When I was quite young, I discovered that somewhere inside the telephone lived an amazingperson - "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know.
One day while my mother was out, I hit my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there was no one home to give me any sympathy. I walked around the house, finally arriving at the telephone! Quickly, I called “Information Please" and told her what happened. She told me to open the icebox and hold a little piece of ice to my finger.
After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. When my pet bird died, I told "Information Please" the sad story. She tried to comfort me, she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in." Somehow I felt better. Another day I was on the telephone, “How do you spell ‘grateful’? ". All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was 9, we moved to Boston.
A few years later, on my way to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour or so between planes. Without thinking, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information, please."
Surprisingly, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information." I hadn’t planned on this but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell ‘grateful’?"
There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now." I laughed. "So it’s really still you," I said, "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time." I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and asked if I could call her again. "Please do," she said, "Just ask for Sally."
Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered me. I was told that Sally passed away five weeks before.
Before I could hang up she told me that Sally left a message for me—“Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He’ll know what I mean.” I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
Never underestimate the impression you may make on others. Whose life have you touched today? What does “Information, Please” refer to in the passage?
| A.An amazing girl. |
| B.A special kind of telephone. |
| C.A communication system. |
| D.A service that helps telephone users. |
What happened to the little boy one day when he was at home alone?
| A.He was amused by the telephone. |
| B.He hurt his finger with a hammer. |
| C.He found an amazing telephone. |
| D.He got a piece of ice from an icebox. |
What did “Information, Please” give the little boy whenever he was in trouble?
| A.Information and conversation. |
| B.Good memories and happiness. |
| C.Sympathy and information. |
| D.Friendship and cheers. |
When did the author get in touch with “Information, Please” again after he moved to Boston?
| A.When he was in trouble on his way to college. |
| B.When his plane stopped in Seattle for half an hour. |
| C.When he went back to Seattle to visit his sister. |
| D.Three months later after he moved to Boston. |
JULY
| MON. |
TUES. |
WED. |
THURS. |
FRI. |
SAT. |
SUN. |
| 132 |
2 29 |
3 31 |
4 40 |
5 46 |
6 38 |
|
| 7 27 |
8 34 |
9 30 |
10 24 |
1139 |
1245 |
1341 |
| 14 23 |
15 31 |
1628 |
1726 |
1838 |
19 49 |
2039 |
| 2126 |
22 35 |
2327 |
24 25 |
25 43 |
2647 |
2742 |
| 2829 |
2927 |
30 34 |
3129 |
Ms. Rossi owns the Roadside Motel(汽车游客旅馆),which has 50 units.She wishes to keep a handy record of the number of units occupied(占用).To do this she uses a calendar and writes the number of units occupied in a small box in the right-hand square of each date.The following questions are based on the occupancy rate(率) for July.The total number of units occupied during the week of July 14 through July 20 was ______.
| A.234 | B.239 | C.240 | D.244 |
The average(平均) occupancy rate for Thursday was ________.
| A.29 | B.31 | C.27 | D.28 |
Ms. Rossi regards a 90% occupancy rate as excellent.On how many days during the month did the Roadside Motel have a 90% or better rate of occupancy?
| A.6. | B.5. | C.4. | D.1. |
After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletics have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletics and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest Paralympics will not be taking part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thormpson. Born with spina bifida (脊椎裂) which left her paralyzed from the waist down. Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. At first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually
she found athletics, and never looked back.
Indeed, Tanni’s athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100metres at the Junior National Wheelchair Games.
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 metres. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona. Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metres relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories.
Tanni’s enduring success had been part motivation(动机), part preparation, “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter(短跑运动员) enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keeps me prepared for whatever distance I want to race. I am still competing at a very high lever, but as I get older things get harder and I want to retire before I fall apart.”
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In spite of ups and downs, she never take her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in series of Paralympics--- a top lever athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records.
What advice does she have for young athletes? “Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again.”Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
| A.Basketball | B.Swimming. |
| C.Tennis. | D.Horse-riding. |
When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
| A.In 1984. | B.In 1988. |
| C.In 1992. | D.In 2007. |
The underlined word “that” in the 5th paragraph refers to _______.
| A.fifty weeks’ training |
| B.being a good sprinter |
| C.training almost every day |
| D.part motivation and part preparation |
What’s the right order of the events related to Tanni?
a. She works as a coach.
b. She took up athletics.
c. She won four gold medals in Barcelona.
d. She competed in her first Paralympic Games.
e. She achieved a victory in her first London Wheelchair Marathon.
| A.b,d,c,e,a | B. a,d,b,c,e |
| C.a,d,c,e,b | D.b,d,a,e,c |
What can we learn from Tanni’s success?
| A.Union is strength. | B.Never too late to learn. |
| C.Well begun is half done. | D.No pains, no gains. |
I would never forget the time when we were standing at the top of a church tower. My father had brought me to this spot in a small town not far from our home in Rome. I wondered why.
“Look down, Elsa,” Father said. I gathered all my courage and looked down. I saw the square in the center of the village. And I saw the crisscross (纵横交错) of streets leading to the square. “See, my dear,” Father said gently. “There is more than one way to the square. Life is like that. If you can't get to the place where you want to go by one road, try another.”
Now I understood why I was there. Earlier that day I had begged my mother to do something about the awful lunches that were served at school. But she refused because she didn't believe the lunches were as bad as I said.
When I turned to Father for help, he would not interfere (干涉). Instead, he brought me to this high tower to give me a lesson. By the time we reached home, I had a plan.
At school the next day, I secretly poured my lunch soup into a bottle and brought it home. Then I asked our cook to serve it to Mother at dinner. The plan worked perfectly. She swallowed one spoonful and sputtered, “The cook must have gone bad!” Quickly I told what I had done, and Mother stated firmly that she would deal with the matter of lunches at school the next day!
In the following years I often remembered the lesson Father taught me. I began to work as a fashion designer two years ago. I wouldn't stop working until I tried every possible means to my goal. Father's wise words always remind me that there is more than one way to the square.The author's father took her to the top of a church tower to ________.
| A.find out how many ways lead to the square |
| B.enjoy the beautiful scenery of the whole town |
| C.help her forget some unpleasant things earlier that day |
| D.inspire her to find out another way to solve her problem |
What did the author want her mother to do earlier that day?
| A.Do something delicious for lunch. |
| B.Speak to the school about lunch. |
| C.Taste her awful lunch. |
| D.Dismiss the cook. |
The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means ________.
| A.the cook agreed to serve the soup to Mother |
| B.the matter of lunch was successfully settled |
| C.her father persuaded her mother successfully |
| D.the method the author thought of was effective |
On a freezing cold day, a couple had to move into a small apartment because of their failure in business. The husband worked day and night to support the family but with no care of his wife. So she thought, “He doesn't love me any more, he just cares about his business ... not me”.
One day, she was about to take a shower when he stopped her at the door, “Let me take it first, okay?”“Why not me first?” she asked.“I am tired, honey, you take it later, okay?”She was entirely unhappy.
One day, she found nothing to do and turned on his computer. A few words came into her sight. Reading them, she burst into tears. It was his diary:
Today, I was quite sad. She asked me why I was always taking the shower first, and I said to her, I was exhausted. She was unhappy. In her mind, I treated her not as well as usual, but what could I do? I was not as rich as before! We moved to the small apartment, and there was only one shower in the bathroom. It was so cold to take a shower in such a cold winter. But I found that if one person took the shower first, the room could get a little warmer. So every day I rushed to the bathroom first. I was thinking that, when she took the shower, the room would get warmer, even if it was only 1℃.
Now I cannot give her a comfortable life, take her to good restaurants, or buy expensive dresses for her, but at least, I can give her 1℃love.Why did the couple move to the small apartment?
| A.Both of them were out of work. |
| B.They wanted to live a better life. |
| C.The man could take better care of his business. |
| D.They were too poor to live in the former house. |
Which of the following can replace the underlined word “exhausted”?
| A.Devoted. | B.Worried. |
| C.Tired. | D.Injured. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A.They would live a richer life soon. |
| B.The woman misunderstood her husband. |
| C.The man would care less about his business. |
| D.The woman would get angry after reading the diary. |
What's the best title of the passage?
| A.A Love Story | B.1℃Love |
| C.A Suffering Couple | D.Fight for the Bathroom |
A man enters a store to buy milk. He walks out of the store with milk. That is all— milk. At the same time, a woman enters the same grocery store also to buy milk. She buys it. But, she also buys chicken and lemons to make dinner that night. Then she remembers to buy food for her son to eat at school. She also gets a bottle of wine for drinks with friends and a birthday card for her husband's niece. Then she gets coffee for breakfast, ice cream for dessert and remembers stamps to mail the bills. And don't forget soap for the bathroom.
And that is the difference between the female and male brains simply explained in a grocery store. Generally speaking,men do one thing at a time. Women do many. Doing many things at one time is often called “multi-tasking”, a very popular word these days.
Now scientific research supports this theory about male and female brains. A recent study has confirmed what we have known all along—men and women think differently.
Scientist at the university of Pennsylvania studied brain images of 949 people aged from 8 to 22 years old. They found that male brains have more connections on one side of the brain, or hemisphere. In female brain, they found more activity and connections between the right and left sides of the brain. The left side of the brain is known as the side of “reason” The right hemisphere is known as the “creative” side.
Regina Verma is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She co-wrote the report. She says when women are asked to do something difficult they might use different parts of the brain. Men, she adds, generally use just one side of the brain.
As a result, men generally deal directly with a problem. There is a strong connection between the “understanding” and the “action” parts of their brains. Women, however, might include other parts of the brain, like the part connected with reason and the part connected with sensitivity when solving a problem. Women take a less direct path to find a solution.
Dr. Venma warns that the study should not lead anyone to expect some behaviors from women and others from men.By describing the scene of shopping, the writer wants to ____ .
| A.reveal men and women's preference of living expense |
| B.criticize women's wasted living expense |
| C.think highly of women's considerate behavior |
| D.illustrate men and women's different brains |
When asked to deal with a problem, _____ .
| A.men tend to take action straight |
| B.women tend to take action straight |
| C.women tend to use a single part of the brain |
| D.men tend to use connected parts of the brain |
Dr. Verma's warning indicates that _____ .
| A.women and men can hardly learn from each other |
| B.women and men can hardly cooperate well |
| C.women and men can hardly complete multitasks |
| D.women and men can hardly perform the same behavior |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A.“reason” brain or “creative” brain |
| B.Multi-tasking or single-tasking |
| C.Costly shopping or economical shopping |
| D.Reason or sensitivity |