A friend of mine, in response to a conversation we were having about the injustices of life, asked me the question, “Who said life was going to be fair, or that it was even meant to be fair?” Her question was a good one. It reminded me of something I was taught as a youngster: life isn’t fair. It’s a disappointment, but it’s absolutely true. One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t be.
One of the nice things about surrendering(屈从) to the fact that life isn’t fair is that it keeps us from feeling sorry for ourselves by encouraging us to do the very best we can with what we have. We know it’s not “life’s job” to make everything perfect: it’s our own challenge. Surrendering to this fact also keeps us from feeling sorry for others because we are reminded that everyone is dealt a different hand; everyone has unique strengths and problems in the process of growing up, facing the reality and making decisions; and everyone has those times that they feel unfairly treated.
The fact that life isn’t fair doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do everything in our power to improve our own lives or the world as a whole. To the contrary, it suggests that we should. When we don’t recognize or admit that life isn’t fair, we tend to feel pity for others and for ourselves. Pity, of course, is a self-defeating emotion that does nothing for anyone, except to make everyone feel worse than they already do. When we do recognize that life isn’t fair, however, we feel compassion(热情)for others and for ourselves. And compassion is a heartfelt emotion that delivers loving-kindness to everyone it touches. The next time you find yourself thinking about the injustices of the world, try reminding yourself of this very basic fact. You may be surprised that it can make you out of self-pity and into helpful action. The writer thought of his friend’s question as a good one because .
| A．he also wanted to know who held such an opinion. |
| B．it made him recall something during his childhood. |
| C．many people thought life was fair |
| D．like his friend, he also thought life was unfair. |
The second paragraph of the passage mainly tells us that .
| A．it’s nice to complain about life |
| B．it’s nice to accept the injustice of life |
| C．we should not feel sorry for everything |
| D．everyone should be treated fairly |
From the passage, we can learn that the author’s attitude to life is .
| A．positive | B．negative | C．self-pity | D．indifferent |
Which of the following could be the best title of the text?
| A．A Helpful Action: Try to Feel Compassion |
| B．A bad Question: Why Life Isn’t Fair |
| C．Surrender to the Fact That Life Isn’t Fair |
| D．Do Our Best to Improve Ourselves |
Rabindranath Tagore(泰戈尔) was an Indian writer and poet, who was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. Composed of 326 short verses, Stray Birds(飞鸟集) is a collection of short verses translated from Bengali into English by the poet himself, where Tagore spiritualizes nature into the experiences of human existence while demonstrating his love for nature and simplicity through poetic words.
Now read the following verses taken from Stray Birds(1916) and try to answer the questions.
·Man does not reveal himself in his history, he struggles up through it. (verse 52)
·The cloud stood humbly(谦逊的) in a corner of the sky.
The Morning crowned it with splendour(光辉). (verse 100)
·Man is worse than an animal when he is an animal. (verse 248)
·Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.
The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him. (verse 127)
·The stream of truth flows through its channels of mistakes. (verse 243)
·Let him only see the thorns who has eyes to see the rose. (verse 230)
·Set bird’s wings with gold and it will never again soar in the sky. (verse 231)
·Men are cruel, but Man is kind. (verse 219)
·Let me not put myself wrongly to my world and set it against me. (verse 206)
·Wrong cannot afford defeat but right can. (verse 68)
·“I give my whole water in joy,” sings the waterfall. “though little of it is enough for the thirsty.” (verse 69)
·The woodcutter’s axe(斧头) begged for its handle from the tree.
The tree gave it. (verse 71)
·Thank the flame for its light, but do not forget the lampholder standing in the shade with constancy of patience. (verse 64)Which of the verses sing praise for those who are ready to sacrifice(奉献) themselves without asking anything in return?
| A．verse 248 &69 | B．verse 71 & 100 |
| C．verse 69 & 71 | D．verse 100& 52 |
Which of the verse makes strong comparison and contrast between two opposite types of persons?
| A．verse 68 | B．verse 248 |
| C．verse 127 | D．verse 243 |
Which of the verses has similar meaning to the saying “All is not gold that glitters(闪光); but gold will glitter forever.”?
| A．verse 100 | B．verse 69 |
| C．verse 230 | D．verse 206 |
Which of the verses might be most suitable said to parents, telling them not to spoil their children with wealth?
| A．verse 231 | B．verse 71 |
| C．verse 127 | D．verse 100 |
Halloween is the one night of the year where being scared is supposed to be good fun. However, amid all the harmless activities like trick-or-treating, sometimes genuinely frightening and disturbing things can happen. October 31 has been the date of some horrific murders and unexplained disappearances, which are far more terrifying than any ghosts, goblins, or witches. Because they happened to take place on Halloween, the following mysteries have an extra aura of creepiness to them, and they remain unsolved to this day.
1
Hyun Jong was a 21-year-old South Korean student attending Pennsylvania State University. In 2001, after leaving the Halloween party in a club, she was dropped off at her apartment by her friends at 4:00 AM. This was the last anyone ever saw of her. A search was conducted of her apartment. There was no sign of any struggle, but many of her belongings were there, indicating that she had gone inside after being dropped off. But what happened to her afterward? Although some evidence indicated her death, her body has never been found.
2
On Halloween night in 1977, the parents of 19-month-old Nima Louise Carter placed their child inside her crib. The next morning, Nima’s parents were shocked to discover that she was missing. Since the windows were locked, it’s theorized that someone must have been hiding in the closet and took the child out of the house while her parents were asleep. The police took it as child abduction. A month later, a group of kids were playing in an abandoned house four blocks away. When they opened up the house’s refrigerator, they received a horrifying shock when the body of an infant came tumbling out. The child was identified as Nima Louise Carter, who died of suffocation(窒息).
3
Chris Jenkins was a 21-year-old student who visited a bar on Halloween night in 2002. After leaving the bar around midnight, Chris disappeared without a trace. He remained a missing person for four months until his body was discovered in the Mississippi River. Since Chris was still wearing his Halloween costume, all indications were that he died shortly after he disappeared. Since his cause of death was determined to be drowning, authorities initially(初步的) believed it was an accident or suicide. His parents refused to believe this and appealed for a more careful investigation. Finally, in 2006, the death was reclassified as a murder case.
4
Sometime during the early morning Halloween hours of 1981, a Manhattan couple named Ronald Sisman and Elizabeth Platzman were murdered in their apartment. The couple was severely beaten before being shot in the head, execution-style, and the apartment was in a complete mess. Sisman was rumored to be involved in drugs, so authorities initially believed that to be the motive for the killings. However, the case took a turn when a prisoner claimed that one of his fellow inmates(狱友) had somehow predicted the crime weeks before it actually happened. The police then questioned the inmate, yet no insightful information was brought out.Whose body was found inside a fridge?
| A．Chris Jenkins | B．Hyun Jong |
| C．Nima Louise Carter | D．Sisman Platzman |
What does the underlined “this” refer to in the third case?
| A．the authorities’ initial conclusion |
| B．the cause of their son’s death |
| C．their son’s death |
| D．the investigation |
Of the four cases, at first the police had wrong conclusions except in _______
| A．the Hyun Jong case | B．the Nima Louis Carter case |
| C．the Chris Jenkins case | D．the Platzmans case |
Which of the following facts is mentioned in the passage?
| A．Chris Jenkins’ parents persuaded the police to dig deeper into their son’s death. |
| B．Ronald and Elizabeth were beaten to death in their apartment. |
| C．Someone must have hidden inside Hyun Jong’s apartment and took her away. |
| D．Nima Louis Carter was frozen to death in a fridge. |
The English language was first introduced to the Americas by British colonization, beginning in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. Similarly, the language spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonization elsewhere and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, held sway over a population of 470–570 million people, approximately a quarter of the world's population at that time.
Over the past 400 years the form of the language used in the Americas—especially in the United States—and that used in the United Kingdom have diverged in a few minor ways, leading to the versions now occasionally referred to as American English and British English. Differences between the two include pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, idioms, and formatting of dates and numbers. A small number of words have completely different meanings in the two versions or are even unknown or not used in one of the versions. One particular contribution towards formalizing these differences came from Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary (published 1828) with the intention of showing that people in the United States spoke a different dialect from Britain, much like a regional accent.
It may be the case that increased worldwide communication through radio, television, the Internet and globalization has reduced the tendency towards regional variation. This can result either in some variations becoming extinct (for instance, the wireless, being progressively superseded by the radio) or in the acceptance of wide variations as "perfectly good English" everywhere.
Chief among other native English dialects are Canadian English and Australian English, which rank third and fourth in the number of native speakers. For the most part, Canadian English, while featuring numerous British forms alongside native Canadianisms, shares vocabulary, phonology and syntax with American English, leading many to recognize North American English as an organic grouping of dialects. Australian English likewise shares many American and British English usages alongside plentiful features unique to Australia, and retains a significantly higher degree of distinctiveness from both the larger varieties than does Canadian English. South African English, New Zealand English and the Hiberno-English of Ireland are also distinctive and rank fifth, sixth and seventh in the number of native speakers.Which of the following native English dialects ranks fifth in the number of native speakers?
| A．Canadian English |
| B．South African English |
| C．the Hiberno-English of Ireland |
| D．Australian English |
Which of the following is NOT the reason why the English language spread to numerous parts of the world?
| A．British colonization |
| B．the spread of the former English Empire |
| C．British trade around the world |
| D．a large British population |
It can be inferred from the passage that_____
| A．Australian English has developed more characteristics of its own than Canadian English. |
| B．it is obvious that some variations will become extinct due to worldwide communication. |
| C．everyone will be speaking “perfectly good English” in the future. |
| D．almost a quarter of the world’s population spoke British English in 1921. |
This passage is intended __________________
| A．to persuade us to speak perfectly good English in the future. |
| B．to draw people’s attention to the extinction of different English dialects. |
| C．to give the readers some useful information on variation of the English language. |
| D．to do a research on how the English language has influenced the world. |
Many years ago there was a huge oil refinery fire in a small town. Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air. The sky was thick with grimy black smoke. The heat was intense—so intense that firefighters had to park their trucks a block away and waited for the heat to die down before they could begin to fight the fire. However, it was about to rage out of control.
Then, all of a sudden, from several blocks away came a fire truck racing down the street. With its brakes screeching, it hit the curb in front of the fire. The firefighters jumped out and began to battle the blaze. All the firefighters who were parked a block away saw this, and they jumped into their trucks, drove down the block and began to fight the fire, too. As a result of that cooperative effort, they were just barely able to bring the fire under control.
The people who saw this teamwork thought, “My goodness, the man who drove that lead fire truck—what an act of bravery!” They decided to give him a special award to recognize him for his bravery in leading the charge.
At the ceremony the mayor said, “Captain, we want to honor you for a fantastic act of bravery in leading the charge. You prevented the loss of property, perhaps even the loss of life. If there is one special thing you could have—just about anything—what would it be?”
Without hesitation, the captain replied, “Your Honor, a new set of brakes of my truck would be great!” How was the captain probably feeling when his truck charged down the street to the fire?
| A．enthusiastic | B．encouraged |
| C．embarrassed | D．upset |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The captain was driving his truck fast because he was in a hurry to fight the fire. |
| B．There was something wrong with the brakes of the truck. |
| C．The mayor praised the captain for his honesty. |
| D．The people decided to honor the captain because he fought the fire bravely. |
Why did all the firefighters park their trucks a block away from the fire?
| A．Because they were waiting for the captain to arrive. |
| B．Because the smoke was too thick to see anything. |
| C．Because the fire was about to go out of control. |
| D．Because they had to wait for the intense heat to die down a bit. |
In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.
I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.
However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve（消失）can we discover a new meaning in competition. What does this passage mainly talk about?
| A．Competition helps to set up self-respect. |
| B．Competition is harmful to personal quality development. |
| C．Opinions about competition are different among people. |
| D．Failures are necessary experiences in competition. |
The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means ______.
| A．those who try their best to win |
| B．those who value competition most highly |
| C．those who rely on others most for success |
| D．those who are against competition most strongly |
What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”?
| A．One’s worth lies in his performance compared with others. |
| B．One’s success in competition needs great efforts. |
| C．One’s achievement is determined by his particular skills. |
| D．One’s success is based on how hard he has tried. |
Which point of view may the author agree to?
| A．Every effort should be paid back. |
| B．Competition should be encouraged. |
| C．Fear of failure should be removed in competition. |
| D．Winning should be a life-and-death matter. |