Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school — walking on my own!
When the Great Depression (大萧条) hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel (汽车旅馆) for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world — Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $ 1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situation. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was ______.
A.caring | B.moving | C.encouraging | D.interesting |
According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?
A.Doctors. | B.Nurses. | C.Friends. | D.Mom. |
What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
A.His terrible experience in the hotel. |
B.His previous business success of various levels. |
C.His mom’s support. |
D.His wife’s suggestion. |
Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?
A.Modest, helpful, and hard-working. |
B.Loving, supportive and strong-willed. |
C.Careful, helpful and beautiful. |
D.Strict, sensitive and supportive. |
Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?
A.Self-confidence, hard work, higher education and a poor family. |
B.Mom’s encouragement, clear goals, self-confidence and hard work. |
C.Clear goals, mom’s encouragement, a poor family and higher education. |
D.Mom’s encouragement, a poor family, higher education and opportunities. |
Here's one very simple but lifechanging advice that I first heard from Brian Tracy. Cut down on the TV at night by just one hour. Instead, use that hour to read books that could improve your life.
If you're a salesman, google for the best and most useful books on improving your sales.
This applies (适用) to all fields, not just the work-related (与工作相关的) ones. Maybe you want to improve your health, become a more energetic person. Or maybe you want to improve your study, your relations or perhaps do some personal development.
One hour a day is not much. But if you read for one hour a day on weekdays, that's about 260 hours a year. That's a large number of books and a lot of useful advice.
If you follow the ideas, who knows what great things and feelings could come into your life. Also, all that information and advice will start to open up your mind. You will start to see more chances in your life.
Now, you might think something like this:
1. I really don't have the money...
Answer: Visit your public library or search the database (数据库). Or look for books that are used in places like amazon.com.
2. I really don't have the time...
Answer: Buy audiobooks and listen to them in the car while driving to and from work. Or copy them to your MP3-player and listen while riding your bike /bus to work or school. Recently selling audiobooks through MP3-downloads has become popular...
Shut off the TV a little earlier and start reading.What is Brian Tracy’s lifechanging advice about?
A.Watching TV. | B.Listening to MP3. |
C.Surfing the internet. | D.Reading helpful books. |
If you’d like to improve your work, you should_______ according to the writer.
A.read work-related books | B.become more energetic |
C.improve your study | D.improve your relations |
Which is NOT true about reading an hour a day?
A.It will open up your mind. |
B.You will have about 260 hours a year to read. |
C.You will read lots of books and get much useful advice. |
D.It will probably bring great things and feelings into your life. |
What should you do if you really don't have the money to read?
A.To buy some books from amazon.com. | B.To download MP3 free. |
C.To visit the public library. | D.To borrow audiobooks and listen to them. |
What is the writer’s idea about audiobooks?
A.They are more useful. |
B.Listening to audiobooks is easier than reading books. |
C.It’s dangerous to listen to audiobooks while driving or riding. |
D.Audiobooks are a good solution to the problem of having no time to read. |
Starting high school means many changes in your life. Most teenagers look forward to the first day of high school, but still feel a little bit nervous. In order to make your high school life easier, you can follow these tips.
Learn all you can about your first day before the first day. Take part in some activities that are held at the school for new students to know the school better. If parents are invited to these activities, take yours with you. Carefully look over all the materials you receive. Be sure you know where the school’s buildings are.
Get the things you will need for class. Buy the things suggested on your teachers’ supply lists and place your materials for each class separately.
Keep up with your high school workload(工作量). If you find you’re not doing well in a subject, make use of after-school study groups or ask your teacher to help you with your schoolwork. Consider private tutoring to get you through a difficult time.
There’re more extracurricular(课外的)activities in high school than in middle school, such as clubs, music and theater groups, student government, and sports teams. Make friends and be seen at such school activities. Join a club or other organizations to meet people and develop friendships. Ask someone in school activities if you don’t know how. This is a good time to do what you like doing and an opportunity to try new things. Who said school has to be all work and no play?
Since you’ll attend more activities in high school than in middle school, you’ll have to learn how to manage you time…The writer wrote this passage to ______.
A.advise us to study hard in high school. |
B.tell us how to live an easier life in high school. |
C.show that we may live a hard life in high school. |
D.explain why there will be many changes in high school. |
In paragraph 2, the writer suggests that we should ______.
A.ask our parents to walk us to school |
B.ask other students about our high school |
C.prepare all the things we need for our classes |
D.learn about our high school well before attending it |
According to paragraph 4, what should we do if we are not doing well in a subject?
A.We should get help from others. |
B.We should stop going to activities. |
C.We should spend most of our time on it. |
D.We should give it up if it is not important. |
In paragraph 5, the writer wants to tell us that ______.
A.every coin has two sides |
B.the early bird catches the worm |
C.where there is a will, there is a way |
D.all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy |
What will the writer most probably talk about next?
A.How to manage time well in high school. |
B.Why we need to learn how to manage time. |
C.How to attend more activities in high school. |
D.Why middle school is different from high school. |
My 10-year-old Donna said, “Mom, I made a new friend at school today. Can she come over tomorrow?” Donna was a shy girl and I wanted her to make some friends to bring her out of her shell.
“Sure, honey, that sounds great.” I said, thinking back to my own best friend, Lillian. We lived across the street from each other in Washington Heights, New York. We met at the age of 10, too. Like my daughter, I was shy, but Lillian drew me out. She was one of the friendliest people in school, with shiny black hair and a mile-wide smile.
In senior high school, Lillian went on a trip to Florida. This was the first time we had to be away from each other for a few days. “I’ll be back soon.” she told me. But three days later, Lillian’s sister told me that she had fallen into a river and hadn’t come out any more. Soon, my family moved to New Jersey. Whenever I thought of her, tears came into my eyes.
The next day Donna brought her new friend home. “Hi, Mrs. Loggia.” the little girl said. Her hair was so shiny and black and she shot me a big smile. “My name is Laura.”
My daughter’s new friend was so much like Lillian. I was still puzzled (迷惑) when Laura’s mom came to pick her up later that afternoon. I opened the door to let her in. “Judy!” she cried. “It’s me, Lillian’s sister, from Washington Heights.” Yes, my daughter’s friend looked familiar. She was Lillian’s niece.The underlined words in the first paragraph “to bring her out of her shell” mean ___________.
A.to help her become less shy | B.to help her become smart |
C.to help her live happily | D.to help her walk out of her house |
Laura looked familiar to the writer because she ____________.
A.was Lillian’s niece |
B.was as old as her daughter |
C.was from Washington Heights |
D.had shiny black hair and a big smile, too |
Why did the writer lose her best friend? Because ____________________.
A.she moved to New Jersey |
B.they were different from each other |
C.her best friend travelled to Florida |
D.her best friend lost her life on a trip |
“I knew we would be best friends forever.” is a sentence from the passage and should be put at the end of _______.
A.Paragraph 2 | B.Paragraph 3 | C.Paragraph 4 | D.Paragraph 5 |
We can infer (推断) from the passage that______.
A.Laura is outgoing |
B.Laura helps Donna a lot |
C.Laura and Donna are of the same age |
D.Judy moved to New Jersey because of Lillian’s death |
Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is the color of most growing plants, too.
Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet finished or plants that are not ripe.
For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in war (战争). By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today--a person who is new in a job.
About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west. Old-timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities in the east. The greenhorn didn’t have the skills that he would need to live in the hard, rough country.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundreds.
A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.
The Green Revolution (革命) is the name which was given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural (农业的) scientists who had green thumbs.According to the passage, a greenhorn means________ now.
A.a young cow or ox whose horns have not yet developed |
B.a soldier who has not had any experience in war |
C.a person who is new in a job |
D.a man who doesn’t have the skills to live in the country |
The meaning of the underlined word “ripe” in the second paragraph is ________.
A.未完成的 | B.成熟的 | C.青涩的 | D.老练的 |
Which of the following about the Green Revolution is NOT right?
A.If there weren’t the Green Revolution, we would have no rice to eat. |
B.The expression “the Green Revolution” appeared several years ago. |
C.Because of the Green Revolution, we have more kinds of rice and other grains. |
D.Agricultural scientists with green thumbs started the Green Revolution. |
We can know from the passage that _______.
A.all growing plants is green |
B.green is the most important color in nature |
C.a person with a green thumb can make plants grow well |
D.the expression “a green thumb” has a history of two hundred years |
The main idea of the passage is ________.
A.a greenhorn | B.a green thumb |
C.the Green Revolution | D.the word “green” and its story |
A Frenchman went to a small Italian town and was staying with his wife at the best hotel there. One night, he went out for a walk alone. It was late and the small street was dark and quiet. Suddenly he felt someone behind him. He turned his head and saw an Italian young man who quickly walked past him. The Italian was nearly out of sight when the Frenchman suddenly found that his watch was gone. He thought that it must be the Italian who had taken his watch. He decided to follow him and get back the watch.
Soon the Frenchman caught up with the Italian. Neither of them understood the other’s language. The Frenchman frightened the Italian with his fist(拳头) and pointed at the Italian’s watch. In the end the Italian gave up his watch to the Frenchman.
When he returned to the hotel, the Frenchman told his wife what had happened. He was greatly surprised when his wife pointed to the watch on the table. Now he realized that by mistake he had robbed the watch and it was the Italian’s. The Frenchman went to a small Italian town________.
A.alone | B.with his wife | C.with his friend | D.with an Italian |
One night he went out for ______ alone.
A.a ride | B.a walk | C.a drink | D.rest |
Suddenly he found his ______ was gone.
A.watch | B.money | C.book | D.ring |
The Italian gave up his watch to him at last because ______.
A.he had stolen the watch from the Frenchman. |
B.he understood what the Frenchman wanted |
C.he had picked up the watch on his way from work |
D.he was afraid of the Frenchman |
Who was robbed of the watch?
A.The Frenchman | B.The Italian |
C.Both of them | D.Neither of them |