Three years ago when I was still in the university, I also worked at a restaurant.
An old man named Mr. Candido Filio was one of our regular customers at the restaurant. He was one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever known.
Every Sunday the Philippine Star Newspaper had a special page for word puzzles and among his peers (同龄人), Mr. Filio held the record for solving all the puzzles in less than five minutes. He encouraged me to solve them too and for months and months, I did my best to beat him but failed.
Then one Sunday, I did it! I was able to complete them before anyone else. Everyone cheered for me. He came up to me with a smile and said, “No one has ever beaten me before. You’re the first. I’ll have a prize for you tomorrow.”
The next day, he gave me a special Scrabble (拼字游戏) set. I would have never been able to afford one like that by myself. Then he said to me, “Kate, what do you think is man’s final goal in life? Happiness, isn’t it? You are happy and that should be considered as a success. Many people spend a lifetime searching for that. Be thankful that you have found it.” I looked at him and knew that my life had changed, probably forever. He must have known that I always felt sad about not having much money.
He encouraged me to learn the game and love words. And true to his words, I was never able to beat him again. We can learn from the text that Mr. Filio ______.
| A．was generous to young people |
| B．was good at word puzzles |
| C．lived quite near the restaurant |
| D．won a prize from the Philippine Star Newspaper |
The author got a gift because ______.
| A．Mr. Filio was thankful for her help |
| B．Mr. Filio was satisfied with her service |
| C．she was the first person to beat Mr. Filio |
| D．she was the new record keeper in the restaurant |
After she heard what Mr. Filio said, the author probably felt ______.
| A．amazed | B．excited | C．touched | D．inspired |
What would be the best title of the text?
| A．Happiness is also a success |
| B．Interest is the best teacher |
| C．Scrabble makes a difference |
| D．His words change my life |
[1] Scientist proves better busy than doing nothing, research has found. Keeping the mind occupied with tasks—no matter how meaningless—keeps off negativeemotions, the study found.
[2] However, the bad news is that humans seem born to be lazy in order to save energy, according to Professor Christopher Hsee, a behavioural scientist at Chicago University.
[3] In a study 98 students were asked to complete two surveys. After they had completed the first they were made to wait 15 minutes to receive the next one. They were given a choice of either handing in the first survey nearby or at a more distant location they had to walk to. Whichever choice they chose, they received a chocolate bar. Two-thirds (68 per cent) chose to take a shortcut. Those who had taken the walk reported feeling happier than those who had stayed put. Prof Hsee concluded __________________ helped keep people happy.
[4] He said the findings, reported in the journal Psychological Science, had policy guidance. "Governments may increase the happiness of idle（闲散的）citizens by having them build bridges that are actually useless", he suggested.
[5] At the individual level, he advised: "Get up and do something. Anything. Even if there really is no point to what you are doing, you will feel better for it." He added, "By the way, thinking deeply or busy with self-reflection counts as keeping busy, too. You do not need to be running around—you just need to be busy, either physically or mentally."What is the purpose of the text? (no more than 8 words)
____________________________________________________________________________Why did two-thirds (68 per cent) choose to take a shortcut? (no more than 8 words)
____________________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with proper words. (no more than 2 words)
____________________________________________________________________________What does the word “it” in Paragraph 5 probably refer to? ( no more than 2 words)
____________________________________________________________________________What is the main idea of the last paragraph? (no more than 10 words)
____________________________________________________________________________
The education of thousands of children with reading and sight trouble is being held back because of a lack of awareness of their legal rights, say campaigners.
They are calling for greater efforts to increase awareness of the rights of such children to have text books in design other than standard (标准) print. The campaign is being supported by five times Olympic gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, who has reading trouble.
Pupils have the right to receive text in another way, and parents can take action under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) if they feel their children are being treated in a different way through a lack of support. But new research suggests 89 per cent of print disabled pupils and their parents are unaware of software which changes standard print into other substitutes like combined text and audio files (音频) which can be read or listened to.
Sir Steve has teamed up with software company Dolphin Computer Access to raise awareness of software turning tools. He said: "I recognize that schools have competing priorities (优先权) for their resources (资源), but I would like to see a much greater effort on the part of the government and schools to raise awareness among parents that these additional solutions exist and that their children have a right to use them."
Mike Foster, Dolphin's local MP in Worcester, is backing the campaign. "There is clearly an issue to solve concerning software for special needs. I'll be asking ministers what steps can be taken to improve the situation", he said.What is the best title of this text?
| A．Awareness of legal rights among parents | B．Campaign started for disabled children |
| C．Problems of disabled children | D．Steve — Olympic gold medalist |
Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “backing” in Paragraph 5?
| A．holding back | B．objecting to | C．supporting | D．controlling |
Most print disabled pupils and their parents
________.
| A．don’t know anything about such software |
| B．must cooperate with the software company |
| C．prefer combined text and audio files more |
| D．must take action to receive text in another way |
Sir Steve Redgrave suggests that
________.
| A．government and schools raise awareness of disabled children’s legal rights |
| B．parents take greater efforts to ask the government and schools for help |
| C．parents should take action to raise awareness of software turning tools |
| D．software company work with him to make the products |
What Mike Foster said in Paragraph 5 means
________.
| A．the ministers should be responsible for improving the situation |
| B．the software for special needs has got well along |
| C．the problem about software for special needs is to be dealt with |
| D．how to use the software is a big problem |
Connie Lau hates smoking. “It smells awful, and it’s so bad for you. It breaks my heart to see my friends smoking. I try to get them to give up smoking.” She says.
So why does Connie walk into convenience stores and try to buy cigarettes? She is testing to see if stores will sell cigarettes to a kid who is younger than 18. “You have to be 18 to purchase cigarettes, and I’m 16, so if they sell to me, they’re breaking the law,” Connie says.
Connie isn’t a vigilante (治安队员); She works with local police in her town of Castro Valley, California. Officers drive her to stores, and she goes in alone to try to buy cigarettes. If the person behind the counter sells her a pack, an officer comes in and writes the business a ticket for breaking the law.
Most stores obey the law and don’t sell her cigarettes. The law requires that customers show ID if store employees ask them to. “When they ask your age, you can’t lie,” Connie says. “Most stores don’t sell to me. In a year, we’ve visited almost 150 stores and had only 15 sales.”
Working undercover can be scary, even with police nearby. Connie said one cashier refused to sell her cigarettes and then got angry when he found out her age. He threatened to call the authorities. “To calm him down, the police went in to explain that I was undercover,” she says.
Most teens wouldn’t think of going undercover for the police. What’s Connie’s motivation (动机)? For starters, she can’t stand smoking. But she also believes it’s important for young people like her to try to make a real impact in their communities. In her view, teens can do more than get good grades in school, do chores at home, and do well in out-of-class activities.
Every time she stops the sale of cigarettes to children, she’s helping to uphold the law. “A single teenager can make a big difference,” Connie says. “For the most part, when stores get caught, they learn their lesson and don’t do it again.” According to the law what age of person can the store be allowed to sell cigarettes to?
| A．Under 18. | B．More than 18. | C．16. | D．More than 16. |
Connie goes to convenience stores to
________.
| A．discover whether stores can sell cigarettes to kids |
| B．see which stores can sell cigarettes to her friends |
| C．look for her friends |
| D．arrest the smokers |
What would happen if an owner sells cigarettes to kids?
| A．The owner would be arrested. | B．The owner would be fined. |
| C．The kids would be punished. | D．The kids would be removed from school. |
One reason that Connie works undercover is that
________.
| A．she wants more smokers to quit smoking |
| B．she wants to get good grades in school |
| C．she hopes to make a difference in the area |
| D．she hopes to be excellent in out-of-class activities |
Which of the following might be the main idea of the text?
| A．Smoking can be forbidden with the help of a girl. |
| B．A good way to stop a store from selling cigarettes to kids. |
| C．Connie Lau — a brave girl who goes undercover for the policeman. |
| D．Connie Lau goes undercover to stop stores from selling cigarettes to kids. |
I visited the nearby car factory today with my uncle, who works there. One thing I noticed was that most of the work is now done by robots. Welding (焊接), painting, testing, and many other jobs are performed by robots now.The whole dashboard (仪表板) of the car is now put into the car from above, through the windshield, by a robot. It would have taken two men to do this in the past, and it would have hurt their backs quite a bit. It got me thinking: is it a good thing that robots are replacing factory workers? On one hand, robots generally do a more accurate job than people. They aren’t likely to make many mistakes, and if something goes wrong with one car, an alarm goes off. They do exactly the same thing, every time, without fail. A human worker is never able to do exactly the same thing every time. On the other hand, robots also reduce costs for companies. Companies don’t have to pay robots wages or injury compensation (补偿) if they’re broken. If something in a robot does go wrong, it won’t have to take time off work for a year, or even forever, as could happen to a real person if he breaks his back or burn himself while welding.The obvious downside to all of this is that it increases the unemployment rate. The company will have to bring in some very talented individuals who know how to operate the robots. Unlike regular factory workers, these intelligence workers usually demand a higher pay.We can learn from the first paragraph that _______.
| A．all the workers are replaced by robots now |
B．robots do much of the work instead of workers now |
C．there were no workers in the car factory |
D．the author’s uncle made robots in the factory |
According to the text robots _______.
| A．can do work as accurately as workers |
B．never break down |
C．can do exactly the same thing repeatedly |
D．ask for less money from companies |
The underlined word "downside" in the last paragraph probably means "_______".
| A．weakness | B．favor | C．assistance | D．strength |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _______.
A．companies refuse to pay for intelligence workers |
B．robots have helped all of the workers |
C．robots can help solve the problem of unemployment |
D．using robots in factories widely will have a long way to go |
What is the author’s attitude towards using robots in factories?
| A．He is doubtful about it. | B．He thinks it necessary. |
C．He is strongly against it. | D． The text doesn’t mention it. |
Have you dreamed of traveling to cool places, meeting different people, and maybe picking up a language or two? No matter which country you live in, you can fly over the world’s highest waterfalls in Venezuela, study in France or take dancing lessons in Ghana. Besides the excitement of traveling, there is another reason to study abroad. "Obviously, I learned the language and am now fluent, but perhaps what’s more important was how much I learned about cultures, people, and myself." said Andrew, who studied in France.Christina studied in Caracas, Venezuela, a city of 10 million people and a huge change from her hometown of 35,000! Christina said she learned how to better speak for herself and her beliefs and to express herself in another language. What could make you more confident than that?Living away from home can also help you become adapted to the transition (过渡) to college and adulthood. Matthew said that he returned from studying in Australia with confidence, and a real interest in international affairs. "After having gone abroad in high school, I found the transition to college was a breeze — moving 560 miles from home didn’t seem difficult at all after having lived thousands of miles away. "Speaking of college, improving your language skills might help you get into ideal colleges and even land future jobs. Colleges and employers know that studying abroad provides leadership skills in a world that needs much communication. Most of all, it’s fun! You won’t suffer from the general boredom (单调) while you’re studying in a different learning environment.What do we know about Andrew?
| A．He once flew over the world’s highest waterfalls. |
B．He took dancing lessons in Ghana. |
C．He learned about cultures in Caracas, Venezuela. |
D．He studied in France. |
According to Christina, studying abroad enables people to ________.
| A．get along with people around | B．have confidence in themselves |
C．get used to a different life | D．know about different cultures |
By saying "I found the transition to college was a breeze", the author means it is _______ to adapt to college life.
| A．interesting | B．difficult | C．easy | D．disappointing |
From the last paragraph, the greatest thing you can get by studying abroad is to _______.
| A．enjoy the excitement of traveling | B．pick up a new language |
C．enter the university you dreamed of | D．make your life full of pleasure |
What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．The advantages of studying abroad. | B．What to prepare to study abroad. |
C．The experiences of studying abroad. | D．Different opinions on studying abroad. |