In 1961 Obama was born in Hawaii, US. His father was an African and his mother was a white American. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii.
When Obama was 10 years old, he was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. A white boy even asked him what his father was.
“I lied to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am," said Obama.
However, 37 years later, the boy made history. Obama became the first black president in US history.
Obama's unusual background made him wonder who he was. He once turned to alcohol to help forget this question.
With the help of his friends, Obama finally turned his life around at college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became the third black senator (参议员）in US history.
"Obama's success has made Martin Luther King's dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the colour of his skin, but by the content of his character," wrote ABC news.Obama was born in _______.
| A．Britain | B．American | C．Kenya | D．Indonesia |
Which of the following is TURE according to the passage?
| A．Obama's parents are both African |
| B．Obama was the first black senator in US history |
| C．Obama was once very depressed (压抑）because of his unusual background. |
| D．No other black students were in the school where Obama studied when he was ten. |
Obama became the first black president in US history when he was ______.
| A．37 | B．38 | C．47 | D．48 |
From the passage we can learn that ______________.
| A．Obama's father is a Kenyan prince. |
| B．Obama was a star in Harvard because he drank a lot |
| C．We should judge a person by what he did when he was young |
| D．Obama's success owes to his hard work |
Many people rely on a cup of coffee or two to wake them up in the morning or pick them up during the working day, but now a chemist has come up with a speedy alternative to crafting a cup of coffee.
U.S. biochemist Ben Yu has created ‘Sprayable Energy,’ which claims to be the world’s first caffeine - based topical energy spray. He said tired workers can spray a ‘shot’ of caffeine onto their skin without experiencing a strong buzz, loading up on unnecessary calories or being stuck with a nasty aftertaste like they might get from drinking energy drinks or coffee.
The patent-pending caffeine spray is an odourless liquid that is absorbed through the skin and distributed through the body over a number of hours to deliver a caffeine hit that apparently lasts longer than guzzling a cup of coffee.
Each small aluminum bottle of Sprayable Energy contains around 160 sprays - the equivalent amount of caffeine to 40 cups of coffee and the creators say it is a much cheaper way of getting a caffeine fix than popping to a café. The only active ingredient in the spray is caffeine, which can naturally enter the human body through the skin by passing through cell membranes as it is very similar to nicotine in structure. Each spritz of Sprayable Energy contains around a quarter of the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee, but apparently has the same effect as a full cup.
The website said: ‘The reason for this is our product not being ingested, isn’t almost entirely metabolised（新陈代谢） by the liver before entering your system and becoming available to your body.’‘Thus, a smaller amount of caffeine can have just the same effect as a very large amount of caffeine ingested through an energy drink or cup of coffee. Sprayable Energy`s website recommends that users apply the spray in places where they normally spritz perfume, such as the neck or wrists, but warns users not to exceed 20 sprays a day.
It claims that after spraying the product on the skin, users will feel ‘awake and focused without being over-stimulated’, which is common with coffee and energy drinks.What can we learn about Sprayable Energy from the passage ?_______.
| A．A bottle of Sprayable Energyis cheaper than 40 cups of coffee. . |
| B．Sprayable Energy lets users not worry about taking in unnecessary calories.. |
| C．Sprayable Energy can be used at least 20 sprays a day |
| D．The caffeine spray is a colorless liquid that is absorbed through the skin.. |
What does the fifth paragraph mainly tell us ?____
A, Sprayable Energy is taken by mouth...
B. Before Sprayable Energy is absorbed by body, the liver entirely metabolizes it
C. How Sprayable Energy acts on user’s body and how users use the product.
D. Sprayable Energy is convenient but expensive.We can conclude from the passage that ____
| A．Sprayable Energy can not be permitted to be used by people now. |
| B．Sprayable Energy has not already gone into mass production |
| C．Each spritz of Sprayable Energy has the same effect as a full cup of coffee |
| D．Sprayable Energy is well received by flagging workers. |
The writer’s attitude towards Sprayable Energy ______
| A．negative. | B．positive |
| C．uncertain | D．indifferent |
Suppose you become a leader in an organization. It’s very likely that you’ll want to have volunteers to help with the organization’s activities. To do so, it should help to understand why people undertake volunteer work and what keeps their interest in the work.
Let’s begin with the question of why people volunteer. Researchers have identified several factors that motivate people to get involved. For example, people volunteer to express personal values related to unselfishness, to expand their range of experiences, and to strengthen social relationships. If volunteer positions do not meet these needs, people may not wish to participate. To select volunteers, you may need to understand the motivations of the people you wish to attract.
People also volunteer because they are required to do so. To increase levels of community service, some schools have launched compulsory volunteer programs. Unfortunately, these programs can shift people’s wish of participation from an internal factor (e.g., “I volunteer because it’s important to me”) to an external factor (e.g., “I volunteer because I’m required to do so”). When that happens, people become less likely to volunteer in the future. People must be sensitive to this possibility when they make volunteer activities a must.
Once people begin to volunteer, what leads them to remain in their positions over time? To answer this question, researchers have conducted follow-up studies in which they track volunteers over time. For instance, one study followed 238 volunteers in Florida over a year. One of the most important factors that influenced their satisfaction as volunteers was the amount of suffering they experienced in their volunteer positions. Although this result may not surprise you, it leads to important practical advice. The researchers note that attention should be given to “training methods that would prepare volunteers for troublesome situations or provide them with strategies for coping with the problem they do experience”.
Another study of 302 volunteers at hospitals in Chicago focused on individual differences in the degree to which people view “volunteer” as an important social role. It was assumed that those people for whom the role of volunteer was most part of their personal identity would also be most likely to continue volunteer work. Participants indicated the degree to which the social role mattered by responding to statements such as “Volunteering in Hospital is an important part of who I am.” Consistent with the researchers’ expectations, they found a positive correlation (正相关) between the strength of role identity and the length of time people continued to volunteer. These results, once again, lead to concrete advice: “Once an individual begins volunteering, continued efforts might focus on developing a volunteer role identity.... Items like T-shirts that allow volunteers to be recognized publicly for their contributions can help strengthen role identity”.People volunteer mainly out of ______ .
| A．academic requirements | B．social expectations |
| C．financial rewards | D．internal needs |
What can we learn from the Florida study? _______
| A．Follow-up studies should last for one year. |
| B．Volunteers should get mentally prepared. |
| C．Strategy training is a must in research. |
| D．Volunteers are provided with concrete advice. |
What is most likely to motivate volunteers to continue their work?_____
| A．Individual differences in role identity. |
| B．Publicly identifiable volunteer T-shirts. |
| C．Role identity as a volunteer. |
| D．Practical advice from researchers. |
What is the best title of the passage?______
| A．How to Get People to Volunteer |
| B．How to Study Volunteer Behaviors |
| C．How to Keep Volunteers’ Interest |
| D．How to Organize Volunteer Activities |
I vividly remember walking back to my house after collecting the afternoon mails. I saw a credit card statement, another credit card statement and our bank statements. It was in that moment that I felt a deep tension.
I realized that even though I had married a man who I absolutely loved and adored, I really didn’t have a clear sense of how he handled money and how the two of us were going to combine our different approaches to handling money in our marriage. I was more organized and detailed, but he was more of a laid-back type. I knew that getting on the same financial page was a key factor in creating a successful marriage and financial future.
I asked my husband if he would be willing to set up a time each week to talk about our finances and develop a plan for getting rid of our credit card debt. My husband said he would be willing to do this. Admittedly, he was skeptical — but willing.
We came to refer to our weekly meetings as our Financial Dates. We didn’t really have a clue as to what we were doing. All we knew was that we needed to give our finances serious attention. Some Dates were filled with tense conversations. Other Dates were filled with laughter, joy and creativity. However, we kept showing up for our Dates and we never gave up. What started out as a means for survival became a powerful connecting thread in our relationship. Something shifted within us.
Instead of our finances becoming a source of divisive tension that pulled us apart, they became
the glue that held us together as we became a unified team.
I still recall the day that we excitedly crossed off our last credit card payment on the chart we had created. We had finally arrived. We were free. We had been given wings to fly.
Now, whenever I feel huge stress I ask myself, “How am I contributing to what is happening right now?” This gives me the ultimate power to take action. Even though my husband and I don’t have any guarantee against future challenges, I am left with something deep within that is unshakable and that can never be taken away — the memory of our past successes and the power to integrate (整合) these lessons in my day-to-day life.Why did the author feel nervous when collecting the afternoon mails? _______
| A．She was not sure about her marriage. |
| B．She didn’t know how to handle money. |
| C．She could feel the pressure of the huge debt. |
| D．She was reminded of the quarrels in the family. |
Which word can replace the underlined word “laid-back” in the second paragraph?_____
| A．relaxed. | B．skeptical. |
| C．lazy. | D．confident. |
What can we learn from the Financial Dates? ______
| A．They showed the couple clear direction at first. |
| B．They left the couple nothing but deep sadness. |
| C．They were once interrupted but quickly continued. |
| D．They strengthened the couple’s relationship at last. |
We can infer that when faced with stress the author will _______.
| A．try to change the situation |
| B．focus on what contributes to it |
| C．get power from the memory |
| D．feel free to do what she likes |
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TV Ears patented technology includes a revolutionary noise reduction car tip, not used in any other commercially available headset. This tip reduces outside noise so that television dialogue is clear and understandable. Get the technology that has proven to help the most demanding customers. That’s why TV Ears has earned the trust and confidence of audiologists(听觉学家) nationwide as well as world-famous doctors.
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TV Ears helps you ______.
| A．improve your sleeping quality |
| B．listen to TV without disturbing others |
| C．change TV channels without difficulty |
| D．become interested in ballgame programs |
What makes TV Ears different from other headsets? ______
| A．It can easily set TV on mute |
| B．Its headset volume is adjustable |
| C．It has a new noise reduction ear tip |
| D．It applies special wireless technology |
This advertisement is made more believable by ______.
| A．using recommendation |
| B．offering reasons for this invention |
| C．providing statistics |
| D．showing the results of experiments |
"Jin's new collection of short stories...shows he could teach some native-born writers a few things about the beauty of spare prose（散文）and the power of a few well-chosen words."
-- USA Today
"Amusing...Realistic...Rarely has China seemed less exotic and more accessible...The stories have the air of fable（寓言）."
--Los Angeles Times
"A vivid picture...of Chinese society in the era just after the Cultural Revolution."
-- Chicago Tribune
"Brilliant...delightful...Ha Jin's customs, ideas and landscapes might be of an Eastern persuasion, but his writing communicates universally. Without being didactic or condescending, these stories often resemble modern fables…”
--Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
"Beautifully understated short stories of life in modern China. Some of them are likely to break your heart."
--People
"A short story collection that offers readers...a dozen ways to enter the changing landscape of modern China...No one has ever captured the collision between the Communist society and the western culture quite like Ha Jin."
--Baton Rouge Magazine"Ha Jin", is probably a _____.
| A．name of a place in China |
| B．name of a writer of ancient China |
| C．name of a writer of modern times |
| D．name of a book |
"Los Angeles Times", "USA Today" and "Star Tribune (Minneapolis)" are the names of_____.
| A．newspapers and magazines |
| B．different places in America |
| C．different organizations that sell books. |
| D．book critics. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The "People" doesn't like the stories because they will break people's heart. |
| B．The "USA Today" suggests that Ha Jin should work as a school teacher. |
| C．Ha Jin's book has many beautiful paintings. |
| D．Ha Jin's book has successfully described a modern China to western readers. |
All the statements can be used to help to_____.
| A．attract more tourists to China |
| B．attract more students to a university |
| C．sell more books of Ha Jin |
| D．sell more copies of Los Angeles Times |