Do you know what the White House is? Perhaps some of you do，while others don't.
The White House is a house in Washington. The president of the U.S.A. lives in it. It's really white. But do you know why the White House is white? The story happened in 1812. That year England was at war with America. The British army got to Washington and set the president's house on fire. In 1814，in order to hide the marks of the fire，the stone walls of the president's house were painted white and it has been the "White House” ever since.White House is a house for ___________.
A. the American people.
B. the soldiers of U.S.A.
C. the presidents of U.S.A.
D. the patients of U.S.A.England fought with America in ____________.
| A．1810 | B．1812 | C．1814 | D．1916 |
The house is called "White House" because ____________.
| A．it's covered with snow |
| B．the house is very clean |
| C．the stone walls of the house were painted white |
| D．they like white colour |
The White House was painted white because ____________.
| A．the house is old |
| B．the house is new |
| C．it was once on fire and was with marks |
| D．they have enough paint |
"ever since" means ___________.
| A．never | B．once | C．from then on | D．Before |
Richard Charles Rodgers was born in New York City on June 28th, 1902. Both his parents enjoyed singing and playing the piano. His grandparents loved opera and took their grandson to many productions. Richard attended many Broadway (百老汇) shows as a child. Richard began playing the piano
by the age of three. At the age of fifteen, he decided that he would work in the musical theater. In the same year, he wrote the music for a stage show presented by a local group of young people. Then, he wrote music for a production of the students at Columbia University.
Richard and his wife Dorothy had two daughters and six grandchildren. One daughter and two grandsons also write music. Richard died in 1979. Books written about
his life describe him as a cold man who was often depressed (消沉的). Family members say he was only able to express himself through music.
Other future show business leaders were also involved in the Columbia productions. Two of these men would be very important in Richard’s life — Oscar Hammerstein and Lorenz Hart. Richard once said the show he liked the best was Carousel, the second musical (音乐剧) he wrote with Oscar Hammerstein. Music experts say that a Richard show is always playing somewhere in the world — on Broadway, in theaters in different countries, and in local school productions. And people all over the world still enjoy the movies linked to Richard, such as State Fair, South Pacific, Pal Joey, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma and Carousel. When did Richard Charles Rodgers decide that he would work in the musical theater?
| A．In 1967. | B．In 1917. | C．In 1907. | D．In 1905. |
Which musical is the one that he likes most?
| A．Oklahoma. | B．The Sound of Music. |
| C．State Fair. | D．Carousel. |
Which is the first musical he wrote with Oscar Hammerstein?
| A．Carousel. | B．South Pacific. | C．Not mentioned. | D．State Fair. |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．All the life of Richard Charles Rodgers | B．Richard Charles Rodgers’ Family |
| C．Richard Charles Rodgers’ Music | D．Richard Charles Rodgers’ Stage |
If you don’t prepare yourself now, retirement may be some of the most boring and dull years of your life. To have a happy, fulfilling retirement, you need to start preparing right away.
The most obvious thing for people to do when they retire is to take up a hobby. The most important step to take before retiring, though, is to make sure that you actually have started some hobbies. Once you’re retired, unless you ‘ve already started a hobby, you’ll find it very hard to get into something new. Some hobbies aren’t for everyone. Think about what you enjoy doing and start participating on a casual basis now.
Another thing many people participate in is volunteering. Not only does volunteering give you something to do, it also gives you a sense of accomplishment(成就) and can add meaning to your life .Volunteering is also rewarding in other ways, too. There are hundreds of different types of volunteer services and you’ll always be able to meet new and interesting people. Also, don’t think that volunteering is always only about helping someone for free. Many companies pay their volunteers after they’ve had enough experience and prove themselves to be valuable workers.
There are plenty of other potions, as well. Going back to school is a great way to keep yourself feeling young. Taking a vacation around the world with your loved ones is another great way to spend your retirement.
Ultimately, though, the key to a happy retirement is simply keeping yourself busy and doing whatever you love. If there’s nothing you love doing now, then you’ll find that once you have a vast amount of free time, your life will be pretty empty. Now is the time to find out what you want to do when you retire.Why does the author suggest starting a hobby before retirement?
| A．Because we are likely to have difficulty starting a hobby after retirement. |
| B．Because we are gong to have a vast amount of free time after retirement. |
| C．Because we will only have a limited choice of hobbies after retirement |
| D．Because not every one of us has already started some hobbies already. |
What can we learn about volunteering from the text?
| A．We can make devoted friends through volunteering. |
| B．It can help companies find hard-working workers. |
| C．One can even make some money by volunteering. |
| D．Almost everyone is willing to help in some way. |
Which of the following can best explain “a happy retirement”?
| A．Travelling around the world every year. |
| B．Going back to university for further study. |
| C．Having plenty of free time for one’s hobbies. |
| D．Living a busy life and doing what one enjoys doing |
A super drug that could remove Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症)，heart disease and diabetes (糖尿病) and help people live to 100 is being developed by scientists. Their research is based on the identification of three genes that help prolong lives and prevent diseases which occur in old age. Medically controlling the proteins made by the “ longevity genes” will allow millions to live longer, predicts Dr Nir Barzilai.
Those whose DNA strongly features the three genes are 80 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The genes also fight against the deadly impact of smoking, poor diet, obesity and lack of exercise.
Already, several laboratories are working on a pill to imitate the benefits of the genes and Dr Barzilai thinks it could be tested within three years. The pill could remove some diseases that damage old age. “ The advantage of finding a gene that involves longevity is that we can develop a drug that will imitate exactly what this gene is doing,” he said.
Of the three longevity genes, two genes increase the production of so-called good cholesterol(胆固醇), which reduces the risk of heart disease. The third prevents diabetes. They were discovered by Dr Barzilai’s team while studying the DNA of 500 Ashkenazi Jews with an average age of 100. The chances of living that long are one in 10,000 but the group, which shared relatively few common ancestors, was 20 times more likely to hit the entury. Dr Barzilai said: “ 30 percent of them were obese or overweight and 30 percent smoked two acks of cigarettes a day for more than 40 years, however they can live to 100.”
But Andrew Ketteringham of the Alzheimer’s Society said: “Alzheimer’s disease, a most common disease, is likely to be caused by a combination of genetic disosition(遗传倾向), lifestyles and life events. Many genes are probably involved. Some people are able to live to 100 years because of ______.
| A．a magical medicine | B．three special genes | C．good living habits | D．longevity proteins |
Why does the discovery of the longevity genes mean a lot?
| A．Because it can bring great benefits to scientific labs. |
| B．Because it can help people change their unhealthy genes |
| C．Because it helps produce a drug that can make people live longer. |
| D．Because it will help scientists build up a new branch of biology. |
From Paragraph 4 we can infer that ________.
| A．longevity genes can create good cholesterol. |
| B．the volunteers share some common ancestors |
| C．bad habits are likely to have no effect on the volunteers |
| D．longevity genes protect the volunteers against bad habits |
What is Andrew Ketteringham’s attitude toward the study?
| A．Positive | B．Negative | C．Critical | D．Cautious |
Jeans are trousers made of a kind of clothe called denim. For many people, blue jeans represent American culture.
The history of blue jeans usually begins with a man named Levi Strauss. Although he did not invent the jeans, he is considered the first person to produce and sell this kind of clothing in large amounts.
Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria, Germany. In 1847, he and his family moved to the US. He opened a store, first in New York, and then in San Francisco, California. Among the products he sold were jeans. These trousers were especially useful for miners in California who needed clothing made of a strong material.
Levi Strauss partnered with a clothing maker named Jacob Davis, who had invented a process for making rivets(铆钉) for jeans. These metal things helped strengthen the blue jean cloth to make the trousers stronger. In 1873, Strauss and Davis received a patent to officially own this invention. They began producing “ copper-riveted waist overalls(工装裤)”. In 1928 the Levi Strauss company used the word “Levi’s” as the trademark for their products.
The 19th-century workers would probably be surprised to know that their trousers would one day become a fashion object. Today, jeans are worn by people of all ages, incomes and lifestyles. Jeans come in many colors other than blue and in many styles and at many prices.
A national museum in Washington, D.C. has one of the oldest known pairs of Levi’s jeans in its collection. Jeans have come to express different ideas about American culture based on the people who wear them. These include the heroes of the Wild West and famous Hollywood actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando in the 1950s. Writer James Sullivan published a book called Jean: A Cultural History of an American Icon. In the book, he says jeans serve as a sign for two American values, creativity and rebellion (叛逆).This passage is mainly about _______.
| A．the life story of Levi Strauss | B．jeans and American culture |
| C．why jeans are popular. | D．the history of jeans |
We know from the passage that Levi Strauss _________.
| A．was the first person who wore jeans. | B．moved to the US from Germany alone. |
| C．not only sold jeans at first in his store | D．helped Jacob Davis invent a kind of rivet |
Which of the following statements is TRUE about jeans?
| A．Strauss and Davis owned the invention of using rivets on jeans. |
| B．In California, Levi’s was the only jeans seller in 1928. |
| C．Jeans were called copper-riveted waist overalls at first. |
| D．Jeans were originally made for heroes of the Wild West. |
According to the last but one paragraph,jeans should be best described as _________.
| A．strong | B．cultural | C． popular | D．unique |
My mother-in-law, Dorothy, is showing me the red notebook that’s almost as precious to her as my husband’s baby pictures. Inside the notebook is a list of the books she has read since 2007. For some people waking up in the middle of the night is a terrible thing. But for my mother-in-law, that time is a gift. At 87, she is getting the education she never had by working her way through great literature. She has now read close to 100 books, including every single novel by Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Henry James and Thomas Mann.
My mother-in-law discusses her passion with the enthusiasm of a young girl, although she can also be a very tough critic, writing “VG’ for “ very good” in the margins next to her favorites. So far, only a handful of books have received the top prize.
Born in Ridgefield, Conn, Dorothy was the youngest daughter of an Italian gardener. She taught herself English by reading The New York Times. Eager to come to Manhattan, she became a nurse, married a dentist and spent the next several decades keeping the house and raising a family. In her later years, she put her nursing skills to good use by taking care of my father-in-law, who had lung cancer. There were many trips to the emergency room in the middle of the night and then a long hospital stay. She stayed awake to watch over him for 15 hours a day. Always a light sleeper, she developed sleeplessness as a result of the stress.
It worsened after he died. Deeply sad and lonely for the first time in her life, she began waking up around 2am. Julian and Sylvia, the elderly couple next door suggest she read literature. And so Julian, a great lover of literature, became her “professor”, providing books from his large library. Suddenly the terrifying hole turned onto a world of amazing characters.Why is Dorothy considered a tough critic?
| A．Because no books are inspiring enough in her eyes. |
| B．Because only a few books are thought highly of by her. |
| C．Because she only reads books by famous writers. |
| D．Because she finds fault with every book she reads. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
| A．the books Dorothy has read were bought by her husband. |
| B．the couple next door are college professors. |
| C．the author loves literature too. |
| D．Dorothy was a great wife. |
The underlined part “the terrifying hole” in the last paragraph refers to _____.
| A．the frightening death |
| B．Dorothy’s lack of education |
| C．waking up in the middle of the night |
| D．a hole in a book that Dorothy read |
What helped Dorothy get over the sadness and loneliness of losing her husband?
| A．Living with her son. |
| B．Reading literature. |
| C．Seeing her son’s baby pictures. |
| D．Talking with neighbors. |