What can help you make a fortune in the future? Graduating from a top university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn later.
The idea that popularity could have a serious impact on one’s earning potential shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life, social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.
“If a person has lots of friends, it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations,” said Xu Yanchun, 17, from Nantou High School in Shenzhen, who totally agreed with the recent finding. “Also, friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you occasionally feel depressed,” said Xu. She believed that all this helps you “earn a higher salary”.
Maybe that’s why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendalholism(交友狂症). A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook’s 5,000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve of social contacts.
But what does a friend mean? Should friends be regarded as a form of currency?
“Call me uncool, but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems, however, that this is no longer the definition of ‘friend’,” said Meghan Daum, who works with the Los Angeles Times in the US. The new study from the University of Essex in Britain shows that _______.
| A．if you have more friends you will not live happily |
| B．the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn in your late life |
| C．the less friends you have, the poor lives you will live |
| D．friends can make more money for you |
According to Xu Yanchun, when you have lots of friends, it means________.
| A．you have the ability to earn more money |
| B．you will not feel lonely |
| C．you are quite content with your life |
| D．you have the ability to get along with others in various situations |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．The passage mainly tells us something about the friendship. |
| B．Friendship plays a more important part in our daily life than anything else. |
| C．Friends are currency. |
| D．Friends give you success. |
We can learn from the passage that _______.
| A．if you have more friends, you can make a fortune in the future |
| B．graduating from college means that you can make a fortune in the future |
| C．friends mean a form of currency |
| D．friends can make you wider social circle and make you feel better when you feel depressed |
Many people go to school for an education. They learn languages, history, geography, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Others go to school to learn a skill so that they can make a living. School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So, much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.
It is always more important to know how to study by oneself than to memorize some facts or a formula. It is usually quite easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula in mathematics. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientists, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo didn’t get anything from school. But they were all so successful. They invented so many things for mankind.
The reason for their success is that they knew how to study. They read books that were not taught at school. They worked hard all their lives, wasting not a single moment. They would ask many questions as they read and they did thousands of experiments.
Above all, they knew how to use their brains. Many people go to school for an education. But some others go to school for __________.
| A．enjoying themselves | B．learning subjects |
| C．learning a skill | D．making a living |
. A teacher’s job is mainly to train his students to master the ability of __________.
| A．learning by themselves | B．making a living |
| C．reading and thinking | D．studying all the subjects |
Using a formula in working out a maths problem is ______ memorizing it.
| A．much easier than | B．more difficult than |
| C．as easy as | D．as difficult as |
The scientists were successful because __________.
| A．they read books that were not taught at school |
| B．they worked all their lives |
| C．they wasted not a single moment |
| D．they knew how to use their brains |
Once there was a king who never ate a meal unless there was a dish of fish with it, but one day there was a big storm and the fishermen were not able to go out to catch fish, so the king had no breakfast and no lunch. Then he ordered his servants to tell everybody in his capital that if anyone brought him a fish, he would give him anything that he asked for.
At last, a fisherman caught a big fish late in the afternoon and hurried to the king's palace with it. But the king's Prime Minister would not let him in until he promised to give him half of whatever the king gave him for the fish.
The king was very happy when he saw the fish. He asked the fisherman what he wanted for his fish. To his surprise, the fisherman said, "I want you to beat me two dozen(一打) times with a stick." When the king began to beat him a dozen times, the fisherman jumped away and said, "That is enough for me. I promised the other dozen to your Prime Minister." Then he told the king what had happened between the Prime Minister and himself. The king was very angry. He not only gave the Prime Minister the dozen hits, but also said, "Because you have been dishonest, you will not be my Prime Minister any more. The fisherman will take your place."The king didn't have breakfast and lunch because ____.
| A．there was a big storm |
| B．the Prime Minister did not bring him any food |
| C．there was no fish |
| D．his servants didn't know how to cook well |
. The fisherman took his fish to the king's palace because ____.
| A．the king had promised to give him whatever he wanted |
| B．the king was dying from hunger |
| C．he wanted to teach the Prime Minister a lesson |
| D．he wanted to be the Prime Minister |
. When the fisherman told the king what he wanted, the king ____.
| A．was very happy | B．was very surprised |
| C．was very angry | D．gave him what he wanted at once |
. The king got rid of his Prime Minister because ____.
| A．the fisherman was cleverer than his Prime Minister |
| B．the Prime Minister did not know how to catch fish |
| C．the Prime Minister was not an honest man |
| D．the Prime Minister took half of what the king gave the fisherman |
Young people can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people like their parents and classmates.
Liu Wei, a Junior 2 student from Hefei, could not understand his teacher and was doing badly in his lessons. He became so worried about it that he started to cut his finger with a knife. Another student, 14-year-old Yan Fang from Guangzhou, was afraid of exams. She got very worried in the test, and when she looked at the exam papers, she couldn’t think of anything to write.
A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of Shanghai teenagers have mental (精神上的，心理上的)problems. Their troubles include being worried and very unhappy, and having problems in learning and getting on well with people. Many students who have problems won’t go for advice or help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others don’t want to talk about their secret.
Liang Yuezhu, an expert on teenagers from Beijing Aiding Hospital has the following advice for teenagers.
1). Talk to your parents or teachers often.
2). Take part in group activities and play sports.
3). Go to see a doctor if you feel unhappy or unwell.The students who often become worried or have trouble getting on well with others may have___________.
| A．mental problems | B．a headache |
| C．knives with them | D．no parents |
. Liu Wei cut his finger with a knife because____________.
| A．he was afraid of his teacher | B．he wanted to frighten his parents |
| C．he was so worried about his study | D．his finger was badly hurt |
Yan Fang’s problems happened whenever ______________.
| A．she studied very hard | B．she had exams |
| C．she talked with her parents | D．she thought of something |
Tourism probably started in Roman times. Rich Romans visited friends and family who were working in another part of the Roman Empire. But when the empire broke down, this kind of tourism stopped.
In the early 17th century, the idea of the “Grand Tour” was born. Rich young English people sailed across the English Channel. They visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time, including Paris in France, and Rome and Venice（威尼斯）in Italy. Their tours lasted for two to four years, and the tourists stayed a few weeks or months in each city. The “Grand Tour” was an important part of young people’s education-but only for the rich.
In the 18th century, tourism began to change. For example, people in the UK started to visit some towns, such as Bath to “take the waters”. They believed that the water there was good for their health. So large and expensive hotels were built in these towns.
In the 19th century, travel became much more popular and faster. When the first railways were built in the 1820s, it was easier for people to travel between towns, so they started to go for holidays by the sea. And some started to have holidays in the countryside as cities became larger, noisier and dirtier.
Traveling by sea also became faster and safer when the first steamships were built. People began to travel more to faraway countries.
The 20th century saw cars become more and more popular among ordinary people. Planes were made larger, so ticket prices dropped and more people used them.
Thus tourism grew, in 1949, Russian journalist Vladimir Raitz started a company called Horizon Holidays. The company organizes everything-plane tickets, hotel rooms, even food-and tourists pay for it all before they leave home. The package tour and modern tourist industry was born and began to take off.When tourism first started in Roman times, people ______.
| A．just visited the countryside. |
| B．visited the most beautiful and important European cities of the time. |
| C．stayed in friends’ town for weeks or even months. |
| D．just visited friends and families within the Roman Empire. |
. In the early times, the travelers ______.
| A．all came from Roman. | B．were very young and strong. |
| C．had lots of money. | D．traveled by boat. |
______ played the most important role in the tourism development.
| A．Education. | B．Money. | C．Transportation. | D．People’s ideas. |
Package tour was born ______.
| A．in the 20th century. | B．in Roman times. |
| C．in the early 17th century. | D．in the 19th century. |
The underlined phrase “take off” means ______.
| A．a plane rising into the air. | B．develop very fast. |
| C．remove hats and clothes. | D．bring down the prices. |
Separate lives, similar dreams
As we know, some children live in the countryside, and some live in the city. Their lives are a little different, but they also have many of the same dreams.
| In the countryside |
In the city |
|
| Travel to school |
On foot |
By bus or car |
| Classroom facilities（设施） |
Recorders and radios. |
Multimedia classrooms, VCD, DVD, TVs, recorders, radios, loud-speakers. |
| Ways of learning |
Classes only, without many reference books. |
Many extra classes, tutor, lots of reference books. |
| Eyesight |
Less than 45% are near-sighted. |
About 75% are near-sighted. |
| After-class activities |
Playing with balls. |
English corners and other school clubs. |
| Homework |
Homework can usually be finished at school. |
Homework never ends. |
| Chores to do |
Washing, cleaning, farming, looking after younger sisters or brothers, cooking. |
Usually no chores. |
| Family members |
Big families with three generations. |
Small families with three members. |
| Ideal jobs |
Teachers, drivers, scientists, nurses, secretaries. |
Scientists, professors, doctors, computer programmers, managers, university presidents, the UN chief. |
The survey was done among the ______ between in the countryside and the city.
| A．teachers. | B．students. | C．parents. | D．adults. |
. About ______ of children in the countryside have good eyesight, but only ______ of children in the city have good eyesight.
| A．45%,75%. | B．55%,75%. | C．55%,25%. | D．45%,25%. |
Which of the following is not included in the survey?
| A．Ideal jobs. | B．After-class activities. |
| C．Ways of learning. | D．Results of tests. |
. A classroom in the countryside often has ______ according to the survey.
A. records. B. DVD. C. TVs. D. loud-speakers. Which of the following is WRONG according to the survey?
| A．Children in the countryside often go to school on foot. |
| B．Children in the city often have too much homework to do. |
| C．Children in the countryside often have lots of chores to do. |
| D．Children in the city are difficult to find ideal jobs. |