“Everybody loves a bargain.” Is a well-known saying. One person’s useless, ugly, or broken object can be another person’s bargain. That is why so many Americans do not throw things away. They put them outside their house. They put on a "For Sale" sign. And, as simple as that, they have a yard sale.
The sellers put a paid announcement in a local newspaper. It tells when and where the yard sale will take place. These sales are very popular during weekends in spring, summer, and autumn.
Early in the morning, all the things to be sold are carried out of the house. Then they sit all day in the sunlight -- like tired guests at a party -- waiting for someone to take them home.
Just about anything can be sold at a yard sale. Sometimes, there are more clothes than anything else. Cooking equipment is also popular. So are old toys, tools, books, tables, and chairs. Then there are objects called "white elephants." A white elephant is something you think is extremely ugly or useless. It may be an electric light shaped like a fish. You feel a sharp pain whenever you look at it. To someone else, however, it might be a thing of beauty and joy.
Some people go to yard sales to find a special thing that they collect. It may be old toy trains, for example, or paintings of dogs. Experts say more Americans are collecting old things now than ever before. Most people who go to yard sales, however, are not looking for anything special. They might buy an object simply because it costs so little. They enjoy negotiating over prices, even if they really do not need the object. Later, they may hold their own yard sale to sell all the things they have bought.What kind of things will go to a yard sale?
| A．Cheap and ugly things． | B．Things people no longer use． |
| C．Things out of season． | D．Things of great value． |
A white elephant refers to ______ ．
| A．something that can cause n feeling of pain |
| B．something disliked by the owners while appreciated by others |
| C．something sold at the lowest price |
| D．a toy shaped like a fish |
Most people go to yard sales to ______ ．
| A．find Valuable paintings | B．look for something special |
| C．find a bargain | D．kill their time |
Which of the following is NOT true about a yard sale?
| A．It may not be held when the weather is very cold． |
| B．It can last for a whole day． |
| C．It is usually held with a party． |
| D．It is held outdoors． |
We can infer from the last paragraph that ______ ．
| A．people may find something of great value on a yard sale |
| B．yard sales only attract those who have a low income |
| C．things on a yard sale can cost people a lot |
| D．most people who go to yard sales want to make money |
Online Money Earning
Yes, you can earn money online without any investment or without anytime limit. I have many useful easy methods for earning easy money while we all spend our useful time on the Internet by surfing, chatting, downloading and other work. There is no need to stop any other work. We can earn with or without our daily routine. Here I tell you the complete method for online earning.
First Method
Earn money with“Bux. to”. You can earn money through “Bux.to” by clicking on ads on“Bux. To” site. First you need to open an account at“Bux. To”.
“Bux. To” is a new international and free English based service that allows advertisers to reach thousands of potential customers by displaying their ads on our“Surf Ads”page. An exact calculated percentage of all advertising income is paid to our members. “Bux. to” makes money through advertising.
How you make money
You view websites in 30 seconds through the “Surf Ads” page. Once the 30 seconds is up, you’ll either get a green tick(对号) sign or a red “x”. The green tick sign means you’ve earned $0.01and the “x” means you have not earned money for the visit. You’ll get red “x”s when you have more than one website from the “Surf Ads” page open. When this happens, you get no credit.
Earnings example
You click 10 ads per day =$0.10
20 referrals(转送) click 10 ads per day =$2.00
Your daily earnings =$2.10
Your weekly earnings =$14.70
Your monthly earnings =$63.00
How to get paid
If you have at least $10.00 accumulated, you can click on your account balance within your states area and it will meet your request. At present, it only makes payments through “AlertPay”. It will soon be using other methods of payment.
AlertPay is the payment processing solution that we use to pay members. Your AlertPay address is the e-mail address you use to register with AlertPay. You can get a free AlertPay account at http:// alertpay. com.
Method 2 will publish soon… What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
| A．To tell an interesting story. |
| B．To introduce a surprising way to earn money. |
| C．To solve a puzzling problem. |
| D．To present an exciting research. |
You can earn money by ________.
| A．chatting online |
| B．advertising some products |
| C．clicking on advertisements |
| D．choosing green ticks or “x”s |
The underlined word “accumulated” can be replaced by “________”.
| A．wasted. | B．spent. |
| C．lost. | D．gathered. |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five. The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
The researchers considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men. What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The older a person is, the more stressed he feels. |
| B．The more lighthearted a person is, the happier he is. |
| C．The older a person is the more clever he grows. |
| D．The older a person is, the happier he grows. |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older, will they feel happier |
| B．older people usually have no worries in their life |
| C．stress levels among the youngest are the highest of all |
| D．older people are more likely to be thankful in life |
According to the researchers, what is probably the reason why people grow happier when they get older?
| A．When people get older, they can’t remember bad experiences. |
| B．When people get older, they have no young children to care about. |
| C．When people get older, they learn to adjust their feelings. |
| D．When people get older, they don’t care about their feelings. |
What would the writer probably deal with in next paragraph?
| A．Advice to the young people on how to keep happy. |
| B．Advice to the old people on how to live longer. |
| C．Why women at all ages are more sad, stressed and worried. |
| D．Why people will grow happier with their ages. |
Brrriiinnng．The alarm clock announces the start of another busy weekday in the morning．You jump out of bed, rush into the shower, into your clothes and out the door with hardly a moment to think．A stressful journey to work gets your blood pressure climbing．Once at the office, you glance through the newspaper with depressing stories or reports of disasters．In that sort of mood, who can get down to work, particularly some creative, original problem-solving work?
The way most of us spend our mornings is exactly opposite to the conditions that promote flexible, open-minded thinking．Imaginative ideas are most likely to come to us when we’re unfocused．If you are one of those energetic morning people, your most inventive time comes in the early evening when you are relaxed．Sleepy people’s lack of focus leads to an increase in creative problem solving．By not giving yourself time to tune into your wandering mind, you’re missing out on the surprising solutions it may offer．
The trip you take to work doesn’t help, either．The stress slows down the speed with which signals travel between neurons(神经细胞), making inspirations less likely to occur．And while we all should read a lot about what’s going on in the world, it would not make you feel good for sure, so put that news website or newspaper aside until after the day’s work is done．
So what would our mornings look like if we wanted to start them with a full capacity for creative problem solving? We’d set the alarm a few minutes early and lie awake in bed, following our thoughts where they lead．We’d stand a little longer under the warm water of the shower, stopping thinking about tasks in favor of a few more minutes of relaxation．We’d take some deep breaths on our way to work, instead of complaining about heavy traffic．And once in the office—after we get a cup of coffee—we’d click on links not to the news of the day but to the funniest videos the web has to offer．According to the author, we are ore creative when we are________?
| A．focused． | B．relaxed |
| C．awake． | D．busy． |
What does the author imply about newspapers?
| A．They are normally full of bad news． |
| B．They are solution providers． |
| C．They are a source of inspiration． |
| D．They are more educational than websites． |
By“tune into your wandering mind”in Para．2, the author means “_______”．
| A．wander into the wild |
| B．listen to a beautiful tune |
| C．stop concentrating on anything |
| D．switch to the traffic channel |
The author writes the last paragraph in order to _______．
| A．establish a routine for the future |
| B．summarize past experiences |
| C．advocate diverse ways of life |
| D．offer practical suggestions |
阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。把答案填涂在答题卡上相应的题号的答案标号上。
首先请阅读下列深圳书城的畅销书的封面及基本信息：
| A.Foreword |
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The Antidepressant Survival Guide： Beat the Side Effects of Your Medication by Robert J.Hedaya， M.D， Robert J.Hedaya， M.D.， is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University Hospital's Department of Psychiatry. Motto： Live well. |
| B.How Fear Limits Us |
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On Becoming Fearless in Love， Work， and Life by Arianna Huffington Arianna Huffington was raised in Greece by her fearless mother.She has written this book for her two daughters in the hope that they will lead fearless lives. Motto： Overcome the obstacle， get over the next hill. |
| C.Determination： How to Set Goals and Go After Them |
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Fight Your Fear and Win by Don Greene， Ph.D. Don Greene， Ph.D.， was a nationally ranked high school diver.He was the sports psychologist for the U.S.Olympic Diving Team. Motto： Determination is drive. |
| D.The Anger Business |
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Anger ： The Misunderstood Emotion by Carol Tavris， Ph.D. Carol Tavris， Ph.D.， was senior editor，she now teaches from time to time in the department of psychology at UCLA Motto： Reduce Stress！ |
| E.In the Presence of Danger |
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The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker Davin de Becker， America's leading expert on violence， is the best－selling author of the Gift of Fear： Survival Signals. Motto： Trust and act on our straight instincts. |
| F.Moving from Fear to Freedom |
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Transforming Anxiety， Transcending Shame by Rex Briggs， M.S.W. REX BRIGGS， M.S.W.， has been a selected speaker at the National Anxiety Disorders Association of America's conferences since 1986. Motto： Weaken anxiety |
下面是这些书的简要内容，请匹配相关的书名。This useful，popular book shows that if you are gone broke and lose love， please hold yourself back. If you look fat， just face it calmly. If you are in survival thinking， the most important is that you get rid of all the difficulties in front of us， life will be safe， perfect. If your daughters are to take their rightful place in society， they must become fearless.
In this book， the author calls the nation's leading experts on violent behavior， and shows you how to spot even tiny signs of danger before it's too late. Most violent acts are unpredictable. It points out that true fear is often a signal that can save your life. Believe the threat of violence surrounds us every day. But we can protect ourselves by straight judgment.
This book based on his years of clinical experience. It says about twentyfive million Americans take medicine to avoid depression. Despite the advances in the treatment of depression in recent years， many patients， even with the best medical care， feel that they are not living rich and fulfilling lives. This book will direct you how to survive well.
This interesting book tells us that annoyance is as much a political matter as a biological one. And anger is a definite message： Pay attention to me. I don't like what you are doing. Restore my pride. You're in my way. Give me justice. This book suggests that when you're angry， just let it right out.
This valuable book states that nervousness has become a constant factor in today's society like a sign of the times， but it is sometimes difficult to recognize the effects of anxiety on our mental health. The only way to feel better about ourselves is to go out and do it.
My life suffered a lot in summer five years ago. My father died in a car accident，leaving my mother，my two younger brothers and I alone. At that time，I was a senior high school student. After my father’s funeral，I had no choice but to drop out of school and work in a factory.
I really wanted to return to school and wanted to go to college，but I couldn’t. I only hoped to bring up my two young brothers. Life was not easy for me，for I can’t afford their tuition even if I worked from day to night without stopping. Without my father’s protection，I thought I was a slave to the fate.
Later on，something changed my life. I still remember that it was a rainy day. I put myself in the rain and walked slowly in the street.
Suddenly the rain stopped！I raised my head and found “the sky” was in fact a dark blue umbrella. Then I noticed a middleaged man with one leg on crutch(拐杖) standing behind me. He said to me，“Why not run without an umbrella？If you didn’t run，you would get drenched.”
The man told me that he was a promoter. He once dreamed of being a policeman，but an accident ruined his dream. Though his present job was not suitable for his legs，it was a wonderful start to him. He was very happy that he didn’t lose heart and still “ran” on the road of life...
I was encouraged by the man’s words. I went to a big city and became an assurance representative. After two years’ running，I did well and my family condition turned better little by little. Later I returned to school and succeeded in my entrance to university.
Life is like this. When you are in rainy days in your life，if you couldn’t find a way to prevent you from being wet，you would be overwhelmed. But if you decide to get rid of it，you’ll discover that the rainy days last not so long as you imagine.What happened to the writer at the beginning of the story?
| A．His father died in a car accident six years ago. |
| B．He had to drop out of school to look after his sick mother. |
| C．He couldn’t afford his two brothers’ tuition even if he worked from day to night. |
| D．He didn’t have money to hold the funeral for his father. |
About the middleaged man with one leg on crutch，which of the following is NOT true?
| A．He had dreamt of being a policeman. |
| B．He was a promoter. |
| C．He lost one leg in an accident. |
| D．He had a good job which was suitable for him very well. |
What does the underlined word “drenched” in Paragraph 4 mean in Chinese?
| A．湿透的 | B．干燥的 |
| C．紧张的 | D．舒服的 |
What’s the main idea of the sixth paragraph?
| A．The writer didn’t want to listen to the middleaged man and left without any word. |
| B．The writer made friends with the middleaged man and they got on well with each other. |
| C．The writer had to give up his dream and became a promoter as the middleaged man. |
| D．The writer learned from the middleaged man and the situation soon got better. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Run out of the Rainy Season of Your Life |
| B．Care for the Disabled Person |
| C．Try to Be Independent |
| D．Get to Know More about Middleaged People |