If you could see a movie of your life before you lived it, would you want to live it? Probably not. The excitement of living is that you don’t know what’s coming.
Sure, it’s hard to see uncertainty in such positive（积极的）light when you’re out of work, or when you feel like you’re failing. But uncertainty is really another word for chance.
When Allison graduated from Harvard, she had chances all over the place but had no idea what she wanted to do. She took a job in consulting（咨询）, but she knew she wouldn’t stay there. She took the GRE and scored so high that she was able to increase her income（收入）by teaching students. Still, she didn’t think she wanted to go to graduate school. Allison knew she wasn’t doing what she wanted, but she didn’t know what she wanted.
She worried. All her friends were going to graduate school or starting their own businesses. She was lost and felt that she would never find anything out. After six years, Allison, by having a general（全面的）plan in mind, got married, moved to the Midwest, and used her consulting experience to get a great job. Allison realized that she spent her years finding her way: time well spent, and time we must all take if we’re being honest with ourselves.
The only way to lead an interesting life is to face uncertainty and make a choice. Otherwise your life is not your own—it is a path someone else has chosen. Moments of uncertainty are when you create your life, when you become who you are. Uncertainty usually begins with a job hunt, but it doesn’t end there. Every new role we take on means another round of uncertainty. Instead of fearing it, you should find some ways to deal with uncertainty. From the first two paragraphs, we can learn that .
| A．being out of work is a sad thing |
| B．uncertainty is what makes life interesting |
| C．life in a film is more exciting than real life |
| D．chance never appears when we need it |
What troubles Allison after graduation?
| A．She couldn’t find a well-paid job. |
| B．She had no money to start a business. |
| C．She was not sure what to do. |
| D．She didn’t score high enough for graduate school. |
How did Allison feel about her six years’ working experience?
| A．Uncertain. | B．Amazed. | C．Sorry. | D．Satisfied. |
What may be discussed in the following paragraph?
| A．How to deal with uncertainty. |
| B．What role uncertainty plays in life. |
| C．Why people fear uncertainty. |
| D．Whom to go to when facing uncertainty. |
Wearable gadgets (可穿戴设备) are usually high-tech equipment, which are so small that people can wear on heads or wrists.
Google Glasses is such kind of wearable gadget. It has attracted the world’s attention since being tested this year. Users can take videos and broadcast live on the Internet. There is also a GPS system in the glasses. So if you get lost you can say “OK，Glasses, where am I?” Then it will tell you where you need to go. It sounds cool, doesn’t it?
Don’t forget Galaxy Gear from Samsung, a Korean company. It is just the tip of the iceberg. This smart watch looks like a normal watch but much lighter. But Galaxy Gear needs to connect with a Samsung Smartphone or tablet (平板电脑). Its short battery life of 25 hours also disappoints (使…失望) users.
With all kinds of wearable gadgets coming into real life, it seems that wearable equipment is becoming more modern and popular. Indeed, unlike smart phones, wearable gadgets are more convenient (方便的). Their biggest advantage is that they can do most of the same things as smart phones, yet they are hands-free.
However, wearable gadgets also have their own problems. Some people are not sure whether wearing a gadget is cool. Unless you know about it, you may just think there are many crazy people talking to their wrists.
Perhaps only time will tell how these gadgets will change our lives.
阅读短文，用恰当的词完成下面的信息。
Wearable gadgets can be on heads or wrists. Google Glasses and Galaxy Gear are some of them. People can make calls or take pictures, or even receive e-mails without
their hands more. So they can
young people’s attention. Galaxy Gear is
to a normal watch but much lighter. Some people may not be
with it not only because of its short 25-hour battery life, but also because it needs a connection with a Samsung Smartphone or tablet.
Think stars don’t move? Think again! When you look at the sky at night, the stars may appear to stay in the same place. But stars are always on the move—they are just so far away that the movement is hard to see.
But some stars move in ways that appear to be strange to be real. In 2005, astronomer Warren Brown found one of these space oddities(奇特). It was located on the outer edge of the Milky Way, the galaxy(星系) we live in. The star was speeding away like nothing he’d ever seen. “It seemed unbelievable. No star in the galaxy has a speed like that,” Brown remembers. “I thought, oh my goodness, I have something kind of special here.”
No one had ever seen a star like this one. What does a scientist do when the results don’t make sense?
Brown didn’t give up. Instead, he kept looking. And he kept finding more of these strange and speedy stars, called hypervelocity stars. Hyper means “above” and velocity has to do with speed. He and his team just found six more of these “above speed” stars, bringing to the total of 16. And, he says, he’s found even more, and is just waiting for the scientific community to confirm them.In 2005, astronomer Warren Brown found___________.
| A．a star was speeding away very fast. |
| B．a stars was moving away very slowly. |
| C．some stars were not real. |
| D．some stars were not in the Milky Way. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Stars never move at all. |
| B．No star in the galaxy has a fast speed. |
| C．It’s hard to see the stars moving. |
| D．Brown has never seen something special. |
The underlined word “hypervelocity” in the last paragraph probably means”_____”.
| A．匀速的 | B．超速的 | C．超重的 | D．超常的 |
The writer writes this passage to tell us____________.
| A．something about an astronomer. |
| B．where the Milky Way is |
| C．something about the speedy stars. |
| D．how scientists do their research |
Anybody can learn to count fast if he knows the secret of following trick.
Ask your friend to write any five-figure (五位) number on the blackboard. Then you write your five-figure number under it. You choose your figures so that each one with the figure above it will make nine.
Tell your friend to put a third five-figure number under your number. Then you write a fourth number in the same way. After he has written the fifth number, you draw a line under it and quickly write the sum.(总和). You may even write it from left to right..
How do you do it ? You take away two from the fifth number and put two in front of your answer. Is it interesting?If your friend’s number is 76815, your number must be_____________________.
| A．23184 | B．54613 | C．93184 | D．99999 |
How many six-figure numbers are there on the blackboard at last?
| A．Three | B．One | C．Five | D．Four |
If the fifth number is 49834, the sum will be_____________________.
| A．249834 | B．298344 | C．298342 | D．249832 |
You cannot go without a pencil when writing or drawing something. You have probably noticed letters H and B printed on your pencils．What，for example，do HB，2H or 3H mean?
Those are letters showing the hardness of the lead(铅)or graphite(石墨)in a pencil．H refers to hard lead．The bigger the Arabic number before the letter H，the harder the lead，and the lighter will be the colour. The hardest pencil has 6H on it．Such pencils are often used in making engineering drawings．People seldom write with them．B stands for soft lead．The bigger the number before the letter B，the softer the lead，and the darker will be the colour, the softest being the 6B pencil．Such pencils are favoured by artists．
The HB pencil has a lead core(中心部分)that is neither too soft nor too hard．Its colour is medium in its blackness．It is most suitable for ordinary(平常的)writing and drawing．The number that goes before the letter H shows_________．
| A．the model of the pencil |
| B．the factory where the pencil is made |
| C．how hard the pencil is |
| D．how long the pencil lasts |
A4B pencil is _______ than a 3B one．
| A．harder | B．softer |
| C．better | D．more expensive |
According to the passage，an HB pencil is best for people like_________．
| A．students | B．artists |
| C．printers | D．engineers |
【2012年湖北黄冈】Going on holidays is best choice for the Europeans to relax themselves, especially in the UK. However, much has changed during the past decades(几十年).
One of the most traditional British holidays was the “seaside holiday”. Families got on a train or into a car and traveled to seaside towns nearby to sunbathe on the beach, buy ice-creams and eat fish and chips and so on.
In the late 1970s, more and more British people started traveling to other countries in Europe for their summer holidays (July-August) because the weather wasn’t very good, even in summer. The “package holiday” was particularly popular with most families.
In the 1980s and 1990s, young people in the UK became wealthier, so many of them traveled to countries all over the world for their holidays.
These years, especially after the world financial crisis(金融危机), most British people can not afford to spend their holidays abroad. They again begin to choose to stay in their own home and go on a few day trips rather than spending money on hotels. They call this sort of vacation a “staycation”.
任务：请阅读上面短文，根据短文内容完成下面表格中的有关信息。
| Time |
Kind of holiday |
Reason |
| Before the late 1970s |
It was a tradition. |
|
| In the late 1970s |
Package holiday |
|
| Overseas holiday |
Young people became wealthier. |
|
| These years |
The world financial crisis. |