Today just as technology changed the face of industry, farms have undergone an “agricultural revolution”. On the farm of today, machines provide almost all the power.
One of the most important benefits will be the farm computer. A few forward-looking farmers are already using computers to help them run their farms more efficiently. The computers help them keep more accurate records so they can make better decisions on what crops to plant, how much livestock to buy, when to sell their products, and how much profit they can expect. Many computer companies have been developing special computer programs just for farmers. Programs are being written for hog producers, grain farmers, potato farmers, and dairy farmers. In the future, farmers will be able to purchase computer programs made to their needs. Because of the growing importance of computers on the farm, students at agricultural colleges are required to take computer classes in addition to their normal agricultural courses. There can be no doubt that farmers will rely on computers even more in the future. While the old-time farm depended on horse power, and modern farms depend on machine power, farms of the future will depend on computer power.
Another technological advance which is still in the experimental stage is the robot, a real “mechanized hired hand” that will be able to move and, in some ways, think like a human being. Agricultural engineers believe that computer-aided robots will make startling changes in farming before the end of the century. Unlike farmers of the present, farmers of the future will find that many day-to-day tasks will be done for them. Scientists are now developing robots that will be able to shear sheep, drive tractors, and harvest fruit. Even complex jobs will be done by robots. For example, in order to milk their cows, farmers must first drive them into the barn, then connect them to the milking machines, watch the machines, and disconnect them when they are finished. In the future, this will all be done by robots. In addition, when the milking is completed, the robots will automatically check to make sure that the milk is pure. The complete mobilization of the farm is far in the future, but engineers expect that some robots will be used before long.Which sentence carried the main idea of the whole passage?
| A．The first sentence of the first paragraph. |
| B．The first sentence of the second paragraph. |
| C．The first sentence of the third paragraph. |
| D．The last sentence of the second paragraph. |
according to the passage, computers can not help farmers decide _______.
| A．how much money they can earn from their products |
| B．whether to plant a certain kind of crop |
| C．what livestock to raise |
| D．when to sell their products |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Farmers in the future will depend totally on computers. |
| B．Both computers and robots have been in use on today’s farms. |
| C．Farmers mainly use machines on their farms at present. |
| D．Students at agricultural colleges must take computer classes because they can do nothing without the help of computers on today’s farms. |
according to the engineers, _______will be done by robots in the near future.
| A．all farm work | B．milking cows |
| C．most of the farm work | D．some farm work |
What is the best title for the whole passage?
| A．Computer, Farmers’ Best Friend | B．Farmers in The Future |
| C．The Agricultural Revolution | D．Computers and Robots |
How Many Lies Do the Children Tell You?
Mothers who feel their children don' t appreciate them can add another grievance to the list: half the time, their children are lying to them. A study designed to expose the truth about lying shows that undergraduates lie to their mothers in 46% of their conversations. Still, mums should feel better than total strangers, who are told lies an astonishing 77 % of the time.
Bella Depaulo and a team of psychologists from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, asked 77 undergraduates to keep a record of all their conversations for a week, and write down whether they lied at any time. DePaulo named lying broadly, as "when you intentionally try to mislead someone", so she would catch the smallest of lies.
The students told an average of two lies a day. They said they had been studying when they had been out drinking. One told his parents that a textbook cost $50 rather than $20 so that they would send him extra money. Female students constantly told their plain-looking roommates that they were pretty. "They are everyday lies," says DePaulo.
DePaulo and her colleagues conclude that people tend to tell fewer lies to those they feel closest to. College students lied to their best friends 28% of the time but lied to acquaintances 48% of the time. In close relationships, people were more likely to tell "kind-hearted" lies, designed to protect feelings, rather than self-serving lies.
Romantic（浪漫的）partners lie somewhere between close friends and acquaintances. Students lied to romantic partners about a third of the time. DePaulo thinks that unmarried lovers can expect less honesty than best friends because of the insecurity that comes with romance.
Mothers can take heart from one other finding. They may have been lied to, but at least their children talked to them. The students were recorded telling few lies to their fathers because they had little interaction with them. What is the meaning of the underlined word "grievance" in Paragraph 1?
| A．opinion. | B．complaint. | C．belief. | D．difficulty. |
According to the passage, college students felt closest to ______ .
| A．mothers | B．best friends |
| C．acquaintances | D．romantic partners |
Female students lied to their roommates to.
| A．get money from them | B．offer them the services |
| C．gain more security | D．make them happy |
What is the purpose of this article?
| A．To present a fact. | B．To argue an idea. |
| C．To tell a story. | D．To explain a theory. |
Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water or mud. As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn't sure what to do. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate's sake （缘故）, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety seemed admirable. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.Why did the writer change his direction while walking down a path?
| A．To get close to a butterfly. |
| B．To look over the bad situation. |
| C．To escape a sudden attack. |
| D．To avoid getting his shoes dirty. |
What made the man feel funny?
| A．Making the attacker pause. |
| B．Being attacked by a butterfly. |
| C．Being stepped on by his mate. |
| D．Discovering the energetic butterfly. |
From this experience the man learned.
| A．what he should do when faced with trouble |
| B．people should show sympathy to the weak |
| C．how he should deal with attacks |
| D．people should protect butterflies |
Which of the following words can best describe the butterfly?
| A．Careless. | B．Amusing. | C．Courageous. | D．Aggressive. |
The world is filled with smart, talented, educated and gifted people. We meet them every day. A few days ago, my car was not running well. I pulled it into a garage and the young mechanic had it fixed in just a few minutes. He knew what was wrong by simply listening to the engine. I was amazed. The sad truth is, great talent is not enough.
I am constantly shocked at how little talented people earn. I heard the other day that less than 5 percent of Americans earn more than $100,000 a year. A business consultant who specializes in the medical trade told me how many doctors and dentists struggled financially. It was this business consultant who gave me the phrase, “They are one skill away from great wealth.”
There is an old saying that goes, “Job means ‘just over broke（破产）’.” And unfortunately, I would say that the saying applies to millions of people. Because school does not think financial intelligence is intelligence, and most workers live within their means. They work and they pay the bills. Instead I recommend to young people to seek work for what they will learn, more than what they will earn.
When I ask the classes I teach, “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald’s?”， almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald’s makes more money than you?” The answer is obvious: McDonald’s is excellent at business systems. The reason why so many talented people are poor is that they focus on making a better hamburger but know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. They focus on perfecting their skills at building a better hamburger rather than the skills of selling and delivering the hamburger.The author mentions the mechanic in the first paragraph to show that.
| A．he is just one of the talented people |
| B．he is ready to help others |
| C．he has a sharp sense of hearing |
| D．he knows little about car repairing |
The underlined part in the third paragraph can be best replaced by“”.
| A．spend more than they can afford |
| B．do in their own way |
| C．live in their own circle |
| D．live within what they earn |
Why do talented people earn so little according to the author?
| A．They don’t work hard enough. |
| B．They lack financial intelligence. |
| C．They don’t make full use of their talents. |
| D．They have no specialized skills. |
The success of McDonald’s lies in its.
| A．skills at making hamburgers |
| B．good business systems |
| C．talented workers |
| D．excellent service |
The main purpose of the author is to tell us.
| A．how young people can find a satisfactory job |
| B．what schools should teach students |
| C．why so many talented people are poor |
| D．how McDonald’s makes much money |
One is never too old to learn. Life learning (sometimes called un-schooling or self-directed learning) is one of those concepts that are almost easier to explain by saying what it isn’t than what it is. And that’s probably because our own schooled backgrounds have convinced us that learning happens only in a fine building on certain days, between certain hours, and managed by a specially trained professional.
Within that schooling framestudy, no matter how hard teachers try and no matter how good their textbooks, many bright students get bored, many slower students struggle and give up or lose their self-respect, and most of them reach the end of the process unprepared to enter into society. They have memorized a certain body of knowledge long enough to rush back the information on tests, but they haven’t really learnt much, at least of the official curriculum.
Life learners, on the other hand, know that learning is not difficult, that people learn things quite easily if they’re not compelled and forced, if they see a need to learn something, and if they are trusted and respected enough to learn it on their own timetable, at their own speed, in their own way—no matter what age and no matter whether we’re at school or at home.
Life learning is independent of time, location or the presence of teacher. It does not require mom or dad to teach, or kids to work in workbooks at the table from 9 to noon. Life learning is learner-driven. It involves living and learning—in and from the real world. It is about exploring, questioning, experimenting, making messes, taking risks without fear of making mistakes, being laughed at and trying again.
Furthermore, life learning is about trusting kids to learn what they need to know and about helping them to learn and grow in their own ways. It is about providing positive experiences that enable children to understand the world and their culture and to interact with it. It is implied in the text that it is hard to ___________.
| A．find a specially trained teacher |
| B．carry life learning through |
| C．learn without going to school |
| D．tell the nature of life learning |
. According to the author, the schooling framestudy often ____________.
| A．produces slow students with poor memories |
| B．fails to provide enough knowledge about life |
| C．ignores some parts of the official curriculum |
| D．gives little care to the quality of teaching materials |
Life learners recognize that learning will not be difficult if they are ____________.
| A．clear about why to learn |
| B．careful to make a time table |
| C．able to respect other people |
| D．cautious about any mistakes |
According to the author, life learning ___________.
| A．could be a road full of trials and errors |
| B．teaches a kid how to avoid being laughed at |
| C．makes a kid independent of his parents |
| D．could prevent one from running risks |
Through life learning, children ___________.
| A．will grow without the assistance from parents |
| B．will be separated from the negative side of society |
| C．will be driven to learn necessary life knowledge |
| D．will learn to communicate with the real society |
Yesterday I went to our local grocery store. I often go to their deli counter, and I understand that it can get a little confused for the workers. So normally none of them ever take the time to smile or seem overly friendly. But yesterday it was completely different. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a very welcoming smile by the young man behind the counter. He never sighed heavily or slumped back and forth like he didn’t want to be there. He was all by himself and quite a long line. But not once did he act concerned about it. He just did his job efficiently and acted very kind the entire time.
I was so impressed that I approached the manager. I explained to her that I often visit the deli counter and I have never been greeted with such kindness. She agreed with me that he was a wonderful person and she thanked me for sharing my feelings with her.
As I was walking away，I could hear her approaching the young man with，“I just got a wonderful compliment(praise) about you.” I couldn't hear everything she was saying，but I knew that she did thank him. I couldn't help but smile!
Later I had to pass by the deli counter to get onions. There was no one there，except the diligent young man. He didn't say anything，he just smiled at me. I realized that I hadn't done a huge deed that day，but that small deed made a small difference to someone．I love seeing people smile. I just received my smile cards and I wish I had one with me that day. Maybe I will drop one off at the deli a different day! It's amazing how good I felt after that.
So，friends，the next time you are in a grocery store，retail store，restaurant，or anywhere that someone is working hard，letting them know in some way can mean so much. I hope you get a smile out of it like I did! The passage is mainly about.
| A．friendship between the writer and a young man |
| B．the power of a simple compliment |
| C．a grocery store |
| D．a diligent assistant |
The writer found it was different yesterday because.
| A．the young man was very busy |
| B．the young man was concerned about so many customers |
| C．the writer was warmly greeted by a young man |
| D．the young man acted very kind all the time |
The writer approached the manager to.
| A．thank him |
| B．say hello to him |
| C．complain about the service |
| D．praise the young man |
The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 implies that the writer will .
| A．smile to others at the deli one day |
| B．give one card to the young man one day |
| C．drop in at the deli one day |
| D．go to the deli for a job one day |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Praising others' hard work means nothing. |
| B．Helping others is always rewarding. |
| C．We should never hesitate to praise hard-working persons. |
| D．Not all good deeds deserve praise. |