The secret of happiness
An old man walked slowly with a cane(手杖)into the restaurant .His old jacket, worn-out shoes and warm personality made him stand out from the usual crowd.
A young waitress watched him move toward a table by the window. She ran over to him, and said: “Here, sir……let me help you with that chair.”
Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded(点头)a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table and helped him sit. Then she put his came against the table.
“Thank you, miss.”he said, kindly.
“You’re welcome, sir.”she said.
After he had finished his breakfast, the waitress brought him the change(零钱)from his bill. He left it on the table. She helped him up and walked with him to the front door.
When she went to clean his table, she found a business card under his plate and note on a napkin(纸巾). Under the napkin was a 100-dollar bill.
The note on the napkin read: “Dear miss, I respect you very much and I can see you respect yourself, too. It shows by the way you treat others. (3)You have found the secret of happiness. Your kindness will shine through to all those who meet you.”
The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person.
By Steve BrunkhorstThe old man left﹩100 under the napkin because he
A.had a habit of giving tips to waitresses |
B.thought the meal was delicious |
C.wanted to thank the waitress for her good attitude |
D.learned the secret of happiness from the waitress |
What do we know about the waitress and the old man?
A.The waitress knew who the old man was from the note. |
B.The waitress knew the old man before she served him. |
C.The old man wanted to have the waitress as his secretary. |
D.It was the first time that the waitress had ever seen her boss. |
We can tell from the story that the old man went to the restaurant to .
A.have a good meal |
B.enjoy good service |
C.see the restaurant for himself |
D.show his love for common people |
The underlined phrase“waited on”means .
A.looked at | B.served | C.waited for | D.Found |
Most 23-year-olds have not done enough in life to be worthy of having their own documentary(纪录片)
Most 23-year-olds aren't LeBron James.
The NBA superstar, who recently won gold at the Beijing Olympics, has just released More Than a Game. It is a documentary that follows his rise to stardom (明星地位) and how he and four childhood friends overcame long odds to win a national championship in high school.
Combining footage (镜头) taken during James' career at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, US, along with one-on-one interviews by writer/director Kris Belman, home videos, and personal family photographs, the film is about much more than basketball. At its core (核心) is a story of friendship, loyalty and love.
"We set out with a goal as kids and we wanted to accomplish that someway, somehow by using basketball as a tool, not knowing that it was going to create other opportunities for us," James said. "We didn't know it was going to create a brotherhood and trust. We grew from kids into young men."
While James is the star, his former teammates, Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee and Romeo Travis, play a major role in the film.
Their journey began together as 8-year-old boys, winds through years traveling all over America playing in basketball tournaments and finishes in their senior season at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
At the time, Belman was a college film student. He set out to film James and his friends' season as his final school project, a 10-minute documentary. But after gaining the trust of the players and coach Dru Joyce, Belman spent two months filming and eventually teamed with producer Harvey Mason Jr to the full-length feature.
James hopes the film will inspire youngsters (年轻人).
"We set out with a goal when we were eight and we accomplished it when we were 18," he said. "It's a great story and I wanted to get it out to kids that have a dream, that they should continue to go after it, believe in it and live it if they want to accomplish something."LeBron James achieved his goal set at 8 when.
A.he won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics |
B.He won a national championship in high school |
C.he became a collage student |
D.he was interviewed by Kris Belman |
Which of the following is unlikely to be included in the description of James?
A.Friendly. | B.Faithful. | C.Hardworking. | D.Self-centered. |
More Than a Game is.
A.James’ favorite story about his childhood |
B.a documentary filmed by James’ classmate |
C.a film made by Belman |
D.an article a bout James’ high school life |
We can learn from the passage that More Than a Game is.
A.inspiring | B.dull | C.puzzling | D.imaginary |
A Good Teacher is a Strict Teacher One of the most important parts in the healthy development of a
child is played by education. But the way in which education is
understood has changed completely, as we must not forget that
the severe and unfeeling way of bringing up a child in the past
was primarily based on cruel grounding(基础)and strict
rules that were supposed to create accomplished individuals, the typical gentlemen. Nowdays,
society is much more open-minded and it does not put a great value on being strict, although this
doesn’t mean that opinions regarding this subject do not differ.
On the one hand, there are also people who believe that there has got to be a bound between
teacher and student if any satisfying results are awaited. Luckily for us, more and more teachers are
understanding this fact and are doing their best to get over the strict rules and get in touch with us.
My opinion is that only by having a friendly attitude and accepting other opinions, especially
those of your pupils, you are truly able to do your job at high standards. However, this does not
mean that a teacher shouldn’t be a bit more rough when he feels that things are getting out of hand.
All in all, I must say that a good teacher is the teacher that has the ability to be kind and strict at the
same time, thus achieving to gain his students respect and interest.The aim of education in the past was to.
A.create perfect persons | B.create open-minded persons |
C.bring up a child | D.build a cruel grounding |
According to the passage, the narrow-minded people think.
A.a pupil is always interested in what he is learning |
B.a pupil himself will improve his studies |
C.children should be made to study |
D.children don’t like a rough hand |
The underlined word “job” in the last paragraph can be replaced by.
A.controlling | B.teaching | C.learning | D.punishing |
The author thinks a good teacher should be.
A.kind and strict | B.skilled and clever |
C.rough and cruel | D.friendly and practical |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
A.society is much more open-minded and being strict is out date |
B.as long as the teachers are strict with students, the students will certainly get good marks |
C.most people are in favor of strict teachers because they have strict grounding and strict rules |
D.if we expect students to develop in a healthy way, the good relationship between teachers and students is important |
As dangerous as sharks may have seed to people after watching Jaws, which was released on June 20,1975, the recent disastrous decrease in their numbers show that people have proven far more dangerous to sharks.
This disastrous decline is due in large part to commercial fishing of sharks. “The market for
shark fins(鱼翅)in East Asia opened up thanks to changes in their economy, increasing their
ability to spend money on things such as shark fin soup,” Burgess said.
However, the biggest worry for sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays, which are suffering a similar fate, “is how they are killed incidentally when fishermen try and take other fish—the problem of bycatch(渔业混获),” Burgess explained. “They may be thrown back afterward, but they’re still dead.”
The key of the problems behind bringing sharks back is that “they’re not the same as other fish,” Burgess said, “Sharks are slow growing and slow to reach maturity. Sharks are live bearers, which means females keep their young in their body just like us, but instead of nine months, it takes 12 to 18 months or more in sharks. Also, sharks generally can’t give birth again until a year after they’ve given birth—sometimes they’re on a three-year cycle. So once you get a shark population knocked down, this ‘life in the slow lane’ means that recovery is measured in decades rather than years.”\
Burgess said, “I’m on the recovery team for it, but the recovery plan for that is over the course of 100 years. So I won’t see them recover, nor will you, nor will your children. That’s what it means when these animals go down—they’re down a long time.”
Any measures aimed at saving sharks must not only consider byeatch, “which is the real killer right now,” but also encourage interactional cooperation, Burgess said.
“Sharks are very migratory, and many species cross borders,” he said. “We can protect them only by getting many govemment to come aboard. That’s the hardest part about this.”The text mainly tells us.
A.shark fins are valuable | B.sharks are dangerous |
C.bycatch brings bad effects | D.sharks are in danger |
The number of sharks is decreasing mostly because of.
A.the film Jaws | B.commercial interests |
C.changes in economy | D.shark fin soup |
Bringing sharks back is difficult because.
A.they’re like the other fish |
B.their reproductive rate is slow |
C.they can’t give birth again |
D.their life cycle is only 3 years |
What can be concluded from the last paragraph?
A.Sharks live the way human beings do. |
B.It’s time many govemments cooperate. |
C.Sharks’ migration takes a very long time. |
D.Bycatch shouldn’t be forbidden by intemational laws. |
The test is most probably a .
A.newspaper ad | B.book review |
C.science news report | D.science fiction story |
Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow
water just off the Florida coast. Mullets, crabs, rays and small
fish gather by the thousands off an Alabama pirer. Birds covered in
oil are crawling deep into marshes (沼泽), never to be seen again.
Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster(英国石油公司漏油事件)are seeing
some strange phenomena. Fish and other wildlife seem to be fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast in a trend that some researchers see as a potentially troubling sign. The animals' presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily be captured by their enemies.
The nearly two-month-old spill(漏油)has created an environmental disaster in US history as tens of millions of gallons have flown into the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Scientists are seeing some unusual things as they try to understand the effects on thousands of species of marine life.
For nearly four hours Monday, a three-person crew with Greenpeace cruised past delicate
islands and mangrove-dotted inlets in Barataria Bay off southern Louisiana. They saw dolphins by the dozen frolicking(嬉戏)in the oily sheen(光泽)and oil-tinged pelicans feeding their young. But they spotted no dead animals.
"I think part of the reason why we're not seeing more yet is that the impacts of this crisis are
really just beginning," Greenpeace marine biologist John Hocevar said.
The counting of dead wildlife in the Gulf is more than an academic exercise; the deaths will
help determine how much BP pays in damages.What do the marine life react to the BP disaster?
A.Birds crawl deep into caves. |
B.Dolphins and sharks show up in deep water. |
C.Tens of thousands of marine animals are found dead. |
D.Sea creatures flee from oil spill, gathering near seashore. |
Which of the following is NOT related to the potentially troubling sign?
A.The usual habitat of deep-water animals is badly polluted. |
B.Many animals could be easily eaten by their enemies. |
C.Masses of fishes could die due to lack of oxygen. |
D.Some dolphins are frolicking in marshes. |
The environmental disaster was caused by.
A.the damage of the Mexico Gulf ecosystem |
B.the lack of environmental sense of BP |
C.the nearly two-month-old oil spill |
D.the crowding marine life |
What is John Hocevar’s attitude towards the disaster?
A.Worried. | B.Disappointed. | C.Depressed. | D.Hesitant. |
From the passage, we can infer that.
A.Bp will pay much money according to the number of dead wildlife there |
B.marine scientists have seen some strange phenomena |
C.the disaster has little influence on dolphins |
D.a three-person crew reached no conclusion |
Mrs. Amatuli was my teacher in the fourth grade.
One day at lunch time, I was getting ready to eat my same old tuna fish(金枪鱼)sandwich and suddenly Mrs. Amatuli asked me if she could buy my sandwich from me. She explained that I could use the money to buy a hot lunch from the cafeteria.
I was thrilled. I never bought my lunch at the cafeteria. It was too expensive for my family, and we always carried our lunch and brought the bah back home to use again the next day. My sandwiches were either bologna(大腊肠)or tuna fish. It rarely varied beyond that.
You can understand my delight when I had the opportunity to buy a hot lunch.
When we finished lunch that day, Mrs. Amatuli took me aside and said she wanted to explain why she had bought my sandwich.
Oh, I couldn’t wait to get home and tell my Mama that form now on I wanted tuna fish on Fridays. After my Mama understood why, she gladly fixed tuna fish for me on Friday. She even fixed it on brown bread because she knew Mrs. Amatuli liked brown bread.
From then on every Friday I cold get in line with the rest of the kids for a hot lunch. I didn’t care how many of the ids complained about cafeteria food—it tasted divine to me!
I realize now that Mrs. Amatuli could have fixed herself a tuna sandwich of Friday. But she bought my sandwich because she saw a little girll who was thrilled over the simple act of having a hot lunch.
I will never forget her for her compassion and generosity.Which of the following can best describe Mrs. Amatuli?
A.Lovely. | B.Strict. | C.Clever. | D.Kind. |
The author didn’t buy her lunch at the cafeteria because.
A.her lunch was various | B.her family was very poor |
C.her mother could prepare it at home | D.her teacher gave her a hot lunch |
After lunch that day, Mrs. Amatuli explained.
A.she was Catholic | B.Catholic ate meat on Fridays |
C.Catholic ate fish on Fridays | D.she liked brown bread |
The underlined word “divine” in Paragraph 8 means.
A.delicious | B.bad | C.typical | D.hot |
What might be the best title for the passage?
A.My grateful mother | B.My considerate teacher![]() |
C.My boring lunch | D.A thrilled student |