Bobby was sitting out in his back yard in the snow. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them. Try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother’s Christmas gift.
Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, his mother worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage could only be stretched so far.
What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity. They ran the household in their mother’s absence. All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother.
It was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing. Bobby started to walk down to the street. He walked from shop to shop. Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark, then suddenly his eyes caught a shiny dime. Never has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby did at that moment.
He went inside a flower shop. When the owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower. The shop owner looked at Bobby, then said, “You just wait here and I’ll see what I can do for you.”
The shop owner returned holding red roses all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby’s heart sank as the owner placed them gently into a long white box. “That will be ten cents, young man,” said the shop owner, reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime.
Then the shopkeeper’s wife appeared. “Where are the roses you were fixing?”
The shop owner replied, “A strange thing happened to me this morning. I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn’t sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was.”According to the first three paragraphs we know that _____.
| A．Bobby’s sisters didn’t help Bobby to buy a gift |
| B．Bobby had known what gift he’d give to his mother |
| C．the children in the family all loved their mother |
| D．Bobby’s family was rich before his father died |
Why did Bobby walk along the street?
| A．Because he didn’t know what to do. |
| B．Because he wanted to try his luck there. |
| C．Because he wanted to get some money. |
| D．Because he hoped to see what he could get. |
What could he buy with a dime then?
| A．A flower. | B．Nothing. | C．A piece of cake. | D．Many flowers. |
Bobby slowly gave the dime to the shop owner because _______.
| A．he did not want any rose flowers |
| B．the flowers weren’t worth a dime |
| C．the shop owner would cheat him |
| D．he hardly believed what had happened |
From the last two paragraphs we can infer that the shop owner ______.
| A．was shocked by the voice he heard |
| B．was always ready to help others |
| C．didn’t know how to run a business |
| D．was good at making up stories |
San Francisco(People's Daily Online)-- Apple Inc. Tuesday introduced its mobile payment service Apple Pay alongside the company's iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California.
What apple does is to replace consumers' wallet with its cell phone. Apple said it hopes to speed up the checkout process, make credit-card payments more secure and ultimately, to replace physical wallets.
With the near-field communication technology, Apple's gadgets like iPhone and Apple watch can transmit a radio signal between the device and a receiver when the two are in an inch apart. "To pay, just hold your iPhone near the contactless reader with your finger on Touch ID. You don’t even have to look at the screen to know your payment information was successfully sent," Apple says on its official website.
Apple said that each transaction (交易)would be authorized(授权) with a one-time, unique number, creating a security code that it said is more secure than the one on the back of your credit card because cashiers won’t see your name, card number or security code. The service will work with the three major payment networks — American Express, MasterCard and Visa — and Apple said that there are 220,000 merchant locations that accept these contactless payments.
When some applaud this disrupted service that will compete with Paypal and endanger other online payment companies, some others concern about its safety, especially when another retailer Home Depot confirmed a data opening yesterday and iCloud was reported exposing nude (裸体)pictures of celebrities (名人) a week ago.
Leo Zheng, a technology reporter in Silicon Valley said: "When Apple attracts consumers to put all their cards into one iPhone and promised the security, Jennifer Lawrence should say something."Which can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Apple announces mobile payment service to replace consumers' wallet. |
| B．Consumers can pay in cash through mobile phones. |
| C．Apple Inc. will introduce new models to the market. |
| D．Mobile payment will be popular soon. |
After reading the third paragraph, we know.
| A．Apple’s new products are popular |
| B．Apple can be used as an ID |
| C．Apple's gadgets can receive message easily |
| D．how Apple's gadgets work |
The attitude of the writer towards the mobile payment is .
| A．indifferent (冷漠的) | B．objective |
| C．skeptical | D．positive |
What could have happened to Jennifer Lawrence?
| A．She made great contributions to Apple. |
| B．She put all her cards into her iPhone. |
| C．Her nude pictures were spread online. |
| D．Her iPhone often broke down. |
A Bite of China, featuring delicious Chinese food, has attracted countless viewers, and moved many to tears.
A Bite of China is a serious documentary providing a unique view of Chinese as well as the relations between people and food and between people and society from the view of food. The touching documentary reminds some people of their mother, and makes some realize that every grain comes from hard and laborious work. Some people see patriotism(爱国精神) in the documentary, and some consider it a great cultural export.
How did this documentary achieve a great influence beyond its subject matter in such a short time?
“It is not empty propaganda(宣传) about China’s splendid food culture. Instead, it shows the techniques used in making food and their production process as well as the lives of ordinary people, thus striking a chord(共鸣) with the audience,” an Internet user said. The success of the documentary should be owed to sincerity and reality. Nowadays, many works of art that have high investment, high technology, and magnificent scenes lack nothing but sincerity and reality.
A Bite of China shows that a commercial documentary promoting patriotism can be full of touching details, that the emotions of ordinary Chinese people should be exhibited even in publicizing(宣传) China overseas, and that even a completely commercial program can achieve both artistic and commercial success.
“We made this documentary with our respect and love for food,” said director Chen Xiaoqing. Being sincere is the most important thing for artists because they cannot move others unless they themselves are first moved, and cannot convince others unless they themselves are first convinced. Sincerity is the “secret” for making this documentary so popular, and every cultural creator should learn from its success.According to the passage, A Bite of China is _______.
| A．a book | B．a film |
| C．a newspaper | D．a TV program |
What can you find in A Bite of China?
| A．Relations between people and food. |
| B．Real lives of all Chinese people. |
| C．Patriotic stories of Chinese people. |
| D．processes of preparing food. |
From the passage, it can be inferred that ________.
| A．The documentary is so successful that no one can surpass (超越) it. |
| B．Different people can get different messages from the documentary. |
| C．The documentary should have shown China’s splendid food culture. |
| D．Many art works fail to reflect (反映) reality and high technology. |
The main idea of the last paragraph is that ________.
| A．Director’s respect and love for food. |
| B．The secret of the documentary’s success. |
| C．The influence of the documentary. |
| D．The popularity of the documentary. |
Children who are brought up by two parents grow up to be cleverer than those raised by just one person, new research suggests. Being with both parents in the earliest years of life leads to a child developing more brain cells, the scientists believe. Being brought up by both parents causes boys to have better memory and learning functions. By contrast, it causes girls to develop improved co-ordination and sociability.
It is believed that babies with two parents tend to get more attention and more stability(稳定), and that they are less likely to suffer emotional distress(悲伤) in the first years of life. This leads to greater brain cell production ------ for boys it is grey matter brain cells that develop and for girls is white matter brain cells.
The researchers from Canada studied mice and experimented by creating one-parent and two-parent family groups. They then measured the offspring’s(后代的) brain cell development from birth to adulthood. Adult mice with the highest number of brain cells turned out to be those who had been brought up by two parents rather than one. As babies they had received more attention and more nursing as both parents took turns to lick and tend to their youngsters, said Dr Samuel Weiss.
As a result, the babies with two parents are less likely to suffer early life hurt which can have a massive impact on how their brains develop in later life, the research shows. However, what did surprise the researchers is that female babies who grew up with both parents turned out to be good single mothers, as if good parenting was passed on.
The researchers said,“ In the mouse model, parenting and the environment directly impacted adult brain cell production. It is possible that similar effects could be seen in other mammals, such as humans.”From the first paragraph we can draw a conclusion that ________.
| A．Girls have better memory and learning functions. |
| B．Boys are better at co-ordination and sociability. |
| C．The benefits vary between the sexes. |
| D．The benefits are the same between the sexes. |
The researchers proved their idea ________.
| A．by questionnaire on parents. |
| B．by experiment on mice. |
| C．by raising babies themselves. |
| D．by experiment on humans. |
The underlined word “impacted” means _________.
| A．destroyed | B．constructed |
| C．influenced | D．disagreed |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．Children brought up by two parents are cleverer. |
| B．Children brought up by single parent are cleverer. |
| C．Children grow up themselves are cleverer. |
| D．Children grow up themselves are more self-confident. |
Right now in China, talks on the street have been about the strange weather and it's raising a lot of concerns. A heavy haze(雾霾) has blanketed many cities in the northern and southern parts of the country in part of an unusual weather system that’s descended on the nation.
The haze stretches over a vast area, from Hebei and Shan-dong Provinces in the north all the way to Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan and Fujian provinces in the south. At its worst, the smog is reducing visibility to less than 200 meters and disrupting traffic, both on the ground and in the air. The weather front has also led many to worry about the possible health impacts.
Many cities are waking up to another day covered by a dense haze. In Beijing, drivers have to keep their lights on even though it’s already past eight o’clock in the morning. Even driving at very slow speeds, the roads can still be very dangerous. In some of the worst hit areas, drivers can’t even tell the colors of traffic signals. Authorities have stepped in to close off many highways across the troubled region. In Shandong Province, the highways that are open are backed up for miles. And traffic police have stepped up their patrols.
In the region’s airports, flights information boards have gone red. A huge number of flights have been delayed or cancelled, nearly three hundred in Beijing alone, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Some are more frustrated than impatient. Passenger from Jinan airport, Shangdong province, said: “I’ve been waiting for more than five hours. It’s Mother Nature, so there’s really nothing we can do.” The airport is urging passengers to confirm with their carrier whether their flight will still take off as scheduled.
Back on the city streets, people are wearing breathing masks to get free from any ill effects. Fog has cleared a little in Shanghai. But damage has already been done. Shanghai resident said: “I’ve been wearing the mask, but still, my throat feels sour and itchy. I think it’s because of the weather.”
The weather forecast predicts a cold front is about to sweep across central and eastern China tomorrow. Many are hoping that this will clear away the depressive haze as well as the harm it brings.The harm the smog caused didn’t include.
| A．reducing visibility to less than 200 meters |
| B．disrupting traffic |
| C．health problems |
| D．heavy fog |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Only a small part of China suffered the haze. |
| B．Many highways were blocked up |
| C．All the flights were delayed or cancelled |
| D．The bad weather would last another few days |
When the passenger said “It is Mother Nature”, he had a feeling of.
| A．impatience | B．frustration |
| C．Anxiety | D．curiosity |
The passage is developed by.
| A．making comparisons |
| B．giving examples |
| C．following the time order |
| D．analyzing the causes |
A soldier who lost both his legs after being blown up in Afghanistan is racing a sports car in his hometown this weekend.
Remarkably David Birrell will not only drive the Mazda MX5 but he does without any specially adapted equipment.
Davie, 28, has battled back from terrible injuries after a bomb blew up directly below him. He gave himself first aid and fired at Taliban(塔利班) fighters until help arrived. Davie was always interested in motor sport and after spending weeks in hospital was introduced by Help the Heroes to Mission Motorsport, which helps the wounded recover. The charity(慈善机构) are organizing a major event, Race of Remembrance, at the Anglesey Circuit near Rhosneigr of North Wales in November, and Davie was at the circuit yesterday for an official launch.
He said,“It’s my first time racing on Anflesey. This means everything to me. I loved it straight away, and it gives you something to focus on, to try and stay in front of others. I was boxing since the age of eight and my whole life has been one-to-one competition. But now everything has changed.”
Davie, a corporal（下士）in the Black Watch, was in Helmand in April 2010 when his interpreter stood on the bomb. He said,“I was confused and went blank（空白） for a couple of seconds. There was dust in the air and I couldn’t see. Both legs were still attached but there were massive injuries to my right leg and my left foot was broken.”As the Taliban began firing he returned fire and waited for help. He added,“A medical team came over. I was taken back to Camp Bastion by helicopter. I was there for two days before being flown to hospital in Birmingham.”
He had lost his right leg and the following year had his left leg amputated below the knee, ending the Army career.Davie was wounded _____________ according to the passage?
| A．In Rhosneigr. | B．In Birmingham. |
| C．In Helmand. | D．In Bastion. |
___________can replace the underlined word“ amputated” in the last paragraph?
| A．Cut off. | B．Blew up. |
| C．Focused on. | D．Attached to. |
Davie is most likely to come from ___________.
| A．Afghanistan. | B．the UK. |
| C．the US. | D．Taliban. |
What we know about Davie is that _____________.
| A．Davie was killed by Taliban fighters. |
| B．Davie’s interpreter survived the accident. |
| C．Davie’s legs were blown up immediately. |
| D．Davie might like boxing when he was young. |