Recently, a professor of philosophy in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our day-to-day life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they often see what they really value in life.
He says our relation with others often becomes clearly defined when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful friendship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend you some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before. Or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn’t. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.
Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?
Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don‘t Know much. All I am is rich.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.According to the first paragraph, people have not realized ________.
| A．how important money is in their day-to-day life |
| B．how one spends money shows what is important to him |
| C．that money is more important than their philosophy of life |
| D．that their understanding of life is more important than money |
The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ________.
| A．is a good way to test your friendship |
| B．will do harm to your friendship |
| C．will strengthen your friendship |
| D．is a good way to break off your friendship |
What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?
| A．He does not feel that he is well educated. |
| B．He does not think that he is a very important person. |
| C．He does not think that being rich deserves so much attention. |
| D．He does not consider himself to be very successful. |
What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?
| A．Money is an end. | B．Money is a means. |
| C．Money is everything. | D．Money is unimportant. |
The iPhone, the iPad: each of Apple’s products sounds cool and has become a fad(一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i” –-- and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer --- which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the Internet ---used the title in 2008. A lovely bear --- popular in the US and UK --- that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”. A slimmed-down version(简装本) of London’s Independent newspaper was started last week under the name “i”.
In general, single-letter prefixes(前缀) have been popular since the 1990s, when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce(电子商务) first came into use.
Most “i” products are targeted at （针对）young people and considering the major readers of Independent’s “i”, it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”. Why not use “a”, “b”, or “c” instead? According to Tony Thorne, head of the Language Center at King’s College, London, “i” works because its meaning has become ambiguous. When Apple uses “i”, no one knows whether it means Internet, information, individual or interactive, Thorne told BBC Magazines. “Even when Apple created the iPod, it seems it didn’t have one clear definition（定义）,” he says.
“However, thanks to Apple, the term is now connected with portability (轻便) .”adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i” also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs, and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google” and “blog”, readers of BBC Magazines voted “i” as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade(十年).
But as history shows, people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to 1990s, products with “2000” in their names became fashionable as the year was connected with all things advanced and modern. However, as we entered the new century, the fashion disappeared.People use iPlayer to __________.
| A．listen to music | B．make a call |
| C．watch TV programs online | D．read newspapers |
We can infer that the Independent’s “i” is designed for _________.
| A．young readers | B．old readers |
| C．fashionable women | D．engineers |
The underlined word “ambiguous” means “__________”.
| A．popular | B．uncertain |
| C．clear | D．unique |
Nowadays, the “i” term often reminds people of the products which are __________.
| A．portable | B．environmentally friendly |
| C．advanced | D．recyclable |
The writer suggests that __________.
| A．“i” products are often of high quality |
| B．iTeddy is alive bear |
| C．the letter “b” replaces letter “i” to name the products |
| D．the popularity of “i” products may not last long |
Most people buy a lot of gifts just before Christmas. But some people think we buy too much. They have started a special day called Buy Nothing Day. They don’t want anyone to go shopping that day.
Buy Nothing Day is November 29. It’s 25 days before Christmas. It’s after Thanksgiving and often the first day of Christmas shopping. At this time, we see ads in newspapers and on TV telling us to “buy, buy, buy!”
The idea for Buy Nothing Day started in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now people all over the world celebrate Buy Nothing Day. In California, parents and children get together to read stories, sing songs, and paint pictures. The children talk about why they don’t need a lot of toys. This year, in Manchester, England, people dressed up to tell people that we buy too much.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, high school students wanted to tell other students about Buy Nothing Day. They organized a spaghetti dinner to give people information about Buy Nothing Day. They asked restaurants in the neighborhood to donate the food. They made posters and talked to other students about it. The dinner was a big success, and many students agreed not to buy anything on November 29. The students at high school liked the idea of this new tradition. Next year, they want to have another dinner to tell more people about Buy Nothing Day!Which of the following is NOT the day for people to celebrate Buy Nothing Day?
| A．The first day after Christmas. |
| B．25 days before Christmas. |
| C．After Thanksgiving. |
| D．November 29 |
When do people usually do shopping?
| A．Before Thanksgiving. | B．On Christmas. |
| C．Anytime. | D．Before Christmas. |
How do people celebrate Buy Nothing Day?
| A．In California, parents and children get together to play games. |
| B．In England, people celebrated by performing plays. |
| C．They bought nothing and made the others decide not to. |
| D．In Mexico, high school students dressed up. |
With only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone(克隆) the animal and save the endangered species. That’s a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”.
Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used) panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort,” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to _______.
| A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas |
| B．transfer the nuclear of one animal to another |
| C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study |
| D．save endangered animals from dying out |
According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of _______.
| A．available panda eggs | B．host animals |
| C．qualified researchers | D．enough money |
The best title for the passage may be _______.
| A．China’s Success in Pandas Cloning |
| B．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas |
| C．The First Cloned Panda in the World |
| D．China —the Native Place of Pandas Forever |
From the passage we know that _______.
| A．Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog |
| B．scientists try to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit |
| C．Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches |
| D．about two thousand of species will probably die out in a century |
People born in winter are more likely to suffer mental health disorders, according to a recent study carried out by researchers at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
Researchers raised baby mice from birth to weaning (断奶) in either “summer” light cycles of 16 hours of light and 8 hours of dark or “winter” cycles of 8 hours of light and 16 hours of dark. A third group experienced 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark a day.
Then half the winter mice stayed in a winter cycle, while half switched to a summer schedule. The summer mice were similarly split. The mice raised in equal periods of light and dark were split into three groups, one of which stayed on the 12hour schedule, one of which joined the winter group, and one of which joined the summer group.
After 28 days, it turns out the summerborn mice behaved the same whether they stayed on the summer cycle or switched to winter. But among the winterborn mice, those stayed in winter kept their previous schedule, while those that switched to summer stayed active for an extra hour and a half, which indicates that mice born and weaned in a winter light cycle showed dramatic disruptions in their biological clocks.
The finding is the first of its kind in mammals, and it could explain why people born in winter are at higher risk for mental health disorders including bipolar depression, schizophrenia and seasonal affective disorder.
“We know that the biological clock regulates mood in humans，”said study researcher McMahon. “If the mechanism (机制) similar to the one that we found in mice operates in humans, then it could not only have an effect on a number of behavioral disorders, but also have a more general effect on personality.”How many groups of mice are there finally in all in the experiment?
| A．Seven. | B．Six. | C．Five. | D．Four. |
What's the main idea of the text?
| A．The biological clock regulates mood in humans. |
| B．People born in winter are at higher risk for physical health disorders. |
| C．The length of light will influence the behavior of the mice. |
| D．Being born in winter has a negative effect on people's mental health. |
The underlined word “split”(Paragraph 3) can be replaced by ________.
| A．ended | B．divided | C．hit | D．torn |
Who is the appropriate reader of the passage?
| A．A jobhunter. |
| B．A student in the university. |
| C．A newlymarried couple. |
| D．An experienced dentist. |
Metro Pocket Guide
Metrorail(地铁)
Each passenger needs a farecard to enter and go out. Up to two children under ago five may travel free with a paying customer.
Farecard machine are in every station. Bring small bills because there are no change machines in the station and farecard machine only provide up to $ 5 in change.
Get one of unlimited Metrorail rides with a One Day Pass. Buy it from a farecard machine in Metro stations. Use it after 9:30 a.m. until closing on weekdays, and all day on weekends and holidays.
Hours of Service
Open: 5 a.m. Mon—Fri 7a.m. Sat—Sun.
Close: midnight Sun—Thur. 3a.m. Fri—Sat. nights
Last train time vary. To avoid (避免) missing the last train, please check the last train time posted in the station.
Metrobus
When paying with exact change, the fare is $ 1.35 . when paying with a SmarTripâ card the fare is $1.25.
Fares for the Senior /disabled customers
Senior citizens 65 and older and disabled customers may ride for half the regular fare. On Metrorail and Metrobus, use a senior/disabled farecard or SmarTripâ card. For more information about buying senior/disabled farecards, or SmarTripâ cards and passes, please visit MetroOpenDoors.com or call 202-637-7000 and 202-637-8000.
Senior citizens and disabled customers can get free guide on how to use proper Metrobus and Metrorail services by calling 202-962-1100
Travel tips
·Avoid riding during weekday rush periods –before 9:30 a.m. and between 4 and 6 p.m.
·If you lose something on a bus or train or in a station, please call Lost & Found at 202-962-1195. What should you know about farecard machines?
| A．They start selling tickets at 9:30 a.m. |
| B．They are connected to change machines. |
| C．They make change for no more than $5. |
| D．They offer special service to the elderly. |
At what time does Metrorail stop service on Saturday?
| A．At midnight | B．At 3 a.m. |
| C．At 5 a.m. | D．At 7 p.m. |
What is good about a SmarTripâ card?
| A．It is convenient for old people |
| B．it can be bought at any time |
| C．It saves money for its users |
| D．it is sold on the Internet. |
Which number should you call if you lose something on the Metro?
| A．202-962-1100 | B．202-962-1195 |
| C．202-673-7000 | D．202-673-8000 |