The sun is shining when I get on No. 151 bus. We passengers sit jammed together in heavy clothes. No one speaks. That’s one of the unwritten rules of Chicago commuting. Although we see the same faces every day, we prefer to hide behind our newspapers. The phenomenon is striking: people who sit so close together are using those thin sheets of newsprint to keep their distance.
As the bus approaches the Magnificent Mile, a voice suddenly rings out: “Attention! Attention!” Papers rattle (发出细小声). Necks crane (伸长). “This is your driver speaking.”
We look at the back of the driver’s head. His voice has authority.
“All of you put your papers down.”
The papers come down, an inch at a time. The driver waits. The papers are folded and placed on our laps.
“Now, turn and face the person next to you. Go ahead.”
Amazingly, we all do it. Still, no one smiles.
I face an older woman, her head wrapped tightly in a red scarf. I see her nearly every day. Our eyes meet. We wait, unblinking, for the next order from the driver.
“Now, repeat after me…” It is a command, delivered in the tones of a drill sergeant (操练军士). “Good morning, neighbor!”
Our voices are weak and timid. For many of us, these are the first words we have spoken today. But we say them at the same time, like schoolchildren, to the strangers beside us.
We smile and can’t help it. We have said it; the barrier has been broken. Good morning, neighbor. It is not so hard after all. Some of us repeat it. Others shake hands. Many laugh.
The bus driver says nothing more. He doesn’t need to. Not a single newspaper goes back up. I hear laughter, a warm sound I have never heard before on bus No. 151. This day is starting off better than most.On hearing the sudden utterance of “Attention!”, the passengers ___________.
| A．stopped reading and put down their newspapers immediately |
| B．looked up from the newspapers to see who was speaking |
| C．sat still without response |
| D．were frightened |
The underlined word “commuting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means ___________.
| A．daily traveling between home and work |
| B．long-distance ride |
| C．communication technology |
| D．behavior patterns |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The passengers on the crowded bus were so absorbed in reading their newspapers that no one spoke. |
| B．The passengers were physically close together but mentally they kept each other at a terrible distance. |
| C．The passengers didn’t follow the driver’s instruction at first. |
| D．When the bus driver said nothing more, the passengers picked up and read their newspapers again. |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．The Warmth of Communication | B．The Exchange of Information |
| C．The Power of Observation | D．The Attitude to Loneliness |
The hospital burn unit is a popular place on the day after Thanksgiving. I found that out three years ago, when my 18-month-old daughter touched a radiator pipe while playing around our friends' farmhouse. Instead of feasting on leftover stuffing, I rushed my child as she screamed to hospital. Instead of getting a jump on my Christmas shopping, I learned how to take care of second-degree burns.
Our story had a happy ending. With weeks of twice-daily treatments at Mommy and Papa's kitchen-table burn clinic, my daughter's hands healed. But other children we saw at the outpatient burn clinic weren't so lucky. I saw hands _____________________, a mouth that would never smile straight, a scalp that would never grow hair. All the parents had stories of accidents as easy as ours: a cup of tea knocked from a side table, a tumble (摔倒) into a space heater. "Heaters and soup," one veteran nurse told me at the hospital. "That's all it is. Heaters and soup."
Most of the injuries were to hands and wrists, and most came from contact with hot liquids or from touching hot objects. Not only do small children not realize the danger posed by hot objects; their skin is much thinner than that of adults. They burn more quickly, and the burns tend to be deeper and more severe.
Traditional fire safety education focused on preventing fires. The number of children injured by playing with fire has declined substantially when the Consumer Product Safety Commission required that cigarette lighters be child-resistant. "We know people know about smoke alarms," says Chrissy, program manager for Safe Kids USA, a nonprofit that works to reduce childhood injuries. Now, fire safety experts hope that public education efforts will turn to burns that can be just as terrible as injuries caused by flame.
1. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one? People used to be warned of the fire burns.
2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with a proper sentence．(within 10 words)
3. What is the best title for this passage? (within 10 words)
4. For what purpose does the author mention “a cup of tea” or “a tumble into a space heater” in Paragraph 2?(within 10 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese．
Modern life is a lot les s to the advantage of friendships and neighborliness than it used to be. The average American moves every five years. People drive straight into their garages, hire lawn services, hang out in their backyards instead of their front porches (前走廊). These days, neighbors don't even know each other's names.
Good neighbors and good friends are a lot like electricity or running water: We don't know how much we depend on them until we don't have them. In fact, the authors of a recent book, Refrigerator Rights, claim that refrigerators are signs of close relationships--after all, you wouldn't snatch a drumstick(鸡腿) from the refrigerator of a stranger.
The surprising thing is that all it takes to strengthen your relationship with friends and neighbors is respect for their feelings, concern for their property, and a helping hand when it's needed. Here's how to develop your relationships with two types of vitally important people in your life.
_________________. A true friend doesn't flee when changes occur. The sign of a good friend is one who stays true through it all--marriage, parenthood, new jobs, new homes, the losses. Just because situations change doesn't mean the person has to.
Friendships fade away if there isn't an balance between the give and the take. So make sure you aren't being a burden to your friends. Be sensitive to how much your friend can and can't offer you--be it time, energy, or help -- and don't step over the line. Meanwhile, friendships that drain(耗尽) you will not last. If a friendship is out of balance in this way, you'll need to talk the situation through.
1. Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?
A true friend will stay the same even when the situations change.
2. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with a proper sentence. (Within 10 words)
3. What advice is given in the last paragraph? (Within 10 words)
4. What do you think the author will go on talking about if the passage continues?(Within 10 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese．
So you're between the ages of 13 and 24. What makes you happy? Spending time with family was the top answer to that open-ended question, according to an extensive survey--more than 100 questions asked of 1,280 people aged 13-24 -- conducted by The Associated Press on the nature of happiness among America's young people.
Next was spending time with friends. And good news for parents: Nearly three quarters of young people say their relationship __________ makes them happy.
"They're my foundation," says Kristiana St. John, 17, a high-school student from Queens in New York. "My mom tells me that even if I do something stupid, she's still going to love me no matter what. Just knowing that makes me feel very happy and blessed."
Other results are more disconcerting. While most young people are happy overall with the way their lives are going, there are racial differences: the poll shows whites to be happier than blacks and Hispanics. A lot of young people feel stress, particularly those from the middle class, and females more than males.
You might think money would be clearly tied to a general sense of happiness. But almost no one said "money" when asked what makes them happy, though people with the highest family incomes are generally happier with life. However, having highly educated parents is a stronger predictor of happiness than income.
Overwhelmingly, young people think marriage would make them happy and want to be married some day. Most also want to have kids.
Finally, when asked to name their heroes, nearly half of respondents mentioned one or both of their parents. The winner, by a nose: Mom.
1. What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words)
2. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?
Although most youths are generally happy with their present life. There are differences between different races.
3. Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words)
4. What do you think is the most important factor that makes you happy? Why? (Please answer within 30 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.
About 40 percent of the top students in college entrance examinations have chosen overseas universities for their postgraduate studies, according to a survey.
Most of them have stayed overseas after finishing their intended courses, showed a survey that tracked 130 top performers in college entrance exams from 1977 to 1998.
The survey, released on the China Alumni Association website, found it worrying that many of the top students would not ________ despite the country’s rapid development in the past few decades.
The government should find better ways to hold back talented students, said Cai Yanhou, a professor with Central South University in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province.
UNESCO figures show Chinese students comprise 14 percent of international students, the highest in the world. Their favorite destinations for higher studies are the US, Britain and Japan. Some experts said handsome scholarships, better job prospects and more opportunities to pursue further studies are the main attractions of foreign universities.
But Cai, who also led the survey team, said "top in exams" does not necessarily mean "top in career" because the study found none of the top students at college entrance exams had become a top Chinese expert or academic. Some of them are just more adaptable to exam-oriented education than their peers, experts said.
The media fill pages and time slots with their "success" stories to gain wider readership and viewership. High schools promote their former students proudly to attract new ones, and universities want to show their superior status by recruiting them, they said.
Wang hoped future reforms would do away with the score-oriented method so that students can be judged from all aspects.
1. What is the best title of the passage? (Please answer within 10 words)
2. Which sentence in the passage can be replaced by the following one?
The top students’ “success” stories are widely announced by the media to attract the readers’ and the viewers’ interest.
3. Please fill in the blank in the second paragraph with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence. (Please answer within 10 words)
4. If you are one of the top students in college entrance examinations, will you choose to study abroad? Why or why not?(Please answer within 30 words)
5. Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese
It is difficult for parents of nearly every family to teach their children to be responsible for housework, but with one of the following suggestions, you really can get your children to help at home.
If you give your children the impression that they_____________________, then they will regard themselves as unfit or unable persons. Unless children believe they can succeed, they will never become totally independent （独立）.
My daughter Carla’s fifth-grade teacher made every child in her class feel special. When students received less than a perfect test score, she would point out what they had mastered and declared firmly they could learn what they had missed.
You can use the same technique when you evaluate （评价）your child’s work at home. Don’t always scold and give lots of praise instead. Talk about what he has done right, not about what he hasn’t done. If your child completes a difficult task, reward him with a Sunday trip or a ball game with Dad.
Learning is a process （过程）of trying and failing and trying and succeeding. If you teach your children not to fear a mistake of failure, they will learn faster and achieve success at last.
1.What’s the best title of the passage?
2.Which sentence in the passage is the closest in meaning to the following one?
The process of learning is full of trying and failing ,and after trying again and again ,one will succeed.
3.Please fill in the blank in the passage with proper words or phrases to complete the sentence.(within ten words)
4.What do you think parents should do to educate their children well according to the passage?(within 30 words)
5.Translate the underlined sentence into Chinese.