Last Sunday, I waked into the house in the afternoon to find my brother rushing around in a hurry. As soon as I took my coat off, my little brother placed a bunch of papers in my hands and asked me to fold them up so they could fit into an envelope as quickly as possible. He said it needed to get done quickly before it turned dark.
I was a little surprised that something could be so urgent on a Sunday. It wasn’t until I was halfway through that I actually looked at what I was folding. After I read it, it put the biggest smile on my face. It was a lovely letter to all the residents （居民）in my neighborhood. My brother was asking everyone to let him know if anyone needed help. He left his contact information and said that anyone that needed help should get in touch with him and he would figure something out. He also asked people to get in touch if they were able to help out.
London received an unusual amount of snow last week, and the city was completely under- prepared for it. So it was quite difficult to get anywhere. Only the major roads had been cleared, and smaller roads and pavements could be quite treacherous. There are a good number of old people in our little community. So my brother thought that the snow may have posed （造成）some difficulty for some of them, particularly because we live on a hill.
A few elderly people got in touch with him asking for help for things they needed. One of them was especially grateful because his caregiver couldn’t make it. To our surprise, he got more responses from people offering to help. Then he received help from people who wanted to help. Everyone was really touched and wrote to my brother wonderful email. One of our neighbors wrote email saying that although she wasn’t able to help, she was “very proud of having a neighbor like him who puts other people’s interests first.”The author’s brother wrote the letter to _______.
| A．ask for help from his neighbors |
| B．give a hand to those in need of help |
| C．require his neighbors to clear the snow |
| D．raise money for the old people in his community |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Few people were willing to help out. |
| B．The snow was unexpectedly heavy. |
| C．Most residents in the community are elderly people. |
| D．The community was completely cut off from the outside world. |
The underlined word “treacherous” in Paragraph 3 probably means “_______”.
| A．dirty | B．dangerous | C．safe | D．crowded |
One of their neighbors sent email to the author’s brother to ________.
| A．express thanks | B．lend a hand |
| C．show appreciation | D．ask for help |
WHAT’S ON
| STAGE Russian dances: The famous “Little White Birth” Dance Troupe will travel from Russia to present performances in Beijing. The troupe, founded in 1948, is famous for their combination of Russian folk dances and classical dancing art. It has been invited by the Beijing Foreign Culture Exchange Co. in order to give four performances in Beijing. Tickets are available through ticket hotlines and website such as www. paio. com. cn, www. Chinaticket. com and www. ticket. elong. com. * Time: 7: 30 pm, January 18 - 21 * Place: Beizhan Theatre, 135, Xiwai Dajie, Xicheng District * Tel: 6606-4258 EXHIBITIONS Kite show: All together 81 kites collected by the China National Art Museum is on show in the Yanhuang Art Museum. Kong Xiangze, an expert on Chinese kites, published a book on kites, explaining the origins of the kite-making process. The exhibited kites are made in a traditional Chinese style. * Time: 9 am-5 pm until February 11 * Place: 9 Huizhong Lu * Tel: 6491-2902 |
CONCERTS Folk music: A concert of classics of Chinese folk music will greet audiences on the first day of the Year of Snake at the Beijing Concert Hall. The China Song and Dance Ensemble will perform dozens of traditional instrumental pieces, such as “Full of Joy”, “Colourful Cloud Chasing the Moon” and “Spring Festival Suite”. * Time: 7: 30 pm, January 24 * Place: 1, Beixinhuajie, Xicheng District * Tel: 6559-8285 EVENTS Flower festival: The Beijing Botanical Garden is bringing people a blooming festival with the beautiful flowers in its tropical plants greenhouse. The garden has introduced nearly 80 kinds of flowers abroad for the exhibition. There is also an exhibition of potted narcissus (水仙) landscapes (盆景). More than 300 mini landscapes involving imported narcissus will be displayed, people can get a preview of the show by visiting www.beijingbd.com, the garden’s website. * Time: 8:30 am-5 pm until January 28 * Place: Wofosi Lu near the Fragant Hills * Tel: 8259-5547 |
Suppose you are too far away from Beijing or you can’t spare time to go there in person, which of the following shows can you enjoy all the same?
| A．Russian dances. | B．Kite show |
| C．Folk music | D．Flower festival |
The phrase “get a preview of” used in the passage means ______.
| A．watch in advance | B．see more clearly |
| C．get good position of | D．get a general idea of |
If you and your classmates have a free evening to spend on the 19th of January, which is a useful number to call?
| A．6606-4258 | B．6491-2902 |
| C．6559-8285 | D．8259-5547 |
When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague（同事） causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stop on for success.According to the passage, winners.
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others |
B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives  |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues |
| D．blame themselves rather that others |
The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to.
| A．avoid | B．accept |
| C．improve | D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should.
| A．find a better way to handle the problem |
| B．blame him for his lack of responsibility |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem |
| D．ask a more able colleague for help |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Winner’s Problem |
| B．A Winner’s Secret |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity |
| D．A Winner’s Achievemen |
Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction. We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
| A．keep rewards better in their memory |
| B．recall consequences more effortlessly |
| C．make risky decisions more frequently |
| D．learn a subject more effectively |
According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.
| A．preference for pleasure | B．ways of making choices |
| C．tolerance of punishments | D．responses to suggestions |
The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.
| A．women find it easier to fall into certain habits |
| B．men have a greater tendency to slow down |
| C．women focus more on outcomes |
| D．men are more likely to take risks |
“Have a nice day!” may be a pleasant gesture or a meaningless. When my friend Maxie says “Have a nice day” with a smile, I know she sincerely cares about what happens to me. I feel loved and secure since another person cares about me and wishes me well.
“Have a nice day. Next!” This version of the expression is spoken by a salesgirl at the supermarket who is rushing me and my groceries out the door. The words come out in the same tone (腔调) with a fixed procedure. They are spoken at me, not to me. Obviously, the concern for my day and everyone else’s is the management’s attempt to increase business.
The expression is one of those behaviors that help people get along with each other. Sometimes it indicates the end of a meeting. As soon as you hear it, you know the meeting is at an end. Sometimes the expression saves us when we don’t know what to say “oh, you may have a tooth out? I’m terribly sorry, but have a nice day.”
The expression can be pleasant. If a stranger says “Have a nice day” to you, you may find it heart-warming because someone you don’t know has tried to be nice to you.
Although the use of the expression is an insincere, meaningless social custom at times, there is nothing wrong with the sentence except that it is a little uninteresting. The salesgirl, the waitress, the teacher, and all the countless others who speak it without thinking may not really care about my day. But in a strange and comfortable way, it’s nice to know they care enough to pretend they care when they really don’t care all that much. While the expression may not often be sincere, it is always spoken. The point is that people say it all the time when they like. How does the author understand Maxie’s words?
| A．Maxie shows her anxiety to the author. |
| B．Maxie really wishes the author a good day. |
| C．Maxie encourages the author to stay happy. |
| D．Maxie really worries about the author’s security. |
By saying “Have a nice day,” a stranger may _____.
| A．try to be polite to you |
| B．express respect to you |
| C．give his blessing to you |
| D．share his pleasure with you |
According to the last paragraph, people say “Have a nice day”_______.
| A．sincerely | B．as thanks |
| C．as a habit | D．encouragingly |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Have a Nice Day—a Social Custom. |
| B．Have a Nice Day—a Pleasant Gesture. |
| C．Have a Nice Day—a Heart-warming Greeting. |
| D．Have a Nice Day—a Polite Ending of a Conversation. |
Welcome to one of the largest collections of footwear（鞋类）in the world that will make you green with envy. Here at the Footwear Museum you can see exhibits（展品）from all over the world. You can find out about shoes worn by everyone from the Ancient Egyptians to pop stars.
| Room 1 The celebrity（名人）footwear section is probably the most popular in the entire museum. Stared in the 1950s there is a wide variety of shoes and boots belonging to everyone from queens and presidents to pop stars and actors! Most visitors find the celebrities’ choice of footwear extremely interesting. |
Room 2 Most of our visitors are amazed —and shocked— by the collection of “special purpose”shoes on exhibition here at the Museum of Footwear. For example, there are Chinese shoes made of silk, that were worn by women to tie their feet firmly to prevent them from growing too much! |
| Room 3 As well as shoes and boots the museum also exhibits shoe-shaped objects. The variety is unbelievable. For example, there is a metal lamp that resembles a pair of shoes, and Greek wine bottles that like legs! |
The footwear Library People come from all over the world to study in our excellent footwear library. Designers and researchers come here to look up information on anything and everything related to the subject of footwear. |
Where would you find a famous singer’s shoes?
| A．Room1. | B．Room 2. |
| C．Room3. | D．The Footwear Library |
All exhibits in each room .
| A．have the same shape |
| B．share the same theme |
| C．are made of the same material |
| D．belong to the same social class |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．The oldest exhibits in Room 1 were made in the 1950s. |
| B．Room 2 is the most visited place in the museum. |
| C．Room 3 has a richer variety of exhibits than the other two. |
| D．Researchers come to the Footwear Library for data. |
The purpose of the text is to get more people to .
| A．do research | B．design shoes |
| C．visit the museum | D．follow celebrities |