Maybeyouknowsomewellknownbuild-优题课

Robby was 11 when his mother dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer students begin at an earlier age. Robby insisted that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him in as a student.
Robby tried and tried while I listened and encouraged him and gave him more instructions (指导). But he just did not have any inborn ability.
I only saw his mother from a distance. She always waved and smiled but never came in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling him but I guessed he had decided to try something else.
I was also glad that he stopped coming for the sake of my career. However, several weeks before the recital (演奏会) of my students, Robby came，telling me that he never stopped practicing and begged me to allow him to take part. I agreed but I made him perform last in the program, so I could always save his poor performance through my “curtain closer”.
I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen one piece of Mozart’s. Never had I heard a piece of Mozart’s played so well by someone at his age. When he finished, everyone was cheering.
I ran up and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that, Robby! How’d you do it?”
“Well, Miss Hondorf. Do you remember I told you my mom was sick? Actually she died this morning. She was born deaf so tonight was the first time she could hear me play. I wanted to make it special. I knew I could.” That night, Robby was the teacher and I was the student. He taught me so many important things about life.
Why did Robby stop coming to the piano lessons suddenly?

A．He lost heart and believed that he would never make it.

B．His mother was too sick to send him to the piano lessons.

C．He thought his teacher disliked him.

D．His mother died and he didn’t need to play any longer.

Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?

A．The writer thought playing the piano shouldn’t start too late.

B．The writer thought that Robby had given up the piano lesson.

C．The writer taught Robby carefully although he hadn’t a gift for music.

D．No one else could play the piece of Mozart’s well.

From the underlined sentence we can infer that _______.

A．the writer looked down upon Robby and disliked him

B．the writer thought Robby a bad advertisement for his teaching

C．with Robby present, the other children couldn’t play well

D．the writer couldn’t teach so many students at a time

What did the writer learn from Robby?

A．The meaning of true love.

B．The meaning of giving up necessarily.

C．The meaning of being kind to teachers.

D．The meaning of believing in teachers.

Jeanne Calment, a French woman, become a record breaker on 17 October 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.
Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France, her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes here as being “more like a 90-year-old in good health” than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on the 120^th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied, “A very short one.” She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.
So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercises every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a say, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.
A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: “Sorry, I’m still alive!”
How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?

A．She feels upset and unhappy.

B．She is cheerful and humorous.

C．She likes to live much longer.

D．She feels she is going to die very soon.

The text seems to suggest that Jeanne Calment owes her good health and long life to______.

A．smoking only little every day

B．neither smoking nor drinking

C．always drinking two glasses of strong red wine a day and never smoking

D．the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercises

Which of the following could best explain the underlined word “genes” in the third paragraph?

A．good habits of body-building.

B．Some materials that control the development of a living thing.

C．Comfortable living conditions.

D．Something necessary for a person to keep his life.

Why did Jeanne Calment say “Sorry, I’m still alive!” to the local lawyer?

A．She had an agreement with the lawyer when she was 80.

B．The lawyer has not paid her enough rent yet.

C．The lawyer has paid her more money than the value of the house.

D．The house she sold to the lawyer was worth the money already paid.

With the popularity of Harry Potter novels, the number of children applying to boarding schools has risen, many of them hoping to find their own version of Hogwarts. However, others have interpreted this trend as a reaction to longer working hours and the break up of more marriages. The boarding schools of fiction are presented as one long midnight feast with pillow fights making firm friendships. However, some people say the reality is children having more homesickness and a lack of individual attention. Modern boarding schools have done much to get rid of the image of the mass dormitories with 40 or more beds in one room, some going as far as providing private rooms with bathrooms. Similarly, they make great announcements for their academic advantage, particularly in light of the increase in exams, homework and university entrance requirements facing children wishing to succeed in the modern world.
Alongside these more conventional schools, two types of boarding schools have also become more popular recently. Sports academies and stage schools seek to cater for children with particular interests and talents, while so-called troubled-teens have been able to turn to a range of religious or wilderness schools to solve their problematic behavior.
Boarding schools allow children a safe space in which to accomplish greater control and independence over their daily lives. Teachers and staff can look after and support but they are unlikely to be over-protective. This can be a great preparation for university or for working away from home in later life as it provides an intermediate step between childhood and full independence.
However, parents are a child’s most natural support and best role models to learn from. If they are separated from them for long periods of time, this may damage their relationship and leave the child feeling anxious or alone. Schools are unlikely to be able to copy the detailed knowledge of each individual child that a parent has and therefore cannot be as effective in supporting the child.
To sum up, boarding schools have both their advantages and disadvantages, so it is up to you to decide whether to send your children to boarding schools or not.
What do we know from the passage?

A．More and more children go and visit Hogwarts on their own.

B．Pillow fights in boarding schools make firm friendships in reality.

C．More children want to go to boarding schools because of Harry Potter novels.

D．There aren’t special schools for the particularly talented children.

What kind of schools may be the most suitable for the so-called troubled-teens?

A．sports academies	B．Wilderness schools
C．Conventional schools	D．Stage schools

We learn from Paragraph 4 that __________.

A．teachers of boarding schools are the best examples for children to learn from

B．children can be more independent if they are separated from their parents

C．parents know their children better than teachers of boarding schools

D．schools are much more effective than parents in supporting children

What is the author’s opinion of boarding schools?

A．Neutral （中立的）

B．Negative

C．Positive

D．Critical

Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the
reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The latest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
The text mainly talks about ________.

A．men’s heart cells	B．women’s ageing process
C．the gender difference	D．hearts and long life

According to the text, the UK scientists have known that ________.

A．women have more cells than men when they are born

B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat

C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age

D．women never lose their pumping power with age

We can know from the passage that ________.

A．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out

B．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells

C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss

D．women over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20

Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants(居民) of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become angry and unhappy. They begin to dislike tourists and to treat them impolitely. They forget how much tourism can help the country’s economy. It is important to think about the people of a destination(目的地) country and how tourism affects them. Tourism should help a country keep the customs and beauty that attract tourists. Tourism should also advance health and happiness of local inhabitants.
　　Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too quickly, people must leave other jobs to work in the tourism industry. This means that other parts of the country’s economy can suffer.
　　On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also lose money. It costs a great deal of money to build large hotels, airports, first-class roads, and other support facilities(设施) needed by tourist attractions. For example, a major international-class tourist hotel can cost as much as 50 thousand dollars per room to build. If this room is not used most of the time, the owners of the hotel lose money.
　　Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many support facilities as well, including roads to get to the hotel, electricity, sewers(阴沟) to handle waste, and water. All of these support facilities cost money. If they are not used because there are not enough tourists, jobs and money are lost.
Which of the following has most probably been discussed in the paragraph that goes before the passage?

A．It is not important to develop tourism.

B．Building roads and hotels is important.

C．Support facilities are highly necessary.

D．Planning is of great importance to tourism.

Too much tourism can cause all these problems except _____.

A．a bad effect on other industries

B．a change of the customs of the country

C．air and water pollution

D．pressure on traffic

Not enough tourism can lead to _____.

A．the fact that some people may be out of work

B．an increase in tourist attractions

C．the higher cost of support facilities

D．a rise in price and a fall in pay

The word “handle” in the last paragraph most probably means _____.

A．carry away

B．pick up

C．get in

D．take down

A．sending an e-mail	B．writing a letter
C．visiting the website	D．making a call