When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive. After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels(地道). I was amazed that each one knew exactly what to do. Each had its own job.
On the fifth day a tragedy(悲剧) happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although the ants remained alive after their earthquake, one by one began to die. I was scared as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner the farm. My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand that their tunnels were gone.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.
Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired for their hard work.
But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity(逆境) is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.
Giving up, I say, is not a good choice.What did the writer’s family do for him when he was seven?
| A．They built a farm of ants. | B．They bought a few ants. |
| C．They caught a lot of ants. | D．They found an ant city. |
Which statement is WRONG according to the passage?
| A．The writer knocked the glass box over because he put his face so close to the glass farm. |
| B．The ants didn’t die one by one after the tunnels were destroyed. |
| C．Like people, teamwork is very important for the ants. |
| D．Giving up isn’t a good way when we meet trouble. |
Among the following events, which one happened first?
| A．All the tunnels fell down. | B．The ants died one by one. |
| C．The ants got into the glass box. | D．The ants began making tunnels. |
What did the writer learn from the ant tragedy a few years later?
| A．Working together is useless. | B．Teamwork is important. |
| C．He can’t accept adversity. | D．Working alone is amazing. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Ants Fear Adversity | B．My Family and Ants |
| C．Giving Up in Adversity | D．Don’t give up anytime |
Foods that are well known to you may not be familiar to people from different places around the world. Tourists and travelers often get to try some unfamiliar food. That is part of the fun of traveling. Here are four people’s experiences with foreign food.
| David King is a Chinese student in France. “I never had cheese or even milk before I came to France. Cows are seldom seen in my part of China. So there is no milk or milk products. I drank some milk when I first arrived in France. I hated it! I tried cheese, too, but I didn’t like it. I love ice cream, though that’s made from milk.” |
| Birgit is from Sweden. She traveled to Australia on vocation. “I was in a restaurant that was special in fish. I heard some other people order flake, so I ordered some, too. It was delicious! Later, I learned that flakes is an Australian name for shark. Now, whenever I see a new food, I try it on purpose. You know why? I remember how much I enjoyed flake.” |
| Chandra is a dentist in Texas. She is from India. “ I’m afraid to try new foods because maybe there is beef in them. I’m a Hindu(印度教信徒)and my religion(信仰) stops me from eating meat from the cow. That’s why I can’t eat hamburgers or noodles with meatballs.” |
| Nathan is from the United States. He taught for a year in China. “My friend gave me some 100-year-old eggs to eat. I didn’t like their appearance at all. The eggs were green inside, but my friends said the color was normal. Chinese people put something on fresh eggs. Then they put them in the earth for three months. So the eggs weren’t really very old. Even so, I didn’t want to touch them.” |
David King is a student in France and he comes from________.
| A．China | B．Sweden | C．India | D．America |
.Birgit ordered _____in a restaurant during her vocation in Australia.
| A．cheese | B．eggs |
| C．hamburgers | D．flake |
Chandra is afraid to try new foods because_________.
| A．she can’t eat food with beef |
| B．she doesn’t like their appearance |
| C．she doesn’t like foreign food |
| D．she doesn’t need any food at all |
Nathan worked as _______ in China for a year.
| A．a worker | B．a dentist |
| C．a teacher | D．a student |
The passage tells us that ___________.
| A．David King often drinks milk |
| B．flake and shark are the same fish |
| C．a Hindu eats meat from the cow |
| D．the egg is put in the earth for a hundred years |
One Sunday evening, it was quite dark when old Stanley went for his walk. He was walking along the sidewalk, Suddenly, he saw a white car coming around the corner at high speed. It was going too fast and crashed into a red car in the street where he was walking. He rushed up to the cars to see if anyone was hurt and needed help.
The two drivers were arguing.
“You came around the corner too fast,” one man said.
“No!” said the driver of the white car, “That’s not true! Your car was parked in a wrong place.”
Stanley listened to their argument and then said the white car driver was wrong to drive too fast. The driver of red car asked Stanley to prove he was right in court(法庭). Stanley gave the driver his name and telephone number.
Next Thursday morning, Stanley was asked to go to the court. The lawyer(律师) for the driver of the white car asked him a lot of questions about what he had seen. Then he asked Stanley how old he was.
“I’m eighty-two,” answered Stanley.
“Do you usually wear glasses ?” asked the lawyer.
“Yes, I do,” answered Stanley.
“Were you wearing them on the night of the accident?” the lawyer asked.
“No,” replied Stanley.
Then the lawyer said, “Why should the court believe you? You are eighty-two years old, you were not wearing your glasses, and it was dark. How far can you see in the dark?”
Stanley thought about it for a minute. “Well,” he said, “when it’s dark, I can see the moon. How far is that?”The car accident happened ___________.
| A．one Sunday morning | B．next Thursday morning |
| C．one Sunday evening | D．next Thursday evening |
The cause of the accident is that ______.
| A．the red car was going too slowly |
| B．the white car was going too fast |
| C．the drivers were sleepy |
| D．Stanley was in their way |
Stanley was asked to go to the court because _________.
| A．he wanted to make money |
| B．he promised to be a witness |
| C．he was a lawyer |
| D．he was badly hurt in the accident |
Maybe the red car driver contacted Stanley by ______.
| A．writing a letter to him |
| B．sending an email to him |
| C．paying a visit to him |
| D．making a phone call to him |
We can learn from the story that ________.
| A．Stanley was a clever and humorous man |
| B．Stanley wore glasses when the accident happened |
| C．the lawyer thought that Stanley could see clearly |
| D．Stanley was not able to see the moon |
Is your TV connected to the Internet? What about your chair or your fridge? It is possible that they are not. But in the future, most things in your home may be connected, as the so-called "Internet of things" is developing.
The Internet of things may be coming sooner than you think. It is reported that during his speech earlier this year, Samsung CEO(首席执行官)BK Yoon spent a lot of time talking about the Internet of things. He said that five years from now，every Samsung product will be part of the Internet of things, whether it's a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner(吸尘器).
So, how do household(家用)objects that are part of Internet of things work? Well, think of a usual chair. When connected to the Internet, the chair warms up when it knows that the user has just walked into the room and is feeling cold.
An Internet-connected camera, like a smart-home camera, could help people feel safer in their homes. It can recognize(识别)people's faces, and even can see when someone passes by in the dark. Then it can send you a message on your smartphone to let you know who's there. If the person is someone you don't know, it can tell you that, too.
But according to MIT Technology Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or security(安全)systems to the Internet, there may be problems. For example,many early connected-home devices(装置)don't have much built-in security, which means they could be hacked(被黑客攻击)，In addition, it could be difficult to get these devices to work together because they are made by different companies. To fight this, many companies have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium, which had 45 members by late 2014.
So, picture this: you walk in through the front door of your home. The temperature changes to make you feel comfortable after a long day at school. Your favorite music starts playing for you. Do you think that this would be a good thing? It may happen sooner than you think.The Samsung CEO's speech is mentioned to prove that_____.
| A．the Internet of things will appear in our daily life sooner |
| B．Samsung has produced the Internet of things recently |
| C．Samsung products have been part of the Internet of things |
| D．he spent a lot of time talking about the Internet of things |
We can infer(推断)from paragraphs 3 and 4 that
| A．the chair can know whether the user feels cold or not |
| B．a usual chair can warm up when it knows the user comes in |
| C．an Internet-connected camera can be used to take photos in the house |
| D．an Internet-connected camera can be connected to the user's smartphone |
According to the passage, it is mentioned that_____·
①the temperature inside is neither too high nor too low
②your fridge provides the drinks for you
③the chair warms up if you feel cold
④your favourite music starts playing
⑤your washing machine starts working
| A．①②⑤ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①④⑤ |
What's the problem about the Internet of things?
| A．Companies which produce connected-home devices haven't joined together. |
| B．Connected-home devices may not work together and can easily get hacked. |
| C．Companies have difficulty connecting security system to the Internet.’ |
| D．These new devices are produced by different companies. |
I was just out of college, only three days into a graduate (研究生)year in England,and I was pulling a heavy bag and suitcase(箱子)through the London Underground. I was also crying out of control.
The day before yesterday, my uncle told me never to speak to him, his wife, or my two cousins again.Earlier, I made a joke. I didn't mean to hurt my aunt's feelings, but it did.I spent the evening in an ugly blue telephone booth (电话亭). crying as I spoke to a family friend who lived in England.
When I left the phone booth, I went back to a silent house with three closed bedroom doors. In the morning, I heard everyone get up and leave for work and school. I wrote a note to say sorry and pulled my bags to the train station. When I got into London, I had to take the underground to Angel Station to get to my family friend's house.
I was familiar with the underground, but at the time, it was just endless white tiles（瓷砖).Coming to England seemed like a bad decision. Crying yet again, I tried to lift my suitcase up the stairs.
When I was trying hard to walk forward, there were hands. Each time I faced another group of steps,a hand would lift the suitcase. At the top of the steps, the hand would let go, and I'd pull the suitcase to the next group. And just as I wanted to try again，another hand would appear.
It happened several times. I never looked up, because I couldn't stop crying.Each hand looked different, and many different people helped me, without asking or saying anything. I couldn't look up. I wasn't able to say thank you.
I went on to have an amazing year studying in England, but that was the last time I saw or spoke to any of my uncle's family. Yet when I think about that terrible loss in 2008, I remember those strangers' hands. They were there when I needed them, and even now, they help me out of the sadness of that memory. I think of them as I ride the underground in Washington D. C. today, and I watch the citizens and tourists to offer hands at any time.What was the writer's feeling while she was walking in the station?
| A．She felt sad and helpless at first, but might feel warm later. |
| B．She was looking forward to getting help from friends. |
| C．She expected to leave London and go back home |
| D．She regretted making the joke, but was angry with her uncle. |
In the last paragraph, the underlined words "that terrible loss" probably mean_________.
| A．I was crying when I took the underground in London |
| B．I left my uncle's family and haven't contacted them since then |
| C．I didn't say thank you to those who gave hands to me |
| D．I lost my good mood and felt sad when I left my uncle's family |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．It tells us a story about an unlucky and homeless college student. |
| B．It.describes the writer's experience through the underground. |
| C．It expresses the idea of giving hands to strangers who are in need. |
| D．It shows the helping hands that writer got from strangers. |
Sometimes, you feel down or unhappy and it is hard to come back to your high spirit. So if you're having a bad day and need a boost，then help is just a click away.
A website is trying to offer people positive(积极的)messages from strangers to cheer them up. It announces to be“the nicest place on the Internet"，where happy people can present their positive thoughts and feelings to those who are in low spirits.
The website, thenicestplaceontheinter.net, lets people post videos of themselves blowing kisses and leaving positive and encouraging messages to lift visitors' spirits.
The website was created by Jeff Lam and is considered to help many people out when they feel low. The well-known artist who lives in San Francisco said he came up with the idea when he and his friend Lauren were having one of those bad days.
"We tried to become cheerful，but none of the usual methods seemed to be working. Not music. Not food. What we hoped was something positive, honest and good.So with only a camera and work-free weekend, we created‘The Nicest Place On The Internet," he explained on his website.
One user of the site, Joseph Meehan, 27, from Birmingham, said,“it's a fun and
exciting website. I visit every once in a while when I'm missing my friends or family. I think it could really be a help to people that are feeling down or sad. It may even stop them from doing something stupid. You can also post your video to the website, and they add it to the series. It's very easy to share the love.”
Mr. Lam is now working on a new project that allows people to leave positive voicemails for strangers. The idea is that strangers send an audio(声音)diary by leaving a voicemail and then anyone can listen to it.The underlined word "boost" in paragraph 1 probably means
| A．鼓舞 | B．放松 | C．休闲 | D．提高 |
The website was created in order to_______
| A．provide a place for those who want to post their videos |
| B．discover something positive, honest and good |
| C．recommend positive voicemails on the website to people |
| D．offer something positive to cheer people up |
According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Jeff Lam is working on a new project to collect more audio diaries. |
| B．Jeff Lam met a lot of difficulties during the time of creating the website. |
| C．Joseph Meehan has got help from the website and supports it. |
| D．Joseph Meehan has shared his own positive videos with strangers. |