My friend Robert started a new job this week and he’s been in the training class for two days. The employer has a very strict dress code—dark blue shirts and pants.
On the first day, an older gentleman in his class did not have the proper clothes and he was strictly told that he would be fired if he didn’t have the right clothes the next day. He explained, “Sir, I had not been told about this. Because of my larger size, it’s sometimes difficult to find the right clothing for a price I can afford.”
Last night, Robert and I decided that this old man shouldn’t lose the chance of work simply because he couldn’t afford the clothes. I had some cash on hand and Robert took it with him this morning just in case it was needed.
When training started this morning, the trainer was ready to fire the older gentleman. “You have 10 minutes to be in proper clothes,” he was told. At this point, Robert spoke up and asked if he could have 10 minutes to get him the clothes. He then ran out to the store and bought the proper-sized pants and a shirt; he returned with both and gave them to the older man.
The older gentleman began to cry and told him that he couldn’t accept such a gift from a stranger. Robert told him he had to because he had lost the receipt(收据) and couldn’t return them—a little white lie. The pants were a perfect fit, the shirt was a bit tight but he was able to keep his job.
“My wife and I tried to gather together some money last night, but we didn’t have enough to buy the clothes,” he told Robert. “It’s unbelievable to me that anybody would do such a thing for only knowing me a day!”
More unbelievable is how good it has made Robert and me feel to do this.If the older man did not have the proper clothes, he would _____
| A．be punished | B．be offered another job |
| C．put off the training class | D．lose his job |
The money which was paid for the clothes belonged to _____
| A．the trainer | B．the older man |
| C．the writer | D．Robert |
How did Robert persuade the older man to accept the clothes?
| A．He told the older man that he would lose his job if he did not take them. |
| B．He told a lie that the clothes didn’t fit himself. |
| C．He told the older man that he could save money and return it later. |
| D．He told the older man that he had no way to send them back. |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Proper clothes for a stranger | B．Fight against strict rules |
| C．A strange employer | D．An unbelievable thing |
A patient came to see me about the stress in her life. She described all the things she had to do －one was to make her bed－from the moment she woke up until she flew out of the door for work. I suggested she experiment by not making her bed for two weeks. She was shocked, probably thinking I’d been raised by wolves in a forest. However, she went along with my idea.
Two weeks later she went into my office beaming. She had left her bed unmade for the first time in 42 years－and nothing bad had happened. “And you know what?” she said. “I don’t dry my dishes anymore, either.”
This woman had made two major breakthroughs (突破). One was discovering that she had choices in her life that she had never seen before. The other was giving herself permission to be less that perfect. This story shows an important principle (原理) about managing time: No one can do it all. Each of us has to make choices and accept trade – offs. The problem is, many people choose in ways that put themselves and their health last. They take better care of their houses and cars than they do of themselves. They put everyone else’s needs ahead of their own.
So what is the solution? There’s an easy way. Decide what you want in your life, and put that first. On a daily basis, that should include regular meals, enough sleep and time with your family. Exercise, leisure, friendships and hobbies should also be regular aspects of life. The point is to do something for yourself every day. The choice is yours: whatever makes you feel good about yourself and your life. Take a nap. Take a walk. Take time to play the piano. Stop bringing your briefcase home from the office. Stop keeping your house as clean as your mother kept hers. Fill more of your time with want – to – dos instead of have – to – dos.What is the solution to the problem of managing time?
| A．Doing more exercises every day. | B．Taking time to visit friends regularly. |
| C．Stopping making bed occasionally. | D．Doing what you want to do first. |
What does the word “beaming” in Line 1, Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．Worrying | B．Smiling | C．Depressed | D．Luckily |
What is the major problem of most people managing time?
| A．Most people do not take care of their health. |
| B．Most people put others’ needs ahead of their own. |
| C．Most people cannot keep balance on managing time. |
| D．Most people do not take time to relax themselves. |
What is the author’s attitude toward people’s problems in the passage?
| A．Matter – of – fact. | B．Negative. | C．Indifferent. | D．Worried. |
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| To Minneapolis/St. Paul And Back |
| Depart Arrive Depart Arrive |
| 9:15 a.m 10:52 a.m 6:20 p.m 9:30 p.m |
| To Phoenix And Back |
| Depart Arrive Depart Arrive |
| 9:15 a.m 12:25 p.m 1:10 p.m 9:30 p.m |
| To Boston And Back |
| Depart Arrive Depart Arrive |
| 10:00 p.m 10:53 p.m 7:30 a.m 8:30 a.m |
| All times are local. All flights to/off from Newark international Airport. |
This passage is most probably ______.
| A．a warning | B．a notice | C．an advertisement | D．an announcement |
If you want to fly to Boston soon after you come back from Minneapolis, you have to wait for _____.
| A．thirty minutes | B．one hour | C．one hour and a half | D．three hours and ten |
Suppose the price of flight ticket is 300 dollars to Phoenix, as a secondary school student, how much can you save after having chosen over a dozen US air discount fares?
| A．120 | B．150 | C．180 | D．225 |
According to this form above, ______.
| A．all flights from Newark leave in the morning |
| B．the flight to Phoenix takes three hours and ten minutes. |
| C．Flights to and from Boston take the same amount of time |
| D．It’s impossible to return from Phoenix and fly to Boston on the same day |
BEIJING, Feb 13 — Never has China’s economic growth attracted so much global attention. The shock waves from the financial crisis (危机) that started in the United States have spread across the entire world, sending developed nations, including Japan and those of Europe, into serious recession(衰退). The world is now holding out hope that China, with its massive potential, will serve as the engine to fuel global economic growth.
But China’s real economic growth slowed sharply to 6.8 percent in the October-December quarter. For China, this rate of economic expansion must be as disappointing as negative growth is for Japan. Beijing has set an official goal of achieving a minimum annual growth rate of 8 percent -- a pace it regards as important to ensuring job security.
The Chinese government is apparently confident the nation will achieve the minimum growth target of 8 percent in 2009. At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stressed the Chinese economy began to show signs of recovery late last year.
Last week, however, the International Monetary Fund predicted that China’s economic growth in 2009 will be 6.7 percent. China’s economic outlook is likely to keep both hope and anxiety for the time being.
China’s impressive economic growth has been fueled by swelling exports and massive investment (投资)in equipment to produce goods for overseas. But the US, Japanese and European economies, which have absorbed the bulk(数量) of China’s exports, are expected to shrink simultaneous（同时）in 2009, for the first time since the end of World War II. For the first time since it started serious efforts to turn itself into a market economy in the 1990s, China is facing the challenge of maintaining healthy economic growth without depending on external demand.
Expansion of domestic (国内的) demand holds a key to China’s success in tackling this challenge. Consumer spending accounts for only 35 percent of China’s gross (总的)) domestic product. The ratio(比率) is considerably lower than the 70 percent for the United States and the nearly 60 percent for Japan. That is because the middle class - the group that should lead consumer spending - is still relatively small in China, where the benefits of the nation’s strong economic growth in recent years have mostly eluded rural villages and low-income earners.According to the report, in the last quarter of 2008, China’s real economic growth was at least ______less than planned annual growth rate.
| A．6.7% . | B．6.8% | C．1.3% | D．1.2% |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The financial crisis has had bad effects on many countries including China. |
| B．China’s economic growth has been depending on exports. |
| C．If China intends to keep the same economic growth, it must increase goods for overseas. |
| D．Consumer spending in China is much lower than that of the US. |
The underlined word in the last paragraph probably means____.
| A．benefited | B．avoided | C．influenced | D．missed |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Economic change, the only hope for china. |
| B．China has attracted much global attention. |
| C．China, the engine to fuel global economic growth. |
| D．The financial crisis has influenced China’s economy. |
The United States is a sports-loving nation. Sports in America take various forms: organized competitive struggles, athletic games, hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal, so that what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year.
Baseball is the most popular sport in the US. It is played throughout the spring and summer, and professional baseball teams play well into the fall.
Football is the most popular sport in the fall. The game originated as a college sport more than 75 years ago. It’s not the same as European football or soccer. In American football there are 11 players as well on each team, and they are dressed in padded uniforms and helmets because the game is rough and injuries are likely to occur. It is still played by almost every college and university in the country.
Basketball is the winner sport in American schools and colleges. Like football, basketball originated in the US, many Americans prefer it to football because it is played indoors throughout the winter and because it is a faster game. And the famous NBA games are considered the best of this game.
Other sports attracting a great many people include wrestling, boxing and horse racing. Although horse-racing fans call themselves sportsmen, the exactness of the term is questionable, as only the jockeys who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators, who do not come primarily to see the horses race, but to bet upon the outcome of each race. Gambling is the attraction of horse racing.Baseball is so popular in America that some professional teams play it until ___________.
| A．spring | B．summer | C．fall | D．winter |
When playing football, American players are dressed in a special uniforms ___________.
| A．to avoid unexpected injuries |
| B．to play it like European football |
| C．to make the game rough enough |
| D．to look like professional players |
Many Americans prefer basketball to football because______.
| A．NBA games are very popular |
| B．it is originated in the US |
| C．it is much faster than football |
| D．it is played indoors throughout winter |
Horse-racing fans can’t be exactly considered as sportsmen because they ________.
| A．mainly stand and watch the races |
| B．don’t ride horse in the races |
| C．are only interested in the results |
| D．don’t care who wins in the races |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the last paragraph refers to _______.
| A．the person who bets upon the the race |
| B．the person who cares about horse-racing |
| C．the rider who enjoys watching the race |
| D．the rider who competes in horse-racing |
Another man-made wonder of the US was built long before the nation was established. About 900 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons（大峡谷）in Colorado, where 600 cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.
Visitors can stand at the top and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls.The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock, which connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms.
The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area; therefore, they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.
Our final man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space Needle was built as the central structure for the 1962 World’s Fair.
The 184-meter-tall structure was designed by Edward Carlson, which has a wide base on the ground, with its middle narrow and a large ring-like structure on top.The structure was meant to look like a “flying saucer,” a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories. The saucer includes an observation area and eating place.The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a 360 degree view of Seattle.
The Space Needle was not very costly, and was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World’s Fair.
Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.What can be talked about before the text?
A. American geography.
B. Touring in the USA.
C. Other US artificial wonders.
D. World natural wonders.The underlined word “dwelling” is closest in meaning to “________”.
| A．houses | B．people | C．canyons | D．steps |
The buildings in the rock stay almost unchanged because________.
| A．the weather there is severe |
| B．they were well built |
| C．people look after them well |
| D．the rock walls protect them |
Which is true of the Space Needle?
| A．It remains a symbol of the US. |
| B．Edward Carlson built the structure. |
| C．It has a ring-like structure on top. |
| D．It is a man-made wonder in Colorado. |
What is the best title of the text?
| A．Cultural Relics | B．Artificial Wonders in the US |
| C．Symbols of Cities | D．Natural Places in the US |