The light from the campfire brightened the darkness, but it could not prevent the damp cold of Dennis’s Swamp (沼泽地) creeping into their bones. It was a strange place. Martin and Tom wished that they had not accepted Jack’s dare. They liked camping, but not near this swamp.
“So,” Martin asked as they sat watching the hot coals. “How did this place get its name ? ”
“Are you sure you want to hear it ? It’s a scary story,” warned Jack.
“Of course!” cried out Tom. “If there were anything to be scared of, you wouldn’t have chosen this place!”
“Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said Jack, and he began this tale.
“Way back in time, a man called Dennis tried to start a farm here. He built that cottage over there to live in . In those days, the area looked quite different ---- it was covered with tall trees and the swamp was a crystal-clear river. After three hard years, Dennis had cleared several fields and planted crops. He was so proud of his success that he refused to listen to advice.
“ ‘You are clearing too much land, ’ warned one old man. ‘ The land is a living thing. It will hit back at you if you abuse it. ’
“ ‘ Silly fool,’ said Dennis to himself. ‘If I clear more land, I can grow more crops. I’ll become wealthier. He’s just jealous!’”
“Dennis continued to chop down trees. Small animals that relied on them for food and shelter were destroyed. He was so eager to expand his farm that he did not notice the river flowing slowly towards his door. He did not notice salt seeping to the surface of the land. He did not notice swamp plants choking all the native plants.”
“What happened? ” Martin asked. It was growing colder. He trembled, twisting his body closer to the fire.
“The land hit back ---- just as the old man warned, ” Jack shrugged. “Dennis disappeared Old folks around here believe that swamp plants moved up from the river and dragged him underwater. His body was never found.”
“What a stupid story, ” laughed Tom. “Plants can’t …” Before he had finished speaking, he screamed and fainted (晕倒). The other two boys jumped up with fright, staring at Tom. Suddenly, they burst out laughing. Some green swamp ivy (常春藤) had covered Tom’s face. It was a while before Tom could appreciate the joke.The underlined word “dare” in Paragraph 1 is closed in meaning to ________.
| A．courage | B．assistance | C．instruction | D．challenge |
Why did Jack tell Tom and Martin the story?
| A．To frighten them. |
| B．To satisfy their curiosity. |
| C．To warn them of the danger of the place. |
| D．To persuade them to camp in the swamp. |
Why did Dennis ignore the warning of the old man?
| A．The old man envied him. |
| B．The old man was foolish |
| C．He was too busy to listen to others. |
| D．He was greedy for more crops. |
Why did Tom scream and faint?
| A．He saw Dennis’s shadow |
| B．He was scared by a plant |
| C．His friends played a joke on him. |
| D．The weather became extremely cold. |
What lesson can we learn from the story of Dennis?
| A．Grasp all, lose all. |
| B．No sweat, no sweet. |
| C．It is no use crying over spilt milk. |
| D．He who makes no mistakes makes nothing. |
Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. 
“I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”
More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work in the United States. The change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employee
s to wear casual clothes on Friday(but only on Friday). This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday.” “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing,” said business consultant Maisly Jones.
Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,
” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss and Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale(士气). Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative impact on productive. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.” David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict” because.
| A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt |
| B．he couldn’t stand a clean appearance |
| C．he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time |
| D．he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes |
David Smith wears casual clothes now, because.
| A．they make him feel at ease when working |
| B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes |
| C．he looks handsome in casual clothes |
| D．he no longer works for any company |
According to this passage, which of the following statements is FALSE?
| A．Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code. |
| B．Comfortable clothes make employees more productive. |
| C．A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees. |
| D．All the employers in the US are for casual office wear. |
In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned EXCEPT.
| A．saving employees’ money |
| B．making employees more attractive |
| C．improving employees’ motivation |
| D．making employees happier |
阅读下面的短文, 并根据短文后的要求答题。
Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers told me, “Barbara, be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience.”
How right they were! Enthusiastic people can turn a boring drive into an adventure, extra work into opportunity and str
angers into friends.
“Nothing was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson.①.It is the inner voice that whispers, “I can do it!” When others shout, “No, you can’t!”
It took years and years for the early work of Barbara Mclintock, a geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn’t stop working on her experiments. ②
We are all born with wide-eyed, enthusiastic wonder and it is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such a youthful air, whatever their age.
At 90, cellist Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach. As the music flowed through his fingers, his stooped shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes. ③As author and poet Samuel Ullman once wrote, “Years wrinkle(起皱纹) the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”
How do you rediscover the enthusiasm of your childhood? The answer, I believe, lies in the word itself. “Enthusiasm” comes from the Greek and means “God within”. And what is God within is but a sense of love---proper love of self(self-acceptance) and, from that, love of others.
④If we can’t do what we love as a full-time career, we can as a hobby. Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan, was 68 before she began to draw. This activity ended periods of depression that had troubled her for at least 30years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, “ I am tempted to call Layton as a genius.”
We can’t afford to waste tears on “might-have-been”. We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after “what-can-be”.
We need to live each moment wholeheartedly, with all our senses---finding pleasure in the backyard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, the charming beauty of a rainbow.
第一节：根据短文内容, 从A、B、C、D、E中选出最合适放入短文空缺处的选项，并将序号及相应答案写在答题纸上。选项中有一项是多余选项。
A. A. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.
B. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years.
C. It can certainly help you hang in there when the going gets tough.
D. Music, for Casals, was a hobby that made life a never ending adventure.
E. Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money or title or power.
根据短文所给的信息，用一个完整的句子回答下列问题，并将序号及答案写在答题纸上。
⑤What does the author mean by the underlined sentence in paragraph 6?
阅读下列材料, 并从所给的六个选项(A、B、C、D、E、F)中选出符合各小题要求的最佳选项并在答题纸上将该选项标号涂黑。选项中有一项是多余选项。
The people below traveled abroad. Read the following stories and decide what problem each traveler experienced while traveling. _______ David got lost in an isolated place. To make matter worse, he had an accident and couldn’t walk freely. So he was in great need of timely help.
______ Paul had to buy a hamburger and ate it in the park instead of eating his mother’s delicious chicken, with which he couldn’t go through the customs(海关).
_____ Ann was stopped at the customs because she was carrying drugs without a doctor’s prescription. How regretted she was not to have done that!
_____ Sally offended some of the people in the town she was visiting by wearing inappropriate clothes. She should have found out about local customs and followed them.
______ Jack didn’t obtain a transit card when he changed planes at an airport, which made him very worried. There was no doubt that he was not allowed to get on board.
A My mother was worried about me. She cooked me all my favorite dishes and put them into a box to take with me on my journey. But the customs officer inspected all the plant and animal products at the airport. Unfortunately it was illegal for me to bring into the country the kind of food my mother had given me and so it all had to be thrown away.
B It was very hot so I put on some shorts and a T-shirt to go sightseeing. I hadn’t gone very far when I found everyone was looking at me, and they didn’t seem friendly to me. One woman even spat on me as I walked past. I decided to get off the crowded streets and so I turned down a small, quiet street.
C During the four-day walking tour, I was amazed by mountain scenery and the ancient ruins we passed on our hike. On the last day, we arrived at the ruins of Machu Picchu in time to see the sunrise over the Andes. I spent the day visiting the ruins of that ancient Inca city before catching the train back to the capital city of the country.
D When I got off the plane at the first airport, I saw someone handing out cards to some of the passengers, but I didn’t know what they were for, so I didn’t take one. When I tried to board the second plane they asked for my transit card, which I didn’t have. I was worried they were going to send me back to London.
E I had been walking for about an hour when suddenly I slipped and fell down a riverbank. I hurt my ankle and couldn’t stand up. I didn’t know how I could get back to the village. I hadn’t told anyone where I was going, so no one would know where to look for me when they realized I was missing.
F When I arrived at my destination, a customs officer at the airport looked in my bag and found the pills in a small box. He wanted to know what the pills were for and why they weren’t in their proper bottle with my name and the doctor’s name on it. I explained that the bottle had been too big and heavy. Then he wanted to know if I had a letter from my doctor explaining about the pills.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a report, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said 47 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have looked for information about themselves through Google or another search engine.
That is more than twice the 22 percent of users who did in 2002, but Pew senior research specialist Mary Madden was surprised that the growth wasn’t higher than it had been expected.
“Yes it’s doubled, but it’s still the case that there’s a big chunk of Internet users who have never done this simple act of connecting their names with search engines,” she said. “Certainly more and more people have become aware of this, but I don’t know it’s necessarily kept pace with the amount of content we post about ourselves or what others post about us.”
About 60 percent of Internet users said they aren’t worried about the extent of information about themselves online, although they are increasingly concerned over how that data can be used.
Americans under 50 and those with more education and income were more likely to self-Google---in some cases because their jobs demand a certain online persona(形象).
Meanwhile, Pew found that 53 percent of adult Internet users admit to looking up information about someone else, famous people not included.
Often, it’s to find someone they’ve lost touch with. But looking up information about friends, relatives, colleagues and neighbors also was common.
Although men and women equally searched for online information about themselves, women were slightly more likely to look up information about someone they are dating.
In many cases, the search is not harmful, done to find someone’s contact information. But a third of those who have conducted searches on others have looked for public records, such as bankruptcies(破产) and divorce proceedings. A similar number have searched for someone else’s photo.
Pew also found that teens were more likely than adults to limit the range of people who can see their information at an online hangout like Facebook or News Corp.’s MySpace, contrary to conventional wisdom.
“Teens are more comfortable with the applications in some ways, (but) I also think they have their parents and teachers telling them to be very careful about what they post and who they share it with,” Madden said. Mary Madden was surprised at the result that ______.
| A．fewer and fewer adult Internet users are looking for information about themselves |
| B．the number of adult Internet users looking for information about themselves has doubled |
| C．more adult Internet users should have looked for information about themselves |
| D．so many people don’t know how to connect their names with search engines |
According to the report some people haven’t looked for information about themselves because ______.
| A．they are not rich enough to get a computer |
| B．they are not well educated |
| C．they don’t know they can look for their own information on the Internet |
| D．they think it unnecessary to look for their own information on the Internet |
Which group of people are more likely to look for their own information on the Internet?
| A．Teens. | B．Women. | C．The old. | D．The educated. |
People look for others’ information on the Internet mainly to ______.
| A．see what they are doing | B．find someone they have lost touch with |
| C．have a look at their photos | D．know their perso nal affairs |
It was a lovely day at the park and Stella Bianchi was enjoying the sunshine with her two children when a young boy, aged about four, approached her two-year-old son and pushed him to the ground.
“I’d watched him for a little while and my son was the fourth or fifth child he’d pushed,” she says. “I went over to them, picked up my son, turned to the boy and said, firmly, ‘No, we don’t push.’” What happened next was unexpected.
“The boy’s mother ran toward me from across the park,” Stella says, “I thought she was coming over to apologize, but instead she started shouting at me for blaming her child. All I did was let him know his behavior was unacceptable. Was I supposed to sit back while her kid did whatever he wanted and hurt other children?”
Getting your own children to play nice is difficult enough. Dealing with other people’s children has become a hidden danger.
In my house, jumping on the sofa is not allowed. In my sister’s house it’s encouraged. I find myself saying “no” a lot when her kids are over at mine. That’s OK between sisters but becomes dangerous when you’re talking to the children of friends or acquaintances.
“Kids aren’t all raised the same,” agrees Professor Naomi White of Monash University.” But there is still an idea that they’re the property of the parent. We see our children as a mirror of ourselves, so if you’re saying that my child is behaving improperly, then that’s somehow a criticism(批评) of me.”
In those situations, it’s difficult to know whether to approach the child directly or the parent first. There are two opinions.
“I’d go to the child first,” says Andrew Fuller, author of Tricky Kids. “Usually a quiet reminder that ‘we don’t do that here’ is enough. Kids have antennae (直觉) for how to behave in different settings.”
He points out bringing it up with the parent first may make them feel careless, which could cause problems. Of course, approaching the child first can bring its own headaches, too.
This is why White recommends that you approach the parents first. Raise your concerns with the parents and ask them to deal with it,” she says.
Asked how to approach a parent in this situation, psychologist Meredith Fuller answers: “Explain your needs as well as stressing the importance of the friendship. Start with something like: ‘I know you’ll think I’m silly but in my house I don’t want…’”What did Stella Bianchi expect the young boy’s mother to do when she talked to him?
| A．Make an apology | B．Come over to stop her |
| C．Blame her own boy | D．Take her own boy away |
What does the author say about dealing with other people’s children?
| A．It’s important not to hurt them in any way |
| B．It’s no use trying to stop their wrongdoing |
| C．It’s advisable to treat them as one’s own kids |
| D．It’s possible for one to get into lots of trouble |
According to professor Naomi White, when one’s kids are criticized, their parents will probably feel ______.
| A．discouraged | B．hurt | C．puzzled | D．affected |
What should one do when seeing other people’s kids misbehave according to Andrew Fuller?
| A．Talk to them directly in a mild way | B．Complain to their parents politely |
| C．Simply leave them alone | D．Punish them lightly |