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It was an autumn morning shortly after my husband and I moved into our first house. Our children were upstairs unpacking,and I was looking out of the window at my father moving around mysteriously on the front lawn. “What are you doing out there?” I called to him.
He looked up, smiling. “I’m making you a surprise.’’ I thought it could be just about anything. When we were kids, he always created something surprising for us. Today, however, Dad would say no more ,and caught up in the business of our new life ,I eventually forgot about his surprise.
Until one gloomy day the next March when I glanced out of the window,I saw a dot of blue across the yard. I headed outside for a closer look. They were crocuses (番红花)throughout the front lawn 一 blue, yellow and my favorite pink ,with little faces moving up and down in the cold wind. I remembered the things Dad secretly planted last autumn. He knew how the darkness and dullness of winter always got me down. What could have been more perfectly timely to my needs?
My father’s crocuses bloomed (开花)each spring for the next five seasons, always bringing the same assurance: Hard times are almost over. Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon.
Then a spring came with only half the usual blooms and the next spring there were none. I missed the crocuses ,so I would ask Dad to come over and plant new bulbs. But I never did. He died suddenly one October day. My family were in deep sorrow, leaning on our faith.
On a spring afternoon four years later, I was driving back when I felt depressed. It was Dad’s birthday, and I found myself thinking about him. This was not unusual — my family often talked about him, remembering how he lived up to his faith. Suddenly I slowed as I turned into our driveway. I stopped and stared at the lawn. There on the muddy grass with small piles of melting snow ,bravely waving in the wind, was one pink crocus.
How could a flower bloom from a bulb more than 18 years ago, one that hadn’t bloomed in over a decade? But there was the crocus. Tears filled my eyes as I realized its significance.
Hold on, keep going, and light is coming soon. The pink crocus bloomed for only a day, but it built my faith for a lifetime.
According to the first three paragraphs, we learn that ______.

A. it kept bothering the author not knowing what the surprise was
B. the author was unpacking when her father was making the surprise
C. it was not the first time that the author’s father had made a surprise
D. the author knew what the surprise was because she knew her father

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The author usually felt depressed in the season of winter.
B. The author’s father planted the crocuses to lift her low spirits.
C. The author often thought about her father after he died.
D. The crocuses bloomed each spring before her father died.

The author’s father should be best described as ______.

A. a part-time worker who loved flowers
B. a kind-hearted man who lived with faith
C. a full-time gardener with skillful hands
D. an ordinary man with doubts in his life

What can be the best title for the passage?

A. Crocuses — My Source of Faith B.Crocuses— Father’s Surprise
C. A Pink Crocus — My Memory D.Crocuses in Blossom — My Favorite
科目 英语   题型 阅读理解   难度 中等
知识点: 故事类阅读
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Barack Obama,Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs-what do they have in common?They are,of course,all Americans. And according to a survey by social networking site badoo.com,they all best illustrate(举例说明)the word “cool”.
But just what does it mean to say someone is “cool”? Most would answer that it is something to do with being independent-minded and not following the crowd.
Yale University art professor Robert Farris Thompson says that the term “cool” goes back to 15th century West African philosophy(哲学).“Cool” relates to ideas of grace (优雅)under pressure.
“in Africa,”he writes,“coolness is a positive quality which combines calmness,silence,and life.”
The modern idea of “cool” developed largely in the US in the period after World War Ⅱ. “Postwar ‘cool' was in part an expression of warweariness...it went against the strict social rules of the time,”write sociologists Dick Pountain and David Robins in Cool Rules:Anatomy of an Attitude.
But it was the American actor James Dean who became the symbol for “cool” in the hugely successful 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause. Dean plays a tough guy who disobeys his parents and the authorities. He always gets the girl,smokes cigarettes,wears a leather jacket and beats up bullies (欺凌弱小者).In the movie,Dean showed what “cool” would mean to American young people for the next 60 years.
Today the focus of “cool” has changed to athletics stars. Often in movies about schools,students gain popularity on the athletics field more than in the classroom. This can be seen quite clearly in movies like Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die.
But many teenagers also think being smart is cool. Chess and other thinking games have been becoming more popular in schools.
“Call it the Harry Potterization of America-a time when being smart is the new cool,”writes journalist Joe Sunnen.
Barack Obama,Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs are mentioned in the first paragraph to ________.

A.introduce the topic
B.draw our attention
C.tell us what they have in common
D.tell us what is “cool”

If you were considered “cool” in Africa in the 15th century,you________.

A.thought and acted differently from the majority
B.had a calm and quiet attitude towards life
C.didn't observe rules and authorities
D.had all kinds of “bad” manners

The heroes in Varsity Blues and John Tucker Must Die are likely to be those who ________.

A.do very well in their studies
B.are very skilled at sports
C.are good at chess and other thinking games
D.have supernatural powers like Harry Potter

Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?

A.It is generally considered “cool” to be independent-minded and not to follow the crowd.
B.“Cool” was used as early as the 15th century.
C.Disobeying one's parents and the authorities is considered “cool” among American young people nowadays.
D.Getting the first place in an exam can also be considered “cool”.

What does the article mainly talk about?

A.The origin of the word “cool”.
B.The kinds of people who are “cool”.
C.The changing meaning of the word “cool”.
D.How to be a “cool” person.

The website “FarmersOnly. com” calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man,Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers.
As he tells it,the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But someone would invite her to meet for coffee at nine o'clock at night,when she had to start her day at five the next morning.
So,in 2005,Jerry Miller launched his website. “You don't have to be a farmer to be on ‘FarmersOnly. com’,but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America's heartland.”
You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free,but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website.
Some farmers have also found love through a group,Singles in Agriculture,which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986.It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance,but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship. Its website,“singlesinag.org”,says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France.
Jerry Miller started “FarmersOnly.com” in order to ________.

A.help farmers
B.support traditions
C.understand farmers
D.represent farmers

Which of the following is true of “singlesinag.org”?

A.Its services are free.
B.It provides dating services.
C.Only farmers can become its members.
D.Farmers in France can't benefit from it.

The author of the text intends to ________.

A.advertise for the two websites
B.introduce two websites
C.encourage social activities
D.urge readers to help farmers

It can be inferred from the text that ________.

A.all farmers desire marriage
B.farmers are easy to meet new people
C.more farmers get divorced in the USA
D.the Internet helps improve farmers' social life

Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world?A small group of engineers and robotics experts envision(展望) a day in the not-too-distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work.

One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. It was called Groundhog and it looked like a golf cart. It used lasers(激光) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines-some of the most dangerous work in the business.
The latest prototype is called Cave Crawler. It's a bit smaller than Groundhog,and even more advanced. It can take photos and videos and has sensors that can detect the presence of dangerous gases. Incredibly,the robot has a real sense of logic. If it comes across an obstacle it gets momentarily confused. It has to think about what to do and where to go next. Sometimes it throws_a_fit just like a real person.
Myles and his colleagues hope that robots like Cave Crawler will one day be used in rescue operations. “A robot could speed up the rescue process by doing reconnaissance(侦察),” says Chuck Whittaker,a robotics engineer at Carnegie Mellon. “The robot can go ahead and,with its sensors,report what it has found and whether it is safe for humans to proceed.”
Using robots in rescue operations,though,is problematic. The lasers that guide the robots don't work in smoky environments so the engineers at Carnegie Mellon have experimented with sonar(声呐)and radar guidance systems,and with some success.
Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry. The robots do the most repetitive and dangerous jobs,but won't get rid of the need for human workers.
The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in Paragraph 3 probably means ______.

A.gets angry
B.gets shocked
C.becomes confused
D.becomes cheerful

The latest robot is more advanced than Groundhog mainly because ________.

A.it can map abandoned mines
B.it can see in the dark tunnels
C.it's smaller than Groundhog
D.it has a real sense of logic

We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

A.the mining robots will have a very bright future
B.robots in the automotive industry must be improved
C.there will be no need for human workers in mines
D.robots in mines will cost a lot

What can guide the robots in smoky environments?

A.The lasers.
B.Sonar and radar guidance systems.
C.Command guidance systems.
D.Image matching guidance systems.

My friend had mentioned the other day that her father had a lot of children's toys he was looking to give away. She knew I have a three-year-old daughter so she thought of me first. I told her I would love it if I could get some nice things for my daughter, which I wouldn't otherwise have been able to afford.
When I met her father, he began to explain he was too poor once and that he would hate to throw away things that can be very useful.
Before he showed me what he was giving away, I thought the toys would be mostly lego's(乐高积木) or things like that. When he was showing me around I saw a bed, a slide, a kitchen set and many other things that just blew my mind. He told me to write a list of everything my daughter could use and as my eyes were wide, he told me not to feel guilty. He said I was helping him by getting rid of the stuff.
As I was looking around I did feel guilty, but I tried to remain more grateful than guilty. Every time I tried to thank him for giving me and my daughter all this wonderful stuff he would thank me right back. I wanted to believe that he was just thanking me so that I wouldn't feel so guilty but in reality I believe that he was as grateful as I was that these toys would be put to good use.
In the eyes of charity, it makes sense to feel grateful, but guilt is just as normal. I know that we could have lived without a slide, which is why I do feel guilty, but I am grateful all the same because my daughter really does enjoy all these nice things!
Why did the old man want to give away his toys?

A.He wanted to help those poor children.
B.He was wealthy enough to buy new toys.
C.He wanted to make full use of those toys.
D.He needed some space for more useful things.

In the writer's opinion, the old man felt grateful because

A.he wanted to make her more guilty
B.he wanted her to take the toys quickly
C.the toys would be put to good use
D.he finally got rid of the stuff

What can we know from the passage?

A.The writer took all the toys home.
B.The old man was a kind and thoughtful person
C.The writer wanted to refuse the stuff when she first saw them.
D.The writer's daughter enjoyed the slide most among all the stuff.

How did the writer feel when given the stuff?

A.Guilty and honored. B.Grateful and respected.
C.Honored and respected. D.Guilty and grateful.

Tiny transmitters(发射机) fixed on the backs of the blue-green bees have allowed scientists to follow the insects as they fly for miles in search of rare flowers.
Working in Panama, scientists caught 17 bees of the common species and fixed a 300 milligram radio light onto the back of each. The signals they sent out were used to follow their movements in and around the forest where they lived.
Professor Martin, from Princeton University, US, and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, said, “By following the radio signals, we discovered that male bees spent most of their time in small centre areas, but could take off and visit areas farther away. One male even crossed over the shipping lanes in the Panama Canal, flying at least 5km, and returned a few days later.”
Researchers have struggled to follow the movements of bees before, following bees marked with paint or using radar which doesn’t work well in forests.
“Carrying the transmitter could reduce the distance that the bees travel, but even if the flight distances we record are the shortest distances that these bees can fly, they are impressive, long-distance movements,” said Dr. Roland Kays, from New York State Museum, a co-author of the research published today in the on-line journal. “This result helps to explain how these bees’ pollination(授粉) can be so rare.” Pollination by bees and other insects is the key to the diversity and continued growth of flowers and trees in some forests.
The new study is the first to use radio transmitters to follow bees in a forest. Similar research may now be carried in temperate forests, where bees also play a vital role.
The main purpose of the passage is to___

A.call on people to protect the bees for the environment
B.explain why the bees fly far away in search of flowers
C.introduce a modern way to follow the bees to readers
D.encourage the public to support the scientists’ research

What was the problem when researchers tried to follow the bees in the past?

A.It was quite difficult to mark the bees
B.The radar itself didn’t work very well
C.The bees weren’t easy to be recognized
D.Environmental limits were hard to solve

What Dr. Roland Kays said implied that____

A.he didn’t expect bees could fly so long a distance
B.The transmitter didn’t have any effects on bees at all
C.He wanted to know how far bees could travel badly
D.The record was in fact as exact as he had thought

Researchers follow the movements of bees mainly to___

A.learn how far they can fly at most
B.discover how they affect the plants
C.correct some wrong ideas about bees
D.get to know where they enjoy living

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