When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish (珍视) it like it’s the most precious thing in the world, because in some ways, it is.
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves.
And that’s only natural. Most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, and we should try to avoid mistakes. We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home, school and work. Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious（无意识的）reaction.
Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow. If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world. They make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible.
By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly.
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, and make works of genius possible.
Think about how we learn：We don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it. You don’t just read about painting，or writing，or computer programming，or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away. Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from observing usually...then you construct a model in your mind...then you test it out by trying it in the real world...then you make mistakes...then you revise the model based on the results of your real world experimentation...and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something. That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults. Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do. You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey. Most of the journey is made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey.
So if you value learning，if you value growing and improving，then you should value mistakes. They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible.Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?
| A．Because mistakes make us suffer a lot. |
| B．Because it’s a natural part in our life. |
| C．Because we’ve been taught so from a young age. |
| D．Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers. |
According to the passage, what is the right attitude to mistakes?
| A．We should try to avoid making mistakes. |
| B．We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes. |
| C．We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn. |
| D．We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction. |
The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph 6 probably means ________.
| A．a small child learning to walk |
| B．a kindergarten child learning to draw |
| C．a primary pupil learning to read |
| D．a school teenager learning to write |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．most of us can really grow from success |
| B．growing and improving are based on mistakes |
| C．we learn to make mistakes by trial and error |
| D．we read about something and know how to do it right away |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Value Mistakes | B．Mistakes Make Things Possible |
| C．Try to Avoid Mistakes | D．Life is a Journey Full of Mistakes |
When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault,” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down”. It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your workmate causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. You should accept the fact and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your workmate fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners also have some problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own abilities. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.According to the passage, winners.
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others |
| B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues |
| D．blame themselves rather than others |
The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _________.
| A．avoid | B．refuse | C．improve | D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should .
| A．find a better way to handle the problem |
| B．blame him for his lack of responsibility |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem |
| D．ask a more able colleague for help |
When problems occur, winners take them as
| A．excuses for their failures |
| B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues |
| D．chances for self-development |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Winner’s Achievement. | B．A Winner’s Problem. |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity. | D．A Winner’s Secret. |
An explosion on Thursday killed one and injured 21 in a busy street in Tongren, Southwest China’s Guizhou Province.
The bomb was hidden in a rubbish bin in the city’s commercial hub（商业中心），where lots of shops and restaurants are concentrated.
The ear-splitting blast was heard around 12∶50 p.m.，said a local newspaper, citing witnesses. The power of the blast（爆炸）shattered nearby shop windows and ripped the stainless（不生锈的）steel rubbish can to pieces.
One passer-by，identified（确认）only as Zhang，said she was shocked by the noise and saw a lot of pedestrians lying on the ground when she got to the scene.
Thirteen of the injured were taken to a local hospital after the explosion. A doctor there said five were in serious condition but already out of danger after emergency treatment. The others were just slightly hurt.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, said an officer with the Tongren police, but refused to speculate as to the cause.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．All the injured were taken to a hospital |
| B．8 of the injured were not taken to a hospital |
| C．The rubbish bin with a bomb was in a restaurant |
| D．The rubbish bin with a bomb was in a shop |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．One passer- by, saw a man throwing a bomb into a bin. |
| B．Some customers in restaurants were injured. |
| C．The writer didn’t get to the scene. |
| D．All customers in shops got hurt. |
In the last paragraph the underlined word“ speculate” probably means ________.
| A．tell | B．guess | C．discuss | D．talk |
What of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Bomb Hidden in a Rubbish Bin |
| B．The Cause of the Explosion |
| C．A Terrible Thing |
| D．Market Blast Kills 1 ,Injures 21 |
The passage probably comes from________.
| A．a newspaper | B．a diary |
| C．a story book | D．a survey |
Utopia is a perfect place. It is a place without war, hunger, poverty, or crime. It is a place where the people work together and share. There is no money in Utopia because the people do not need money. They do not have personal possessions because everything belongs to everyone. All of the people are equal in Utopia, and the laws are all fair.
Utopia is not a new place. Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, described a perfect society in his famous dialogue The Republic. In Plato’s Republic, philosophers were the kings, and every person had a place in the society. In 1516, Sir Thomas More wrote about an island in the Pacific Ocean where everything was perfect. He named the island
“ Utopia”. In 1602, Tommaso Campanella wrote The City in the Sun about a perfect community on the island of Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) ; and in 1872, Samuel Butler wrote a novel about a perfect country which he named “ Erewhon”. “ Utopia” is a Greek word that means “ not a place”, and “Erewhon” is the English word “ nowhere” spelled backwards.
Utopia is a perfect place, but it is not a real place. Most ‘real’ Utopias last only a short time. This is because everyone wants to live in it, but no one knows how to make it work. As a result, when we say something is ‘ Utopia’ today, we mean that it is a good idea, but it is not realistic.Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
| A．A place without war | B．A Good Idea |
| C．A Perfect Place | D．The Utopian Community |
The reason why there are no personal possessions in Utopia is that ______.
| A．everything belongs to everyone |
| B．the people don’t need money |
| C．all of the people are created equal |
| D．the laws are reasonable |
The idea of a perfect society was first suggested by ________.
| A．Plato | B．Tommaso Campanella |
| C．Samuel Butler and | D．Sir Thomas More |
“Utopia”is a word which came from _________
| A．English | B．Greek | C．French | D．Chinese |
According to the passage, most ‘real’ Utopias last only a short time because _______.
| A．no one wants to be a leader |
| B．no one knows how to make a perfect society |
| C．it is difficult to collect money |
| D．everyone wants to live in Utopia |
They should be Britain’s gilded (镀金的) youth, enjoying opportunities to study, travel and start exciting careers in a way older generations could only dream about. But instead they are the “Ipod” generation —“Insecure, Pressured, Over-taxed and Debt-ridden”—according to a study by a group of experts who provide advice and ideas on social issues.
“We thought that each generation would be better off than its predecessors (前辈),” said Professor Nick Bosanquet of Imperial College London, one of its authors. “But young people today have more duties and it is much more difficult for them to raise their incomes and create wealth. This really is a very big issue for the country.”
According to the report, today’s youth don’t have enough confidence and ability to build on the economic foundations created by post-war baby boomers (生育高峰期出生的人) . Because they are in debt, they are also reluctant to take risks. Levels of entrepreneurship (企业家精神) among Britain’s youth are lower than in America, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland and have fallen over the past decade. Many choose the jobs which offer a good amount of money after they retire. Others have to take any job that is available to try to pay off their debts.
“I borrowed a lot of money from the bank to pay for my education at university, which is the biggest chain around my neck now,” said Phil Grech, 22, from Cumbria, who has a degree in maths from the University of Reading. “I’m only doing a temporary job at the moment to pay the mounting bills. I haven’t really thought about the long term. Many people think that when you leave university you can get a good job, but it’s no longer like that.”
While older generations enjoyed higher education funded by taxpayers, young people today face university tuition fees and a decreasing “return” in the salary advantage they will get from their degrees.What is the text mainly about?
| A．Britain’s gilded youth. |
| B．The “Ipod” generation in Britain. |
| C．The challenges faced by the British today. |
| D．The career choices Britain’s youth have. |
What’s the biggest problem in Phil Grech’s life?
| A．Low income. |
| B．The debt. |
| C．Not having a good college degree. |
| D．Not having job opportunities. |
We can infer from the text that the “Ipod” generation __________.
| A．doesn’t have much determination |
| B．doesn’t want to have a full-time job |
| C．lives a harder life than the older generations |
| D．hasn’t realized the importance of saving money |
Which of the following words can best take the place of the word “reluctant” in the third paragraph?
| A．Unwilling. | B．Foolish. |
| C．Quick. | D．Sorry. |
Owning a smart phone may not be as smart as you think. They may let you surf the Internet, listen to music and snap photos wherever you are... but they also turn you into a workaholic (工作狂). A study suggests that, by giving you access to emails at all times, the all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone adds as much as two hours to your working day.
Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles. The study by technology retailer Pixmania, shows the average UK working day is between nine and ten hours, but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails, or making work calls. Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails. Some workers confess (坦白) they are on call almost 24 hours a day, with nine out of ten saying they take work emails and calls outside their normal working hours. Nearly two-thirds say they often check work emails just before they go to bed and as soon as they wake up, while over a third have replied to one in the middle of the night.
Ghadi Hobeika, marketing director of Pixmania, said, “The ability to access millions of apps, keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has made smart phones valuable for many people. However, there are drawbacks. Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and smart phones mean that people cannot get away from work. The more constantly in contact we become, the more is expected of us in a work capacity (容量).”The text is probably taken from __________.
| A．a scientific report | B．a financial report |
| C．a newspaper | D．a travel journal |
The underlined word “drawbacks” in the last paragraph probably means __________.
| A．disagreements | B．disadvantages |
| C．mistakes | D．features |
Ghadi may agree that __________.
| A．employees are supposed to be on call 24 hours a day |
| B．the ability to access many apps made smart phones worthless |
| C．smart phones might turn a person into a workaholic |
| D．people cannot get away from work without smart phones |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Smart phones are lengthening working hours. |
| B．Smart phones are becoming valuable for many people. |
| C．Britons work an additional 460 hours a year on average. |
| D．Smart phones are more beneficial to our life than we think. |