I love it at night. It’s peaceful. And when it cools down I sometimes do some ironing. I don’t really care for it. I work full-time and am too busy for most housework. I remember the old woman who taught me to iron(熨烫). I was about 15 and somehow got a live-in job taking care of a woman who had been an able-bodied, healthy woman until the accident that caused her to be paralyzed.
The woman had an electric wheelchair. She could move her head and arms but not her hands or fingers. She had this clamp（夹子）attached to her arm and I’d have to open it and put a cup or a pencil in it and then she could move it. She would tell me how to do things. She would instruct me in great detail on the correct way to do things. Her home was perfect and beautiful. She would follow me around in her electric wheelchair to make sure I did everything exactly right. I’m sure she had been a perfect homemaker. She would have me fold everything, including socks and pillow cases. I would complain silently and wish terrible things on her. She taught me the right way to make the bed and tuck the corners. I know sometimes she’d get frustrated and impatient with me. I knew she wanted to grab it and do it herself. But she never yelled or scolded. Only she insisted I do it right. I didn’t like it much, but I did it.
Today I can iron pretty well. I know where to start on a shirt, the right way to do the collar and sleeves. Now that I think about it, I don’t think she is an old lady. I think she might have been about my age now. Anyway, when I iron, I think of her and silently thank her for all the things I learned. From the passage we can infer that the writer of the passage now is ________.
| A．a housewife | B．a full-time worker |
| C．a clothes maker | D．a college student |
The writer used to take care of the lady because ______.
| A．she wanted to earn some money while sleeping and eating there |
| B．she wanted to learn how to do housework |
| C．she was a relative of the disabled woman |
| D．she had to do something in return to the lady for her kindness |
When the lady taught the writer how to do housework, the little girl was ______.
| A．careful to learn | B．eager to learn |
| C．forced to learn | D．unwilling to learn |
What’s the writer’s attitude towards the lady now?
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Fearful. | C．Thankful. | D．Hateful. |
Instagram is a fast，beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family．Take a picture or video，choose a filter to transform its look and feel．and then post to Instagram—it's that easy．You can even share to Facebook．Twitter and more．It’s a new way to see the world．So many photos of food are contained on Instagram—now a pop-up diner in London is taking advantage of this new trend by letting people settle the bill for their meals simply by uploading photos of their dishes to social networks．
I always thought people’s taking pictures of their food was kind of silly, but at this new pop-up restaurant in the UK，I’d probably do it too．“The Picture House”is the world’s first pay-by-photo restaurant—you order， click a photo of the food，share on Instagram and eat for free!
The restaurant belongs to frozen food giant(巨人)Birds Eye，who came up with the idea to cash in on people’s addiction with photographing food and sharing the pictures online. They conducted a survey and found out that more than half of the British population regularly took pictures of their meals．So they realized it was a better way to advertise their new dining range．
The pop-up diner was open in Soho，London for three days in May，and is now moving to other major UK cities．They serve two-course meals that customers don’t have to pay for, if they photo and lnstagram it．
The restaurant is a part of Birds Eye’s“Food for Life”campaign，a new marketing project that aims at changing the way people look at frozen food．“Taking photos of food enables people to show off and to share their mealtime moments—from the everyday to the special，”said marketing director Margaret Jobling．
The reaction to The Picture House has been great so far And the pay-by-picture concept has proven to be an effective way．Alternative payment methods are actually gaining popularity among a lot of businesses．Last year in a cafe in Germany customers pay by how much time they spend there，not by what they eat．Instagram probably is______．
| A．a restaurant free of chmge |
| B．a campaign of“Food for Life’’ |
| C．a program used to share photos |
| D．a new marketing project |
What’s the author’s attitude to this new trend?
| A．Confused | B．Unconcerned |
| C．Opposed | D．Interested |
“The Picture House”encourages sharing photos of its food to_____．
| A．raise the price of frozen food |
| B．attract more customers |
| C．create a new social media trend |
| D．reward the regular customers |
Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage?
| A．Pay by Picture | B．The Pop-up Diner |
| C．No Need to Pay | D．Food for Life |
At the age of ten I could not figure out what this Elvis Presley guy had that the rest of us boys did not have．I mean，he had a head，two arms and two legs，just like the rest of us．About nine o’clock on Saturday morning I decided to ask Eugene Correthers，one of the older boys，what it was that made this Elvis guy so special．He told me that it was Elvis’wavy hair and the way he moved his body．
About half an hour later all the boys in the orphanage(孤儿院)were called to the main dining-room and told we were all going to downtown Jacksonville，Florida to get a new pair of Buster Brown shoes and a haircut．That is when I got this big idea，which hit me like a ton of bricks. If the Elvis hair cut was the big secret，then that’s what I was going to get．
A11 the way to town I told everybody, including the matron(女管家)from the orphanage who was taking us to town，that I was going to look just like Elvis Presley and that I would learn to move around just like he did and that I would be rich and famous one day, just like him．
When I got my new Buster Brown shoes, I could hardly wait for my new hair cut and now that I had my new Busier Brown shoes I would be very happy to go back to the orphanage and practice being like Elvis.
We finally arrived at the big barber shop，where they cut our hair for free because we were orphans(孤儿)．I looked at the barber and said，“I want an Elvis hair cut. Can you make my hair like Elvis?”I asked him，with a big smile on my face．“Let's just see what we can do for you，little man，”he said．I was so happy when he started to cut my hair．Just as he started to cut my hair, the matron signed for him to come over to where she was standing．She whispered something into his ear and then he shook his head，like he was telling her“No”．Then he told me they were not allowed to give us Elvis hair cuts．Then I saw my hair falling onto the floor．In the author’s eyes，Elvis Presley was_________．
| A．disgusting | B．admirable |
| C．ambitious | D．dynamic |
From the passage，we can know that______________．
| A．Buster Brown was more appealing than Elvis Presley |
| B．An Elvis hair cut cost the orphans a lot of money |
| C．The matron did not want the boy to have an Elvis hair cut |
| D．The barber was unwilling to give the boy an Elvis hair cut |
We can learn from the underlined sentence that the boy was______．
| A．excited to have an Elvis hair cut |
| B．worried to think about the secret |
| C．anxious to remove the ton of bricks |
| D．careful to seize the chance |
How would the boy probably feel when he walked out of the barber shop?
| A．Delighted． | B．Guilty． |
| C．Self-satisfied． | D．Depressed． |
I have two sons. They are as different as night and day. My youngest is sweet, loveable, easy-going, and finds joy in everything. My oldest we’ve nicknamed the “Evil Genius” is ambitious, self-confident, and suffers no fools.
Whenever we mentioned Santa my husband and I were rewarded with major eye rolling and deep sighs from my oldest. At first we both tried to ignore it.
We both knew that our eldest had figured out the big secret. But I’d be damned(指责) if he was going to ruin it for his six-year-old brother who had plenty of Santa-loving years ahead of him. I looked at my husband in the eye and said, “I’ll handle this.” to which he responded “Okay just be careful because I’m not sure he knows - he might just be acting like it.” But I knew. And I had it in my mind that he was about to break his younger brothers spirit and break the news to him. I was afraid he was going to take the Christmas spirit away from my sweet innocent youngest and stamp all over it. I had to protect him. I needed to control this now before it got out of control. I rushed into the play room where my oldest was playing alone. I looked him dead in the eyes and said: “Well you know Santa isn’t real, right?” And as I stared at my eight-year-old son for what seemed like a long time of silence, his eyes started to fill with tears. And a tear dropped down his cheek when he screamed out, “He’s not?”
“Um well it’s not that he’s not real (shut up you idiot- stop saying he’s not real), but he doesn’t really make and deliver all the toys. Dad and I get some of them for you. So he’s real. He’s just got a little help from us.”
The Evil Genius wasn’t buying it. He just sat there looking at me with an expression of doubt.
You know when you make a terrible mistake but you can’t stop yourself from making it worse? That was me because I just had to know. I had to know why he had seemed to be over Santa. So I asked him why he rolled his eyes and sighed every time his father and I mentioned Santa, to which he replied that kids at school had been saying Santa wasn't real but that he still thought he was.What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Two different sons |
| B．Santa secret given away |
| C．Protecting one, ruining the other |
| D．Making a mistake worse |
What did the writer conclude when “Evil Genius” rolled his eyes and sighed?
| A．“Evil Genius” had discovered Santa was not real. |
| B．“Evil Genius” had broken the secret to his younger brother. |
| C．“Evil Genius” had passed his Santa-loving years. |
| D．“Evil Genius” had been influenced by his classmates. |
What does the underlined sentence mean in the passage?
| A．“Evil Genius” refused to buy toys. |
| B．“Evil Genius” didn’t believe his mother’s words. |
| C．“Evil Genius” wanted to keep silent. |
| D．“Evil Genius” would not give away the secret. |
What lesson can we learn from the story?
| A．Lies can never change facts. |
| B．Honesty is the best policy. |
| C．No one is perfect. |
| D．We should think twice before we act. |
“People are ruder today because they are rushed and more ‘time poor’ than ever before,” says Patsy Rowe, “ Manners have fallen off the radar(雷达).” Due to our strong attraction to electronic equipment it is a wonder that more people don’t wake up each morning and greet the singing birds with complaining about the noise. Here are some examples of rudeness.
Some people prefer to do almost everything over the Internet. To them, dealing with an actual human is like an evolutionary step backward. It feels very slow because humans don’t work at 4G speeds. When you have dinner with friends, you will often notice someone paying more attention to his mobile phone. We have programmed ourselves to think that every new message brings life-changing news, so taking calls and checking our texts are more important than talking to the people we are with. What is worse, some people even tend to send anonymous（匿名的）rude messages by email.
However, rudeness is never acceptable. Don’t assume it is OK to be rude if the person you’re in touch with won’t recognize you. If you have something awful to say, have the courage to face the person and say it, write a letter or email and sign it, or forget it. Upsetting people with unsigned messages is cruel and disgusting.
We shouldn’t blame technology for our shortcomings. Technology is here to help us, but we should not allow it to take over our lives. An important step is acknowledging our shortcomings. People spend a lot of time pointing out bad manners but it would be even more helpful if we’d publicly acknowledge good manners when we see them.What can be inferred from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1?
| A．People can tell good from bad behavior. |
| B．Radar is able to observe human behavior. |
| C．People care little about their behavior. |
| D．Radar can be used to predict human behavior. |
Some people are less willing to deal with humans because__________.
| A．they are becoming less patient |
| B．they are growing too independent |
| C．they have to handle many important messages |
| D．they have to follow an evolutionary step backward. |
The author thinks sending unsigned awful messages is ___________.
| A．Ridiculous | B．disgusting |
| C．acceptable | D．reasonable |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．We should applaud good behavior. |
| B．Technology can never be blamed |
| C．We should keep pointing out mistakes. |
| D．Technology will take over lives one day. |
Death is natural, but do you have any idea of the process of dying? Modern scientists divide the process of dying into two phases --- clinical or temporary death and biological death. Clinical death occurs when the vital organs, such as the heart or lungs, have ceased to function, but have not suffered permanent damage. The organism can still be revived(复活). Biological death occurs when changes in the organism lead to the “breaking up” of vital cells and tissues. Death is then unchangeable and final.
Scientists have been seeking a way to prolong the period of clinical death so that the organism can remain alive before biological death occurs. The best method developed so far involves cooling of the organism, combined with narcotic sleep. By slowing down the body’s metabolism(新陈代谢), cooling delays the processes leading to biological death.
To illustrate how this works, scientists performed an experiment on a six-year-old female monkey called Keta. The scientist put Keta to sleep with a narcotic. Then they surrounded her body with ice-bags and began checking her body temperature. When it had dropped to 28 degrees the scientists began draining blood from an artery. The monkey’s blood pressure decreased and an hour later both the heart and breathing stopped: clinical death set in. For twenty minutes Keta remained in this state. Her temperature dropped to 22 degrees. At this point the scientists pumped blood into an artery in the direction of the heart and started artificial breathing. After two minutes Keta’s heart became active once more. After fifteen minutes, spontaneous(自发的)breathing began, and after four hours Keta opened her eyes and lifted her head. After six hours, when the scientists tried to give her a penicillin injection, Keta seized the syringe and ran with it around the room. Her behavior differed little from that of a healthy animal.For a person who suffers from the clinical death, _________.
| A．his most important organs are damaged. |
| B．he still has the possibility of getting back to life. |
| C．he can not avoid final death. |
| D．he is still very much alive |
Scientists try to make the time of clinical death longer in order to __________.
| A．slow down the body’s metabolism. |
| B．bring vital cells and tissues back to active life. |
| C．cool the organism. |
| D．delay the coming of biological death. |
How did the scientists put Keta into clinical death?
| A．By putting her to sleep, lowering her temperature and draining her blood. |
| B．By surrounding her body with ice-bags and draining her blood. |
| C．By lowing her blood pressure and stopping her heart from beating. |
| D．By draining her blood, lowering her blood pressure and stopping her breathing. |
All of the following indicate that the monkey has almost restored to her original physical state except the fact that__________.
| A．her heart beat again. |
| B．she regained her normal breath. |
| C．she rejected a penicillin injection. |
| D．she acted as lively as a healthy monkey. |