Age has its special advantage in America. And one of the more impressive of them is the senior citizen discount. Anyone who has reached a certain age—in some cases as low as 55－is automatically entitled to plenty of price reductions at nearly every level of commercial life. Eligibility（资格）is determined not by one’s need but by the date on one’s birth certificate. Practically the discounts have become a routine part of many businesses-as common as color televisions in motel rooms and free coffee on airliners.
People with gray hair often are given the discounts without even asking for them；yet, millions of Americans above age 60 are healthy and solvent（有支付能力的）. Businesses that would never dare offer discounts to college students or anyone under 30 freely offer them to older Americans. The practice is acceptable because of the widespread belief that “elderly” and “needy” are synonymous（同义的）. Perhaps that once was true, but today, to be sure, there is economic variety within the elderly, and most of them aren’t poor.
It is impossible to determine the effect of the discounts on individual companies. For many firms, they are a stimulus to income. But in other cases the discounts are given at the expense, directly or indirectly, of younger Americans. Moreover, they directly annoy some politicians and scholars who consider it a coming conflict between the generations.
Generational tensions are being fueled by continuing debate over Social Security benefits, which mostly involves a transfer of resources from the young to the old. Employment is another point. Supported by laws and court decisions, more and more older Americans are refusing the retirement dinner in favor of staying on the job-thereby lessening employment and promotion opportunities for younger workers. Far from a kind of charity they once were, senior citizen discounts have become a powerful economic privilege（特权）to a group with millions of members who don’t need them.
It no longer makes sense to treat the elderly as a single group whose economic needs deserve priority over those of others. Senior citizen discounts only enrich the myth that older people can’t take care of themselves and need special treatment；and they threaten the creation of a new myth, that the elderly ale ungrateful and taking for themselves at the expense of children and other age groups. Senior citizen discounts are the heart of the very thing older Americans are fighting against－discrimination by age. We learn from the first paragraph that .
| A．offering senior citizen discounts has become routine commercial practice |
| B．senior citizen discounts have enabled many old people to live a good life |
| C．giving senior citizen discounts has increased the market for the elderly |
| D．senior citizens have to show their birth certificates to get a discount |
The reason to give the senior citizen discount is that .
| A．the elderly need humane help from society |
| B．businesses should do something for society in return |
| C．old people are entitled to special treatment for their contribution to society |
| D．the senior discounts can make up for the lack of the Social Security system |
What does the author think of the Social Security system?
| A．It encourages elderly people to retire in time. |
| B．It opens up broad career chances for young people. |
| C．It benefits the old at the expense of the young. |
| D．It should be strengthened by laws and court decisions. |
What does the author mainly argue in the passage?
| A．Senior citizens should fight hard against age discrimination. |
| B．The elderly are selfish and taking senior discounts for granted. |
| C．Senior citizen discounts may well be a type of age discrimination. |
| D．Discount should be given to the economic needs of senior citizens. |
Maybe you don’t think animals have certain mental powers which human beings do not have. But the truth is that some of them have instincts, and besides this, I am sure they can feel certain things we humans cannot. A personal experience showed me this.
Some years ago, I had a dog named Howard. From the time when he was a puppy, he was timid, so we named him Howard, sounding like “coward”! He was especially afraid of thunderstorms. At the first flash of lightning or crash of thunder, he would run whining into his house and hide under a table.
I often went for a walk with Howard. Once, as we were walking along a road, it began to rain. I quickly ran to a bus stop for shelter. The bus stop had a roof supported by metal poles. Soon after I had got there, Howard caught my trousers in his teeth and tried to pull me away. At first I was puzzled and a little angry at his behavior. But I decided to humor him and walked away from the shelter into the rain and started to go home.
When I was about two hundred metres from the shelter, there came a flash of lightning and soon after, there was thunder which nearly deafened me. Howard stopped walking and began whining. Thinking he was afraid, I bent to pick him up. As I straightened up, I glanced at the bus shelter we had just left. I was shocked to see that two of the poles were bent and the roof was lying on the ground, broken. The shelter had been struck by the bolt of lightning!The author named his dog Howard mainly because of_______.
| A．his timid characteristic |
| B．one of the author’s friends Howard |
| C．his loud sound |
| D．his strange behaviors |
The reason why the author was puzzled and angry with the dog was that.
| A．Howard had a strange behavior |
| B．Howard should be afraid of the metal poles |
| C．Howard should know the approaching of the terrible lightning |
| D．Howard bit his trousers in his teeth |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Dogs are cleverer and better than men. |
| B．Dogs are usually afraid of thunderstorms. |
| C．Some animals can feel certain things humans cannot. |
| D．Dogs are naturally born heroes. |
What can be inferred about the bus shelter from the passage?
| A．It was about 200 meters from the author’s home. |
| B．It was destroyed in a rainy day. |
| C．Its roof was supported by wood poles. |
| D．It could produce blinding flash of lightning. |
Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t love others until you love yourself. Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t expect someone else to love you until you love yourself. Either way, you’ve got to love yourself first and this can be tricky. Sure we all know that we’re the apple of our parents’ eyes, and that our Grandmas think we’re great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics. But sometimes it’s a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves. If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge. It is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself.
Self-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself. This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think. Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about us. Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be. Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world.
The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes. That is, make a list if you need to, and write down all of the great things you do every day. Don’t allow doubts to occur in it.
It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself. Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task. If you think you’re silly because you aren’t good at math, find a tutor. If you think you’re weak because you can’t run a mile, get to the track and practice. If you think you’re dull because you don’t wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes. But remember, just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true.
The best way to get rid of a negative self-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities. Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image. When you can pat（拍）yourself on the back, you’ll know you’re well on your way. Good luck!You need to build a positive self-image when you _________.
| A．have a high opinion of yourself | B．feel it hard to change yourself |
| C．dare to challenge yourself | D．are unconfident about yourself |
According to the passage, our self-image__________.
| A．are often changeable | B．are probably untrue |
| C．have positive effects | D．have different functions |
How should you change your self-image according to the passage?
| A．To change the way you think. |
| B．To make your life successful. |
| C．To understand your own world. |
| D．To keep a different image of others |
Who are the intended readers of the passage?
| A．People in general. | B．Parents. |
| C．Educators. | D．Adolescents |
“If music is the medicine of the soul(灵魂), let it play on,” said a famous person. I think he said so because probably he got some help from music. Music has some strange abilities. Medical scientists have found that a person that feels stressed can actually listen to some kind of music and become well.
The researchers said that since stress comes as a result of life events such as starting a new family, starting a new business, and starting a new job, one can actually listen to good music and feel good because good music touches the human mind in a positive way. Music helps you to forget the life events that make you worried and remember the important events that once happened in your life.
Depression(抑郁) is a disease cause by stress, smoking, social problems and so on. Depression is also caused by problems such as failure in business. Depression may bring us weakness, headache, and loss of concentration. Good music makes one remember happy moments or good days. If you play music about love, it makes you feel like falling in love again though you may have had several upset experiences. And such good feeling make you healthy.
Anxiety(焦虑) is another health problem that can be controlled by music. Anxiety is a side effect of some major health problems such as cancer of the liver and cancer of the breast. Good music makes you feel relaxed and removes the pains from these diseases and you feel all right.
Good music can send you to sleep. And you need to know that sleep puts your body in a healthy condition. Sleep takes away the effects of stress, depression and anxiety from a person. According to the famous person in Paragraph 1, music can___________.
| A．treat many kinds of diseases |
| B．help you keep healthy in your mind |
| C．take the place of medicine in treating illness |
| D．make you remember things happened in the past |
Good music helps people remove stress mainly by _________.
| A．letting people have a good sleep |
| B．making people think positively |
| C．showing something new to people |
| D．making people focus only on important things |
According to the passage, one who has cancer will most probably experience __________.
| A．stress | B．depression |
| C．anxiety | D．upset |
The average American child spends three to five hours a day watching TV. In 1961, the average child began to watch television at age three; however, today it is nine months. Yet, most parents think that television has bad influence on their children. For example, in the early 1970s, my parents believed that my bad eyesight was the result of sitting too close to the screen, and they therefore made my stay at least six feet from it. Today, most people have no such worry, but many new ridiculous (荒谬的) sayings have appeared:
*TV makes kids stupid. Many children watch more educational programs when they are pre-schoolers. When they grow up, they can read more books and have much better ideas to solve difficult problems than other children.
*TV makes kids violent. The real story is not so simple. Hundreds of studies show that watching violence on TV makes children more aggressive (好斗的). But a study of over 5,000 children also finds that some positive programs make children kinder. The problem is that kids are increasingly watching shows with violence instead of those suitable for their age.
*Sitting around watching TV makes kids overweight. An experiment finds that when children watch less television, they do lose extra weight; however, reducing their television time does not make them more active. The real problem lies in snacking (吃零食). A widespread habit for kids, and junk-food advertisements.
*TV helps kids get to sleep. The opposite is true. The more television children watch, the more likely they are to have irregular sleep and nap(小睡) patterns. Allowing kids to watch television is part of the problem, not the solution.Which one is the advantage of educational TV programs?
| A．They will make children solve difficult problems better than others. |
| B．they will improve children’s ability to get along with others. |
| C．They are likely to make children more aggressive. |
| D．They will make sure of children’s success in the future. |
Why are children spending much time watching TV likely to be fat?
| A．Watching TV makes children lazy and inactive. |
| B．Children are attracted by the food advertisement on TV. |
| C．Watching TV doesn’t burn up as much fat as doing sports. |
| D．Children like to snack while watching TV. |
What influence does watching TV have on a child’s sleep?
| A．Children are likely to sleep deeper after watching TV. |
| B．Children’s sleep time will be greatly reduced. |
| C．It will make children form a bad habit of sleeping. |
| D．It will make children sleep easier. |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To increase people’s knowledge of watching TV. |
| B．To warn parents of the disadvantages of watching TV. |
| C．To explain the bad influences that watching TV has on children. |
| D．To correct parents’ wrong ideas of television’s effect on children. |
I took the bus to work for many years. No one knew each other; the passengers all sat there sleepily in the morning. The bus was cheerless and silent.
One of the passengers was a small gray-haired man who took the bus to the center for senior citizens every morning. No one ever paid very much attention to him.
One July morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled. The driver nodded guardedly(戒备地). The rest of us were silent.
The next day, the old man boarded with a big smile and said in a loud voice: “A very good morning to you all!” Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “Good Morning” in reply.
The following weeks, our friend was dressed in a nice old suit and tie. His thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we gradually began to nod and talk to each other.
One morning he even had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. The driver turned around smiling and asked: “Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?” We never got to know if his name really was “Charlie”, but he nodded shyly and said yes. The other passengers whistled and clapped at him. Charlie waved the flowers before he sat down on his seat.
Every morning after that Charlie always brought flowers. Some passengers also brought flowers for him. The bus became a happy place.
Then, one morning, as autumn was closing in, Charlie wasn’t waiting at his usual stop. When he wasn’t there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick or—hopefully – on holiday somewhere.
When we came nearer to the center for senior citizens, one of the passengers asked the driver to wait. We all held our breaths when he went to the door.
The old gentle man was fine, but one of his close friends had died over the weekend. How silent we were the rest of the way to work.
The next Monday Charlie was waiting at the stop, stooping (弯腰) a bit more, a little bit more gray, and without a tie. Inside the bus was silent. Even though no one had talked about it, all of us sat there silently, our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands. From the passage, we can infer that .
| A．people always cared about each other on the bus |
| B．people were unhappy and sleepy on the bus because they were tired |
| C．smiles can shorten the distance between people |
| D．people are not good at communicating in the country |
What are we sure about the old man?
| A．His name was Charlie. |
| B．He worked at the center for senior citizens. |
| C．He got sick over the weekend. |
| D．He was in great sorrow when we saw him the next Monday. |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．The atmosphere on the bus was cheerful and lively at first. |
| B．People were surprised at the old man’s first greeting. |
| C．People were worried about the old man’s absence. |
| D．People on the bus at last shared happiness and sorrow together. |
Which would be the best title for the passage？
| A．How to Shorten the Distance between People |
| B．Smiles Make a Bus Feel Like Home |
| C．Charlie, A Smiling Gentle Man |
| D．The Key to Friendship — Communication |