President Coolidge’s statement, “The business of America is business,” still points to an important truth today—that business institutions have more prestige（威望）in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions are respected. Competition is not only good in itself, it is the means by which other basic American values such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly（垄断）of power. In contrast to one all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers’ dollars, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, than democracy（民主）in preserving freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic（贵族的）idea of inherited privilege.The statement “The business of America is business” probably means ________.
| A．America is a great power in world business |
| B．Business is of primary concern to Americans |
| C．The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce |
| D．Business problems are of great importance to the American government |
Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only _______.
| A．by protecting their individual freedom |
| B．when given equality of opportunity |
| C．by way of competition |
| D．through doing business |
Who can benefit from business competition?
| A．People with ideals of equality and freedom. |
| B．Both business institutions and government. |
| C．Honest businessmen. |
| D．Both businessmen and their customers. |
Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by ________.
| A．its role in protecting basic American values |
| B．its absolute control of power |
| C．its democratic way of exercising leadership |
| D．its function in preserving personal freedom |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes ___________.
| A．in many countries success often depends on one’s social status |
| B．businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America |
| C．American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries |
| D．Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries |
B
It is the duty of every man to work. The life of a lazy man is of no use to himself and to others. The man who is too lazy to work is the man who is generally most ready to beg or to steal. Every boy, when he is young, should learn how to do some useful work.
But it is not enough that a boy should learn some kind of work. He should put his heart and soul completely into his work, and not waste his spare time. “Work while you work and play while you play” is as good a rule for young people as for the old!
There is no better help to diligence (勤奋) than the habit of early rising, and this, just like all other good habits, is most easily formed in youth. There is an English saying, “Lost time never returns”. This means that everybody must be diligent and make good use of his time. One must study hard when one is young so that one may make great progress, succeed in life and become useful to one’s country. Those who are diligent will never become beggars. Therefore, we can say that diligence is the mother of success.From the passage, we know that those who are too lazy to work will_________.
| A．waste their time |
| B．help others |
| C．become beggars or thieves |
| D．make progress some day |
In order to learn to be diligent, it’s important for young people to _________.
| A．form the good habit of getting up early in youth |
| B．learn about some good habits |
| C．work while they work and play while they play |
| D．work all the time without playing |
One can’t be successful in life unless he _________when he is young.
| A．is diligent in his study |
| B．loves life |
| C．spends some time learning something |
| D．makes up for his lost time |
A
“Depend on yourself” is what nature says to every man. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.
There have been many great men in history. But many of them were very poor in boyhood, and had no uncles, aunts, or friends to help them. Schools were few and low. They could not depend on them for an education. They saw how it was, and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way up to fame.
One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils, “I cannot make worthy men of you, but I can help you make men of yourselves.”
Some young men have no ambitions(抱负) to do anything; and they are to be pitied. They can never succeed unless they see their foolishness, and change their courses. They are nothing now, and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of parents and teachers, and depend upon their own honest and serious efforts.The best title for this passage is ________.
| A．Depend on Yourself |
| B．Don’t Depend on Your Parents |
| C．Nobody can help you |
| D．The Good Advice |
From the passage we know that many great men in history ________.
| A．learned everything themselves in boyhood |
| B．didn’t receive any education |
| C．had no relatives or friends |
| D．depended on themselves to become famous |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Parents can make you succeed. |
| B．Great men in history were very poor. |
| C．Teachers would not like to help you to be a man. |
| D．Only you can make yourself a great man. |
Why have some young men failed in everything?
| A．They have no ambitions. |
| B．They are to be pitied. |
| C．They have changed their courses. |
| D．They have seen their foolishness. |
E
A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okey, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forest of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. Once at a time, once at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.The author took the job to teach writing because ______.
| A．he had written some stories | B．he wanted to be expected |
| C．he wanted to please his father | D．he had dreamed of being a teacher |
Before he started his class, the author asked the students to ______.
| A．write down their suggestions on the paper cards |
| B．cut maple leaves out of the construction paper |
| C．cut some cards out of the construction paper |
| D．write down their names on the paper cards |
What did the students do when the author started his class?
| A．They began to talk. | B．They stayed silent. |
| C．They raised their hands. | D．They shouted to be heard. |
The author chose the composition topic probably because ______.
| A．he got disappointed with his first class | B．he had prepared the topic before class |
| C．he wanted to calm down the students | D．he thought it was an easy topic |
D
President Obama: I want to welcome Vice President Xi to the Oval Office and welcome him to the United States. This is obviously a great opportunity for us to build on the U. S,-China relationship, but also an opportunity to return the extraordinary hospitality (款待) that Vice President Xi showed Vice President Biden during his recent visit to China.
As I indicated during my recent visit to APEC and the East Asia Summit, the United States is a Pacific nation. And we are very interested and very concentrated on continuing to strengthen our relationships, to enhance our trade and our commerce, and make sure that we are a strong and effective partner with the Asia Pacific region. And obviously, in order to do that, it is absolutely vital that we have a strong relationship with China.
So, Mr. Vice President, I hope you have a wonderful visit while you're here. I'm sure the American people welcome you. I'm glad that you're going to get an opportunity to get out of Washington. I know you'll be visiting Iowa, which you visited many years ago when you were governor. And I understand you're also going to Los Angeles and maybe even taking in (观看) a Lakers basketball game. So I hope you enjoy that very much.
I want to extend my deepest welcome to you, and look forward to a future of improved dialogue and increased cooperation in the years to come.Where can you most probably read the passage?
| A．In an advertisement. | B．In a guidebook. | C．In a news report. | D．In a science report. |
Which sentence is true according to the passage?
| A．Obama didn't attend APEC or the East Asia Summit recently. |
| B．Biden and Xi Jinping are holding the talk in the Oval Office of the White House. |
| C．The talk is being held between China and the USA in the Oval Office of New York. |
| D．Biden once paid a visit to China before this talk. |
The underlined word in Para. 2 “enhance”, probably means “____”.
| A．develop | B．change | C．invent | D．reduce |
From Para. 3, we can learn that Vice President Xi ____.
| A．will go to Los Angeles to watch a soccer game |
| B．visited Iowa many years ago, when he was a vice president |
| C．visited Iowa many years ago, when he was governor |
| D．will visit New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles |
C
Holding a cell phone against your ear or storing it in your pocket may be dangerous to your health. This explains a warning that cell phone manufacturers include in the small print that is often ignored when a new phone is purchased. Apple, for example, doesn’t want iPhones to come closer to you than 1.5 centimeters; Research In Motion, BlackBerry’s manufacturer, recommends 2.5 centimeters.
If health issues arise from cell phone use, the possible effects are huge. Voice calls - Americans chat on cell phones 2.26 trillion(万亿)minutes annually - earn $109 billion for the wireless carriers.
Devra Davis, an expert who has worked for the University of Pittsburgh, has published a book about cell phone radiation, “Disconnect.” The book surveys scientific research and concludes the question is not settled.
Brain cancer is a concern that Ms. Davis examines. Over all, there has not been an increase in its incidence since cell phones arrived. But the average masks an increase in brain cancer in the 20-to-29 age group and a drop for the older population.
“Most cancers have multiple causes,” she says, but she points to laboratory research that suggests low-energy radiation could damage cells that could possibly lead to cancer.
Children are more vulnerable to radiation than adults, Ms. Davis and other scientists point out. Radiation that penetrates only five centimeters into the brain of an adult will reach much deeper into the brains of children because their skulls are thinner and their brains contain more absorptive fluid（易吸收的液体）. No studies have yet been completed on cell phone radiation and children, she says.
Henry Lai, a research professor in the bioengineering department at the University of Washington, began laboratory radiation studies in 1980 and found that rats exposed to radiation had damaged DNA in their brains.
Ms. Davis recommends using wired headsets or the phone’s speaker. Children should text rather than call, she said, and pregnant women should keep phones away from the abdomen（腹部）.Why is the warning in the small print?
| A．They think people will not care about it. |
| B．There is not enough space for the warning. |
| C．They don’t want the users to pay attention to it. |
| D．The warning is not important at all. |
What does the underlined word in sixth paragraph probably mean?
| A．acceptable | B．valuable | C．accessible | D．easily affected |
What can we conclude from the last paragraph?
| A．Pregnant women should keep cell phones away. |
| B．People should use cell phones in the correct way. |
| C．If you are a child, you’d better text than make phone calls. |
| D．When you use a cell phone, use a wired headset or the phone’s speaker. |
What does the passage mainly talk about?
| A．Be careful when using cell phones. |
| B．Don’t hold your cell phone against your ear. |
| C．Rats exposed to radiation have damaged DNA in their brains. |
| D．Low-energy radiation could damage cells that could lead to cancer. |