To many Americans,Labor Day marks the end of the summer,a day off from work and school,and one last chance to relax.But Labor Day is much more than just a day off . It represents a very important victory for laborers everywhere.The holiday is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers.
More than a century ago,workers were forced to deal with harsh conditions.They were paid very little, and they often worked 10-to l2-hour days.Men, women and even small children were forced to work even when they were sick.Tired of long hours and dangerous conditions,workers began organizing themselves into labor unions.On top of fighting for higher pay and shorter workdays,they also fought for the rights of children.The workers wanted employers to place limits on the age of their workers so that small children were not overworked or hurt in factories.
A New York City carpenter named Peter McGuire is credited for coming up with the idea for Labor Day.In 1872,after working many hours under poor conditions, McGuire rallied 100,000 workers to go on strike.The workers marched through the streets of New York City,demanding a better work environment.McGuire spent a decade fighting for workers’ rights.In 1882,he proposed the idea to create a special holiday for workers.On Tuesday,September 5,1882.more than 10,000 workers hit the streets of New York City for the first ever Labor Day parade.Two years later the celebration was moved to the first Monday in September.And in 1894,Congress passed a law making Labor Day a national holiday.
Americans celebrated the first Labor Day holiday with a parade,picnics and fireworks.Today,many people hit the road to enjoy the last of their summer vacation.Others enjoy the long weekend with picnics,backyard barbecues or just rest and relaxation.However you spend Labor Day,remember that the holiday is a time to pay tribute (致敬)to the workers who have made America what it is today.What do we know from Paragraph 1 ?
A.Americans have more than a day off on Labor Day. |
B.Many countries in the world celebrate Labor Day. |
C.Labor Day has a deep meaning for American laborers. |
D.Labor Day shows the social and economic power of America. |
What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A.American workers’ fighting against their employers. |
B.The bad life that American workers 1ed. |
C.How American employers treated their workers. |
D.The life that American workers ever expected. |
The underlined word “rallied” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by“___________”.
A.persuaded | B.supported | C.rewarded | D.gathered |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A.There were about 100,000 workers in New York City in 1872. |
B.Labor Day became a national holiday in 1884. |
C.In 1872 Labor Day was first put forward by McGuire. |
D.The first ever Labor Day parade was held in 1882. |
According to the author,while spending Labor Day,Americans should feel _________ .
A.su![]() |
B.thankful |
C.dissatisfied | D.superior |
Michael J. “Crocodile Dundee” (also called Mick), played by Paul Hogan, is the main character in the fictional Crocodile Dundee film series consisting of Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The character is a crocodile hunter, hence the nickname.
In the first film, Crocodile Dundee, Mick is visited by a New York reporter, Sue Charlton, who travels to Australia to investigate a report she heard of a crocodile hunter, who had his leg bitten off by a crocodile in the outback. The hunter supposedly walked more than a hundred miles back to civilization and miraculously survived his injuries. However, by the time she meets him, the story turns out to be a somewhat exaggerated legend where the “bitten-off leg” turns out to be just being some bad scarring on his leg; a “love bite” as Mick calls it. Still intrigued by the idea of “Crocodile Dundee”, Sue continues with the story. They travel together out to where the incident occurred, and follow his route through the bush to the nearest hospital. Despite his old-fashioned views, the pair eventually become close, especially after Mick saves Sue from a crocodile attack.
Feeling there is still more to the story, Sue invites Mick back to New York with her, as his first trip to a city (or “first trip anywhere,” as Dundee says). The rest of the film depicts Dundee as a “fish out of water,” showing how, despite his expert knowledge of living outdoors, he knows little of city life. Mick meets Sue’s boyfriend, Richard, but they do not get along. By the end of the film, Mick is on his way home, lovesick, when Sue realizes she loves Mick, too, and not Richard. She runs to the subway station to stop Mick from leaving and, by passing on messages through the packed-to-the-gills crowd, she tells him she won’t marry Richard, and she loves him instead. With the help of the other people in the subway, Mick and Sue have a loving reunion as the film ends.Which of the following statements is true about Mick?
A.He is a crocodile hunter living in Los Angeles. |
B.He is based on a real person in Australia. |
C.He got his nickname because of his job. |
D.He wrote a film series about himself. |
In the film Crocodile Dundee, Mick ________.
A.pretends he was bitten by a crocodile |
B.urges Sue Charlton to write his life story |
C.hasn’t been abroad before his trip to America |
D.shows Sue Charlton around the town he lives in |
The underlined word “intrigued” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ________.
A.annoyed | B.interested | C.troubled | D.surprised |
When in New York, Mick ________.
A.makes friends with Richard |
B.makes full use of his bush skills |
C.feels excited about living in a big city |
D.doesn’t know how to fit into city life |
The film Crocodile Dundee can be best described as ________.
A.a romantic story | B.an action movie |
C.a science fiction | D.a frightening story |
It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling fast. In the cold and the darkness, a poor little girl, with bare head and naked feet, wandered through the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers when she left home, but they were not of much use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that they had belonged to her mother, and the poor girl had lost them in running across the street to avoid two carriages that were rolling along at a terrible rate. One of the slippers she could not find, and a boy seized upon the other and ran away with it. So the little girl went on with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bunch of them in her hands. No one had bought anything of her the whole day, nor had any one given her even a penny.
Lights were shining from every window, and there was a delicious smell of roast goose, for it was New-year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. In a corner, between two houses, one of which projected beyond the other, she sank down and huddled(蜷缩)herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here.The story happened ________.
A.on New-year Day | B.on Christmas |
C.on a rainy evening | D.on a snowy night |
From the passage we can learn that the little girl’s father ______.
A.is cruel to her | B.is kind to her | C.is patient with her | D.is popular with her |
How did the little girl feel in the passage?
A.Doubtful. | B.Hopeless. | C.Confident. | D.Stressful. |
The passage is probably taken from _____.
A.an essay | B.a lecture | C.a story | D.a poem |
The candidate who is longing for election to the highest office in the United States must be native-born American citizen who is at least 35 years old and who has lived in the United States for at least 14 years. The election course is complicated, and the road to the Oval Office is long.
Potential candidates must present papers stating their intention to seek their party’s recommendation; delegates(代表) then choose from among those running some months later at the national conferences. Before that, however, each state holds a primary election that determines how the state’s voters want the party’s delegates to vote. Methods of choosing the delegates vary from state to state. At the conferences, there are speeches and often heated discussions. It may take several rounds of voting before delegates can agree on a candidate. On the final day of the meeting, the presidential candidate announces his or her choice for vice president.
Election Day, by law, is the Tuesday that follows the first Monday in November. On this day, registered voters may cast their votes for president, vice president, and candidates for other federal state, and local offices. The popular vote, however, does not determine who will be president. The president is chosen by a vote of the Electoral College, a group of 538 citizens from the 50 states and the District of Columbia who are chosen to cast votes for the president and vice president.
The rules for choosing electors, as with the delegates, vary. Each state also decides whether its electoral votes must reflect the popular vote. The number of electors in each state is determined by the number of representatives and senators that a state sends to Congress and, therefore, may change every 10 years, depending on the results of the United States census (人口普查). The winner must get at least 270 of the electoral votes when the Electoral College meets in December of the election year. The election results are not official, however, until the following January, when Congress meets in a joint conference to count the electoral votes.
At the end of the road to the Oval Office is the swearing-in ceremony, at which the new or reelected president takes the oath of office on January 20. Which of the following is not a requirement for candidates for the presidency of the USA?
A.Minimum age of thirty-five years old. |
B.Native of the United States of America. |
C.Bottom residency of fourteen years in the State |
D.Previous experience in an elective office. |
According to the passage, we can conclude that _______.
A. ways to select the delegates of each state are very much the same in the USA.
B. the candidate who wins the popular vote will be the winner of the election
C. the change of a state’s population barely has effects on the presidential election.
D. the presidents of the United States are theoretically picked by the citizens directly.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.The Various Ways of Presidential Election in the USA |
B.The Qualifications for Being the President of the USA |
C.The Process of the Election for the President of the USA |
D.The Rules for Choosing Presidential Candidates in the USA |
Julie was preparing for a trip when her phone slipped into a sink full of water. Panic moment! She quickly picked up the wet phone and tried to turn it on, but nothing worked. Her first reaction? She got dressed, drove to the nearest store, and bought a new model at full price.
A new study finds that fear of losing your phone is a common illness. About 66 percent of those surveyed suffer from nomophobia or “no mobile phone phobia”. Interestingly, more women worry about losing their phone than men.
Fortunately, there’s a solution.
The first step is to figure out if you have nomophobia. Checking your phone too often is one thing, but the true sign of a problem is that you can’t conduct business or go about your routine when the fear becomes so severe.
Do you go to unusual lengths to make sure you have your phone? That’s another sign of a problem. If you find you check your phone plenty of times per hour, or a total of an hour per day, there may be a problem.
Some of the treatments are similar to those for treating anxiety attacks: Leaving the phone behind and not checking e-mail or text messages, and then learning to tolerate the after anxiety. Even if this leads to a high level of worry and stress, the solution is to push through the fear and learn to deal with not having your phone.
Of course, there are also technological alternatives. Luis Levy, a co-founder at Novy PR, says he uses an application called Cerberus that can automatically track the location of his phone. To find it, he can just go to a Web site and see the phone’s location.
He also insures his phone through a service called Asurion. The company’s description of its product reads like a prescription for anxiety: “60 million phones are lost, stolen or damaged each year. You’ll have complete peace of mind knowing that your phone is protected and you can quickly reconnect with family, friends and work, as soon as the very next day!”Why does the author mention Kelly’s experience in the first paragraph?
A.To inform us that mobile phones are useful. |
B.To introduce the topic for discussion. |
C.To warn us that we should be careful. |
D.To tell us we should get phones ready for a trip. |
The underlined word “nomophobia” in Paragraph 2 means ________.
A.Fear of losing mobile phones. |
B.Habits of using mobile phones |
C.Eagerness for new mobile phones. |
D.Independence of mobile phones. |
Which of the following is a way to treat nomophobia?
A.Avoiding using phone for some time |
B.Learning more about modern technology. |
C.Protecting one’s phone against any damage. |
D.Not using a mobile phone in one’s daily work. |
Why can the service called Asurion help to treat nomophobia?
A.It lets you know other people also lose their phones. |
B.It will give you a new phone through insurance. |
C.It enables you to reconnect with your acquaintance. |
D.It gives you a prescription to treat nomophobia. |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.Solutions to nomophobia. | B.New mobile phone technology. |
C.Disadvantages of mobile phone. | D.Attitude toward mobile phone. |
Different exercise types have different purposes and different benefits. One type of exercise may not accomplish all goals of being physically fit: a healthy heart, strong muscles and bones, and safety from injury. As a result, it is important to do enough types of exercise to have all the physical benefits. Here is a quick check sheet.
Aerobic Exercise: To have a strong and healthy heart, you need to do aerobic exercise. This means that you need to exercise yourself enough so that your heart rate, while exercising, is 65 percent to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. If you don’t get your heart rate up within this level—you just aren’t working hard enough. Whatever you do, your heart rate needs to be 65 percent to 85 percent of your MHR for 20 to 30 minutes, at least 3 times a week. Typical types include:
* Running
* Walking (at least 4 to 4.5 mph)
* Swimming
* Bikingk3s5u
* Elliptical Training
* Yoga
Strength Training: To keep your muscles and bones strong, you need to do strength training. This comes in a variety of forms. Whatever you do, however, you need to train your muscles enough so that they are really tired by the end of each session. To see real benefits, make sure you are strength training 2 to 3 times a week for about 30 to 40 minutes. Typical types of strength training include:
* Weight Training
* Yoga
* Resistance Training
* Plyometrics
Flexibility Training: To keep your body flexible, reducing risk of injuries and pain in your joints and muscles, you need to do flexibility training. You should always aim to stretch every muscle after any exercise routine. Typical types of flexibility training include:
* Stretching
* Yoga
* Pilates
So next time you think that yoga 5 times a week will be enough, think about what it is really doing. Is it getting your heart rate up? Are you making up your strength? Are you keeping your muscles flexible? If your purpose is to _______, you can choose swimming as your exercise form.
A.keep muscles and bones strong |
B.build a strong and healthy heart |
C.keep body flexible |
D.reduce risk of injuries and pain in joints and muscles |
After reading this passage, we know that ________.
A.Yoga is really better for people than running |
B.The three kinds of training have links with one another |
C.Flexibility training helps you build up your muscles |
D.The more exercise you do, the better |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to “session” in Paragraph 3?
A.meeting | B.gathering | C.term | D.period |
The paragraph following this article may discuss_______.
A.how to build up our strength |
B.how to choose an exercise type |
C.how to find a good workout dealing with two or three of these goals |
D.how to be more flexible |