“The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato. Self-control is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses (冲动) and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom.
A single angry word has lost many friends. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. “Whoever the gods would destroy, they first make them mad.” “Keep cool,” says Webster, “anger is not argument.” “Be calm in arguing,” says George Herbert, “for fierceness (狂怒) makes error a fault.”
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. “Anger,” says Pythagoras, “begins with foolishness and ends with regret.” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him. Self-control is man’s last and greatest victory.
If a man lacks(缺乏) self-control he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence(自信心), for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking too. What’s the main idea of the passage?_____
| A．Self- control is important for a man. |
| B．We should learn to be strong. |
| C．A man who keeps cool won’t lose any game. |
| D．The great heroes in history knew how to control themselves. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?______
| A．If you are mad, the gods will kill you. |
| B．If you lose your temper first, gods will kill you first. |
| C．If you can’t control yourself, you will be crazy. |
| D．If the gods want to kill you, they will make you mad first. |
Which of the following is NOT true, according to passage?_______
| A．The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself. |
| B．You will make a small mistake serious if you don’t keep cool. |
| C．You must measure a man’s strength by the power of the feelings which conquer him. |
| D．Anger begins with foolishness and ends with regret. |
Which of the following can’t help you avoid anger, according to the passage?_____
| A．Being calm in arguing. |
| B．Checking your temper or anger by speaking low. |
| C．Keeping your mouth shut. |
| D．Trying to make the other angry first. |
Energy independence. It has a nice ring to it. Doesn’t it? If you think so, you’re not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.
“Energy independence” and its rhetorical (修辞的) companion “energy security” are, however, slippery concepts that are rarely through, though. What is it that we want independence from, exactly?
Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil. But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere.
The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running. Yes, there is a trickle（涓涓细流）of biofuel（生物燃料）available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction.
Second, Americans have basically decided that they don’t really want to produce all their own oil. They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad. Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection. To what extent are Americans really willing to endure the environmental impacts of domestic energy production in order to cut back imports?
Third, there are benefits to trade. It allows for economic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs than we do, we benefit. And although you don’t read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries.
There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to maintain its economy. When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices, at the same time, we derive massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world.What does the author think of biofuels?
| A．They keep America’s economy running healthily. |
| B．They prove to be a good alternative to petroleum. |
| C．They do not provide a sustainable energy supply. |
| D．They cause serious damage to the environment. |
Why does America rely heavily on oil imports?
| A．It wants to expand its storage of crude oil. |
| B．Its own oil reserves are quickly running out. |
| C．It wants to keep its own environment intact. |
| D．Its own oil production falls short of demand. |
What does the author say about oil trade?
| A．It proves profitable to both sides. |
| B．It improves economic efficiency. |
| C．It makes for economic prosperity. |
| D．It saves the cost of oil exploration. |
A ground-based system that uses much stronger signals than GPS can find your location in cities and indoors. It is a new positioning system that could compete with GPS to make sure you never lose your directions again.
Instead of satellites, Locata uses ground-based equipment to launch a radio signal over a localized area that is a million times stronger on arrival than GPS. It can work indoors as well as outdoors, and the makers claim the receivers can be shrunk to fit inside a regular cell phone. Even the US military, which invented GPS technology, signed a contract last month agreeing to a large-scale test of Locata at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
“This is one of the most important technology developments for the future of the positioning industry,” says Nunzio Gambale, CEO and co-founder of the firm Locata, based in Griffith, Australia.
As for the Locata’s accuracy, Christopher Morin of the US Air Force tested it recently at White Sands, and it worked to within 18 centimeters along any axis(轴). Morin says it should be possible to get the resolution down to 5 centimeters.
Admittedly, the tests were performed in an open desert where GPS also works beautifully, but its signals are weak— like a car headlight from 20,000 kilometers away— and easily blocked by solid objects. “Locata’s signal is far stronger, though not guaranteed to work in a complex urban environment,” says David Last, consultant to the UK’s General Lighthouse Authorities.
“Locata’s technology will face competition in the race to transform indoor navigation. But it could shine in specific areas,” Gambale says. “Robots with Locata could easily navigate inside buildings without the complex optical systems they need at the moment. And process that handle precise location data could not only guide you around a mall, railway station or airport, but also take you to the exact shelf in a shop for the product you want. The units small and cheap enough for smart phones should be available within five years— a similar path to the one GPS took on its way towards world domination.”The passage is written mainly to .
| A．encourage people to buy the Locata |
| B．tell us the disadvantage of the GPS |
| C．introduce a new positioning system Locata |
| D．tell us that Locata will replace GPS one day |
Which of the following is not true about Locata according to Paragraph 2?
| A．Without the help of the satellites, Locata can tell you where you are. |
| B．The US military has to test it before using it. |
| C．Locata has a better signal than GPS. |
| D．Locata can be fixed into smart phones only. |
Which of the following words can be used to replace the underlined word in Paragraph 4?
| A．accuracy | B．speed |
| C．determination | D．length |
According to the passage, what can we know about Gambale?
| A．He did the experiment at White Sands. |
| B．He is confident in Locata and think highly of it. |
| C．He said that Locata could not work in a complex urban environment. |
| D．He is worried about the competition that Locata faces. |
The World Bank has looked at the distinguishing features of successful school system.
According to the World Bank’s education specialist, Harry Patrinos, this include: improving the quality of teachers and making sure that teachers are highly regarded; providing information to make schools accountable and giving autonomy to schools and head teachers.
This matters not only for individual pupils but also for the well-being of countries, he says, because improving educational performance has a direct impact on improving economic performance.
China’s education performance— at least in cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong— seems to be as spectacular as the country’s fast growing economy.
Certainly both these open and outward-looking cities consider education to be important and are willing to adopt the best educational practices from around the world to ensure success. In Hong Kong, education accounts for more than one-fifth of entire government spending every year.
“Shanghai and Hong Kong are small education systems, with a concentration of ideas, manpower and resources for education,” says Prof Cheng.
Under the banner “First class city, first class education”, Shanghai set about systematically re-equipping classroom, upgrading schools and improving the curriculum in the last decade.
It got rid of the “key schools” system which concentrated resources only on top students and top schools. Instead staff were trained in more interactive teaching methods and computers were brought in.
About 80% of Shanghai school leavers go to university compared to an overall average of 24% in China.
Meanwhile, dynamic Hong Kong was forced into educational improvements as its industries moved to cheaper mainland Chinese areas in the 1990s.Its survival as a service and management hub depends on upgrading knowledge and skills.
In the last decade Hong Kong has concentrated on closing the gap for all students, says a report by McKinsey management consultants.
The report, How the World’s Most Improved School Systems Keep Getting Better, rated Hong Kong’s education system among the best in the world.The World Bank’s survey about education mainly concentrates on .
| A．what has made some education systems successful |
| B．China’s education system and competitive exams |
| C．how to relieve Chinese students of their heavy schoolwork |
| D．the relationship between education and economic development |
According to Harry Patrinos, the key to successful school systems is .
| A．to give autonomy to all teachers to educate students freely in class |
| B．to let students attend after-school tutoring and do more exercises |
| C．to improve teachers’ abilities and give schools free performance right |
| D．to make school education directly serve the economy of the country |
We can learn from the text that.
| A．the “key school” system is the key to many schools’ failure |
| B．students in Shanghai and Hong Kong work the hardest |
| C．Hong Kong’s educational performance isn’t as good as Shanghai’s |
| D．Shanghai and Hong Kong’s economic performance will improve |
What is the author’s attitude towards the school systems of Shanghai and Hong Kong?
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. |
| C．Neutral. | D．Critical. |
Next year marks the 150th anniversary of when large numbers of Chinese started working on a huge project in the United States. They help to build America’s first transcontinental railroad between 1863 and 1869, connecting the East Coast with the West.
People know little about the Chinese railroad workers and what happened to them after the project was finished. Stanford University in California wants to learn more about the lives of these men by reaching out to their families.
Bill Yee’s ancestors came from southern China. He said, “My great-great-grandfather came to America during the‘gold rush’days and he returned to China as a wealthy man. And then my great-grandfather came to work on the railroad and died there.”
But that did not stop his grandfather from coming to the US on false papers. He operated a laundry. Bill Yee’s father continued to run the business and has never returned to China.
“Things were pretty bad in some parts of China in the 1860’s. They came to America at all costs in order that they no longer had to bear hunger,” Bill Yee said.
Shelley Fisher Fishkin is helping to direct the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University. She said, “Many of the Chinese workers who came to work on the transcontinental and other railroads returned to China after their work was done and created families there. Some of them settled in America and created new families, but they had families who they left when they came here and they may have descendants in China.”
There is a need to create a record of the object and spoken history from the families of the railroad workers.
“The US could not have become the modern industrial nation without the railroads. And the railroads would not have come together without the work of these Chinese workers,” said Shelley Fisher Fishkin.What do you know about Bill Yee?
A. His family was rich in the 1860’s.
B. His father settled in the USA.
C. He knows little about his ancestors and hopes to know more.
D. His grandfather came to America with his great-grandfather.According to Bill Yee, many Chinese went to America in the 1860’s mainly .
| A．to run their own businesses |
| B．to find their ancestors |
| C．to make a living |
| D．to dig gold |
According to Shelley Fisher Fishkin,.
| A．the descendants of the Chinese railroad workers all live a good life |
| B．they expect to find all the descendants of the Chinese railroad workers |
| C．some Chinese railroad workers hope they can find their descendants in China |
| D．some Chinese railroad workers have descendants both in China and the US |
Why did Stanford University carry out the project?
| A．Because they want to help the Chinese railroad workers’ descendants to get together. |
| B．Because they want to show the importance of America’s first transcontinental railroad. |
| C．Because they want to learn more about how to build a railroad in the past in America. |
| D．Because they want Americans to remember the Chinese railroad workers’ role in US history. |
Alibaba started taking the lead in China by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商) with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to judge: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its market attracts 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year — and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets — not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is second to consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售) buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items(物品) for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping — big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beijing, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how wide the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine.Alibaba’s advantage mainly lies in .
| A．its business-to-business service |
| B．its big size |
| C．its not charging small sellers |
| D．its low price |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the passage?
| A．Alibaba is of middle size among all the online sites. |
| B．Alibaba will continue to develop. |
| C．Alibaba acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers. |
| D．Alibaba stands out as the best online site. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail. |
| B．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
| C．TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
| D．The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Shopping online in China is TaoBao. |
| B．Alibaba influences people’s daily purchase in China. |
| C．Shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
| D．How the author purchases online in China. |