Dorothea Dix left home at an early age — of her own free will — to live with her grandmother.
At fourteen, Dorothea was teaching school at Worcester, Massachusetts. A short time after she had begun teaching, she set up a school for young girls in her grandparents’ home, which she conducted until she was thirty-three.
She was forced to give up teaching at her grand-parents’ home, however, when she became ill, a few years of inactivity followed.
In 1841 Dorothea began to teach again, accepting a Sunday school class in the East Cambridge, Massachusetts prison. Here she first came upon insane people (精神病人) locked up together with prisoners.
In those days insane people were treated even worse than prisoners. There were only a few madhouses in the entire country. Therefore prisons, poor houses, and houses of correction were used to keep the insane.
Dorothea Dix made a careful investigation(调查) of the inhuman treatment of the insane. It was considered unusual for a woman to devote herself to such work at that time. But this did not stop Dorothea Dix from providing proper medical care for the insane.
Gradually, because of her investigations, conditions were improved. More than thirty mental institutions were founded or rebuilt in the United States because of her hard work. Dorothea also spread her investigations to England and to other parts of Europe.
During the Civil War, Dorothea served as superintendent(负责人) of women hospital nurses in the Union army. When the war was over, she returned to her work of improving conditions for insane people. What kind of school was Dorothea’s school at Worcester, Massachusetts?
How did Dorothea Dix first realize the mistreatment of insane people?
Why was Dorothea Dix’s work with the insane interrupted(中断)？
How are the events of Dorothea Dix’s life presented in the passage?
What does this article mainly tell us about?
My sisters and I have dreamt of a home in the city, but when the Alcott family found itself in a small house at the South End without a tree in sight, only a back yard to play in, and no money to buy any of the beautiful things before us, we children all opposed it and longed for the country again.
Anna soon found little pupils, and walked away each morning to her daily task, pausing at the corner to wave her hand to me in answer to my greet with the duster（抹布）. My father went to his office downtown, mother to her helping the poor, the little girls to school, and I, Lousia, was left to keep house, feeling like an aged sea-gull as I washed dishes and cooked in the basement kitchen where the only thing I could hope for was someone talking with me.
Good drill, but very hard, and my only comfort was the evening reunion where all met with such various reports of the day’s adventures, we could not fail to find both amusement and instruction.
Father brought interesting and attractive news from the upper world; mother, usually in low spirits because she would give away her clothes with sad tales of suffering from the darker side of life; gentle Anna gave a modest account of her success as a teacher, for even at seventeen her sweet nature won all who knew her, and her patience gained her the support of the most naughty pupil.
My reports were usually a mixture of sadness and happiness, and the children poured their small joys and troubles into the family where comfort and mercy were always to be found.We know from this passage that the Alcott family was __________.
| A．a happy and united family |
| B．an extremely poor family |
| C．a family with lots of serious problems |
| D．a family that remained in the country |
Anna was a successful teacher because_________.
| A．she had a strong sense of duty | B．she was obviously intelligent |
| C．she knew her subjects well | D．she had wonderful character |
Lousia’s daily responsibility was_____.
| A．to help the poor | B．to run the house |
| C．to go downtown | D．to feed the seagulls |
According to the passage, what Lousia enjoyed most is _________.
| A．the evening reunion | B．moving to the city |
| C．joining Anna at her school | D．telling others her stories |
London, Dec.17 (Xinhua) “Drivers on London Underground trains have started reading out sayings from great thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi , Frindrich Engels, and Albert Einstein in a bid to cheer up passengers ,” officials said. As well as the usual announcements urging passengers to “mind the steps” and warning of delays, the sayings such as “ an ounce ( 盎司) of action is worth a ton of theory” have taken the place of commercial ad in the underground carriages .
New York, Oct.8 (Xinhua) Once as a famous actor, now the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to abandon textbooks in favor of digital ones. He plans to launch this program in August next year when California’s high-school pupils will have access to online math and science text. But some teachers wonder whether his idea of getting rid of textbooks might end up costing more not less, with digital textbook going for $300.
Amsterdam, Nov.30 (Xinhua) A few cups of coffee a day may not only help to put off the disease—dementia(痴呆) but also can treat it, according to Dr. Arendash, who led the research. After giving mice with memory damage water containing caffeine, he found the mice developed better memories and quick thinking. The reason is that caffeine is a safe drug for most people. It easily enters the brain and directly affects the disease process. He suggested people should drink five eight–ounce cups of ordinary coffee, two cups of strong ‘coffee shop’ coffee, 14 cups of tea, or 20 cola drinks to get the same amount of 500 milligrams of caffeine.What’s the purpose of putting up sayings on the underground carriages in London?
| A．to help passengers to kill time. |
| B．to encourage passengers to learn. |
| C．to lift the spirits of passengers. |
| D．to make money as a commercial ad. |
What can we conclude from the second news?
| A．digital textbooks will replace traditional textbooks. |
| B．online math is already available to high-school pupils . |
| C．digital textbooks are convenient to carry anywhere. |
| D．Not all the teachers support their governor’s idea. |
Which of the following statements is true from the third news?
| A．The more coffee you drink, the less chance there will be for dementia. |
| B．Caffeine can make mice become more and more intelligent and energetic. |
| C．Caffeine can affect the process of the disease—dementia and treat it. |
| D．Caffeine is a safe drug for all the people for everyday use so enjoy it. |
When I worked as a waitress in Chicago, US, my coworkers and I would sigh whenever we heard someone with a foreign accent coming into our restaurant. We knew what it meant to serve a non-American: no tip. We would work just as hard as we always did, but we might not get paid.
Americans have an unspoken rule about tipping: they give tips to almost everyone who offers them a service of some kind. Americans tip their waiters, barbers and taxi drivers. An appropriate tip is between 15 and 20 percent of the amount charged for the service (But the charge for the tip doesn’t appear on the bill. The customer is expected to add it himself/herself.) Tipping less than this sends a message to your waiters that you think they’ve done a bad job serving you. And to leave no tip at all is simply unacceptable.
It’s not that American waiters are greedy. In many countries, waiters are paid a salary for their work. They’ll earn money even if no one comes into the restaurant. This system offers much more safety for waiters than the American version. In the US, waiters know that a night without customers means a night without pay.
Some countries include a tip for waiters – a “service charge” – on the bill itself. Since the tip is included with the other charges, waiters don’t need to worry about people forgetting to tip. But in the US, waiters do not receive a salary, and service charges only appear on bills when there are six or more customers at the table.
Since almost all American customers are familiar with the system, they know to add a tip without being told. But visitors to the US may expect waiters to be paid a salary, or think that the tip is included on the bill.
So much as we waiters loved hearing stories about other places from our foreign customers, we were always nervous when they got ready to leave the restaurant. We were never sure what to expect.If you order $200 worth of food, which of the following is a proper total payment?
| A．$200 | B．$215 | C．$220 | D．$230 |
Why don’t some foreigners tip a waiter according to the writer?.
| A．because they are unfamiliar with the American tip system . |
| B．because they are too mean to give tips to any waiter. |
| C．because they have difficulty communicating with waiters. |
| D．because they are not really easy to become satisfied. |
What can we learn from the passage?
A. The service charge never appear on the bill in the USA.
B. Customers are usually expected to tip waiters in the USA.
C. Dining out in other countries is much more expensive than in the USA.
D. Waiters in other countries earn much more money than those in the USA.What is the main purpose of the passage?
| A．To complain about the difficult life of American waiters. |
| B．To warn other waiters not to serve any foreign customer. |
| C．To call on foreign customers to leave tips for American waiters. |
| D．To tell us something about American waiters’ salary system. |
When people talk of a virus these days, chances are that they are talking about computer virus that have the power wipe out all the valuable work people may have stored in their computers. Imagine, the virus has the power to make military systems, giant banks, airports, hospitals and traffic system come to stop!
What does a computer virus do? It targets electronic objects that are programmed. The virus spreads through connections between these electronic objects. For virus spreading experts, e-mail is a favorite method of sending their destructive (破坏性的) weapon.
But scientists warn that this is not the worst that can happen. There is more. People are also connected through phones. The next virus may actually target mobile phones, especially those that are programmed to do many tasks apart from just communicating. It would then be easy for a virus to infect those programs and create major disorder.
For example, these virus may have the power to record your phone conversations and make others hear them. They create problems with your electronic money accounts, or they could create a mountain of telephone bills for calls you never made. And that would be a disaster. A report on this was published in the New Scientist recently.
One way out would be to have simpler phones with not so many different functions. This would mean there would mean there would be fewer programs for the virus to attack. But mobile phone producers are in a fix. People on longer want an electronic item to perform just one task. They want more and more functions added. That would mean more software programs to make the mobile phone perform all those functions. And that means the possibility of more viruses.It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
| A．computer viruses are not so as destructive as mobile phone viruses |
| B．people should be careful when receiving e-mails |
| C．people find it difficult to use electronic equipment correctly |
| D．having electronic money accounts brings people a lot of convenience |
Which of the following shows that your mobile phone is infected with a virus?
| A．You can’t hear the person who answers the phone clearly |
| B．You can’t send e-mails with your mobile phone |
| C．your phone bill increases for unknown reasons |
| D．You can hear other people’s phone conversations |
What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?
| A．Mobile phone producers have made no progress. |
| B．Mobile phone producers are proud of their products. |
| C．Mobile phone producers are faced with a difficult situation. |
| D．Mobile phone producers refused to fight against virus. |
For whom is the passage written?
| A．Government officials | B．Virus spreading experts |
| C．Electronic scientists | D．Mobile phone users |
South Asia heatwave kills nearly 100.
DHAKA - A heat wave sweeping India, Bangladesh(孟加拉国) and Nepal has killed nearly 100 people over the past two weeks, officials said on June 3, 2005.
A third of the people died in northern Bangladesh, mostly women and children from dehydration(脱水), heat stroke and diarrhoea(腹泻).
"We are getting reports of several deaths due to heat wave and related diseases almost every day," an official said, as temperatures touched 43degC .
The weather office in Dhaka said the hot weather will persist for another week until the monsoon(季风) rains which are normally due by the middle of June.
Severe heat conditions in the southern Indian have killed at least 55 people, officials in the two states said.
While temperatures have fallen from a high of 45degC in Andhra Pradesh to around 40degC, giving a respite to people, they are still on the rise in Orissa with Talcher town registering 48.5deg C, a weather official said.
At least five people have died in Nepal from extreme heat, the government said. We can infer that the heatwave can cause ______.
| A．heat stoke | B．dehydration | C．diarrhoea | D．all above |
When the monsoon rains come, the temperature will _______.
| A．remain the same |
| B．go on to rise sharply |
| C．begin to drop obviously |
| D．rise a little |
Which place is the hottest in the early June, 2005?
| A．Dhaka | B．Talcher | C．Andhra Pradesh | D．Nepal |