Steven Jobs, the designer of Apple Computer, was not clever when he was in school. At that time, he was not a good student and he always made troubles with his schoolmates. When he went into college, he didn’t change a lot. Then he dropped out(退学). But he was full of new ideas.
After he left college, Steven Jobs worked as a video game designer. He worked there for only several months and then he went to India. He hoped that the trip would give him some new ideas and give him a change in his life.
Steven Jobs lived on a farm in California for a year after he returned from India.
In 1975, he began to make a new type of computer. He designed the Apple Computer with his friend in his garage. He chose the name “Apple” just because it could help him to remember a happy summer he once spent in an apple tree garden.
His Apple Computer was so successful that Steven Jobs soon became famous all over the world.
He often said, “I live in order to change the world, there aren’t any other reasons. The only way to have a great achievement is to love your own career. If you can’t find your favorite career, go on looking for it and never give up.”
This is Steven Jobs, though he is dead, his spirit and achievements still influence our lives.Steven Jobs was not a good student in school because he ________.
A.never did his lessons | B.dropped out |
C.always made troubles with his schoolmates | D.he was full of new ideas |
Why did Steven Jobs go to India?
A.Because he wanted to be a video game designer. |
B.Because he wanted to get some new ideas. |
C.Because he wanted to make a new type of computer. |
D.Because he wanted to have a happy summer. |
Steven Jobs was famous for his ________ all over the world.
A.new ideas | B.Apple Computer | C.video games | D.saying |
From this passage we know Steven Jobs ________.
A.didn’t finish his studies in the college because he hated his schoolmates |
B.liked traveling in India and California |
C.liked trying new things and making his new ideas come true |
D.thought he had many reasons to live in the world |
Which of the following sentences is NOT true according to this passage?
A.The only way to have a great achievement is to love your career. |
B.The name “Apple” helped Jobs to remember a happy summer in an apple tree garden. |
C.If you can’t find the career you love, give it up and try another one. |
D.People remember Jobs because of his achievements. |
Once upon a time, there was a lovely vegetable field, on which grew a very thick tree. Both the vegetables and the tree gave the place a wonderful appearance, which was the joy of the garden’s owner. What no one knew was that the vegetables in the field and the tree couldn’t stand each other. The vegetables hated the tree’s shadow, because it left them only just enough light to survive. The tree, on the other hand, hated the vegetables because they drank nearly all the water before it could get to him, leaving him with just enough to survive.
The situation became so extreme that the vegetables got totally fed up and decided to use up all the water in the ground so that the tree would dry up. The tree answered back by refusing to give the vegetables shadow from the hot midday sun, so they both began to dry up. Before long, the vegetables were really thin and the tree’s branches were drying up.
Neither of them thought that the gardener, on seeing his vegetable field becoming worse, would stop watering it. When he did that, both the tree and the vegetables really learned what thirst was. There seemed to be no solution, but one of the vegetables, a small courgette(小胡瓜), understood what was going on, and decided to deal with it. Despite the little water and the unbearable heat, the little courgette did all he could to grow, grow... He managed to grow so big that the gardener started watering the field again. The gardener wanted to enter that beautiful big courgette in some gardening contest.
They should really learn how to live in harmony(和谐)with those around them, doing the best they could. So they decided to work together, and help each other instead of fighting, using both the shadow and the water in the best combination to grow good vegetables. Seeing how well they were doing, the gardener now gave the best of care to his vegetable field, watering it better than any other field for miles around.From the passage, we can learn____.
A.the gardener was very lazy |
B.the tree and vegetables grew very well at first |
C.the tree and vegetables got along well with each other at first |
D.the gardener was satisfied with his work on the garden |
The vegetables and the tree fought for____.
A.living space | B.the gardener’s attention |
C.attending the contest | D.their own good |
What drew the garden’s owner’s attention to the field again?
A.Some gardening contests. |
B.The fight between plants. |
C.The big and beautiful courgette. |
D.The wonderful appearance in the garden. |
What was out of the expectation of the tree and vegetables?
A.That the gardener stopped watering them. |
B.That the courgette understood what was happening. |
C.That they could live together. |
D.That they could take part in the contest. |
How can one live in harmony with others according to the passage?
A.By working together and helping each other. |
B.By learning to be thankful. |
C.By respecting others and oneself. |
D.By learning to stop being angry with others. |
Forgiving someone who has hurt you or let you down is never an easy thing. Several new studies, however, say that it could have a lot of health benefits. When you think of forgiveness, you probably don’t think of it as being a health or medical problem. Studies from Stanford University, on the other hand, show that something like anger can change your well-being.
When cartoon book characters like the Incredible Hulk get angry, they change colours and often gain special power. In the real world, anger is less obvious and may be more dangerous. That’s why Professor Fred Luskin, founder of the Stanford Forgiveness Project and author of Forgive for Good, says holding on to anger and hatred can harm your physical and mental health. Two new studies seem to show the same idea.
The studies find that people who are able to forgive feel less stress, less back pain, and less depression(抑郁). They also have fewer headaches, lower blood pressure, and fewer problems on sleeping.
So it doesn’t matter if your anger is caused by the traffic or other things. Learning to let it go is important. Techniques such as deep breath or thought can help. Or just ask yourself if it’s worth hurting yourself by staying angry with someone else.
Forgiveness does not mean that you simply accept what happened and say it’s OK. Instead, it’s a way of making peace with yourself about what happened in the past. The author of the passage tries to make his viewpoint clear__________.
A.by raising his own examples |
B.based on his own experience |
C.by mentioning some studies |
D.by mentioning some typical patients |
The example of the cartoon book characters is taken in the passage to__________.
A.support the viewpoint that anger and hatred harm physical and mental health |
B.introduce a famous expert |
C.let the reader know the different colours of cartoon faces |
D.show how to control one’s temper |
The underlined phrase“holding on to”in this passage possibly means“__________”.
A.removing | B.keeping up | C.getting rid of | D.learning about |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in this passage?
A.People who are able to forgive feel less stress. |
B.People who are able to forgive feel less depression. |
C.People who are able to forgive have fewer problems on sleeping. |
D.People who are able to forgive feel less tired. |
The best title for this passage is probably__________.
A.Forgiveness | B.Forgiveness Is Good for Health |
C.A Secret to Keeping Health | D.Anger Is Bad for Health |
My first visit to Angkor Wat(吴哥窟) was in 1980. The country had been at war for many years and the temple was deserted and falling to pieces. Plants were growing out of the roofs, and trees were growing in the courtyards.
Today, the temple is the scene of a busy repair program. A team of 15 Indian experts are organizing a workforce of 400 Cambodians, most of them women, who are cleaning, repairing and rebuilding parts of this temple.
As I walked through the courtyards, I noticed the Cambodian women devote hours to cleaning carefully a tiny area of stone. Boards are laid down to protect the precious painted stones while the repair work is going on. There are very few machines and little heavy equipment. Workers carry building materials in buckets at the end of long poles. Piles of stones lie in a corner of the courtyard, waiting to be replaced.
The work of cleaning the stones is watched over by three Indian chemists. It is a very slow task. First they clean the stones with brushes using buckets of a weak chemical. Then gaps between the stones are filled in. Finally another material is painted onto the stones which will protect them from water forever.
Work starts every day at 7 a. m. and goes on until late afternoon six days a week, with a break at midday.
Evening is the best time to visit the temple, after the tour groups have left. As the sun sinks lower, shadows spread across the courtyard. After sunset, the sky turns pink. The grey stone towers take on a golden color before turning pink. Nowhere else in the world can there be such a quiet, beautiful place.This passage mainly tells ________.
A.the poor look of the temple Angkor Wat in 1980 |
B.the history of the temple Angkor Wat |
C.the repair work being done to the temple Angkor Wat |
D.the difficulty in the repair work |
According to the author, which of the following plays the LEAST important role in the repair work?
A.The women workers. | B.The Indian workers |
C.Machines | D.Skilled workers |
The underlined sentence “the temple was deserted” possibly means that _______.
A.there was no one in the temple and it was in a poor state |
B.the temple was built on desert and nobody noticed it |
C.the temple was very old with a long history |
D.the temple was repaired by the Cambodians, most of whom women |
To clean the stone, how many steps should be followed?
A.Two | B.Three | C.Four | D.Five |
Which work needs a lot of time to do?
A.To get rid of certain types of plants. |
B.To carry the building materials. |
C.To replace the stones. |
D.To clean the stones. |
Two years after the First World War (1914-1918), a small group of soldiers left the army and returned to their hometown in France. Most of them lived well, but one of them was poor. His name was Clinton. Once a year they had supper in Barton’s house. Barton was very rich.
One evening Barton showed his friends a large gold coin at the supper table. The coin was passed around and praised by everyone. At the same time they were talking and talking. They soon forgot about the coin. After supper, Barton asked for his coin, but nobody could tell where it was. It was lost. One man said that everyone must be searched. One by one they turned their pockets inside out. Only Clinton refused, however.“I didn’t steal the coin, and I will not be searched,” he said.After that, people turned their heads away from Clinton when they met him. He grew poorer. Soon his wife died.
A few years later, Barton had his house repaired. The lost coin was found under the floor. Barton felt sorry and went to Clinton to apologize. “But,” he asked, “you knew the coin was not in your pocket. Why did you refuse to be searched?” “Because I was a thief,” Clinton answered. “My pockets were full of food at that time. I had taken some food from the table to carry to my hungry wife and children.” The story took place ________.
A.in 1920 | B.after 1945 | C.in 1950 | D.1916 |
The coin was passed and praised because ________.
A.Clinton was rich | B.the supper was good |
C.it was a large gold coin | D.they were happy |
Everyone was to be searched because _________.
A.they were thieves | B.the gold coin was lost |
C.Clinton stole the gold coin | D.they stole the gold coin |
Clinton refused to be searched because _________.
A.he was afraid to be found that there was some food in his pockets |
B.he didn’t steal the coin |
C.he was poor enough |
D.the gold coin was in his pocket |
“After that, people turned their heads away from Clinton when they met him.” From the sentence we know that _____.
A.people thought of him as a beggar |
B.people took no notice of him |
C.people look down upon him |
D.Clinton refused to see his friends |
One reaction to all the concern about tropical deforestation(毁林) is a blank stare that asks the question, "Since I don't live there, what does it have to do with me?"
The answer is that your way of life, wherever you live in the world, is tied to the tropics in many ways. If you live in a house, wash your hair, eat fruits and vegetables, drink soda, or drive a car, you can be certain that you are affected by the loss of tropical forests.
Biologically, we are losing the richest regions on earth when, each minute, a piece of tropical forest, the size of ten city blocks, disappears. As many as five million species of plants, animals, and insects (40 to 50 percent of all living things) live there, and are being lost faster than they can be found and described. Their loss is immeasurable.
Take rubber for example. For many uses, only natural rubber from trees will do. Synthetics are not good enough. Today over half the world's commercial rubber is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia, while the Amazon's rubber industry produces much of the world's four million tons. And rubber is an important material in making gloves, balloons, footwear and many sporting goods. Thousands of other tropical plants are valuable for their industrial use.
Many scientists strongly believe that deforestation contributes to the greenhouse effect -- or heating of the earth from increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As we destroy forests, we lose their ability to change carbon dioxide into oxygen.
Carbon dioxide levels could double within the next half-century, warming the earth by as much as 4.5 degrees. The result? A partial melt-down of polar ice caps, raising sea levels as much as 24 feet; even 15 feet could threaten anyone living within 35 miles of the coast. Unbelievable? Maybe. But scientists warn that by the time we realise the severe effects of tropical deforestation, it will be 20 years too late.
Can tropical deforestation affect our everyday lives? Now, you should have got the answer.The underlined word "synthetics" probably means_________.
A.natural rubber | B.tropical materials |
C.man-made material | D.commercial rubber |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?
A.The forests are losing their function in turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. |
B.Many of our daily uses are related to the tropical forests. |
C.Tropical plants can be used to make industrial products. |
D.High carbon dioxide levels will make the earth warmer. |
The author's attitude towards the tropical deforestation is _________ .
A.puzzling | B.cold | C.supporting | D.opposed |
Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
A.Tropical Forests | B.The Value of Tropical Forests |
C.Tropical Forests and Our Life | D.The Greenhouse Effects |