House buyers have three main choices: building from the ground up, moving into an old house or buying a new one. All the three are very different and should be considered carefully. Your budget will probably have the biggest effect on your choice. Comparing the three will help you make a good decision.
New houses are untouched and fresh, which means they can suit your personality and you know exactly where all of the materials come from. New houses won’t hold many unpleasant surprises, such as weak foundations, or other damaged areas. Most of these modern houses are also far more eco-friendly, with future decoration being just as easy to make and do as you like. Buying new houses is also a great way to save money, and you may find its benefit with the price going up in the future.
Some buildings, such as those that are rare or in certain areas, are of value over the years. Sometimes it is the history that draws more buyers into older houses. A famous person may have lived there, or an important event may have taken place in the house. This may not add any value to the house, but it can add to the attraction. There may be more repairs which will need to be done in the old houses,so before you think you’ve found a great bargain, be sure to get a careful inspection.
There are those who prefer building from the ground up. Building your own house can be a very rewarding, tiring, and expensive experience. While people have many expectations of planning and building their own houses, one thing is sure: it will take a while. There are always difficulties during construction, so you always find the construction time will be longer than your plan, not to mention the budget. Time can add up as well as materials and costs. Building is a good choice for those who are able and qualified.In Paragraph 2, the writer mainly tells readers _____.
| A．How to choose a good new house. |
| B．The benefits of buying a new house |
| C．Things to consider when they buy a house. |
| D．How to save money when they buy a new house. |
What does the writer suggest people do when they are buying an old house?
| A．Check whether the price is low |
| B．Check whether it is a rare house |
| C．Check carefully whether lots of repairs are needed |
| D．Check whether a famous person has lived in it |
The writer seems to believe that building a house of one’s own is ____.
| A．easy | B．costly |
| C．interesting | D．impossible |
What is the writer’s purpose in writing this passage?
| A．To encourage readers to build a house of their own |
| B．To explain why it is hard to decide what house to buy |
| C．To tell readers how to find a great bargain when they are buying a house |
| D．To help readers make a better decision when they are buying a house |
Many people influenced various aspects of my life, based on their personal characteristics, accomplishments, and values. I have been fortunate to have had numerous teachers and professors who I respect for their patience and intelligence. There are artists that have inspired me by their natural talents and original creativity. I value many political leaders, who have inspired me by their contributions to society, and their ability to change our futures. But of all the people I have known in my life, the person I admire most is my father.
As the youngest girl in my family, I always considered myself to be“Daddy’s little girl”. While I grew up, it always made me sad to see so many of my friends and neighbors without a father or father-like figure around. This helped me appreciate how my father always takes an interest in his children’s lives. In every aspect of my life my father continuously pushes me to excel, so I could accomplish my work outstandingly among my people. Whenever I feel like giving up, or have a question or a concern, I know I can always call on him for advice. From him I have also learned that sometimes you have to put others’ needs ahead of your own, but you should make sure you are not taken advantage of by others. His strength seems to be unbreakable during hard times, and he is extremely determined to accomplish anything he sets his mind on, no matter how tiny it is. I highly respect him for how he stands up for what he believes in, and will never back down. I have always admired his open mind, compassion(同情) for people, and sense of understanding. He is a very reserved(保留的) man, but to everybody’s surprise, he has a great sense of humor, and always knows how to put a smile on the faces of his wife, his children and his friends.
Living in his affection and instruction, I am very proud of my father. He also professes (声称) how proud he is of his children, and is still there to support us in whatever we are involved in.What is the best title for the passage?
| A．How my father loved me |
| B．My father—the person I admire most |
| C．I am the apple of my father’s eye |
| D．My father—the one who influenced me most |
Which of the following could not be used to describe the author’s father?
| A．Considerate and humorous. |
| B．Affectionate(慈祥的) and open-minded. |
| C．Knowledgeable and sociable. |
| D．Energetic and helpful. |
Which of the following can best explain the underlined word“excel”?
| A．Do better than others. | B．Show off. |
| C．Be cleverer than others. | D．Keep healthy. |
According to the underlined part, the father was telling the author to.
| A．try to be good to those who were worth making friends with |
| B．try to take advantage of those who were friendly to her |
| C．think about others and help them, so that she could make them serve her |
| D．think about others and help them, but not to be made use of in a negative way |
What can we infer about the author?
| A．She appreciated her father because he solved all the problems for her. |
| B．She considered her father humorous and was often made to laugh by him. |
| C．She had pity on the fatherless. |
| D．She was outstanding in work because her father pushed her hard. |
A man was on the side of the road hitchhiking(搭便车) on a very dark night in the middle of a terrible rainstorm, with no cars on the road. The storm was so strong that the man could hardly see a few feet ahead of him. Suddenly, he saw a car come towards him and stop. The man, without thinking about it, got in the car and closed the door and only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the steering wheel(方向盘)!
The car started to move very slowly. The man looked at the road and saw a curve(拐弯处) coming his way. Terrified, he started to pray, begging for his life. He had not come out of shock when, just before the car hit the curve, a hand suddenly appeared through the window and moved the wheel. The man, paralyzed with fear, watched how the hand appeared every time the car was drawing near a curve. Finally, although terrified, the man managed to open the door and jump out of the spooky(怪异的) car. Without looking back, the man ran through the storm all the way to the nearest town. In a state of complete horror, the man walked into a nearby bar and asked for two glasses of Scotch whisky.
Then, still shaking with fright, he started telling everybody in the bar about the horrible experience he just went through in the spooky car. Everyone in the bar listened in silence and became frightened, with hair standing on end, when they realized the man was telling the truth because he was crying and he was certainly not drunk!
About half an hour later, two other young men walked into the same bar and one said to the other,“Hey, there’s a stupid man who jumped into the car while we were pushing it!”When the car was first drawing near a curve, the man.
| A．felt very curious | B．was extremely frightened |
| C．cried for help | D．remained as calm as possible |
According to the passage, what made the man’s experience believable?
| A．His reasonable behavior. | B．His vivid description. |
| C．His simple appearance. | D．His honest attitude. |
We can infer from the passage that.
| A．it is unsafe for people to take a free ride |
| B．the man was telling a lie to his listeners |
| C．the car probably broke down on the way |
| D．the two young men were familiar with the man |
First lady Michelle Obama urged students to visit China at the “100,000 Strong” China Study Abroad Forum at Howard University.
President Barack Obama announced the “100,000 Strong” Initiative（十万强计划）during his 2009 visit to China. The program aims to increase the number of American students studying in China by making study abroad more affordable.
During the event at Howard, Mrs. Obama spoke about the importance of studying abroad. “Studying in a country like China is about so much more than just improving your own prospects（前途） in the global market. The fact is that with every friendship you make and every bond of trust you establish you are shaping an image of America projected to the rest of the world and making America known better.” she said.
Mrs. Obama encouraged students to set aside the opinion that studying abroad is for “rich kids only” or for those attending “certain schools”. The first lady also announced that the Chinese government is giving 10,000 “Bridge Scholarships” to cover costs for American students studying in China.
Some students who had studied in China shared their experiences. David Marzban from Pepperdine University recalled a time when he formed a cross-cultural bond with a complete stranger at a restaurant near Fudan University in Shanghai. He noticed a young chef signaling him to come over. “He pressed the play button on his media player and started singing California Dreaming and wanted me to sing along with him,” Marzban said. “At that time I knew a great friendship had started during my first two weeks in China.”
Nicole Baden from Howard University recalled how her time in China really helped her master the language. “You have to experience the culture while learning the language to really master it to understand why things are how they are compared to your own culture,” Baden said.
12-year-old Sarah Davis, who studied in China last summer, said she was very excited to hear Michelle Obama talk about the country. “I love Chinese. Out of all the languages I’ve learned, Chinese is the most difficult and interesting.” She said. According to the passage, the “100,000 Strong” Initiative ______.
| A．provides convenience for American students to study in China |
| B．was made by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 |
| C．got little support from the Chinese government |
| D．isn’t well-accepted among American students |
According to Mrs. Obama, ______.
| A．American students used to be unable to study abroad |
| B．Studying in China can make American students’ future better |
| C．the Chinese government will offer all the US students scholarships |
| D．American students’ studying in China helps improve the relationship between China and the US |
Three examples are given mainly to indicate that ______.
| A．American students are very popular in China |
| B．Chinese is the most difficult to learn in the world |
| C．Many US young people have actually been studying in China |
| D．American students’ studying in China is important and worthwhile |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．A great program for American students to study in China |
| B．Michelle Obama encourages students to study in China |
| C．More American students will go to China to study |
| D．China is attracting more and more American students |
That Upper class people generally have more educational opportunities, greater financial security, and better jobs than people from lower social classes, but that doesn’t mean they’re more skilled at everything. A new study finds, surprisingly, that lower class people are better at reading the emotions of others.
The researchers were inspired by observing that, for lower class people, success depends more on how much they can rely on other individuals. For example, if you can’t afford to buy support services, you have to rely on your neighbors or relatives to watch the kids while you’re busy.
One experiment researched on volunteers who worked at a university: some had graduated from college and others had not. Researchers used the educational level as an indicator（标志）for social classes. The volunteers did a test of emotion perception（感知）, in which they were instructed to look at pictures of faces and indicate which emotions each face was displaying. People with more education performed worse on the task than people with less education.
In another study, university students who were of higher social status had a more difficult time accurately（准确）reading the emotions of a stranger.
These results suggest that people of upper-class status aren’t very good at recognizing the emotions other people are feeling. This is because they remember their upper status and they think they can solve their problems without relying on others.
In the third experiment, people were made to feel that they were at a lower social class than they actually were, and they got better at reading emotions.
“The differences between upper-class people and lower-class people are not something ingrained（根深蒂固的）,” Kraus says. “It’s the cultural environment leading to them.” This work helps show that the traditional image of the classes is wrong. “It’s not true that a lower-class person, no matter what kind of person, is going to be less intelligent than an upper-class person. It’s all about the social environment the person lives in, and the specific challenges the person faces. If you can change the environment even temporarily, social class differences in lots of behaviors can be removed.”According to the passage, when lower-class people meet problems, they tend to ______.
| A．turn to others | B．work even harder |
| C．feel more frustrated | D．learn from upper-class people |
Why did people perform better in emotion perception in the third experiment?
| A．Because they became less independent. |
| B．Because they didn’t know they were cheated. |
| C．Because they felt they must ask for help from other. |
| D．Because they were made to understand lower-class people. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Upper-class people are not skilled at everything. |
| B．Upper-class people have trouble recognizing others’ emotion. |
| C．Lower-class people need to be given more employment opportunities. |
| D．There are many differences between upper-class people and lower-class people. |
When you need a job very much, you may end up taking one for which you are over qualified. Although you were initially grateful just to have the work, you now feel bored and depressed. Is there any way to change that?
Start by changing your opinion, says Caitlin Kelly, the author of Malled, a book based on her experience as a sales clerk after losing her job in journalism. “Don’t focus on what you’re not getting but what you are getting,” she says. “Be patient and work attentively with a wide range of people. It doesn’t matter what the job is –there are always things you can learn and skills you can develop.”
Hilary Pearl, the founder of a coaching firm, says, “Tell yourself the current situation isn’t the end of your career. Don’t overdramatize（过分夸大）the negative aspects but try to view the situation more philosophically: life has a series of stages, and this is one of them. Don’t forget to study even in the worst stage.”
Consider that because you’re overqualified, you may be able to learn or do things on the job that might not have been possible in a more demanding position, says Sarah Hathorn, the chief executive of Illustra Consulting. “You could spend your extra time in learning different aspects of the business and teaching others in the organization,” she says.
Is it possible to make your work more challenging, even if your job responsibilities aren’t likely to change?
Of course, you may seek tasks and responsibilities that force you to learn something new or to work harder. “You may be operating on autopilot（习惯性地）right now, but chances are that people above you are stressed,” Sarah Hathorn says. “Take things off your boss’s plate and let him know which projects or tasks you want to learn more about.”
Always express your request positively, saying that you love new challenges, rather than complaining that you’re bored and underused, says Ethun, the president of the Park Avenue Group. In your down time, educate yourself about the company and its industry. “Read corporate information, analyst reports and related news articles,” she says. “If your boss accepts your suggestions, it will make you a more valuable employee.”According to Caitlin Kelly, ______.
| A．one should be willing to do some small things |
| B．being a salesman is not as important as being a journalist |
| C．performing your regular duties well is important |
| D．doing a simple job well will bring you a sense of success |
What Hilary Pearl intends to express is that ______.
| A．work is just a stage of our whole life |
| B．the present job doesn’t matter to us in a long run |
| C．one should be satisfied with his present situation |
| D．one should look forward instead of complaining about the present situation |
The underlined words “take things off your boss’s plate” mean______.
| A．draw your boss’s attention | B．share your boss’s burdens |
| C．give your boss useful advice | D．ask your boss for a better position |
What is the common view about careers of the people mentioned in this passage?
| A．One should start his career from doing a simple job. |
| B．One should improve himself and help others as well. |
| C．One should keep learning new things to improve himself. |
| D．One should pay much attention to the relationship with the boss. |