It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” Deluca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘you should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $ 1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did — in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain. Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ________.
| A．support his family | B．pay for his college education |
| C．help his partner expand business | D．do some research |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
| A．He put money into the sandwich business. |
| B．He was a professor of business administration. |
| C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
| D．He rented a storefront for Deluca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
| A．It stood at an unfavorable place. |
| B．It lowered the prices to poor management. |
| C．It made no profits due to poor management. |
| D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwich. |
They decided to open a second store because they _________.
| A．had enough money to do it |
| B．had succeeded in their business |
| C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
| D．wanted to make believe（假装）that they were successful |
What contributes most to their success according to the author?
| A．Learning by trial and error. | B．Making friends with supplies. |
| C．Finding a good partner. | D．Opening chain stores. |
About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college in New York, I was working as a practice student at my University's Museum of Natural History. One day while I was working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was seated on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and the trunk of the human body. She was wearing a little white dress with the patterns of red roses and yellow dots.
As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink(眨眼示意). As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the most beautiful, largest smile I have ever seen
All of a sudden herhandicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. I immediately felt full of hope and confidence. She took me, a poor, unhappy college student, into her world, a world of smiles, love and warmth.
That was ten years ago, but I still remember it clearly as if it happened just yesterday. I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.What was the writer a decade ago?
| A．A worker working in a university. |
| B．A teacher teaching in a college. |
| C．A clerk working in a museum. |
| D．A university student who had not yet taken a degree. |
What does the underlined world “handicap” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?
| A．Life difficulty. | B．Troublesome problem. |
| C．Failure in work. | D．Physical disability. |
How did the writer probably feel before meeting the disabled girl?
| A．She felt full of hope. |
| B．She was filled with confidence. |
| C．She felt unhappy because of poverty. |
| D．She felt life was beautiful. |
Which of the following title suits this passage best?
| A．A Disabled Girl. |
| B．A Disabled Girl’s Smile. |
| C．Full of Hope. |
| D．Full of Confidence. |
Three wishes
A man and his wife were very poor. They kept hoping for new clothes and good food. The man enjoyed eating, and he especially liked cakes. One night an old woman came to their house and told them she would let them have three wishes. They could wish for anything they wanted.
The man had just finished eating a piece of bread for his dinner, but he was still hungry. He said, “I wish I had a big cake!”
Suddenly a cake appeared on his plate.
“You fool!” His wife cried. “You could have wished for a house full of wonderful food, but you wished for a cake. I wish that cake was on the end of your foolish nose! ”
Immediately the cake stuck to the end of his nose.
Then the man and his wife started blaming each other. “It’s your fault!” she man cried. “No, it’s your fault!” she answered. What could they do? The cake was still stuck to the husband’s nose.
“Oh!” the wife cried. “I wish none of this had ever happened!”
Immediately the cake was gone, and the man was saying, “I’m still hungry. How I wish I had some cakes! ”
But of course nothing happened.. The man quarreled with his wife because ___.
| A．he always enjoyed eating |
| B．his wife hoped that he asked for a house |
| C．the cake stuck to the end of his nose according to his wife’s wish. |
| D．he didn’t want anything except cakes |
The wrong statement of the following is ___.
| A．the man made his wishes before dinner |
| B．the wife made two wishes, which worked |
| C．the wife wanted her husband to wish for more than a big cake |
| D．the man wished that the cake were not on his nose |
Why did the old woman not satisfy the man’s wish when he said he was still hungry and wanted some cakes?
| A．Because the old lady was angry with them |
| B．Because this was the fourth wish. |
| C．Because the man had made this wish before. |
| D．Because the cake had been gone. |
William James, the great psychologist (心理学家), said that most men are “old fogies (守旧者) at twenty-five”. He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs. They have closed their minds to all new ideas; they have stopped to grow.
The minute a man stops to grow –no matter what his years –that minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old. Goethe passed away at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier; Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy. Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight. He died crying, “What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense (extremely large).”
And there you have the real answer to the question, “When is a man old?”
Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had a lot to learn.
As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every year and say, “I grew”, he is still young.
The minute he ceases (stops) to grow, the minute he says to himself, “I know all that I need to know,” –that day youth stops. He may be twenty-five or seventy-five; it makes no difference. On that day he begins to be old.According to William James, _______.
| A．most people are not open to new ideas before 25. |
| B．few people continue to improve themselves after 25. |
| C．some people still try to make progress after 25. |
| D．all the people stop to make progress after 25. |
The author mentions Goethe, Gladstone and Laplace to show that _____.
| A．the great man stops to grow that minute he begins to be old. |
| B．the really great man never grows old. |
| C．the great man usually dies young. |
| D．the really great man never dies. |
What do we know about Laplace?
| A．He was a great writer. |
| B．He was not pleased with what he had learned. |
| C．He thought he was one of the greatest man. |
| D．He thought he was old when he was 25. |
The author probably agrees with _______.
| A．people should be pleased with what they have. |
| B．people should try to make a great difference. |
| C．people should cease to grow when they are 25. |
| D．people should not be satisfied with what they know. |
A man living absolutely alone in a desert or forest is free from other people; but he is not absolutely free. His freedom is limited in several ways. Firstly, by the things around him, such as wild animals or cliffs too steep (陡峭的) to climb. Secondly, by his own needs: he must have sleep, water, food and shelter from extreme heat or cold. Lastly, by his own nature as a man: disease may attack him, and death will certainly come to him sooner or later.
When men live together, on the other hand, protection against wild animals is easier and they can work together to get food and build shelters; but each man has to give up some of his freedom so that he can live happily with the others.
When men become organized into very large groups, and civilization (文明) develops, it is possible to get freedom from hunger, thirst, cold, heat and many diseases, so that each person can live a happier life than he could if he were living alone; but such a society can not work successfully unless the freedom of each human being is to some extent limited so that he is kept from hurting others. I am not free to kill others, nor to steal someone else's property, nor to behave in a way that offends (触犯) against the moral sense of the society in which I live. I have to limit my own freedom myself so that others will not limit it too much: I agree to respect the rights of others, and in return they agree to respect mine.
The advantages of such an agreement are great: one man can become a doctor, knowing that others will grow food, make clothes and build a house for him, in return for the work he does to keep them healthy. If each man had to grow his own food, make his own clothes, build his own house and learn to be his own doctor, he would find it impossible to do any one of these jobs really well. By working together, we make it possible for society to provide us all with food, clothes, shelter and medical care, while leaving each of us with as much freedom as it can.A man living alone in a desert or forest ______.
| A．is completely free | B．feels rather lonely |
| C．has limited freedom | D．enjoys no freedom |
The author suggests that when men live together ______.
| A．they will have no freedom and have to help others. |
| B．they can help each other protect against wild animals. |
| C．they have to work for their own food and shelters |
| D．everyone’s happiness is at the expense of other people’s freedom. |
According to the passage, to do all his own jobs one would ______.
| A．enjoy a complete freedom. |
| B．find it a happy thing to do everything at his own will |
| C．find it a very hard job to deal with everything by himself |
| D．feel quite fantastic and encouraged. |
We may infer from the passage that the author ____.
| A．is against separation from a civilized society. |
| B．is in favor of a well-organized society. |
| C．is against freedom gained at others. |
| D．denies the existence of many-sided people |
China news, Beijing, July. 29 – Housing price in China has always aroused heated discussions among property (房产) developers and ordinary Chinese. To many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8,000 yuan per square meter, while in China, it is even higher than in the United States. This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate(房地产) market, the International Finance News reported.
Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after converted to Renminbi, is about 8,000 yuan per square meter, the houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8,000 yuan per square meter. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, houses are sold at a price even higher than those in the US.
The high housing sales price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in US?
At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate(control) the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans (贷款) and lands to property developers. At the same time, the government should allow people to build more houses th
rough various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high hou
sing prices can be lowered. What is the average housing price per square meter in China?
| A．8000 yuan. | B．10000 yuan. |
| C．7000 yuan. | D．It’s not mentioned here. |
Which of the following does NOT support the idea that the average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States?
| A．Chinese houses can not be compared with houses in US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. |
B．American people’s a verage income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. |
| C．The houses in US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. |
| D．The population who need houses in China is larger than in the United States. |
How many measures are mentioned in the last paragraph in order to reduce the high housing prices?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Two. | D．One. |
What is the main idea of this passage?
A．The housing price in China is so high that the gover nment should do something useful to prevent it. |
| B．There are some bubbles in Chinese real estate market. |
| C．The average housing price in China is even higher than in the United States. |
| D．Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. |