As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(语气) of airy acceptance. It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound.
Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence(青春期). In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______.
| A．spend their free time |
| B．play golf and other sports |
| C．avoid doing their schoolwork |
| D．keep away from their parents |
What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?
| A．The activities in the woods were well planned. |
| B．Human history is not the result of exploration. |
| C．Exploration should be a systematic activity. |
| D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly. |
The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．calm | B．doubtful | C．serious | D．optimistic |
How does the author feel about his childhood?
| A．Happy but short. |
| B．Lonely but memorable. |
| C．Boring and meaningless. |
| D．Long and unforgettable. |
I got interested in the idea of standing desks about a year ago. The health advantages of standing instead of sitting for eight hours a day are clear, so when the company Ergotron invited me to review their WorkFit C-Mod Dual Desk, I jumped out of my chair---really.
After several hours putting the desk together, I finally got to try it out. The standing desk had a desktop that I could use for writing.
At first I absolutely loved it. Standing during the day instead of sitting was fantastic. Although I felt more tired after all that standing during the day, I knew the health benefits were worth the slight discomfort. However, after the initial novelty (新奇)of the desk wore off, I realized that I could not use it in the long term.
It was just not practical. While using the desk for a month , I could definitely foresee problems arising from using it full time.
I enjoy having a lot of things on my desk. The standing desk just did not have enough room for all of my things.
I can easily foresee awkward situations when I put that desk in an office space. When someone comes into your office, does your guest have to stand as well? If you office is big enough, maybe you have room for two chairs for you and a visitor, which is great. Yet for the ordinary worker in a small office, the standing desk creates a very awkward situation.
Additionally, the amount of money I would have to spend to replace my current workspace with a standing desk was another issue. The desks I have looked at were highly expensive.
Yes, spending the day standing can offset(抵消) many of the negative effects of too much sitting, but we humans are designed for movement. Through activity changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, you can easily increase the time you spend on your feet. Best of all, those options are completely free.When the author was asked to try the standing desk out, he was ____.
| A．excited | B．surprised | C．unhappy | D．uninterested |
When first using the standing desk, the author ___.
| A．thought it was boring | B．thought it was wonderful |
| C．felt less tired than usual | D．felt quite uncomfortable |
According to the author, a standing desk ____.
| A．takes up too much space | B．is suitable for long-term use |
| C．is cheaper than traditional desks | D．is impractical though good for health |
What does the author mainly tell us in the text?
| A．How to use the standing desk. | B．What he does during the workday. |
| C．His opinion on the standing desk. | D．The advantage of the standing desk. |
| HIGHFIELD COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL SCHOOL REPORT Form Teacher:G. Baker Pupil’s Name: Simon Watkins Term:Summer 2012 Form:Ⅳ B
FORM TEACHER’S REMARKS HEADMASTER |
According to the comments of the Physical Education teacher, Simon_______.
| A．is too talkative in the class |
| B．likes to work with his classmates |
| C．doesn’t exercise his body at the right time |
| D．becomes weak because he doesn’t exercise at all |
Which of Simon’s subjects will attract the headmaster’s attention in future?
| A．Biology and Maths. | B．History and French. |
| C．English and Chemistry. | D．Physics and Physical Education. |
Which of the following statements best describes Simon?
| A．He has made great progress in language classes. |
| B．His potential has been fully reflected in science classes. |
| C．His grade in maths makes him a born scientist. |
| D．He needs to improve his attitude on certain subjects. |
Based on the school report, which of the following statements is true?
| A．Simon didn’t bother his teacher to revise French. |
| B．Basically, Simon did a good job in science. |
| C．Simon is a determined learner in English. |
| D．Simon is able to pay attention to history for long. |
People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions about the word“mouth”. But some of them are not so nice. For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say “Do not bad mouth me.” Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because it hurts that people’s feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to. The speaker might say: “I really put my foot in my mouth this time”. If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth, In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing.
Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other.” How did you hear about that new movie?” someone might ask,” Oh, by word of mouth.” A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government –run media could also be called a mouthpiece.
Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: “You took the words right out of my mouth!” Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience “left a bad taste in my mouth”. Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say : “ I had my heart in my mouth.”The underlined words “ down in the mouth” in Paragraph One can be best replaced by _______.
| A．ashamed | B．regretful | C．satisfied | D．excited |
Which could be used to describe one’s fear?
| A．By word of mouth | B．Put one ‘s foot in one’s mouth |
| C．Take the words right out one’s mouth. | D．Have one’s heart in one’s mouth. |
The second paragraph of the passage mainly tells us _____.
| A．the meaning of two expressions | B．information from folk communication |
| C．information from official-run media | D．two different ways to get information |
The author writes the passage in order to _____.
| A．introduce some expressions | B．enjoy learning English |
| C．learn about English culture | D．use words correctly |
For Rachael and Leigh Badman, there is only one wish on their Christmas list this year__ that their sick daughter survives until December 25.
Fifteen –year-old Paige suffers from a rare brain condition. The disease affects as few as 12 people in the world, and can kill her any day without warning. And her condition has deteriorated in recent months. Each time she closes her eyes, she may never wake up. Rachael and Leigh Badman are worried that she couldn’t live through Christmas. They filled their house with Christmas decorations on November1, so she could enjoy her favorite day of the year in advance.
Paige was diagnosed with the condition four years ago. Mrs. Badman described the condition as “being on death row” as she never knows if she will wake up and still have a daughter. She said, “ Paige always loves Christmas and it’s heartbreaking to see her suffering like this.”
In the last months, Paige has been unable to eat and has never walked or spoken. But she loves music, and enjoys watching pop stars’ DVDs. And in May she also went on holiday to Florida with her parents and little brother, Kefton. The family , who have already organized parts of Paige’s funeral, also saw the teenager swimming with dolphins during the trip. Since then, however, her condition has worsened.
Mrs Badman, who is separated from her husband and works as Paige’s full-time carer, said, “Now she can’t eat or drink anymore, and her brain is shrinking.(萎缩) With all her problems, we just thought, ‘Let’s get the Christmas tree up as soon as possible.’ We’re praying she lives to see Christmas Day.”Paige’s parents got the Christmas tree up on November 1 to ____.
| A．let her enjoy the great time with visitors |
| B．let her understand her parents’ love |
| C．let her enjoy Christmas early before her death |
| D．let her receive more good wishes from others |
Mrs Badman described Paige as “ being on death row” because ______.
| A．Paige could die at any time without warning |
| B．she found Paige struggling painfully |
| C．she had organized Paige’s funeral |
| D．Paige lost the abilities to walk and speak |
The underlined word can be replaced by “_____”.
| A．proved satisfying | B．grown stronger | C．got improved | D．become worse |
What can be learned from the passage?
| A．Christmas is Paige’s favorite festival. |
| B．12% of children in the world suffer from the disease. |
| C．Paige enjoyed watching pop stars’ DVDs on a trip. |
| D．Paige travelled with her family before suffering the disease. |
Since the pre-historic times, man has had an urge to satisfy his needs. Be it hunger, shelter or search for a mate, he has always controlled the situations to his advantage. Probably this might be the reason why we humans are the most developed of all living species on the earth. As we climbed the steps of development, we somehow left behind common sense and logical thinking -- we forgot that we have stopped thinking ahead of time.
If you are hungry, what do you do? Get a piece of your favorite meal and stay quiet. Just like your stomach, even your mind is hungry. But it never lets you know, because you keep it busy thinking about your dream lover, favorite star and many such things. So it silently began to care about your needs and never let itself grow. When mind looses its freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop. This might be the reason why we all sometimes think "What happens next?", "Why can't I think?" "Why am I always given the difficult problems?" Well, this is the result of using our brain for thinking of not-so-worthy things.
Hunger of the mind can be actually satisfied through reading. Now why reading and not watching TV? Because reading has been the most educative tool used by us right from the childhood. Just like that to develop other aspects of our life, we have to turn to reading. You have innumerable number of books in this world which will answer all your "How to?" questions. The interesting part of the book is stored in your mind as a seed. Now this seed is unknowingly used by you in your future to develop new ideas. The same seed, if used many times, can help you link and relate a lot of things, of which you would have never thought in your wildest dreams! This is nothing but creativity. More the number of books you read, your mind will open up like never before.What is the function of the first paragraph?
| A．To show humans are the most developed. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| C．To indicate people have different needs to satisfy. |
| D．To explain why people need to read. |
What does the author mean by saying "When mind looses its freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop."
| A．When mind keeps growing, creativity fully stops. |
| B．When freedom is lost, creativity gets a full stop. |
| C．When mind stops growing, creativity fully stops. |
| D．When growing is lost, creativity gets a flail stop. |
The paragraph following the passage is probably about ______.
| A．how the pre-historic man feeds his mind |
| B．what other advantages reading brings |
| C．how to develop creativity |
| D．how to satisfy your mind by watching TV |
The author tends to tell us ______.
| A．reading can satisfy your all needs | B．reading can result from creativity |
| C．reading can feed your mind | D．reading can realize your dreams |