Famous centenarians (百岁老人) still active in arts, science are in no mood to retire. "Those who stand still, die," is one of Oliveira's favorite phrases. He knows from experience what it means, as the Portuguese film director has reached the age of 102 and is still active in his profession. Every year, Oliveira shoots a film and is currently working on his next project. "You have to work, work, work in order to forget that death is not far away," he said. When asked about his age, Oliveira said with some humility: "It's down to mother nature. It gave to me what it took from others."
Being both mentally and physically fit in old age is partly a matter of luck, but it also has something to do with character. Not every white-haired person is wise and social skills, openness and the ability to train the brain are essential for senior citizens.
Along with the architect Oscar Niemeyer (103), Nobel laureate Montalcini (101) and director Kurt Maetzig (100), Oliveira is one of those people of whom it would be very wrong to think as members of a listless elderly generation.
Another master in his profession is the architect Oscar Niemeyer. The 103-year-old Brazilian is best known for his futuristic-looking buildings in Brasilia, but he also speaks out on behalf of the poor. "The role of the architect is to struggle for a better world where we can develop a form of architecture that serves everyone and not just a privileged few," said Niemeyer recently. He spends almost every day working in his office in Copacabana, and even when he falls ill he keeps working on ideas: After a gallbladder (胆囊) operation he composed a samba tune (桑巴舞曲) in the clinic.
Another man who could sing a song about age is 107-year-old Heesters. The Dutch-born opera singer spent most of his life performing in Germany, where he still works. Recently Heesters said: "I want to be at least 108-years-old." He also plans to keep performing. "Should I just sit at home and wait until they come and pick me up?" Heesters has not given up trying to add to his tally of awards and is looking for a "good stage role".
Italian scientist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who is 101-year-old and is still active in medical science, has described the force that keeps driving her on: "Progress is created through imperfection." In 1986 she and her lab colleague were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work on nerve growth factor. She's convinced that humans grow on challenges.
With so many brilliant examples given, we can see clearly that age is no barrier to some high achievers. From the first two paragraphs, we can see ______.
A.being active at 102 is achievable for everybody |
B.Oliveira owes his long life to his mother’s help |
C.being fit in old age is a matter of luck and character |
D.social skills and wisdom are difficult for the senior |
How many centenarians are mentioned in this passage?
A.4 | B.5 | C.6 | D.7 |
By saying "Should I just sit at home and wait until they come and pick me up?” in Paragraph 5, Heesters shows us he ________.
A.wants to sit or lie in comfort |
B.is waiting for people to pick him up |
C.is willing to work till he dies |
D.prefers to give performance at home |
In the passage so many examples were given to show ________.
A.old age is a big problem if you want to succeed |
B.as a senior citizen, you have to be open-minded and optimistic |
C.old people should never think of themselves as old |
D.old age cannot prevent a great person from achieving a lot |
In the writer’s opinion, the architect Oscar Niemeyer is not ________.
A.intelligent | B.pessimistic | C.positive | D.Diligent |
Many people could not forget the beautiful dance during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The dance was performed by 20 disabled girls. They can’t hear or speak. But their performance is remembered by many people. The leading dancer of the dance is Tai Lihua. She is 28 years old. She is very beautiful.
Tai Lihua was born healthy. When she was two years old, she lost her hearing because of a fever. Not long after that, she became mute(哑巴), too. From then on, her world was silent. But she didn’t know this at first. At five years old, when she played a game about sounds with her schoolmates she discovered that she was different from the others. She was very sad about it. Her father went to many places to look for best treatments for her illness. But nothing worked. When she was seven years old, she went to a school for deaf and mute children. In that school, she did well in her studies. Her teacher said she used her mind more than the others and was good at expressing her feeling through dance. She also began to love dance. She thought she could use dance to express what she thought about life.
When she was 15 years old, she began to learn to dance. At
first, she couldn’t dance well. But she didn’t stop. She worked harder than the others. She also spent more time learning. Her efforts made her a very good dancer. She has been to many countries to perform and many foreigners like her style. She now lives a happy life with her family.
.From the passage we know.
A.Tai Lihua was found deaf and mute by her father when she played a game with her classmates |
B.Tai Lihua danced very well at the beginning of learning to dance |
C.Tai Lihua never gave up when she was in trouble |
D.Tai Lihua’s parents didn’t take good care of her |
.Which is the right order of the events to Tai Lihua?
a.She danced during the CCTV Spring Festival Gala.
b.She was a healthy girl.
c.She began to learn to dance.
d.She lost her hearing.
e.She went to a school for deaf and mute children.
f.She couldn’t speak.
g.She found she was different from the others.
A.abdfgce | B.badfegc | C.bdfegca | D.bdfgeca |
.People could not forget Tai Lihua because.
A.she was born mute and deaf and good at dancing |
B.she used her mind more than the others and could use dance to express what she thought about life |
C.she has been to many countries and now lives a happy life |
D.though mute and deaf, she is beautiful and hard working and good at dancing |
.The best title of the story is.
A.A poor girl |
B.A dancer in the silent world |
C.A beautiful dancer |
D.The dance during the CCTV Spring Festival ![]() |
It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage. Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr. Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10℃, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them..The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that ____.
A.the time is too short for doctors |
B.the patients are often too nervous |
C.the damage is extremely hard to fix |
D.the blood-cooling machine might break down |
.The brain operation was made possible mainly by ____.
A.taking the blood out of the brain |
B.trying the operation on monkeys first |
C.having the blood go through a machine |
D.lowering the brain’s temperature |
.With Dr. White’s new idea, the operation on the damaged brain ____.
A.can last as long as 30 minutes |
B.can keep the brain’s blood warm |
C.can keep the patient’s brain healthy |
D.can help monkeys do different jobs |
. What is the right order of the steps in the operations?
a. send the cooled back to the brain b. stop the blood to the brain
c. have the blood cooled down d. operate on the brain
A.a, b, c, d | B.c, a, b, d | C.c, b, d, a | D.b, c, d, a |
A businessman had two sons. While he gave the younger son a lot of love and gifts, he neglected (忽视) the elder son. It was completely puzzling (令人费解) and no one knew why.
When the boys grew up, they were asked to manage the father’s business. The elder son was absorbed in the business. From morning till late in the evening, he was busy working. Within a few years, he ran the business very well and even expanded (扩大) it.
What about the younger son? He didn't have much to do except have a good time. But the father believed that his favorite son would be a success. If the elder son could be a successful businessman, surely the younger one, with a higher education, would do much better.
A few years later, the results of his decision became clear. Uninterested in business, the younger son continued spending his time enjoying himself. And he went out of business. But the elder son’s far smaller share (份) of business had expanded and he had proved himself to be a good decision maker.
Ashamed at the turn of events, the father met the elder son and was angry with the younger one. The elder son, who was listening to all this quietly, suddenly said he wanted to set up an independent business and live on his own.
“Why?” asked the father.
“I blame (责备) one person for the way my brother has turned out, and it’s not him. You can’t blame children for the faults (过失) of their parents, can you?” asked the elder son.. Before the younger son went into the father’s business, he______.
A.was interested in business | B.had achieved great success |
C.often looked down upon his brother | D.was well-educated at school |
.Why did the father treat the two sons differently?
A.the elder son didn’t work hard | B.no one knew why he did it |
C.the younger son was hardworking | D.he wanted to do an experiment |
. Which is NOT the reason for the younger son’s going out of business?
A.he himself didn’t work hard |
B.his father didn’t educate him properly |
C.he was not interest![]() |
D.he was busy working every day |
.. What does the text really want to teach us?
A.Parents are responsible for children’s development. |
B.Once something is done, you should do![]() |
C.Interest is the most important for success. |
D.One has responsibility for what he himself has done. |
I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”
At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.
I stood watching her, speechless .What on earth?
She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room-if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”
Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.
After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood(情绪)had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.. Why did the author shout at the telephone?
A.He was mad at the telephone. |
B.He was angry with his agent. |
C.He was anxious about his wife. |
D.He was impatient with the secretary. |
. What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?
A.She said nothing. |
B.She shouted at him. |
C.She called the agent. |
D.She threw the phone away. |
At a primary school in a small town in the east of South Carolina, second-grade teachers Garneau and Lynne are convinced that separating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement in both genders(性别).
David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education says, “Boys and girls learn, hear and respond to their surroundings differently. We can teach boys and girls based on what we now know.”
Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, he explains. The composition of the male eye makes it sensitive to motion and direction. “Boys interpret the world as objects moving through space,” he says.
The male eye is also drawn to cooler colors like silver and black. It’s no accident boys tend to create pictures of moving objects instead of drawing the happy colorful family, like girls do in their class.
The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to warmer colors like red, yellow and orange. To attract girls, Chadwell says, the teacher doesn’t need to move as much as in boy’s class. Using descriptive phrases and lots of colors in presentations or on the blackboard gets their attention.
Boys and girls also hear differently. “When someone speaks in a loud tone, girls interpret it as yelling,” Chadwell says. “They think you’re mad and can shut down.” Girls are more sensitive to sounds. He advises girls’ teachers to watch the tone of their voices. Boys’ teachers should sound more forceful, even excited.
A boy’s nervous system causes him to be more cautious when he is standing, moving, and the room temperature is around 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Stress in boys, he says, tends to increase blood flow to their brains, a process that helps them stay focused. Girls are more focused when seated in a warmer room around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Girls also respond to stress differently. When exposed to threat and conflict, blood goes to their guts(肠道), leaving them feeling nervous or anxious.
These differences can be applied in the classroom, Chadwell adds. “Single gender programs are about maximizing the learning.” What is David Chadwell’s attitude toward separating elementary-age boys and girls
while learning?
A.Supportive | B.Worried | C.Concerned | D.Uninterested |
To engage boy in a class, the teacher ______.
A.must have a moving object in this hand | B.needs to wear clothes in warm color |
C.has to speak politely | D.had better move constantly while teaching |
Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
(=" Paragraph" 1=" Paragraph" 2=" Paragraph" 3 ….. =" Paragraph" 8) Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A.Ways of teaching boys and ways of teaching girls |
B.Boys and girls should be separated |
C.How boys and girls learn differently |
D.How to teach more effectively |