Hans was an honest fellow with a funny round good-humored face. Living alone, every day he worked in his garden. In all the countryside there was no garden so lovely as his. All sorts of flowers grew there, blooming in their proper order as the months went by, one flower taking another flower’s place, so that there were always beautiful things to see, and pleasant odors to smell.
Hans had many friends, the most devoted being the Miller. So devoted was the rich Miller to Hans that he’d never go by his garden without plucking a large bunch of flowers or a handful of sweet herbs, or filling his pockets with fruits. The Miller used to talk about noble ideas, and Hans nodded and smiled, feeling proud of having such a friend.
The neighbors thought it strange that the rich Miller never gave Hans anything in return, though he had hundreds of sacks of flour, many cows and sheep, but Hans never troubled his head about these, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to listen to all the wonderful things about the unselfishness of true friendship.
In spring, summer, and autumn Hans was very happy, but when winter came, and he had no fruit or flowers to sell, he suffered from cold and hunger. Though extremely lonely, the Miller never came to see him then.
“There’s no good in going to see Hans while the snow lasts.” The Miller said to his wife, “When people are in trouble they shouldn’t be bothered. So I’ll wait till the spring comes when he’s happy to give me flowers.”
“You’re certainly very thoughtful,” answered his wife, “It’s quite a treat to hear you talk about friendship.”
“Couldn’t we ask Hans up here?” said their son. “I’ll give him half my meal, and show him my white rabbits.”
“How silly you are!” cried the Miller. “I really don’t know what’s the use of sending you to school. If Hans came up here, and saw our warm fire, our good supper, and our red wine, he might get envious, and envy is a most terrible thing, and would spoil anybody’s nature. I am his best friend, and I’ll always watch over him, and see that he’s not led into any temptation. Besides, if Hans came here, he might ask me for some flour. Flour is one thing, and friendship is another, and they shouldn’t be confused. The words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things. Everybody can see that.” He looked seriously at his son, who felt so ashamed that he hung his head down, and grew quite scared, and began to cry into his tea.
Spring coming, the Miller went down to see Hans. Again he talked about friendship. “Hans, friendship never forgets. I’m afraid you don’t understand the poetry of life. See, how lovely your roses are!”
Hans said he wanted to sell them in the market to buy back his things which were sold during the hard time of the winter.
“I’ll give you many good things. I think being generous is the base of friendship.” said the Miller. “And now, as I’ll give you many good things, I’m sure you’d like to give me some flowers in return. Here’s the basket, and fill it quite full.”
Poor Hans was afraid to say anything. He ran and plucked all his pretty roses, and filled the Miller’s basket, imagining the many good things promised by the Miller.
The next day he heard the Miller calling: “Hans, would you mind carrying this sack of flour for me to market?”
“I’m sorry, but I am really very busy today.”
“Well,” said the Miller, “considering that I’m going to give you my things, it’s rather unfriendly of you to refuse. Upon my word, you mustn’t mind my speaking quite plainly to you.”
Poor Hans was driven by his friendship theory to work hard for his best friend, leaving his garden dry and wasted.
One evening Hans was sitting by fire when the Miller came.
“Hans,” cried the Miller, “My little boy has fallen off a ladder and hurt himself, and I’m going for the Doctor. But he lives so far away, and it’s such a bad windy night. It has just occurred to me that you can go instead of me. You know I’m going to give you my good things, so you should do something for me in return.”
“Certainly,” cried Hans. He struggled into the stormy night, and got the doctor to ride a horse to the Miller’s house in time to save the boy. However, Hans got lost in the darkness, and wandered off into a deep pool, drowned.
At Hans’ funeral, the Miller said, “I was his best friend. I should walk at the head of the procession.” Every now and then he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief. From the passage, we can learn that Hans ______.
A.was extremely wise and noble | B.admired the Miller very much |
C.was highly valued by the Miller | D.had a strong desire for fortune |
Hans worked a lot for the Miller because he ______.
A.was treated as a best friend by the Miller |
B.owed the Miller many valuable things |
C.was convinced of the Miller’s noble talk |
D.intended to show off his unselfishness |
What’s the main cause of Hans’ tragedy?
A.True friendship between them. | B.Blind devotion to a friend. |
C.A sudden change of weather. | D.A lack of formal education. |
The author described the Miller’s behavior in order to ______.
A.warn the readers about the danger of a false friend |
B.show the friendship between Hans and the Miller |
C.entertain the readers with an incredible joking tale |
D.persuade people to be as intelligent as the Miller |
List of winners of 71st Golden Globe Awards
FLIM Best Drama: "12 Years a Slave" Best Comedy : "American Hustle" Best Actor, Drama: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club" Best Actress, Drama: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine" Best Actor, Comedy : Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street" Best Actress, Comedy : Amy Adams, "American Hustle" Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club" Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle" Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity" Best Foreign Language Film: "The Great Beauty," Italy Best Original Song: "Ordinary Love," "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" |
TELEVISION Best Drama Series: "Breaking Bad," AMC Best Comedy Series: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," FOX Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad" Best Actress, Drama: Robin Wright, "House of Cards" Best Actor, Comedy: Andy Samberg, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" Best Actress, Comedy: Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation" Best TV Film : "Behind the Candelabra," HBO Best Actor,Television Movie: Michael Douglas, "Behind the Candelabra" Best Actress, Television Movie: Elisabeth Moss, "Top of the Lake" Best Supporting Actor, Television Movie: Jon Voight, "Ray Donovan" Best Supporting Actress, Television Movie: Jacqueline Bisset, "Dancing on the Edge" |
Who wins the best film comedy actor title at the 71st Golden Globe Awards?
A.Matthew McConaughey | B.Leonardo DiCaprio |
C.Amy Adams | D.Jared Leto |
If you want to see your favorite star Elisabeth Moss, you should watch________.
A.Blue Jasmine | B.Breaking Bad |
C.House of Cards | D.Top of the Lake |
Which of the following is the best TV film at the 71st Golden Globe Awards?
A.The Great Beauty |
B.Mandela:Long Walk to Freedom |
C.Behind the Candelabra |
D.Dancing on the Edge |
In today’s world of cellphones,mini laptops and MP3 players, most people have at least one time-telling tool with them. Since these devices are so common,is time running out for the 500yearold watch?According to some consumers,yes. New Jersey teenager Charlie Wollman says a watch is “an extra piece of equipment with no necessary function”.Many young adults agree—and use their cellphones to tell time. Louis Galie, a senior vice president at Timex,said that fewer young people wear watches today than five years ago. As a result, some people claim that the watch industry is at a crossroads.
However, watchmakers optimistically say that watches regain popularity when consumers reach their 20s and 30s.By then,they are willing to spend money on a quality timepiece that doesn’t just keep good time. Fifty years ago,watchmakers boasted about their products’ accuracy. But in recent years, the watch industry has transformed itself into an accessory business. And for many today, the image a watch communicates has become more important than the time it tells.
“Complications”—features that go beyond simple timekeeping—are an important part of a watch’s image. Today’s watches offer a lot of features that suit almost any personality. These features include altitude trackers, compasses,lunar calendars, USB drives, and even devices that measure the effectiveness of golf swings!
Creativity is also a key element in today’s watches. For example,Japanese watchmaker Tokyoflash makes watches that don’t even look like watches. The company’s popular Shinshoku model uses different color lights to tell time. It looks more like a futuristic(未来主义的)bracelet than a watch. Another Japanese watchmaker, EleeNo, makes a “handless” watch. Using a ring of circles to keep time, this watch makes an excellent conversation piece.
Whether a watch communicates fashion sense, creative talent or a love of sports, consumers want their timepieces to stand out. Nowadays,everyone has the same kind of gadget (小玩意儿)in their bags,so people want to make a statement with what’s on their wrists. Will this interesting wrist fashion last?Only time will tell!Why aren’t watches popular with young people as before?
A.Because watches cannot keep good time as cellphones, mini laptops and MP3 players. |
B.Because watches are featured by the disadvantages of simple function. |
C.Because watches are too expensive to afford. |
D.Because watches don’t have beautiful appearance as other modern timetelling tools. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 mean?
A.Watchmaking is facing a survival crisis challenge. |
B.Watchmaking is faced with the developing opportunity. |
C.Watchmaking becomes the sunrise industry. |
D.Watchmaking has a specific development target. |
It can be implied that ________.
A.people will gradually lose interest in watches as they grow older |
B.watchmakers scarcely change the development strategy for watches |
C.today’s watches are better than those in the past in quality |
D.customers used to be more concerned with the quality of a watch than with its image |
What’s the best title of the passage?
A.Watches and Teenagers | B.The History of Watches |
C.The Accuracy of Watches | D.Watches Tell More than Time |
As an American artist and writer of children’s books, Tasha Tudor’s art and nineteenth-century
lifestyle have fascinated adults and children for decades. She received many awards and honors for her contributions to children’s literature. When people talk about her creativity in artwork, she said, “I do it to support my dogs and my four children.” Her great publishing record, the number of magazine stories that have been written about her over the years, and her admirers have no effects on her at all.
Much of Tasha’s artwork and her reading are done in the wintertime. “I love winter. It’s delightful,” she says. “I don’t have to go anywhere because I work at home. If I’m snowed in, I can stay this way for months.” She hopes for early, deep snow to protect her garden from the hardship of the New England winter, and when it comes she puts on snowshoes when she needs to get down the mile-long dirt path that leads to the road.
Given her enjoyment of winter and her fantasy(梦幻)way of life, it’s not surprising that Tasha’s Christmas is a storybook holiday. She hangs flowers over the front door. Her tree comes from the woods, and it goes up on Christmas Eve, lit by homemade candles and decorated with her great- grandmother’s collection that dates from 1850. In a place of honor on the tree are large cookies cut into the shapes of her animals.
The grandchildren and friends get presents from Tasha’s old dolls; so do the animals and they have their own Christmas tree. “Of course, it’s a known fact that all the animals talk on Christmas Eve,” she has written. Small, handmade gifts fill a big wooden box.
At the end of each year, Tasha can look back and know that her life is perfect, that she has again ignored the twentieth century, and that the magic continues. And for the rest of us,here’s a bit of advice, Tasha style: “Nowadays, people are so restless. If they took some tea and spent more time rocking on the porch(门廊) in the evening listening to light music, they might enjoy life more.”Tasha loved winter because it allowed her to ________.
A.read stories to her grandchildren |
B.show her DIY snowshoes to kids |
C.stay indoors working during reading |
D.enjoy bicycle tiding along the path |
From the passage, we can learn that Tasha’s life is ________.
A.modern and fashionable |
B.simple and fantastic |
C.lonely and hard |
D.adventurous and inspiring |
Which of the following is TRUE about Tasha?
A.She cared little about fame. |
B.She created an animal fund. |
C.She wrote many stories for magazines. |
D.She bought presents for her relatives. |
In which section of a paper can you probably read the article?
A.Travel. | B.Sports. | C.Economy. | D.People. |
Girls who play with Barbie dolls tend to see fewer career options available to them, compared with the options available to boys, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University and the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz.
The study’s authors, psychology professors, Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen at UC Santa Cruz, describe their findings as significant. “This is one of the first studies to investigate how playing with sexualized dolls affects young girls, and also one of the first to look at the impact of such play on achievement or career aspirations (愿望), rather than body image,” said Zurbriggen. Sherman suggests that Barbie and similar dolls are part of the burden of early and inappropriate sexuality placed on girls.
Sherman and Zurbriggen used girls’ doll play to study the impact of fender role socialization, a process through which children learn to follow cultural norms and which encourages gender stereotypical(约定俗成的) behavior.
Thirty-seven girls from the age of four to seven from an Oregon college town were randomly arranged to play for five minutes with either a sexualized Doctor Barbie or Fashion Barbie doll, or with a more neutral (中性的) Mrs. Potato Head doll. The girls were then shown photographs of ten occupations and asked how many they themselves or boys could do in the future.
The girls who played with a Barbie doll saw themselves in fewer occupations, compared with boys. Those girls who played with Mrs. Potato Head reported nearly as many career options available for themselves as for boys.
The two Barbie dolls were the same except for clothing, with unrealistic bodies, extremely youthful and attractive faces, and long full hair. The researchers believe that the doll itself has more of an effect on girls than the role or career aspirations suggested by its costume.
“It’s significant that a few minutes of play with a Barbie doll had an immediate impact on the number of careers that girls saw as possible for themselves,” Zurbriggen said. “And it didn’t matter whether the Barbie doll was dressed as a model or as a doctor, suggesting that the doll’s sexualized shape and appearance might have more of an effect than whatever accessories (装饰品) are packaged with her.”Which of the following is TRUE?
A.Playing with dolls affects the academic performance of young children. |
B.Body image has a big influence on girls’ career options. |
C.Researchers used doll play to study the impact of gender role socialization on girls. |
D.Boys who played with a Fashion Barbie doll found more career options than girls. |
What is stressed in the second paragraph?
A.The method adopted by the study. |
B.The significance of the study. |
C.The purpose of the study. |
D.The process of the study. |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.Why Barbie dolls are the world’s best-selling dolls. |
B.That playing with Barbie dolls could limit girls’ career choices. |
C.What negative effects Barbie dolls have on young girls in the long term. |
D.That Barbie dolls make girls want to be thin. |
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is perhaps the most famous portrait in the world, but now some suspect that the woman with the mysterious smile may not be a woman after all. They are suggesting that the Mona Lisa may be a self-portrait, da Vinci in drag (女装).
Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage (INCCH) is carrying out the research. They think the artist, who died in 1519, was buried at a French castle and they plan to dig up his body. Using CSI-style technology, they want to rebuild da Vinci’s face. Jason Rosenfeld, a member of INCCH, says, “ It shows the reason why we preserved Einstein’s brain or King Tut’s mummy (木乃伊), which throws light on the problem we are working on.”
“Now we want to get the body of Leonardo. We want to see what he died of, we want to see his DNA, we want to see the size of his head, and what his facial feature were like, so we can know whether this was a self-portrait.”
The Mona Lisa was painted around 500 years ago. Beyond that, we know almost nothing about the painting that is now on display at the Louvre in Paris.
But will the exhumation (发掘) discover the truth behind the Mona Lisa? Not likely, according to Rosenfeld. “If the French government really wants to help find out what this is about, what they should do is allow us to clean the Mona Lisa. We will learn much more from it and understand it better if we are allowed to clean the painting than by digging up a body.”What can be learnt from the text?
A.The French government will be in charge of digging up da Vinci’s body. |
B.The INCCH will learn more if allowed to clean the Mona Lisa painting. |
C.The exhumation will help uncover the truth behind the Mona Lisa. |
D.The French government wants to help find out the truth. |
Which of the following is TRUE about the Mona Lisa?
A.It is now preserved in France. |
B.It is a self-portrait of da Vinci in drag. |
C.It has the same long history as King Tut’s mummy. |
D.It was painted in 1519. |
What’s the question that the INCCH is researching on?
A.What da Vinci died of. |
B.Whether da Vinci liked dressing in drag. |
C.Whether the Mona Lisa was painted by da Vinci. |
D.Whether the Mona Lisa is da Vinci’s self-portrait. |
What the underlined phrase, “ throws light on”, in the second paragraph mean?
A.Pays attention to. |
B.Makes people feel confident. |
C.Makes it possible for people to know. |
D.Draws people’s attention. |