My brother-in-law opened the bottom drawer of my sister’s bureau（衣橱）and picked out a wonderful skirt. “Jan bought this the first time we went to New York, at least 8 or 9 years ago .She never wore it. She was saving it for a special occasion.” Well, I guess this is the occasion.
He took the skirt from me and put it on the bed. His hands touched the soft material for a moment, then he shut the drawer and turned to me, “Don’t ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you’re alive is a special occasion.”
I’m still thinking about his words, and they’ve changed my attitude to life. I’m spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to enjoy, not suffer. I’m trying to recognize these moments now and treasure them.
“Someday” and “one of these days” are being lost from my vocabulary. If it’s worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now . I’m not sure what my sister would have done if she had known she wouldn’t have tomorrow.
I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend her fences for past things. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food.
If I knew that my hours were limited, those little things left undone would make me angry. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with someday. Angry and sorry because I didn’t tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them.
I’m trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that every day, every minute, and every breath truly, is…a gift from God.What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．Every day is a gift |
| B．My poor sister |
| C．Value friendship every day |
| D．Every day is an important occasion |
Jan bought the wonderful skirt but didn’t wear it, because( )
| A．She wanted to wear it on special occasions |
| B．She kept it as a special gift for someone else |
| C．She saved it until she grew older |
| D．She wanted to keep it as a sweet memory |
Which of the following is not the writer’s attitude to life?
| A．Spending more time staying with family every day. |
| B．Attending social activities as often as possible |
| C．Enjoying life and valuing every day. |
| D．Trying to get along well with friends |
King's College Summer School is an annual( 每年的) training program for high school students at all levels who want to improve their English. Courses are given by the teachers of King' s College and other colleges in New York. Trips to museums and culture centers are also organized. This year's summer school will be from July 25 to August 15.
More information is as follows:
| Application (申请) date Students in New York should send their applications before July 18, 2011. Students of other cities should send their applications before July 16, 2011. Foreign students should send their applications before July 10, 2011. |
Courses English Language Spoken English: 22 hours Reading and Writing: 10 hours American History: 16 hours American Culture: 16 hours |
| StepslA letter of self-introduction lA letter of recommendation(推荐) ﹡ The letters should be written in English with all the necessary information. |
CostDaily lessons: $200 lSports and activities: $100 lTravels: $200 lHotel service: $400 ﹡You may choose to live with your friends or relatives in the same city. |
| Please write to: Thompson, Sanders 1026 King' s Street New York, NY 10016, USA E-mail: KC-Summer-School@ yahoo.com |
You can most probably read the text in ________.
| A．a textbook | B．a travel guide |
| C．a newspaper | D．a telephone book |
Which of the following is true about King' s College Summer School?
| A．Only top students can take part in the program |
| B．Visits to museums and culture centers are part of the program. |
| C．King' s College Summer School is run every other year |
| D．Only the teachers of King' s College give courses. |
King’s College Summer School offered the following courses except ____.
| A．English Language | B．American History |
| C．American Culture | D．American Geography |
If you are to live with your relatives in New York, you will have to pay the school __
| A．$200 | B．$400 | C．$900 | D．$500 |
In 1961 Obama was born in Hawaii, US. His father was an African and his mother was a white American. He grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii.
When Obama was 10 years old, he was one of the only three black students at his school in Hawaii. He felt very different from most other students. White girls wanted to touch his hair. A white boy even asked him what his father was.
“I lied to them that my father was a Kenyan prince. But I kept asking myself who I am," said Obama.
However, 37 years later, the boy made history. Obama became the first black president in US history.
Obama's unusual background made him wonder who he was. He once turned to alcohol to help forget this question.
With the help of his friends, Obama finally turned his life around at college. His hard work made him a star at Harvard. Later, he became the third black senator (参议员）in US history.
"Obama's success has made Martin Luther King's dream come true. That is: A man should not be judged by the colour of his skin, but by the content of his character," wrote ABC news.Obama was born in _______.
| A．Britain | B．American | C．Kenya | D．Indonesia |
Which of the following is TURE according to the passage?
| A．Obama's parents are both African |
| B．Obama was the first black senator in US history |
| C．Obama was once very depressed (压抑）because of his unusual background. |
| D．No other black students were in the school where Obama studied when he was ten. |
Obama became the first black president in US history when he was ______.
| A．37 | B．38 | C．47 | D．48 |
From the passage we can learn that ______________.
| A．Obama's father is a Kenyan prince. |
| B．Obama was a star in Harvard because he drank a lot |
| C．We should judge a person by what he did when he was young |
| D．Obama's success owes to his hard work |
WASHINGTON—More than one in 10 of the nation’s airline pilots are cleared to carry a handgun while flying, and the number will continue to grow, according to a Transportation Security Administration projection.
The Federal Air Marshal Service, a TSA agency that runs the armed-pilots program, reports that 85,000 to 90,000 pilots and crewmembers flying domestic passengers and cargo planes are eligible(符合条件的) to carry a gun. That puts the number of armed pilots at about 9,500.
The TSA projects the program to grow to 16.5% of eligible pilots by the year 2011. Aviation experts were surprised and alarmed that so many pilots are toting guns in the sky.
“That’s a big number compared to what I thought it would be,” said aviation-security consultant Rich Roth, who said he had predicted there would be fewer than 1,000 armed pilots. The 5-year-old program trains pilots for one week and arms them with 40-caliber semiautomatic pistols.
“That’s a scary number,” said Joseph Gutheinz, a former Transportation Department special agent and aviation attorney in Houston. “By allowing so many pilots the opportunity to fly armed, we’re giving terrorists opportunity to identify somebody who has a gun and overpower him.”
Capt. Bob Hesselbein, head of security for the Air Line Pilots Association, said the number of armed pilots is “a tremendous deterrent(威慑)” to hijackings. “The challenge of an organized terrorist team is to take control of the cabin, then the flight deck.”
Armed pilots have come under scrutiny(审查) since March 22 when the gun of a US Airways pilot fired in the cockpit(驾驶座) of Flight 1536 as it approached Charlotte from Denver. No one was hurt, and the plane landed safely after the bullet pierced(穿透) the fuselage. The best title for this passage is “_____”.
| A．More than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed |
| B．Less than 10% of pilots allowed to fly armed |
| C．More than 16.5% of pilots allowed to fly armed |
| D．No chances for terrorists to hurt pilots |
From this passage we can infer that about 9,500 pilots in the USA are allowed to carry _____ while flying.
| A．shotguns | B．40-caliber automatic pistols |
| C．handguns | D．all the above |
Joseph Gutheinz’s attitude towards pilots’ carrying guns while flying is _____.
| A．positive | B．negative | C．angry | D．surprised |
Why did the US Airways pilot fire his gun in the cockpit of Flight 1536 as it approached Charlotte from Denver?
| A．To kill the terrorists who tried to hijack the plane. |
| B．To escape from the hijackings. |
| C．To tell the hijackers that he had a gun. |
| D．The passage doesn’t give the reason. |
As a tour guide, Ali is trying his best to introduce this unique land to us, with his rich knowledge and solid historical background. Whether in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, or at the well-known underground city, a strong sense of pride in Turkey can be found everywhere in his descriptions and explanations.
Turkey’s location in the Middle East brings many concerns, especially relating to security, for foreign tourists. And every time foreign tourists change their fixed and somewhat negative views about Turkey on his tour, Ali feels that all his efforts have paid off.
Ali Dede Coskuner, Tour Guide, said, “Guide makes bridge of peace, tourism brings peace to the world.”
Aside from work, the biggest comfort for Ali is his happy family, with three sons and a loving wife. But as a tour guide, his time with his family is destined to be very limited.
Ali Dede Coskuner said, “Tour guide is no timing; you don’t have fixed time to work. Sometimes, you have to work for 14—15 hours; sometimes, even more than 18 hours, and you can’t say ‘I am tired.’”
Despite these challenges, Ali always sees the beauty of the job that he does. And his smiling face always makes him an affable host for his guests.
According to Ali, there are about 10 thousand tour guides throughout Turkey, with only five thousand who are active. Because of certain legal loopholes(漏洞), not all the tour guides are licensed professionals, which results in some unfair competition. At the same time, tour guiding in Turkey is still not recognized as a profession, so guides are not included in the country’s insurance system.Ali is always taking pride in _____.
| A．his rich knowledge and solid historical background |
| B．changing foreign tourists’fixed and negative views about his country on his tour |
| C．spending little time with his family |
| D．his loving wife bringing his three sons up |
Which of the following words can be used in place of the underlined word “affable” in the sixth paragraph?
| A．open-minded. | B．honest. | C．approachable. | D．easy. |
Ali is not satisfied with _____.
| A．his descriptions and explanations about the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations |
| B．his job as a guide |
| C．the policy that guides are not included in the country’s insurance system |
| D．his working for 14—15 hours sometimes |
Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼) lies in the west of Yueyang City, near the Dongting Lake. It was first built for soldiers to rest on and watch out. In the Three Kingdoms Period, Lu Su, General of Wu State, trained his soldiers here.
In 716, Kaiyuan of Tang Dynasty, General Zhang Shuo was sent to defend at Yuezhou and he rebuilt it into a tower named South Tower, and then Yueyang Tower. In 1044, Song Dynasty, Teng Zijing was stationed at Baling Jun, the ancient name of Yueyang City. In the second year, he had the Yueyang Tower repaired and had poems by famous poets written on the walls of the tower. Fan Zhongyan, a great artist and poet, was invited to write the well-known poem about Yueyang Tower. In his A Panegyric of the Yueyang Tower (《岳阳楼记》), Fan writes: “Be the first to worry about the troubles across the land, the last to enjoy universal happiness.” His words have been well-known for thousands of years and made the tower even better known than before.
The style of Yueyang Tower is quite special. The main tower is 21.35 meters high with 3 stories, flying eave (屋檐) and wood construction, the helmet-roof of such a large size is a rarity (罕见之事) among the ancient architectures in China.
Entering the tower, you’ll see “Dongting is the water of the world, Yueyang is the tower of the world”. Moving on, there is a platform that once used as the training ground for the navy of Three-Kingdom Period general Lu Su. To its south is the Huaifu Pavilion(亭) in honor of Du Fu. Stepping out of the Xiaoxiang Door, the Xianmei Pavilion and the Sanzui Pavilion can be seen standing on two sides. In the garden to the north of the tower is the tomb of Xiaoqiao, the wife of Zhou Yu.The passage mainly tells us _____.
| A．the history of Yueyang Tower |
| B．some information about Yueyang Tower |
| C．the architecture style of Yueyang Tower |
| D．Yueyang Tower is a good place to see |
In Three-Kingdom Period, Yueyang Tower was used as _____.
| A．a place where rich people enjoyed themselves |
| B．the symbol of the Three Kingdoms |
| C．a place where educated people often met |
| D．an army-training place |
Yueyang Tower was once named _____.
| A．South Tower | B．Xianmei Tower | C．Sanzui Tower | D．Baling Tower |
When did Yueyang Tower become more famous?
| A．In 1045. | B．In 716. |
| C．In the Three-Kingdom Period. | D．In the Tang Dynasty. |
Which of the following has nothing to do with Yueyang Tower?
| A．Huaifu Pavilion. | B．Xiaoxiang Door. |
| C．Tomb of Du Fu. | D．Tomb of Xiaoqiao. |