Thomas Edison was one of ten said to be the greatest genius of his age.There are only a few men in all of the history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light.But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius.“ There is no such thing as genius,”Edison said.He said that what people called genius was mostly hard work.
But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker..From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature.Nature, he often said,is full of secrets.He tried to understand them;then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.
Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.
Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “ Work,” he answered. “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Edison invented the electric light. |
| B．Many other people have changed Edison’s life. |
| C．Edison has changed the life of many other people. |
| D．Few men in history can change other people’s life. |
Edison thought __________.
| A．he could be happy if he was a genius |
| B．genius plays the most important part in one’s success |
| C．hard work could do better than genius |
| D．genius could do better than hard work |
Edison was __________.
| A．very much interested in nature |
| B．interested in discovering the secrets of nature |
| C．interested in changing people’s ideas |
| D．uninterested in making people happier by discovering the secrets of nature |
In Edison’s opinion, _________.
| A．thinking can supply people with enjoyment and pleasure as well as help |
| B．people’s successs lies mostly in genius |
| C．hard work is the second important thing in making people successful |
| D．there are few secrets for him to discover later |
The last sentence in the passage most probably implies _________.
| A．life is too short for Edison to invent more for human beings |
| B．Edison made 100 inventions in his life |
| C．Edison was able to live and work for 100 years |
| D．People of his time were ready to give Edison another 100 years’ work |
A company advertised in the newspaper for a sales position. Details of the requirements, salary and benefits were given. It was also clearly stated that applicants needed to take an aptitude test (能力倾向测试) and an interview. However, looking at the whole advertisement, one could not find any contact information of the company.
Most interested applicants thought that it was the company’s HR department’s carelessness or a printing error. They therefore waited patiently for the newspaper to publish an amendment(订正). But instead of waiting for the newspaper to publish the company details, another three applicants took the initiative(主动性) to find out the company’s contact information themselves.
Tim did a search on the Internet. By typing the company’s name, he easily obtained all the information including its contact number. Lisa called up the local telephone number search service and found out the company’s office number. She called up the office and got the required contact information. Donna put in a greater effort in her search. She remembered seeing a poster by the same company in the city so she drove all the way down and made a few rounds to search for it. She finally found it together with the company’s contact information.
Three days after that advertisement was published in the newspaper, most interested applicants were still waiting eagerly for an amendment. On the other hand, the application letters and resumes of Tim, Lisa and Donna had already reached the hands of the company’s HR manager. They were then called up for an interview. During the interview, all went well and immediately they were hired. The three of them were a little surprised at how fast things went on. They were expecting for an aptitude test as stated in the advertisement. The HR director answered them, smiling, “Our test is hidden in the advertisement itself. To be a good salesperson in this age, he or she has to be broad-minded and very importantly, does not follow rigid (死板的) steps or rules. You are all clever. In a short time, you’ve managed to find ways of contacting us. It shows clearly that you have passed the test with flying colors!”
The fools sit around waiting for their chances whereas the wise actively take actions with great initiative.According to the passage the company wanted to test the applicants’ ______.
| A．sales skills | B．carefulness | C．attitude | D．initiative |
Whose search skill is the easiest of all?
| A．Tim’s. | B．Lisa’s. | C．Donna’s. | D．None. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The HR manager of the company made a mistake. |
| B．The company meant to omit (遗漏) its contact information. |
| C．The HR manager of the company was unfit for his / her job. |
| D．A printing error occurred in the advertisement in the newspaper. |
Which of the statements is NOT correct according to the passage?
| A．Many applicants thought the company made a mistake. |
| B．The advertisement was very special to many applicants. |
| C．Whoever found the company’s contact information didn’t need to have an interview. |
| D．The company needed broad-minded and clever salespersons. |
The writer wants to tell us through this passage that ______.
| A．no contact information seen in an advertisement might not be the company’s mistake |
| B．applicants should be careful not to be fooled by the company’s advertisement |
| C．opportunity always belongs to whoever is active and broad-minded |
| D．there are many successful chances to be found in this age |
What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result of where and how you live? These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.
We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm muscle. It needs exercise. Mental exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child psychologists (心理学家) think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent. If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely to become dull and unintelligent.
Parents should also be careful with what they say to young children. According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive things to their children, such as “That was a very clever thing you did.” or “You are such a smart child.”The words “intelligent” and “brilliant” in the first paragraph probably mean _______ while “dull” in the second paragraph means ________.
| A．bright and splendid; slow in thinking and understanding |
| B．pretty and handsome; ordinary-looking |
| C．great and important; common |
| D．hopeful and helpful; careless |
According to the context we can guess that a genius is ________ while an idiot is ________.
| A．a normal person; a funny person |
| B．a strong person; a weak person |
| C．a highly intelligent person; a foolish or weak-minded person |
| D．a famous person; an ordinary person |
A person ________ is more likely to become a genius.
| A．whose parents are clever |
| B．often thinking about difficult problems |
| C．often helped by his parents and teachers |
| D．born with a good brain and putting it into active use |
It is better for parents ________.
| A．to praise and encourage their children more often |
| B．to be hard on their children |
| C．to leave their children alone with nothing to do |
| D．to give their children as much help as possible |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?
| A．Parents play an important part in their children’s growth. |
| B．The less you use your mind the duller you may become. |
| C．Intelligence is obviously the result of where and how you live. |
| D．What makes a person bright or stupid is still under discussion. |
O. Henry was a pen name used by an American writer of short stories. His real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in North Carolina in 1862. As a young boy he lived an exciting life. He did not go to school for very long, but he managed to teach himself everything he needed to know. When he was about 20 years old, O. Henry went to Texas, where he tried different jobs. He first worked on a newspaper, and then had a job in a bank, when some money went missing from the bank. O. Henry was believed to have stolen it. Because of that, he was sent to prison. During the three years in prison, he learned to write short stories. After he got out of prison, he went to New York and continued writing. He wrote mostly about New York and the life of the poor there. People liked his stories, because simple as the tales were, they would finish with a sudden change at the end, to the reader’s surprise. In which order did O. Henry do the following things?
a. Lived in New York. b. Worked in a bank. c. Travelled to Texas.
d. Was put in prison. e. Had a newspaper Job. f. Learned to write stories.
| A．e. c. f. b. d. a | B．c. e. b. d. f. a | C．e. b. d. c. a. f. | D．c. b. e. d. a f. |
People enjoyed reading O. Henry’s stories because
| A．they had surprise endings | B．they were easy to understand |
| C．they showed his love for the poor | D．they were about New York City |
O. Henry went to prison because .
| A．people thought he had stolen money from the newspaper |
| B．he broke the law by not using his own name |
| C．he wanted to write stories about prisoners |
| D．people thought he had taken money that was not his |
What do we know about O. Henry before he began writing?
| A．He was well-educated. | B．He was not serious about his work. |
| C．He was devoted to the poor. | D．He was very good at learning. |
Where did O. Henry get most material for his short stories?
| A．His life inside the prison. | B．The newspaper articles he wrote. |
| C．The city and people of New York. | D．His exciting early life as a boy. |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life--style of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because ‘Jones’ is a very common name in the United States.’ Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are ‘Jonses’ in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbours |
The underlined word neighbourhood in the second paragraph means ________.
| A．a person who lives near another | B．people living in an area |
| C．an area near the place referred to | D．an area in another town or city |
Arthur Momand used the name ‘Jones’ in his series of short stories because’ Jones’ is ________.
| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbour’s name | D．not a good name |
According to the writer, it is to keep up with the Joneses.
| A．correct | B．interesting | C．impossible | D．good |
Have you ever had the strange feeling that you were being watched? You turned around and, sure enough, someone was looking right at you!
Parapsychologists (灵学家) say that humans have a natural ability to sense when someone is looking at them. To research whether such a “sixth sense” really exists, Robert Baker, a psychologist (心理学家) at the University of Kentucky, did two experiments.
In the first one, Baker sat behind unknowing people in public places and stared at the backs of their heads for 5 to 15 minutes. The subjects（受试者）were eating, drinking, reading, studying, watching TV, or working at a computer. Baker made sure that the people could not tell that he was sitting behind them during those periods. Later, when he questioned the subjects, almostall of them said they had no sense that someone was staring at them.
For the second experiment, Baker told the subjects that they would be stared at from time to time from behind in a laboratory setting. The people had to write down when they felt they were being stared at and when they weren’t. Baker found that the subjects were no better at telling when they were stared at and when they weren’t.
Baker concludes that people do not have the ability to sense when they’re being stared at. If people doubt the outcome of his two experiments, said Baker, “I suggest they repeat the experiments and see for themselves.” The aim of the two experiments is to________.
| A．explain when people can have a sixth sense |
| B．show how people act while being watched in the lab |
| C．study whether humans can sense when they are stared at |
| D．prove why humans have a sixth sense |
The underlined word “outcome” in the last paragraph most probably means________.
| A．value | B．result | C．performance | D．connection |
In the second experiment, the subjects _________.
| A．could tell when they were stared at and when they weren’t. |
| B．could tell when they were stared at but couldn’t tell when they weren’t. |
| C．couldn’t tell when they were stared at but could tell when they weren’t. |
| D．couldn’t tell when they were stared at or when they weren’t. |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．People are born with a sixth sense. |
| B．The experiments support parapsychologists’ idea. |
| C．The subjects do not have a sixth sense in the experiments. |
| D．People have a sixth sense in all places. |