No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. You can be pleased with the fact that the number of such is relatively small.
It is to be expected that the selections will change over time. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致性) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period. In every age, the list makers include both ancient and modern books in their selections, and they always wonder whether the moderns are up to the great books of the past.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are enduring best sellers. Gone with the Wind has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or Don Quixote. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic. They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the continuously unsolved problems of human life. There are mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Inquiry not begins with wonder, but usually ends with it also. Great minds acknowledge mysteries only honestly. Wisdom is encouraged, not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.Which is not the criterion in the following when considering a great book?
| A．Although not a best seller, it must be the most widely read． |
| B．A great book can be read without any effort． |
| C．Great books are never out of date． |
| D．Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well． |
According to the author, Gone with the Wind is .
| A．a best seller | B．disliked by readers who like Shakespeare |
| C．read more often than Don Quixote | D．a great book |
In the passage the underlined word “pedantic” means ．
| A．showing the feelings, esp., those of kindness, which people are supposed to have |
| B．serving as practical examples |
| C．being elementary |
| D．paying too much attention to details in books |
The best title for this passage is .
| A．Great Books in Your Life | B．Great Books in Your Specialty |
| C．How to Find a Great Book? | D．What Is a Great Book? |
Have you ever been to London? Here is some hotel information for you.
| Kingsway Hall Hotel We offer quality service (优质服务) in Kingsway Hall Hotel. This location puts guests in easy reach of many places, such as the British Museum and Piccadilly Circus. Our hotel also has modern Western food, and offers a perfect dining environment. The lounge bar is a comfortable place to enjoy a drink while watching the tourists. There are hundreds of dining choices within walking distance. Non-smoking rooms are ready for guests. Hilton Docklands Riverside Located on the bank of the Thames, our hotel is about two miles east of Tower Bridge and 36 miles from London Heathrow Airport. Our hotel has a beauty salon, a flower shop and a swimming pool. The hotel also offers laundry (洗衣店) services, babysitting, shining shoes, and local area transportation. Windermere Hotel Located in the center of London, our hotel puts guests within easy reach of London’s well-known buildings. Buckingham Palace and the Royal Parks are just a short walk away. Within 1.5 miles you can visit Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. The theatres, Harrods shopping centre, and the designer shops of Sloane Square and Knightsbridge are all only a short walk away or a taxi ride away. |
What does Kingsway Hall Hotel provide for its guests?
| A．Chinese food. | B．A lounge bar. |
| C．Smoking rooms. | D．A swimming pool. |
What is special about Hilton Docklands Riverside?
| A．It offers different kinds of service. | B．It offers a reasonable price. |
| C．It has convenient transport. | D．It has delicious food. |
This passage is most likely to be found in ______.
| A．a travel guide | B．a story book |
| C．a technical report | D．a geography magazine |
According to some researchers, you should not praise children for everything that they do. It does not help them build self-confidence.
Most parents and teachers agree that praise can help increase children’s self-confidence —the more, the better. However, according to some researchers, only proper praise is good for children. If adults praise everything children do, it makes children look for praise all the time, not trying to do their best. "Teachers should not say things like ’good job’ or ’nice work’ whenever a child does anything. They should encourage them to continue to improve," some researchers advise.
Another idea is that children with high self-confidence are happier, and do better at school. About this, Marshall Duke, a researcher in children, says, "High self-confidence brought in by too much praise does not make children happier, get more, or become able to do more. Finding a child’s advantages (强项) and developing them can help build confidence more than too much praise can." Praise also loses its effect (影响) if it is given equally to all students.
"It’s important to tell children the truth about what they’ve done. Honest feedback (反馈) is far better than empty praise," Duke adds. "People have got into the habit of not telling children when they’re wrong. That makes it hard for them to deal with difficulties when they grow up. That’s just how the world is."According to some researchers, if parents praise their children too much, their children will ______.
| A．always look for praise |
| B．increase self-confidence |
| C．become strong |
| D．do better in their studies |
In order to help children build self-confidence, some researchers advise parents to ______.
| A．make them live more happily |
| B．let them do more difficult work |
| C．help them do better in school |
| D．encourage them to improve |
Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage?
| A．Praise makes children become successful. |
| B．Children don’t know what they’re really good at. |
| C．The same praise for all children has no meaning. |
| D．Duke thinks praise is more important than finding children’s strengths. |
What is the last paragraph about?
| A．It’s important to have the habit of praising children. |
| B．Children should know their mistakes as soon as possible. |
| C．We should praise children honestly and tell them their mistakes. |
| D．What children with high self-confidence are like. |
I have been a student at Bentley College in Waltham for some time now, so I have a lot of experience and know how things work at Bentley. As a freshman(新生)at Bentley College you will be living in the Tree Dorms, Slade Hall or Miller Hall. I would highly suggest that you choose to live in the Tree Dorms because this is where most fresh-men are going to be living. There will be a lot of activities going on in the building and you will meet lots of people. Slade Hall is next to the parking lot(停车场)and not far from the Tree Dorms, so that would be your second choice. As Miller Hall is small and far away, it would be my last choice for freshmen housing. If Bentley offers you the chance to live with second or third year students you’d better refuse their offer and live with freshmen. Living with your classmates will make the transition (过渡) into college life a lot easier.
As a freshman your classes should be easy. After freshman year your classes will become a lot more difficult, so I advise that you get down to business early in the first year. There are two very easy things you can do to increase your knowledge as a freshman. The first is to just go to class and the second is to always do your homework. I also highly advise that you do it on your own and try to stay disciplined(遵守纪律的). It is too easy to put your homework away and then get really behind and not be able to learn everything before a mid-term or final exam. The author advises freshmen to live in the Tree Dorms because ___________.
| A．it is across the parking lot from Slade Hall |
| B．it is small and quite far away from the playground |
| C．there are many second and third year students there |
| D．there are many freshmen and more activities |
Where is Slade Hall?
| A．Near Miller Hall. |
| B．Far from Tree Dorms. |
| C．Beside the car park. |
| D．Near the classrooms. |
According to the author, how can freshmen improve knowledge?
| A．Remember to do homework by discussing it with others. |
| B．Finish homework and go to class every day. |
| C．Try to spend more time in the library. |
| D．Be able to learn something before a mid-term or final exam. |
The author writes the passage to ___________.
| A．tell new students how to get used to college life |
| B．tell new students about their teachers and dormitory |
| C．show the differences between college and high school |
| D．tell readers about some funny things at Bentley College |
One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.
The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”
“Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.
The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”
The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”
The young man felt ashamed and left silently.How did the young man find the precious stone?
| A．He found it in his food. | B．He dug it out in a valley. |
| C．He saw it in the woman’s bag. | D．He noticed it shining in the stream. |
What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Money. | B．Worry. | C．Health. | D．Trouble. |
The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.
| A．he found the stone was not precious |
| B．he understood the real meaning of joy |
| C．he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone |
| D．he wanted to get something even more precious |
Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?
| A．A special stone | B．The joy of giving |
| C．A woman and a young man | D．An experience in the mountains |
Everyone knows about straight-A students．We see them frequently in TV situation comedies and in movies like Revenge（报复）of the Nerds．They get high grades, all right, but only by becoming dull laborers, their noses always stuck in a book．They are not good at social communication and look clumsy while doing sports．
How, then, do we account for Domenica Roman or Paul Melendres?
Roman is on the tennis team at Fairmont Senior High School．She also sings in the choral group, serves on the student council and is a member of the mathematics society．For two years she has maintained A’s in every subject．Melendres, a freshman at the University of New Mexico, was student-body president at Valley High School in Albuquerque．He played soccer and basketball well, exhibited at the science fair, and meanwhile worked as a reporter on a local television station．Being a speech giver at the graduation ceremony, he achieved straight A’s in his regular classes, plus bonus points for A’s in two college-level courses．
How do super-achievers like Roman and Melendres do it? Brains aren’t the only answer．“Top grades don’t always go to the brightest students, ” declares Herbert Walberg, a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has conducted major studies on super-achieving students．“Knowing how to make the most of your innate（天生的）abilities counts for more．Much more．”
In fact, Walberg says, students with high IQ sometimes don’t do as well as classmates with lower IQ．For them, learning comes too easily and they never find out how to get down．
Hard work isn’t the whole story, either．“It’s not how long you sit there with the books open, ” said one of the many-A students we interviewed．“It’s what you do while you’re sitting．” Indeed, some of these students actually put in fewer hours of homework time than their lower-scoring classmates．
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can readily learn．The underlined word “nerds” can probably be．
| A．dull bookworms lacking sports and social skills |
| B．successful top students popular with their peers |
| C．students with certain learning difficulties |
| D．born leaders crazy about social activities |
What can we conclude from the first paragraph?
| A．Most TV programs and films are about straight-A students． |
| B．People have unfavorable impression on straight-A students． |
| C．Everyone knows about straight-A students from TV or films． |
| D．Straight-A students are well admired by people in the society． |
What will be talked about after the last paragraph?
| A．The interviews with more students． |
| B．The role IQ plays in learning well． |
| C．The techniques to be better learners． |
| D．The achievements top students make． |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．IQ is more important than hard work in study． |
| B．The brightest students can never get low grades． |
| C．Top students certainly achieve all-around developments． |
| D．Students with average IQ can become super-achievers |