My 10-year-old Donna said, “Mom, I made a new friend at school today. Can she come over tomorrow?” Donna was a shy girl and I wanted her to make some friends to bring her out of her shell.
“Sure, honey, that sounds great.” I said, thinking back to my own best friend, Lillian. We lived across the street from each other in Washington Heights, New York. We met at the age of 10, too. Like my daughter, I was shy, but Lillian drew me out. She was one of the friendliest people in school, with shiny black hair and a mile-wide smile.
In senior high school, Lillian went on a trip to Florida. This was the first time we had to be away from each other for a few days. “I’ll be back soon.” she told me. But three days later, Lillian’s sister told me that she had fallen into a river and hadn’t come out any more. Soon, my family moved to New Jersey. Whenever I thought of her, tears came into my eyes.
The next day Donna brought her new friend home. “Hi, Mrs. Loggia.” the little girl said. Her hair was so shiny and black and she shot me a big smile. “My name is Laura.”
My daughter’s new friend was so much like Lillian. I was still puzzled (迷惑) when Laura’s mom came to pick her up later that afternoon. I opened the door to let her in. “Judy!” she cried. “It’s me, Lillian’s sister, from Washington Heights.” Yes, my daughter’s friend looked familiar. She was Lillian’s niece.The underlined words in the first paragraph “to bring her out of her shell” mean ___________.
| A．to help her become less shy | B．to help her become smart |
| C．to help her live happily | D．to help her walk out of her house |
Laura looked familiar to the writer because she ____________.
| A．was Lillian’s niece |
| B．was as old as her daughter |
| C．was from Washington Heights |
| D．had shiny black hair and a big smile, too |
Why did the writer lose her best friend? Because ____________________.
| A．she moved to New Jersey |
| B．they were different from each other |
| C．her best friend travelled to Florida |
| D．her best friend lost her life on a trip |
“I knew we would be best friends forever.” is a sentence from the passage and should be put at the end of _______．
| A．Paragraph 2 | B．Paragraph 3 | C．Paragraph 4 | D．Paragraph 5 |
We can infer (推断) from the passage that______.
| A．Laura is outgoing |
| B．Laura helps Donna a lot |
| C．Laura and Donna are of the same age |
| D．Judy moved to New Jersey because of Lillian’s death |
(268 words)According to Warranty Limitations, a product can be under warranty if __________.
A. shipped from a Canadian factory B. rented for home use
C. repaired by the user himself D. used in the U.S.A.According to Owner’s Responsibilities, an owner has to pay for __________.
| A．the loss of the sales receipt | B．a servicer’s overtime work |
| C．the product installation | D．a mechanic’s transportation |
Which of the following is true according to the warranty?
| A．Consequential damages are excluded across America. |
| B．A product damaged in a natural disaster is covered by the warranty. |
| C．A faulty cabinet due to rust can be replaced free in the second year. |
| D．Free repair is available for a product used improperly in the first year. |
For some people, music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes (音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music set them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn’t involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say, ‘No thanks, I’m amusic,’” says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”(335 words)Which of the following is true of amusics?
| A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them. |
| B．They love places where they are likely to hear music. |
| C．They can easily tell two different songs apart. |
| D．Their situation is well understood by musicians. |
According to paragraph 3, a person with “defective hearing” is probably one who __________.
| A．dislikes listening to speeches |
| B．can hear anything nonmusical |
| C．has a hearing problem |
| D．lacks a complex hearing system |
In the last paragraph, Margaret expressed her wish that __________.
| A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier |
| B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy |
| C．her problem could be easily explained |
| D．she were able to meet other amusics |
What is the passage mainly concerned with?
| A．Amusics’ strange behaviours. |
| B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Musical talent and brain structure. |
| D．Identification and treatment of amusics. |
"Indeed"George Washington wrote in his diary in 1785, "some kind of fly,or bug,had begun to eat the leaves before I left home." But the father of America was not the father of bug.When Washington wrote that, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lightning-bug(萤火虫). But the Enlish were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to be the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity.Although fan became the usual term, sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseball bugs and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burlar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, "to install(安装) an alarm". Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others' conversations.Since the 1840s,to bug has long meant "to cheat",and since the 1994s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw n a computer program or other design.That meaning dates back to the time of Tomas Edison.In 1878 he explained bugs as "little problems and difficulties" that required months of stdy and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison "had been up the two previous nights discovering′a bug′ in his invented record player."
| 1． |
We learn from Paragraph 1 that.
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| 2． |
What does the word "flaw" in the last paragraph mean？
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| 3． |
The passage is mainly concerned with.
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Here is an astonishing and signficant fact:Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue(疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered thett blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day labourer, we could find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxing at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours f efforts as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired.
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue come from our mental and emotional(情感的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists. J. A. Hadfield,says,“The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact,fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares,“One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired?Joy?Satifaction?No!A feeling of being bored,anger,anxiety,tenseness,worry,a feeling of nt being appreciated---those are emotions that tire sitting workers.Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue.We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.What surprised the scientists a few years ago?
| A．Fatigue toxinscould hardly be found in a labour’s blood. |
| B．Albert Eistein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work. |
| C．The brain could wrk for many hours without fatigue. |
| D．A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins. |
According to the authour,which of the following can make sitting worker tired？
| A．Challenge mental work. |
| B．Unpleasant emotions. |
| C．Endless tasks. |
| D．Physical labor. |
What’s the authour’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?
| A．He agrees with them. |
| B．He doubts them |
| C．He argues against them. |
| D．He hesitates to accept them. |
We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energic, sitting workers need to ______.
| A．have some good blood |
| B．enjoy their work |
| C．exercise regularly |
| D．discover fatigue toxin |
Going green seems to be a fad(时尚) for a lot of people these days.Whether that is good or bad,we can’t really say, but for the two of us, going green is not a fad but a life style.
On April 22,2011,we decided to be green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond the easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 diffenent things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day a year,Our Greean Year started. My wife and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyles. We now shop at organic(有机的) stores. We consume less meat,choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites.Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planets.What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Going green |
| B．Protecting the planet |
| C．Keeping Open-Minded |
| D．Celebrating Our Green Year |
It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_______.
| A．they were expected to follow the green fad |
| B．they didn’t know how to educate other people |
| C．they were unwilling to reduce their energy |
| D．they needed to perform unusual green tasks |
What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
| A．They tried to get out of their ungreen habits. |
| B．They ignored others’ ungreen behaviour. |
| C．They chose better chemical cleaners. |
| D．they sold their home-made food |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．The government will give support to the green roject. |
| B．The couple may continue ther project in the future. |
| C．Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas. |
| D．Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign. |