Tom was ten years old, and he was a very lazy boy, He didn't like doing any work. He had to go to school of course, but he didn't study hard there and tried to do as little work as possible. His father and mother were both doctors and they hoped that their son would become one, too, when he grew up. But one day Tom said to his mother, "When I finish school, I want to be a dustman." "A dustman?" his mother asked, she was very surprised. "That's not a very pleasant job, why do you want to become a dustman?" "Because then I would only have to work one day a week." Tom answered at once. "Only one day a week?" his mother said, "What do you mean? and how do you know?" "Well", Tom replied, "I know that the dustmen who come to our house on work on Thursday, because I only see them on that day."What kind of boy was Tom?
A. Tom was a clever boy.
B. Tom was a boy who didn't like to work.
C. Tom was a boy who worked very hard.What did Tom say he wanted to be?
A. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who collected rubbish and emptied the dustbins.
B. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who taught the children at school.
C. Tom said that he wanted to be a person who worked in a hospital. Why did Tom think that dustmen only worked one day a week?
A. Because Tom heard of this.
B. Because one of the dustmen had told him before.
C. Because Tom had seen the dustmen only on Thursday at his house.
"BANG!" the door caused a reverberation (回声). It was just standing there, with Father standing on one side, and I on the other side.
We were both in great anger. "Never set foot in this house again!" stormed Father. With tears welling up in my eyes, I rushed out of the flat and ran along the street.
The street lights were shining, causing rather sad-feeling. I wandered aimlessly.
A young father who held a child in his arms walked past me. I felt as if I saw my childhood from another space: happy and carefree.
But now... I don't know whether it is because I have grown up or because Dad is getting old. We differ in our ways of thinking. He always puts his opinions and codes of behaviour on me. Whenever I do something wrong, he never admits it. We are just like two people coming from two different worlds. It feels like there is an iron door between us that can never be opened.
I wandered in the streets, without a destination in mind. My heart was frozen on this hot summer night. As I walked on there were fewer and fewer people on the streets, until I had only the street lights to keep me company. When I finally reached the high-rise apartment block in which I lived, I saw that the light was still on.
I thought to myself: "Is Father waiting for me, or is he still angry with me?"
In fact, it was nothing. Perhaps, Dad was throwing away some of his old stamps. Perhaps he thought they were useless. I never had the courage to tell him that I liked collecting stamps. I can't stand his outrageous (蛮横的) words: "I can't throw you away, let alone these old papers?"
All the lights were off except Father's.
Dad was always like this. Maybe he didn't know how to express himself. After shouting at me, he never showed any mercy or any moments of regret. After an argument he has the habit of creeping up (悄悄来到) in my sleep and then tucking me underneath the covers.
This was how he always was. He has been a leader for so long that telling everyone else what to do has become his second nature.
The light was still on. "Am I wrong?" I whispered, maybe... With the key in hand, I was as nervous as I had ever been. At last, I decided to open the door. As soon as I opened the door tears ran down my cheeks. I suddenly realized that the iron door that I had imagined between us did not exist (存在) at all. Love---is second to none.Decide which is the best order of the following according to what happened in the passage.
a. I opened the door and entered the house.
b. Sadly I ran out into the street.
c. I reached the place where I lived and saw my house still brightly lit.
d. I thought of my father's kindness towards me.
e. I walked about in the street without any aim.
A.b-e-d-c-a | B.b-e-c-d-a |
C.b-e-a-c-d | D.b-e-c-a-d |
What made the writer think of his childhood?
A.The sight of the street lights. |
B.The sight of the empty street. |
C.The sight of a father with a child in his arms. |
D.The sight of light in his own house. |
Why do you think the father often shouts at his son?
A.Perhaps the father is getting older and older. |
B.Perhaps the son has already grown up. |
C.Perhaps they never agree with each other. |
D.Perhaps the father has got used to doing that. |
What conclusion can you come to after reading the passage?
A.The father treats his son in an unfair way. |
B.The father is actually kind to his son. |
C.The father is neither kind nor cruel to his son. |
D.The father is always finding fault (过错) with his son. |
All the wisdom of the times, all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries, are easily and cheaply available to all of us in books, but we must know how to make use of this treasure. The unluckiest people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.
I'm very interested in people and finding out something about them. Some of the most amazing people I've met could only be found in a writer's imagination, then in his book, and then, again, in my imagination. I've found in books new friends and new worlds.
Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the writer's or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions (结论), and your ideas develop as you understand his.
Every book stands by itself, like a one-family house, but books in a library are like houses in a city. Although they are separate, in some way they are connected with each other. The same ideas, or related (相关的) ones, appear in different places; the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in books, but with different solutions (解决方法) according to different writings at different times. Books influence each other. They connect the past, the present and the future and have their own generations (age groups), like families. Wherever you start reading, you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas, and in the end, you not only find out about the world and the people in it, you find out about yourself, too.
Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be. If you concentrate on (专注于) books somebody tells you "ought" to read, you probably won't have fun. But if you put down a book you don't like and try another till you find one that means something to you, and then relax with it, you will almost certainly have a good time--- and if you become, as a result of reading, better, wiser, kinder, or more gentle, you won't suffer during the process.Which of the following ideas may the writer of this article agree with?
A.You will never meet amazing people in your life unless you read. |
B.You think actively instead of getting facts passively (被动地) when reading. |
C.You will get much delight (欣喜) from any book that you are told to read. |
D.You can relax yourself by reading because it needs little thinking. |
What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A.We can often find something connected with ourselves in books. |
B.Different writings at different times share the same characteristics. |
C.The same problems will appear in different books with similar solutions. |
D.Reading books which are written for your generation is more helpful to you. |
What's the writer's purpose of writing this passage?
A.To advise us to enjoy ourselves by reading. |
B.To encourage us to make full use of libraries. |
C.To encourage us to find out solutions in books. |
D.To advise us to discuss books with other people. |
Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The programme works because everyone's eyes are different. Therefore, in the future you won't have to remember a number when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You'll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.
The eye-recognition programme has already been tested in shops and banks in the USA, Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon this technology will take the place of all other ways of finding out who people are.
However, scientists are also working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We already have machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger.
Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don't change as you get older, and don't get dirty like hands or fingers, and even twins have different eyes. The eye-recognition programme can be up to 94% correct, depending on how good the technology is. However, some other programmes may only be 51% correct at present. In Britain, it was found that 91% of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.
In the future your computer will be looking at you in the eye. So smile!Where has the eye-recognition programme already been tested in a few countries?
A.In shops and banks. | B.In shops and schools. |
C.In banks and schools. | D.In schools and hospitals. |
We already have machines that can tell who you are from________.
A.your eyes or your smell |
B.your voice or the mark by your finger |
C.your face or your voice |
D.your face or your hand |
Which of the following doesn't belong to the advantages of the eye-recognition programme?
A.Your eyes don't change as you get older. |
B.Eyes don't get dirty like hands or fingers. |
C.Everyone's eyes are different, even twins have different eyes. |
D.We can't see anything without eyes. |
If you want to see a thing well, touching can help you to "see" it better.
Your eyes can tell you that a glass ball is round. But by holding it in your hands, you can feel how smooth and cool the ball is. You can feel how heavy the glass ball is. When you learn all these about the ball, you really see it well.
With your skin, you can feel better. For example, your fingers can tell the difference between two different coins in your pocket. You can feel a little drop of water on the back of your hand, too. You can even feel sounds against your skin. Have you ever wanted to know why some people like very loud music? They must like to feel the sounds of music.
All children soon learn what "Don't touch!" means. They hear it often. Yet most of us keep on touching things as we grow up. In shops, we touch things that we might buy. To see something well, we have to touch it. The bottoms of our feet can feel things, too. You know this when you walk on warm sand, cool grass or a hard floor. All feel different under your feet.
Most museums are just for looking. But today some museums have some things to touch. Their signs say, "Do touch!" There you can feel everything on show.
There are ways of learning to see well by feeling. One way is to close your eyes and try to feel everything that is touching your skin. Feel the shoes on your feet, the clothes on your body, the air on your skin.
If you want to see better, reach out and touch. Then you will really see!The underlined word "these" in Paragraph 2 refers to________.
A.a glass ball is round |
B.a glass ball is smooth and cool |
C.a glass ball is smooth, cool and heavy |
D.a glass ball is round, smooth, cool and heavy |
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.People don't have to learn to feel. |
B.Our skin may help us enjoy music. |
C.By touching things, we can learn more about them. |
D.We have to touch something in order to see it well. |
________ can be the best title of the passage.
A.Feeling by Seeing | B.To See or to Feel |
C.To See Better---Touch | D.Ways of Touching |
Blind imitation (模仿) is self-destruction. To those who do not recognize their unique worth, imitation appears attractive: to those who know their strength, imitation is unacceptable.
In the early stages of skill or character development, imitation is helpful. When I first learned to cook, I used recipes (菜谱) and turned out some tasty dishes. But soon I grew bored. Why follow someone else's way of cooking when I could create my own? Imitating role models is like using training wheels on a child's bicycle; they help you get going, but once you find your own balance, you fly faster and farther without relying on them.
In daily life, imitation can hurt us if we subconsciously (下意识地) hold poor role models. If, as a child, you observed people whose lives were bad, you may have accepted their fear and pain as normal and gone on to follow what they did. If you do not make strong choices for yourself, you will get the results of the weak choices of others.
In the field of entertainment, our culture glorifies celebrities. Those stars look great on screen. But when they step off screen, their personal lives may be disastrous. If you are going to follow someone, focus on their talent, not their bad character or unacceptable behaviors.
Blessed is the person willing to act on their sudden desire to create something unique. Think of the movies, books, teachers, and friends that have affected you most deeply. They touched you because their creations were motivated by inspiration, not desperation. The world is changed not by those who do what has been done before them, but by those who do what has been done inside them. Creative people have an endless resource of ideas. The problem a creator faces is not running out of material; it is what to do with the material knocking at the door of imagination.
Study your role models, accept the gifts they have given, and leave behind what does not server. Then you can say, "I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors" tragedies and stories, and know that they are cheering on. Imitation proves useful when you _____.
A.know you are unique |
B.lose the balance of life |
C.begin to learn something new |
D.get tired of routine practice |
To avoid the bad result of imitation, we should _____.
A.forget daily fear and pain |
B.choose the right example |
C.ask others for decisions |
D.stay away from stars |
The trouble a creator faces is _____.
A.the lack of strong motivation |
B.the absence of practical ideas |
C.how to search for more materials |
D.how to use imagination creatively |
What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?
A.To highlight the importance of creatively. |
B.To criticize the characters of role models. |
C.To compare imitation with creation. |
D.To explain the meaning of success. |