Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were not willing to work on farms along the Atlantic because they worried about the terrible storms that destroy buildings and crops. The farmer received a steady stream of refusals at the interview for a farmhand
Finally, a short, thin man approached the farmer. “Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him.
“Well, I can sleep when the wind blows. ” answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer ，the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm ，busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly from offshore. Jumping out of bed，the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled， “ Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they are blown away! ”
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows. ”
Enraged (激怒）by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot ,Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement，he discovered that all of the hay had been covered. The cows were in the bam，the chickens were in the coops，and the doors were barred The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down, Nothing could be blown away.
The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he also returned to his bed to sleep while the wind was still blowing.Why did the farmer constantly advertise for hired hands?
| A．Because he needed hired hands all. the year round. |
| B．Because there was too much work to do on the farm. |
| C．Because he could hardly hire a farmhand. |
| D．Because he offered poor conditions for the hired hands. |
The farmer felt amazed because _______
| A．the Little man was sleeping | B．everything was in safety |
| C．the wind was too strong | D．he could not open the doors |
What did the man mean by saying “I can sleep when the wind blows. ” ?
| A．He needed much sleep after working hard on the farm. |
| B．He was very brave and not afraid of wind |
| C．He enjoyed sleeping when the wind blew. |
| D．He would get everything done before the wind blew. |
Which of the following statements about the Little man is TRUE?
| A．He was not afraid of storms. |
| B．He was a heavy sleeper under any condition |
| C．He was hard-working and devoted to his work. |
| D．He was fired shortly after he tied everything down. |
Apple Seeds
Circulation（发行量） : 1 Year, 9 Issues
Cover Price: $44．55
Price For You: $33．95
Product Description: Apple Seeds is an award winning magazine filled with stories for kids aged from 7 to 9． The cover is very soft, providing durability（耐用性） that allows each issue to be enjoyed for many years to come． Besides, there is a big surprise for you --- it’s being sold at a more favorable discount than usual．
Better Life
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $44．55
Price For You: $15．00
Product Description: Designed for those who have a strong interest in personal lifestyle, Better Life is America’s complete home and family service magazine． It offers help with food, recipes, decorating, building, gardening, family health, money management, and education．
Humor Times
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $36．00
Price For You: $11．95
Product Description: Humor Times Magazine is for those who love to laugh! Full of cartoons and humor columns, it shows up in your mailbox once a month and keeps you smiling all year round! In today’s world, you need a reason to laugh． So let’s find it in Humor Times．
News China
Circulation: 1 Year, 12 Issues
Cover Price: $47．88
Price For You: $19．99
Product Description: News China Magazine is the English edition of China Newsweek． The magazine covers the latest Chinese domestic news in politics, business, society, environment, culture, sports and travels, etc． It is the first comprehensive news magazine for readers interested in China．What do we know about Apple Seeds?
| A．The soft cover enables it to be read and kept long． |
| B．It can be purchased as an award for your children． |
| C．It offers the biggest discount among all the magazines． |
| D．The magazine is going to surprise you for many years． |
Tom wants to beautify his house, so he may choose _________ ．
| A．Apple Seeds | B．Better Life | C．Humor Times | D． News China |
What kind of people may buy News China ?
| A．People who have an interest in personal lifestyle of the Chinese． |
| B．People who have a strong sense of humor and love to laugh． |
| C．People who want to enlarge the knowledge of their kids． |
| D．People who are interested in China’s politics, business and culture． |
Which magazine may best help relieve your work stress?
| A．Apple Seeds | B．Better Life | C．Humor Times | D． News China |
Jonny Jones was a nice and popular boy, who everyone loved．He was so much fun, so good and so kind to everyone that they treated him wonderfully. But as everything he needed was given to him without asking, Jonny became a weed. He was so spoiled by everyone that he couldn’t stand any hardship.
One day Johnny heard a mother saying to her son “Come on, my boy, get up and stop crying. You are behaving like Johnny Jones.” That made Johnny feel very ashamed. But he was sure that he would prefer to be known as a good boy rather than a fool. Worried, he spoke to his father about all this, though he was afraid that maybe he would be laughed at for having such worries. His father, far from laughing at Johnny, told him that a teacher had taught him a secret trick to turn him into the toughest boy off all. “Eat a candy less, study a minute more, and count to five before crying.” Johnny asked, “Just that? ” “Yes, just that,” said his father, “It’s very simple, but I warn you that it won’t be easy.”
Johnny was happy like a bird, ready to follow the advice. He went to see his mother, and she noticed how happy he was when she offered him candies. “One candy less”, thought Johnny, so he only took one. That afternoon he had another chance to put it into practice by studying one minute more. The result was that he missed the first minute of his favorite program! But having achieved this gave him a great feeling of satisfaction. The same happened when he ran up against the corner of the kitchen table. He only managed to count to four before crying, but that was left deeply in his mother’s memory.
Over the following days Johnny kept using the motto in his life as his father told him. And the more he put this into practice ,the easier it got. Before long he realized that he could also do things that would seem impossible before.The underlined word "weed" in the first paragraph refers to ____．
| A．a person with a strong v/ill |
| B．a person with a weak character |
| C．a person who isn't popular with everyone |
| D．a person who changes his behavior according to the situation |
What made Jonny Jones decide to change himself?
A．A mother's words． B．Others' attitude to him．
C．His father's advice． C．His teacher's warning．What is the key point of the advice from Jonny's father?
| A．Eat fewer candies than before． |
| B．Count to five before crying． |
| C．Talk with parents and follow their advice． |
| D．Learn to control oneself and keep using the motto in life． |
What message does the writer want to convey through the story?
| A．One should be brave to face his mistakes． |
| B．Nothing is difficult as long as you set your mind on it． |
| C．Spoilinga child too much may result in his selfish behaviors． |
| D．A strong will can be developed by small but consistent efforts． |
Angry Birds is a video game developed by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Mohile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple’s mobile operating system in December 2009.Since then, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple’s App Store.
With its fast-growing popularity worldwide, the game and its characters---angry birds and their enemy pigs---have appeared in television programs throughout the world. The Israeli comedy A Wonderful Country ,one of the nation’s most popular TV programs, satirized(讽刺) recent failed Israeli-Palestinian peace attempts by featuring the Angry Birds in peace negotiations with the pigs. Clips of the segment (片段)went viral, getting viewers from all around the world. American television hosts Conan O’Brien ,Jon Steward ,and Daniel Tosh have referenced the game in comedy sketches for their programs, Conan, The Daily Show, and Dash. O. Some of the game’s more famous fans include Prime Minister David Cameron of UK, who plays the iPad version of the game, and author Salman Rushdie, who is believed to be “something of a master at Angry Birds.”
Angry Birds and its characters have also been featured in advertisements in different forms. In March 2011,the characters began appearing in a series of advertisements for Microsoft’s Bing search engine. In the same year, Nokin produced an advertisement in Austin, Texas that included the game’s characters on a downtown building for its new mobile phone. Later, a T-Mobile advertisement filmed in Spain included a real-life mock-up(实物模拟)of the game in a city center .Nokin also used the game in Malaysia to promote an attempt to set a world record for the largest number of people playing a single mobile game.
Angry Birds has even inspired works of philosophical analogy（哲学类比）.A five-part essay with the title“ Angry Birds Yoga（瑜伽）---How to Eliminate the Green Pigs in Your Life” was written by Giridhari Dasar in Brazil ,utilizing the characters and game play mechanics to interpret various concepts of yoga philosophy. The piece attracted much media attention for its unique method of philosophical presentation.What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To explain how the video game Angry Birds was devised. |
| B．To investigated why Angry Birds has quickly become well-liked. |
| C．To introduce Angry Birds characters in TV programs and advertisements. |
| D．To report on the spread of Angry Birds in different media around the world . |
Which of the following is closed in meaning to the word “viral “in Paragraph 2?
| A．apparent | B．popular | C．exciting | D．disgusting |
According to the text, Which of the following persons is good at playing Angry Birds?
| A．Salman Rushdie | B．Conan O’Brien | C．Giridhari Dasar | D．Daniel Tosh |
Which of the following is TRUE about the use of Angry Birds according to the text?
| A．It has been used by UK Prime Minister to explain political issues. |
| B．Its characters are used in advertisements mainly for Apple’s products. |
| C．It has been developed into a film about the life of a Brazilian yoga master. |
| D．Its real-life mock-up has appeared in an advertisement for mobile phones. |
It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why．
First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things． It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing． If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”． Look around you． With very few exceptions, either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new．
Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning． Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb． When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work．
Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success． Why?
Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeeded． Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer．
But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences of a mistake． Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again．
We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem． Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate （分配） these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again． Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career．
There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough．”
So go forth and make mistakes． And learn． And grow． And prosper（成功）．From the second paragraph, we can conclude that _______．
| A．mistakes are unnecessary for development |
| B．we are afraid of trying new things |
| C．it’s common for people to make mistakes |
| D．mistakes are better than not trying |
The underlined word “eliminate” means _______．
| A．avoid | B．remove | C．accept | D．solve |
According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is．
| A．avoiding making the same mistakes |
| B．accepting the punishment willingly |
| C．taking consequences into account |
| D．trying things out one by one |
What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?
| A．Never mind, I can always try again． |
| B．I’d better stay out of trouble． |
| C．Ok! Now I can learn something． |
| D．Look at this mess． Anyone would be upset． |
The following are introductions to some programs that BBC I London will show on TV．
| 12:25 a.m. Tuesday |
The Real Swiss Robinson Family Laura worried that her children have had their life too easy due to her husband’s career in big business, so she decides to take her teenagers to the Cook Islands to experience the simple life．They face storms and a lack of food, but Laura is happy as their local guide shows them the island’s wealth of rare fruits and foods． |
| 11:00 a.m. Wednesday |
Orangutan Diary A team have come across an armed man who is holding two baby apes who were captures. One of them, David, is sent to a medical emergency in the forest．Later a center director, Nielsen, finds a suitable place to set free more rescued animals． |
| 7:50 p.m. Thursday |
Lost Buildings of Britain Simon Thurley visits the ruins of Glastonbruy Abbey（修道院），which , before its destruction by Henry VIII, was famous for some of the most amazing stained-glass of its age．It also had a great deal of financial power, acting as the center of an influential business empire．Eventually, it was the king’s envy of the abbey’s wealth that changed the abbey’s fate． |
| 10:35 p.m. Thursday |
Nigella Express Nigella presents ideas for impromptu（即兴的）cooking, from new recipes and suggestions for taking advantage of the food you have to make quick, simple and impressive meals． |
Why is Laura worried?
| A．Life on the Cook Islands is too simple. |
| B．Her husband faces difficulties in his business. |
| C．Storms are approaching her hometown. |
| D．Her children may not know how to cherish life. |
Jim enjoys TV programmes of people or organizations that take care of animals. He should probably watch TV at.
| A．10:35 p.m. on Thursday | B．7:50 p.m. on Thursday |
| C．11.00 a.m. on Wednesday | D．12:25 a.m. on Tuesday |
We can learn from the text that.
| A．David is a farmer |
| B．Henry VIII set up a business empire in the Abbey |
| C．Nielsen is an animal-lover |
| D．Glastonbury Abbey is famous today for its stained-glass |