What’s in name? Well, apparently, our general happiness. Psychologists say that what we are called has a direct connection with our happiness.
Those called Judy and Joshua are the happiest, while Lynn or Ben is likely to be the unhappiest, according to research. Psychologist Dr David Holmes found that this can cause the association(联想) that others make with the name. Hearing the name Judy may make them think of actress Judi Dench or TV presenter Judy Finnigan, and people who are considered good-natured and happy. On the other hand, people think Paulines are unhappy because of the character Pauline Fowler from the TV programme East Enders. The research claims that this association influences the person with the name and so their personality is shaped to fit in. Dr David Holmes said, “This also has some relation with the original meaning of the name, for example, the original meaning of Judy is ‘praised’.”
Certain names also work well in certain aspects of life. In the workplace Richard and Judy are the happiest, while those called Ruth and Carly are the happiest in relationships. At the other end of the scale the unhappiest workers are Stuart and Liz, with the unhappiest in relationships being Frank and Harriet.
Dr Holmes said, “The relation we have with certain names, particularly important namesakes (同名者), also shapes how we see ourselves and so may have an effect on our confidence. Names are like product brands in having a powerful effect on attitudes and should therefore be chosen with care.”
“Other names are connected with being brave, outgoing or serious. Therefore, many celebrities change their names to ones which reflect these characteristic. This, in turn, influences parents when they choose names for their babies,” said Dr Holmes, “while names connected with ordinary people are rarely chosen for their babies.”What’s the main idea of this passage?
| A．How to choose a good name for babies. |
| B．The relation between names and happiness. |
| C．How to have a name connected with celebrities. |
| D．The relation between names and success. |
According to the passage, which of the following names are better?
| A．Joshua and Ben. | B．Pauline and Frank. |
| C．Richard and Stuart. | D．Ruth and Joshua. |
The author may continue the passage with _________.
| A．names and product brands |
| B．famous people’s names |
| C．names and personality |
| D．parents’ choices of baby names |
Which of the following is connected with names according to the passage?
| A．Personality and self-confidence. | B．Self-confidence and position. |
| C．Position and characteristic. | D．Personality and appearance. |
Nanjing-style paper cutting is an important part of Chinese paper cutting. It is known for its different designs, simplistic but graceful shapes, finely cut lines and unique skills. Zhang Fanglin is a leading figure in the Nanjing-style paper cutting. Zhang was born in a paper-cutting family. He is the fourth generation to continue the family’s paper-cutting skills. Taught by his father, he began to learn paper cutting in his childhood. In 1963 when he was only 14 years old, he started his artistic career in a local folk handicraft factory. Over the past decades, Zhang has created many works and developed excellent skills. In 1985, Zhang was admitted into Nanjing Municipal Fine Arts Company, creating and designing paper cuts. Throughout his artistic career, Zhang has absorbed characteristics and elements（元素）of various styles of paper cutting and created a large number of creative paper-cutting works. Thanks to his great contributions, he won many national prizes and was awarded the title of “National Master Artist in Handicraft Art”.
As a leading figure, Zhang Fanglin has been invited to more than 30 countries and regions around the world, showcasing his paper-cutting skills. In the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Zhang showcased his new creations of gold foil-embedded paper cutting works. What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Chinese paper cutting. |
| B．Nanjing-style paper cutting. |
| C．A paper cutting family. |
| D．A paper cutting artist. |
How old was Zhang Fanglin when he was admitted into Nanjing Municipal Fine Arts Company?
| A．36. | B．14. | C．22. | D．18. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Nanjing-style paper cutting is the most important part of Chinese paper cutting. |
| B．Zhang is a creative artist who knows different styles of paper cutting well. |
| C．Zhang won many international prizes because of his great contributions. |
| D．All the members of the family taught Zhang how to design paper cuts. |
I can still remember the first day when I met my best friend. She had just moved into the neighborhood and her grandmother brought her down to meet me. I hid behind my mother and she hid behind her grandmother, scared to look at each other.
Soon, we lost the shyness and started playing with each other, bike riding to each other’s house and having sleepovers. In 7th grade she was going through family problems. However, every summer we would always sit at each other’s house and watch movies on TV and talk about all the boys we liked.
It was last year when I noticed the problem. She suffered from clinical depression（抑郁症）, and had to go to a hospital during the day. I was very sorry for her at first. But with the late night calls, and meeting each other halfway up the street at midnight, we still stayed in touch. I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend left her, and I knew I still cared about her like a sister.
Yesterday she came to me and said this. “I never knew what a best friend was until you were the only person that would stop me from cutting myself; the only person that ever made me feel better about myself and my problems. You didn’t know this but I was trying to kill myself that very night you called me and I was crying. I owe you so much, and you didn’t even know you were helping me. ”
We both cried. And I guess a kind of lesson from my life so far is to never give up your friends. Even if they aren’t as cool as others, or people think they are crazy, they need someone there. If you leave them, you will only be very sorry. So if friends need you, and you care for them, you should be always there for them. Why did the two girls hide behind their family members when they first met?
| A．Because they were playing a game. |
| B．Because they didn’t like each other. |
| C．Because they quarreled before. |
| D．Because they were both shy. |
What would have happened to her friend if the author had not cared about her?
| A．She would have lost her new best friend. |
| B．She would have killed herself that night. |
| C．She would have run away from her family. |
| D．She would have stayed in hospital for a long time. |
What lesson does the author learn from the story?
| A．Always care for your friends. |
| B．Don’t care about others’ opinions. |
| C．Never owe your friends too much. |
| D．Try to be as cool as others. |
At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they’re bad. Yet the agreement among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants’ impact on the economy and the reality?
There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the stress that undocumented immigrants place on public services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners add to the nation's fears and insecurities. There’s some truth to all these explanations, but they aren’t quite sufficient.
To get a better understanding of what’s going on, consider the way immigration’s impact is felt. Though its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notes that the ones who profit most directly from immigrants’ low-cost labor are businesses and employers—meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, these producers’ savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor. According to a study by George Borjas, a Harvard economist, immigration has reduced the wages of American high-school dropouts by 9%.
Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in other words, was the financial burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that financial burden decreased, as occurred with welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants’ access to certain benefits.
The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect of immigration is minimal. Even for those most acutely affected—say, low-skilled workers, or California residents—the impact isn’t all that dramatic. “The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions,” says Daniel Tichenor, a professor at the University of Oregon. “But when all those factors are put together and the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one.” Too bad most people don’t realize it.What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．Whether immigrants are good or bad for the economy has been puzzling economists. |
| B．The American economy used to thrive on immigration but now it’s a different story. |
| C．The agreement among economists is that immigration should not be encouraged. |
| D．The general public thinks differently from most economists on the impact of immigration. |
What is the chief concern of native high-skilled, better-educated employees about the inflow of immigrants?
| A．It may change the existing social structure. |
| B．It may pose a threat to their economic status. |
| C．It may decrease .their financial burden. |
| D．It may place a great pressure on the state budget. |
What is the irony about the debate over immigration?
| A．Even economists can’t reach an agreement about its impact. |
| B．Those who are opposed to it turn out to benefit most from it. |
| C．People are making too big a fuss about something of small impact. |
| D．There is no essential difference between seemingly opposite opinions. |
Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．A debate about whether to immigrate. |
| B．A debate about the impact of illegal immigrants. |
| C．The great impact of immigrants on the economy. |
| D．Opposition to illegal immigration. |
RichardSolo 1800 Rechargeable Battery
In just minutes a day, plug in and charge your iPhone quickly!
Just plug RichardSolo 1800 into your iPhone once or twice a day, for fifteen minutes, and keep your iPhone charged up. At your desk, or at dinner, plug RichardSolo into iPhone to instantly transfer charge. No more battery worries. RichardSolo will charge iPhone to full 1.5 times, and it is good for 3-5 years of recharges.
Use the iPhone while charging it. Even charge the RichardSolo 1800 and iPhone together at the same time. Take only one charger when traveling and wake up in the morning with the RichardSolo and the iPhone charged.
RichardSolo 1800 is largest in its class and holds its charge for months. Works with almost all iPhone cases.
Your satisfaction is guaranteed, with our 30-day return privilege. If you’re not satisfied for any reason, we’ll email you a pre-paid return label.
Actual customer comments:
To have your company exhibit such good service is unbelievably refreshing. —P.S.
This is what I call great customer support. I wish more companies would figure this out these days. Thank you so much. —D.C.
You have provided me one of the best services I have ever seen on any online/ telephone shopping. —T.K.
You must have the fastest processing and shipping in the industry!! —M.C.
This is the best customer service experience I have had in a long time. If only we always had such good enjoyment! —L.L.
I’ve read online about your amazing customer service, and I must say I’m now a true believer. —B.L.
Your service is so satisfactory that I even can’t believe it, and I will introduce it to my friends.—J.K.What is special about the battery?
| A．It is built in an iPhone. |
| B．It is the smallest of its kind. |
| C．It can also be used as a charger. |
| D．It keeps power for about 30 days. |
Who mentions the transporting of the battery?
A. P.S.B. B.L.C. M.C.D. T.K.The customer comments on the battery are mainly about its.
| A．quality | B．service | C．function | D．shopping |
On Thursday afternoon Mrs. Clarke, dressed for going out, took her handbag with her money and her key in it, pulled the door behind her to lock it and went to the over 60s Club. She always went there on Thursdays. It was a nice outing for an old woman who lived alone.
At six o’clock she came home, let herself in and at once smelt cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke in her house? How? How? Had someone got in? She checked the back door and the windows. All were locked or fastened, as usual. There was no sign of forced entry.
Over a cup of tea she wondered whether someone might have a key that fitted her front door—“a master key” perhaps. So she stayed at home the following Thursday. Nothing happened. Was anyone watching her movements? On the Thursday after that she went out at her usual time, dressed as usual, but she didn’t go to the club. Instead she took a short cut home again, letting herself in through her garden and the back door. She settled down to wait.
It was just after four o’clock when the front door bell rang. Mrs. Clarke was making a cup of tea at the time. The bell rang again, and then she heard her letter-box being pushed open. With the kettle of boiling water in her hand, she moved quietly towards the front door. A long piece of wire appeared through the letter-box, and then a hand. The wire turned and caught around the handle on the door-lock. Mrs. Clarke raised the kettle and poured the water over the hand. There was a shout outside, and the skin seemed to drop off the fingers like a glove. The wire fell to the floor, the hand was pulled back, and Mrs. Clarke heard the sound of running feet.Mrs. Clarke looked forward to Thursday because.
| A．she worked at a club on the day |
| B．she had visitors on Thursday |
| C．she visited a club on Thursday |
| D．a special visitor came on Thursday |
What does the expression “a master key” in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?
| A．A key to all the doors. |
| B．A key only to the woman’s door. |
| C．A key only its master can use. |
| D．A key not everyone can use. |
On the third Thursday Mrs. Clarke went out.
| A．because she didn’t want to miss the club again |
| B．to see if the thief was wandering outside |
| C．to the club but then changed her mind |
| D．in an attempt to trick the thief |
The lock on the front door was one which.
| A．needed a piece of wire to open it |
| B．could be opened from inside without a key |
| C．couldn’t be opened without a key |
| D．used a handle instead of a key |