According to the passage, why don’t some managers have to do any letter writing? ( No more than 15 words.)
__________________________________________________________.
74. According to the author, if your letter is thrown into some “ letter-to-be-read” file, what will be likely to happen? (No more than 6 words.)
__________________________________________________________.
75. What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage? (No more than 15 words.)
_________________________________________________________.
In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide acts rather like a one-way mirror or the glass in the roof of a greenhouse which allows the sun's rays to enter but prevents the heat from escaping.
According to a weather expert' s prediction, the atmosphere will be 3℃ warmer in the year 2050 than it is today, if man continues to burn fuels at the present rate. If this warming up took place, the ice caps in the poles would begin to melt, thus raising sea level several metres and severely flooding coastal cities. Also, the increase in atmospheric temperature would lead to great changes in the climate of the northern hemisphere (北半球), possibly resulting in an alteration of the earth's chief food growing zones.
In the past, concern about a man-made warming of the earth has concentrated on the Arctic because the Antarctic is much colder and has a much thicker ice sheet. But the weather experts are now paying more attention to West Antarctic, which may be affected by only a few degrees of warming, in other words, by a warming on the scale that will possibly take place in the next fifty years from the burning of fuels.
Satellite pictures show that large areas of Antarctic ice are already disappearing. The evidence available suggests that a warming has taken place. This fits the theory that carbon dioxide warms the earth.
However, most of the fuel is burnt in the northern hemisphere, where temperatures seem to be falling. Scientists conclude , therefore, that up to now natural influences on the weather have gone beyond those caused by man. The question is: Which natural cause has most effect on the weather?
One possibility is the variable behavior of the sun. Astronomers at one research station have studied the hot spots and "cold" spots (that is, the relatively less hot spots) on the sun. As the sun rotates (使旋转), every 27. 5 days, it presents hotter or "colder" faces to the earth, and different aspects to different parts of the earth. This seems to have a considerable effect on the distribution of the earth's atmospheric pressure, and consequently on wind circulation. The sun is also changeable over a long term: its heat output goes up and down in cycles, the latest trend being downward.
Scientists are now finding shared relations between models of solar weather interactions and the actual climate over many thousands of years, including the last Ice Age. The problem is that the models are predicting that the world should be entering a new Ice Age and it is not. One way of solving this theoretical difficulty is to assume a delay of thousands of years while the solar effects overcome the inertia (惯性) of the earth's climate. If this is right, the warming effect of carbon dioxide might thus be serving as a useful opposed balance to the sun's fading heat .It can be concluded that a concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would_________.
| A．mean a warming-up in the Antarctic |
| B．raise the temperature of the earth' s surface |
| C．prevent the sun's rays from reaching the earth's surface |
| D．explain the cause of great changes in the climate in the northern hemisphere |
The article was written to explain ___________.
| A．the greenhouse effect |
| B．the solar effects on the earth |
| C．the causes affecting weather |
| D．the models of solar-weather interactions |
Although the fuel consumption is greater in the northern hemisphere, temperatures there seem to be falling. This is__________.
| A．mainly because the levels of carbon dioxide are rising |
| B．partly due to changes in the output of solar energy |
| C．possibly because the ice caps in the poles are melting |
| D．only due to the effect of the inertia of the earth' s climate |
On the basis of their models, scientists believe the opinion that__________.
| A．the climate of the world should be becoming cooler |
| B．the new Ice Age will be delayed by the greenhouse effect |
| C．the man-made warming effect helps to increase the solar effects |
| D．it will take thousands of years for the inertia of the earth's climate to take effect |
If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice age is correct, ____________.
| A．ice would soon cover the northern hemisphere |
| B．the greenhouse effect could work in favor of the earth |
| C．the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels |
| D．the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could warm up the earth even more quickly |
Remember how great exercise was when you were a little kid? Back then, racing around the playground or skipping rope for hours, you weren’t thinking fitness, you were thinking entertainment. But in this age of high-tech home equipment and underused gym memberships, the simple joy of jumping rope has been forgotten, Rediscovering it will give you a total-body exercise you can find.
Although considered an excellent form of exercise, jumping rope has never gained widespread acceptance because of two fundamental reasons. First, most people recognize jumping rope as an excellent form of cardiovascular(心血管的)exercise, but they also believe that it is simply too difficult. In other words, they don’t think they’ll be able to continue jumping for the near 20 minutes that it takes to achieve a beneficial physical outcome. Second, many view it as somewhat boring and overly repetitive not as something fun or enjoyable.
As a matter of fact, jumping rope can be great fun if you find a proper way to practice it. Instead of doing the usual two-foot bounce over and over again, people good at rope-jumping often change their pattern every 10 or 20 jumps. A single bounce, a double-bounce, a skip, a knee-up, side swings, as well as a variety of other easy-to-learn free-style rope-jumping.
Now researchers are learning that jumping rope also prepares the brain for learning. It is an exercise allowing both brain hemispheres to perform in parallel to each other. In short, jumping rope can be a life-long activity requiring little equipment, time and space, yet leading to a much healthier life.From the first paragraph we learn that_________.
| A．jumping rope has faded from people’s memories |
| B．people now have more advanced equipment |
| C．racing around the playground was preferred |
| D．people now like to have exercise in a gym |
Rope jumping has not spread widely because_________.
| A．it benefits the cardiovascular system |
| B．it is neither easy nor enjoyable |
| C．it is considered boring and repetitive |
| D．it requires little equipment, time and space |
The first sentence in the 3rd paragraph implies_________.
| A．there is only one proper way to follow |
| B．the usual way should not be used |
| C．the easiest way is always the best |
| D．there are many ways to follow |
According to the researchers, jumping rope_________.
| A．only prepares the brain for learning |
| B．is suitable for students only |
| C．helps both brain hemispheres work together |
| D．can be dangerous for old people |
What is the author’s attitude towards rope jumping?
| A．He is arguing against it |
| B．He is in favor of it |
| C．He is sitting on the fence of it |
| D．He is not clear about it |
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad, for it sets one person against another and it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit （追求） of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society.
Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth.
Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve （缓解） can we discover a new meaning in competition.The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 refers to those who ______.
| A．are against competition most strongly. | B．are fond of competition very much. |
| C．are satisfied with competition. | D．are interested in competition |
According to the passage, why do some people support competition?
A．Because they think friendly relationship needs it. k+s-5#u |
| B．Because they think social progress and prosperity need it. |
| C．Because they think it can make us become cleverer. |
| D．Because they think it can deal with many personal problems. |
We can learn from the passage that __________.
| A．all the people have the same opinion about competition |
| B．Failure can make most people feel down |
| C．Both the true competitors and those with a desire to fail believe one’s worth lies in his performance compared with others |
| D．Competition can make every competitor successful |
The passage manly talks about different opinions about ________.
| A．competition | B．success | C．failure | D．friendship |