Eleven months ago, an act of good sportsmanship(体育精神)changed a girls’ running race into something bigger.
Jenna Huff received a national sportsmanship award from the US Olympic Committee for what she did for Deb Guthmann.
In the race, Jenna was behind Deb until the final few meters of the 5-kilometer race.
Then something awful happened. Deb’s right hip(髋部)broke. She screamed in pain and stopped.
Jenna had never met Deb and had been taught to pass every runner she could to win.
Instead, Jenna stopped with no hesitation.
“Come on.” Jenna told Deb. “We’re going to run.”
Jenna took Deb’s left elbow with her right hand. She helped her jog the last few meters. At the finishing line, she pushed Deb in front of her, reasoning Deb would have beaten her anyway if not for the injury. That act helped Deb’s team win the regional race and advance to the state meet.
Both girls are now 17.
Jenna is still an athlete for her school.
She and her parents went to Colorado to accept an award for the national sportsmanship award. Jenna had to give a five-minute speech to the crowd, a crowd which included a number of former Olympians. “I’m pretty scared about my speech,” Jenna said the other night when we talked on the phone. “You want to hear part of it?” She read me one part including the words from Albert Einstein: “Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to a divine(神圣的)purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know:That we are here for the sake of(为了)others.”
Deb is also still running. She received a full scholarship to Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia. The award was because of her excellent academic record and great sports potential.
But she recently got hurt again and was unable to run for weeks.
Even so, I am confident Deb will write a happier ending for herself one day. Both of these young women make you feel confident about the future. They are strong, compassionate(富于同情心的)and smart.
As Einstein said-and as Jenna showed 11 months ago— “we are here for the sake of others”. The story is intended to __________.
A.tell us an unexpected story in the girls’ running race |
B.introduce a famous sportswoman |
C.show the beauty of good sportsmanship |
D.remind athletes to pay attention to their safety during the race |
The reason why Jenna pushed Deb in front of her at the finishing line is that __________.
A.she wanted to get the prize |
B.she thought she didn’t match Deb in reality |
C.she helped Deb’s team to win the regional race |
D.Deb had been injured |
Deb received a full scholarship to Emmanuel College because __________.
A.she is still running |
B.she was good at her academy and sports |
C.she showed the good sportsmanship in the race |
D.she never gave up even though she had been injured |
What can we know from the passage?
A.Jenna was the last one to reach the finishing line. |
B.Deb went to Colorado to accept the prize with her parents. |
C.The author had a face-to-face interview with Jenna the other night. |
D.Helping each other can make a big difference to people’s lives. |
Does money buy happiness? Not! Ah, but would a little more money make us a little happier? Many of us smirk(傻笑,假笑) and nod. There is, we believe, some connection between financial fitness and emotional fulfillment. Three in four American college students—nearly double the 1970 proportion— now consider it “very important” or “essential” that they become “very well off financially”. Money matters.
But a surprising fact of life is that in countries where nearly everyone can afford life’s necessities, increasing wealth matters surprisingly little. The connection between income and happiness is “surprisingly weak,” observed University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart in one 16-nation study of 170,000 people. Once comfortable, more money provides diminishing returns(报酬递减). The second piece of pie, or the second $100,000, never tastes as good as the first. Even lottery winners and the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans surveyed by University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener have expressed only slightly greater happiness than the average American. Making it big brings temporary joy. But in the long run wealth is like health: its complete absence can create suffering, but having it doesn’t guarantee happiness. Happiness seems less a matter of getting what we want than of wanting what we have.
Has our happiness, however, floated upward with the rising economic tide? Are we happier today than in 1940s, when two out of five homes lacked a shower or tub? Actually, we are not. Since 1957, the number of Americans who say they are “very happy” has declined from 35 to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide(自杀) rate has increased nearly three times, the violent crime rate has gone up nearly four times, and depression has mushroomed. Economic growth has provided no boost to human morale. When it comes to psychological well being, it is not the economy.
I call this soaring wealth and shrinking spirit “the American paradox.” More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low confidence, secured rights and reduced civility. We are good at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity(繁荣) but long for a purpose. We treasure our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger. Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s view?
A.The more money we earn, the less returns we have. |
B.The more money we earn, the happier we would be. |
C.In the long run, money cannot guarantee happiness. |
D.In the long run, happiness grows with economy. |
“The second $100,000 never tastes as good as the first” because _____.
A.it is not so fresh as the first $100,000 |
B.it is not so important as the first $100,000 |
C.profit brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000 |
D.happiness brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000 |
According to the passage, people do well in making a living but don’t _____.
A.have any primary aim | B.know how to spend money |
C.know how to enjoy life | D.keep in touch with other people |
The things that happened after 1957 are given to show that _____.
A.people’s spiritual needs cannot be fulfilled by wealth |
B.family problems become more and more serious |
C.young people are not happy about their life |
D.social crimes have increased significantly |
My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony andhilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six week period, to be written in every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.The passage mainly discusses _____.
A.teaching | B.literature |
C.humor | D.knowledge |
The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
A.funny | B.tiring |
C.inspiring | D.brilliant |
With his favorite English teacher, the writer found it most amazing that _____.
A.his teacher was very learned |
B.his teacher was very humorous |
C.the works by Johnson and Addison were very humorous |
D.few were able to find humor in works by Johnson and others |
The English teacher the writer disliked most _____.
A.was not able to make students laugh |
B.hurt his students’ feelings |
C.didn’t let his students do the grading |
D.had no sense of humor |
Submitting Assignment Online
In order to upload an assignment (work given to students) to the system properly, you must save the assignment using one of the following applications: Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, or Microsoft Excel.
After you complete an assignment, it is important to save your work. This ensures that assignment being uploaded to the system is the most updated version. Your word processing program may attempt to save the assignment to a folder on your computer. We recommend creating a new folder, named after your course, in a location that is easy to remember, such as “My Documents.”
File Name Requirements
Select a file name for the assignment that is easy to remember. The file name must NOT contain spaces. Any spaces used in the file name will prevent the file from uploading to the system. File names using the extensions .rtf, .html, .zip, .jpg, or .exe are NOT allowed.
Assignment Upload Procedure
Make sure you save the assignment using one of the applications previously identified and ensure that it meets the file name requirements described above. When the file is ready to upload, follow these steps:
1. Sign in the system.
2. Enter your address information and click the CONTINUE button. You will be routed to the “Directions” screen.
3. Review the directions and click the CONTINUE button. You will be routed to the “Special Assignment Upload” screen.
4. Click the SEARCH button. The “Choose File” pop-up window appears.
5. Find the location on your computer where you saved your assignment, and select the file.
After you have selected the file, click the UPLOAD button to upload your assignment to the system. Assignment Submission Dates
Assignments must be submitted by midnight on the specified due date. Submit your assignment on time so that it reaches the system on or before the due date. No late assignments will be accepted or marked. Assignments delivered after the due date will not be assessed and will be failed. Please manage your time carefully as family and work demands will not be accepted as excuses for late or non-submissions. Tutors and administrators do not have the authority to grant extensions.Which of the following file names is acceptable for submitting assignment?
A.research paper.doc | B.research paper.pdf |
C.researchpaper.doc | D.researchpaper.rtf |
Students are advised to save an assignment to a specific folder in order to _____.
A.sign in the system |
B.remember where the document is |
C.choose the appropriate application |
D.remember the document name quickly |
If you summit your assignment late, you _____.
A.can have a second chance |
B.should ask a tutor for help |
C.may apply for an extension |
D.will get a fail for the work |
Are you truly happy? Do you ever know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness? The following are a few tips that I follow to create happiness in my life.
Make a plan for achieving goals that you believe will make you happy. Your moods will very likely increase if you are going after something you value.
Surround yourself with happy people. It is easy to begin to think negatively(消极地) when you are surrounded by people who think that way.
When something goes wrong, try to figure out a solution instead of being absorbed in self pity. Truly happy people don’t allow setbacks(挫折) to affect their mood because they know that with a little thought they can turn the things back to their favor.These few minutes will give you the opportunity to focus on the positive things in your life and will lead you to continuous happiness.
Whether you treat yourself to lunch, take a long, relaxing bath or simply spend a few extra minutes on your appearance, you will be subconsciously(下意识地) putting yourself in a better mood.
Finding the humor in situations can also lead to happiness. Find a way to make light of a situation that would otherwise make you happy.
Keeping healthy is another way to achieve happiness.
A.What makes one person happy may be very different from what makes someone else happy. |
B.On the contrary, if you are around people who are happy,their emotional state will be easily passed to you. |
C.Being overweight or not eating foods containing nutrition have a negative effect on your mood. |
D.These are important questions for anyone who is seeking happiness to ask themselves. |
E. Spend a few minutes each day thinking about the things that make you happy.
F. There are some tips in life that lead to happiness.
G. It’s also important to take some time each day to do something nice for yourself.
His first successful fight was for the equal rights of black people in South Africa. Then, as the first black president, he fought to unite the country and organize the government. Now Nelson Mandela has set his sights on a new enemy, AIDS.
On March 19 the former president, hosted his second AIDSawareness concert. He warned that 25 million people in Africa were already infected with the fatal disease.
Mandela was born in a small village in South Africa in 1918. He was adopted by the chief of his tribe and could have been a chief himself and lived a happy country life.
But he refused to be a chief when his people lived under racial discrimination(歧视). He decided to fight for equal rights for all the people in South Africa. Before 1990, under the country's Racial Segregation Law, coloured people and white people lived separately. Black people were treated unfairly even when taking a bus. Blacks had to stand at the back of the bus to make room for white people even when there were only a few of them on board.
For his opposition to the system, Mandela was arrested and spent 27 years in prison. He was freed in 1990 and became the president of the country after the first election was held in which everyone could vote.
Mandela was not only a political fighter who attacked with speeches. He was also a trained boxer and fought in the ring when he was young.
“Although I did not enjoy the violence of boxing, I was interested in how one moved one's body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat,”he wrote in his autobiography.
As a skillful fighter, he chose music as his weapon against AIDS. He hopes to win another victory against AIDS.When was Mandela arrested?
A.In 1963. |
B.In 1990. |
C.When he refused to be a chief. |
D.When he became the president. |
Nelson Mandela succeeded in doing the following EXCEPT ________.
A.winning the equal rights for the black people in South Africa |
B.uniting South Africa |
C.organizing a government in South Africa |
D.controlling the spread of AIDS |
Which of the following statements can best describe the life of Nelson Mandela?
A.Struggle is his life. |
B.Sports make his fame. |
C.Fight for equal rights. |
D.A great fighter against the government. |