The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place．Now it is an ecological disaster area．Nauru's heartbreaking story could have one good consequence-other countries might learn from its mistakes．
For thousands of years，Polynesian people lived in the remote island of Nauru，far from western civilization．The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798．He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship．He called the island Pleasant Island．
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first．The whaling ships and other traders began to visit，bringing guns and alcohol．These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island．A ten-year civil war started，which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru's real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate(磷酸盐)on the island．In fact，it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate，which was a very important fertilizer for farming．The company began mining the phosphate．
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground；it is a strip mine．When a company strip-mines，it removes the to player of soil．Then it takes away the material it wants．Strip mining totally destroys the land．Gradually, the lovely island or Nauru started to look like the moon．
In 1968，Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world．Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate．
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars．In addition，they used millions more dollars for personal expenses．Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem—their phosphate was running out．Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing．By 2000，Nauru was financially ruined．Experts say that it would take approximately$433，600，000 and more than 20 years to repair the island．This will probably never happen．What might be the author's purpose in writing the text?
| A．To seek help for Nauru's problems． |
| B．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war． |
| C．To show the importance of money |
| D．To give a warning to other countries |
What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?
APeaceful and attractive B．Modern and open
C．Rich and powerful D．Greedy and aggressiveThe ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from
| A．soil pollution | B．phosphate overmining |
| C．farming activity | D．whale hunting |
Which of the following was a cause of Nauru's financial problem?
| A．Its phosphate mining cost much money |
| B．It spent too much repairing the island |
| C．Its leaders misused the money |
| D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. |
What can we learn about Nauru from me last paragraph?
| A．The leaders will take the experts' words seriously |
| B．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. |
| C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans |
| D．The phosphate mines were destroyed |
If the hackings (黑客行为) taught us anything in 2014, it's actually nothing.
Password management firm SplashData released its list of the worst passwords of the year and it's just as terrible as you'd think. The most common leaked password in 2014 was "123456," followed by "password" — both topped the list the year before, too.
While numbers were as popular as ever as passwords, sports terms like “baseball" and "football" were used more often. Birthday years were common too (especially 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992) and names like "Michael", "Jennifer" and "Hunter" are also among the top 100 worst passwords of 2014.
Here's a look at the top 10 worst passwords of the year:
1. 123456 (Unchanged from 2013) 6. 234567890 (Unchanged)
2. password (Unchanged) 7. baseball (New)
3. 12345 (Up 17) 8. dragon (New)
4. 12345678 (Down 1) 9. football (New)
5. qwerty (Down 1) 10. monkey (New)
This year's worst passwords are painfully weak, but what were once considered clever password strategies — using symbols, capitalizations, the number 3 in place of the letter "e" — are old tricks.
It's now recommended to pick a different password for each account you use — you wouldn't use the same key in all of your locks, and the same goes for passwords.
Companies like Facebook, Twitter and Apple are now trying to make hacking more difficult on their services by offering two-factor authentication (认证), which is basically like double locking your door at night. Each time you want to log into (登录) that account, the company will send a code to your phone — it changes after each login attempt, so hackers would have to be in physical possession of your smartphone to know the code.What can we learn from the text?
| A．Hackers leaked many more passwords in 2014. |
| B．Symbols were among the top 10 worst passwords. |
| C．123456 was the most common leaked password in both 2013 and 2014. |
| D．People are getting more experienced in picking their passwords. |
How many passwords were ranked lower on 2014's top 10 worst password list?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
What is recommended in the text to have safer passwords?
| A．Using long and strange passwords. |
| B．Changing passwords regularly. |
| C．Replacing "e" by "3" when setting passwords. |
| D．Choosing different passwords for different accounts. |
To fight against hacking, some companies ______.
| A．don't accept weak passwords |
| B．double lock their doors at night |
| C．combine the password with a code to prove one's identity |
| D．prevent hackers from stealing customers' smartphones |
There's a great article in the New York Times this week about the tradition of buying a coffee for a stranger at the same time that you buy your own. They call it caffè sospeso, the name for "suspended (暂留的) coffee" in its birthplace. In some cafes, folks in need may claim a suspended coffee and drink it without cost.
No doubt the free coffee will be welcomed by people who love coffee but for one reason or another don't have the money to buy one. But I also like the opportunity it offers customers to become philanthropists (慈善家). Every time they order a coffee, they can give one to somebody in need.
This is a tradition that began some 100 years ago in Naples, Italy. In Naples, as reported by the Times, people love this kind of giving:
"To me, the philosophy of the suspended coffee is that you are happy today, and you give a coffee to the world, as a present." — Luigi Solito
"It's a simple act of generosity: an act in which donors and recipients (接受者) never meet each other. The donor doesn't show off and the recipient doesn't have to show gratitude." —Laura Cozzolino
"Coffee consumptions started earlier than the unification (统一) of Italy by more than 200 years, so the traditions around it are very ancient. In Naples, coffee is a world in itself, both culturally and socially." — Andrea Illy
The practice of buying suspended coffees has grown in popularity — with websites popping up and hundreds of cafes from Canada to Brazil to Hungary to the US offering the service.Who are suspended coffees intended for?
A. Cafe goers.
B. People who can't afford a coffee.
B. Philanthropists.
D. Coffee lovers who live in Naples.How can someone get a suspended coffee?
| A．He can ask for one in any cafe. |
| B．He can apply for one on websites. |
| C．He can buy one in a cafe offering the service. |
| D．He can drink one in a cafe that has prepaid coffees. |
What does Laura Cozzolino think of buying suspended coffees?
| A．She thinks it is a great way of charity. |
| B．She thinks it is a cheap gift to strangers. |
| C．She thinks it is an ancient Italian custom. |
| D．She thinks it is spreading widely in the world. |
The underlined words in Paragraph 1 are words of ______.
| A．French | B．Old English |
| C．Italian | D．American English |
I’ve just got to talk about this problem I’m having with my postman. It all began a year ago, after the birth of his first child. Not wanting to appear rude, I asked him about the baby. The next week, not wanting him to think I had asked out of mere politeness the week before, I asked all about the baby again. Now I can’t break the habit. I freeze whenever I see him coming. The words “How’s the baby?” come out on their own. It holds me up. It holds him up. So why can’t I stop it? The answer is that I want him to like me. Come to think of it, I want everyone to like me.
My sister had the same problem with the caretaker of her block of flats: “All he ever does is complain; he talks at me rather than to me, never listens to a word I say, and yet for some reason I’m always really nice to him. I’m worried in case I have a difficulty one day, and he won’t lift a finger to help.”
What about at work? Richard Lawton, a management trainer, warns: “Those managers who are actually liked by most of their staff are always those to whom being liked is not the primary goal. The qualities that make managers popular are being honest with staff, treating them as human beings and observing common politeness like saying hello in the morning.” To explain the point, Richard mentions the story of the company chairman who desperately wanted to be liked and who, after making one of his managers fired, said with moist (湿润的) eyes that he was so, so sorry the man was leaving. The employee replied: “If you were that sorry, I wouldn’t be leaving.” The lesson being, therefore, that if you try too hard to be liked, people won’t like you.
The experts say it all starts in childhood. “If children feel they can only get love from their parents by being good,” says Zelda West-Meads, a marriage guidance consultant, “they develop low self-confidence and become compulsive givers.” But is there anything wrong in being a giver, the world not being exactly short of takers? Anne Cousins believes there is. “There is a point at which giving becomes unhealthy,” she says. “It comes when you do things for others but feel bad about it.”
I am now trying hard to say to people “I feel uncomfortable about saying this, but…” and tell myself “Refusal of a request does not mean rejection of a person” and I find I can say almost anything to almost anyone.Why does the author ask the postman about his baby?
| A．He is interested in the baby. |
| B．He wants to create a good impression. |
| C．He wants to be always polite to him. |
| D．It’s a way to start a chat with great politeness. |
What could we find out about the author’s sister and the caretaker?
| A．She doesn’t want to risk displeasing him. |
| B．She doesn’t pay attention to him. |
| C．He often refuses to help her. |
| D．He is impatient of her overreaction. |
Managers are more likely to be popular if they ______.
| A．help the staff with their problems |
| B．make sure the staff do not lose their jobs |
| C．encourage the staff to be polite to each other |
| D．do not make too much effort to be liked |
The underlined words, “compulsive givers”, in the fourth paragraph refer to the people who ______.
| A．are willing to help others |
| B．couldn’t bear to turn down requests |
| C．are unconfident of denying demands |
| D．are less selfish than takers |
What is the author’s intention of writing this passage?
| A．To show how to let others like you more. |
| B．To prove how to create a harmonious atmosphere. |
| C．To encourage people to have more self-confidence. |
| D．To suggest ways of dealing with difficult people. |
When it came to role models, Diana Ortiz said her mother, Marcia Dominguez, was the “hero”. Ms. Dominguez came to the United States from Cuba in 1979. She went to college and got a job as a social worker --- all the while raising three children in America mostly on her own.
“It was always school first,” Diana said, “My mom had us in a straight line. If we got out of line, she corrected us. She was a perfect woman. She was beautiful, she had the education and she had everything --- but the illness took over. When I was 11, it frightened me to see how quickly my mother’s health was ruined by cancer. A week before I turned 14, my mother died at age 50. I had tried to prepare myself, but on the first morning I woke up without my mother, the sense of loss was painful.”
Diana had not seen her father for five years, who refused to provide for her. Diana then entered the city’s foster care system. She has spent about four years in foster homes.
Despite Diana’s hard teenage years, the values her mother had planted in her mind inspired her to go after higher education. Since August 2010, she has been a fulltime student majoring in law. A public organization offers her tuition but she has part-time jobs to help people like her and earn more life experience. Her goal is a job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For now, Diana works 20 hours a week as a cashier at Marshalls, earning $7.25 an hour. In November, she moved into her own public housing studio apartment on the Lower East Side. She pays $236 a month in rent. Although she is out of foster care, Diana has been speaking at workshops for foster youths. She emphasizes that nothing should get in the way of their success, not the trials of their lives or what they may have lost.
“I tell the young who have the similar experience like me, ‘Why are you going to let what happened to you affect you in the long run?’ ” Diana said. “ ‘Why are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself? You’re wasting precious time.’ It is a message my mother would approve of. My mom taught me that everything is not given to you. You have to go out and get it.”Which of the following words can be used to describe Ms. Dominguez?
| A．Learned, independent and strict. |
| B．Positive, simple and graceful. |
| C．Hardworking, dependent and tough. |
| D．Kind, determined and lonely. |
What did Ms. Dominguez find most important for her children?
| A．Staying in a straight line for coherence. |
| B．Making punctual self-correction. |
| C．Struggling to run after perfection. |
| D．Receiving excellent education. |
How did Diana grow up after her mother passed away?
| A．She was provided for by a law institute. |
| B．She depended on foster care system. |
| C．She relied upon the people like her. |
| D．She supported herself by doing part-time work. |
What made Diana go on with her education despite there are so many difficulties?
| A．The sense of loss from her mother’s death. |
| B．The eagerness to achieve success. |
| C．The deep influence of her mother’s values. |
| D．The wish to win prizes to please her mother. |
With provided tuition, Diana still works after school because she knows ______.
| A．success comes with her own struggle and efforts |
| B．rich experience helps her find better jobs |
| C．her tuition will be increased sharply |
| D．nobody is perfect in the world |
Is it okay to keep exercising when you have a cold? What about the flu? With winter viruses going around, it’s important to know how to alter your training if you do catch a germ or two.
“The guidelines are pretty easy,” says Dr Lorenzo Masci from the Alphington Sports Medicine Clinic. “Anything above the neck --- so if you’ve got a cold for example, a runny nose or a sore throat --- then you should probably cut down your exercise by half and do 50 percent of what you normally do.”
“If you’ve got anything below the neck, like muscle pain, joint pain or fever, you shouldn’t really exercise at all until those general symptoms settle down,” Lorenzo says. He points out that a cough would also fall into this more serious category. “For example, if anyone comes in with a fever and a runny nose, I’d tell them to stop exercising until the fever and the muscle ache settles. Then they can start their training again at 50 percent once all those symptoms settle, even if they’ve got a bit of a runny nose or a sore throat.”
“The reason we tell people to stop exercising is because if you exercise when you’re unwell it can make the illness worse and prolong it.” There is a second reason Lorenzo advises his patients to stop exercising when they have “below the neck” symptoms. In the event you have an illness which affects your heart, exercise can sometimes actually lead to death.
Lorenzo advises to take zinc (锌) and vitamin C as a way of preventing colds. But he admits that this is controversial --- some studies have shown that these supplements can improve immune function while other studies have cast doubt on the issue. The good news is that if you exercise regularly, you’re likely to improve your immune function. “If you exercise too much, it can predispose (使倾向于) you to coughs and sniffles,” he points out. This is often the case for excellent athletes who train every day, such as triathletes (铁人三项运动员). “But what we do know is that if you exercise at a moderate level, your immune system improves such that you’re probably at a lower risk of developing coughs and colds.”How many guidelines does Dr Lorenzo mainly suggest on doing exercises when people catch a cold?
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
How should people do exercises with a fever or a cough?
| A．They should probably reduce their training time by 50%. |
| B．They should stop exercising until they recover. |
| C．They should start exercising at 50% after their runny nose settles. |
| D．They should do half of what they normally do. |
What is the worst result if people don’t stop exercising when they are unwell?
| A．Worsening the illness. |
| B．Prolonging the illness. |
| C．Affecting the heart. |
| D．Bringing about threat to life. |
What can be proved from the last paragraph?
| A．Zinc and Vitamin C can help to prevent colds. |
| B．The more exercises we do, the stronger our immune function will be. |
| C．Doing exercises regularly can help us prevent colds. |
| D．Excellent athletes seldom get coughs or sniffles. |
What is this passage mainly about?
| A．Relationship between exercises and flu. |
| B．How to do exercises. |
| C．How to cope with flu. |
| D．When to do exercises. |