OldBearKevinHenkes(2008),under-优题课

I must have been about fourteen then, and I put away the incident from my mind with the
easy carelessness of youth. But the words, Carl Walter spoke that day, came back to me years
later, and ever since have been of great value to me.
Carl Walter was my piano teacher. During one of my lessons he asked how much practicing I was doing. I said three or four hours a day.
"Do you practice in long stretches, an hour at a time?"
"I try to."
"Well, don't," he exclaimed. "When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes, whenever you can find them five or ten before school, after lunch, between household tasks. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life."
When I was teaching at Columbia, I wanted to write, but class periods, theme-reading, and committee meetings filled my days and evenings. For two years I got practically nothing down on paper, and my excuse was that I had no time. Then I remembered what Carl Walter had said. During the next week I conducted an experiment. Whenever I had five minutes unoccupied, I sat down and wrote a hundred words or so. To my astonishment, at the end of the week I had a rather large manuscript ready for revision, later on I wrote novels by the same piecemeal method. Though my teaching schedule had become heavier than ever, in every day there were idle moments which could be caught and put to use. I even took up piano--playing again, finding that the small intervals of the day provided sufficient time for both writing and piano practice.
There is an important trick in this time--using formula: you must get into your work quickly. If you have but five minutes for writing, you can't afford to waste four chewing your pencil. You must make your mental preparations beforehand, and concentrate on your task almost instantly when the time comes. Fortunately, rapid concentration is easier than most of us realize.
I admit I have never learnt how to let go easily at the end of the five or ten minutes. But life can be counted on to supply interruptions. Carl Walter has had a tremendous influence on my life. To him I owe the discovery that even very short periods of time add up to all useful hours I need, if I plunge（投入）in without delay.
56．The meaning of “stretch” in the underlined part is the same as that in sentence “”.
A．The forests in the north of the province stretch for hundreds of miles.
B．Bob worked as a government official for a stretch of over twenty years.
C．My family wasn’t wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.
D．During his senior year his earnings far enough to buy an old car.
57．Which of the following statements is true?
　　A．The writer didn’t completely take the teacher’s words to heart at first.
　　B．Carl Walter has had a great influence on the writer's life since he became a student.
　　C．The writer owes great thanks to his teacher for teaching him to work in long stretches.
　　D．Rapid concentration is actually more difficult than most people imagine.
58．We can infer that the writer .
A．has new books published each year however busy his teaching is
B．is always tired of interruptions in life because his teaching schedule is always heavy
C．has formed a bad habit of chewing a pencil while writing his novels
D．can find sufficient time for mental preparations beforehand, so he's devoted to work instantly
59．What is the best title of this passage?
A．Concentrate on Your Work B．A Little at a Time
C．How I Became a Writer D．Good AdviceIs Most Valuable

A beautiful woman took a plane on business. She found her seat and sat down next to a young man. The man was just thinking of making a few dollars on the plane. When he saw the woman, he got an idea.
“Hey! Would you like to play a game?” he asked the woman. “No, thank you. I just want to take a nap (打盹),” the woman answered. “It’s really easy. All you have to do is to answer the questions that I ask you. If you don’t know the answer, you give me five dollars. If I don’t know the answer to your question, then I’ll give you five dollars.” “No,” the woman still refused. “OK. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll give you five hundred dollars. How about that?” the man said. Then the woman became interested and decided to join in the game.
“OK. How many moons does Jupiter (木星) have?” asked the young man. The woman reached into her purse and took out a five-dollar bill. “What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes back with four?” the woman asked. Then the young man took out his computer and searched the Internet for an answer. Minutes later, the young man handed five hundred dollars to the woman.
After a few hours, the young man really wanted to know the answer to the question. So he asked the woman, “What is the answer to your question?” The woman reached into her purse and handed the young man a five-dollar bill.
Why did the man ask the woman to play a game?

A．He wanted to show his kindness.

B．He wanted to have a pleasant journey.

C．He wanted to earn some money from it.

D．He wanted to make friends with the woman.

How much did the woman get at the end of the story?

A．$ 500.

B．$ 5.

C．$ 10.

D．$ 490.

What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．The woman told the man the answer to her question.

B．The woman gave the man’s money back to him.

C．The woman asked the man another question.

D．The woman didn’t know the answer, either.

We can learn from the story that the woman is ______.

A．clever

B．friendly

C．polite

D．honest

Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and his family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We talked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in doing so, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.
Why did the author feel uncomfortable about her father as a young adult?

A．He was silent most of the time.	B．He was too proud of himself.
C．He did not love his children.	D．He expected too much of her.

When the author went out with her father on weekend, she would feel _______.

A．nervous

B．sorry

C．tired

D．safe

What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?

A．More critical.	B．More talkative
C．Gentle and friendly.	D．Strict and hard-working.

The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to_____ .

A．the author’s son	B．the author’s father
C．the friend of the author’s father	D．the café owner

A study of a university in Shanghai had found that many of the students there are using a quote（引语）from the Italian poet Dante as a kind of motto. The study of Fudan University, one of China’s top universities, of 489 students, found that 82 had chosen Dante’s “Follow your own path and don’t worry about what others say” as their motto, out of 278 people who said they had a motto. This was followed by “Believe yourself” and “Self-improvement without stop.”
Students also expressed a common hope for greater understanding and care and said they were always ready to give a hand to those in need. Some researchers think that mottoes can play an important part in children’s growth and they say that a good motto can help children develop a better character.
The study shows ________.

A．which university should have mottoes

B．who should have “Follow your own path and don’t worry about what others say” as their motto

C．how many students like the motto “Believe yourself.”

D．many students choose a quote from Dante as their favorite motto

Of the students asked, ________ students have mottoes.

A．about 78%

B．about 57%

C．about 16%

D．about 8%

The motto “Self-improvement without stop” shares the similar meaning with ________.

A．going on to improve rapidly

B．growing by oneself continuously

C．making oneself better and perfect continuously

D．becoming better without having a break

The best title for the passage should be _______.

A．Mottoes and Character Developing	B．Students and Poet
C．Mottoes and Learning	D．Understanding Care

E
In 1789 the U.S. government passed a law which said that the land of the American Indians could never be taken from them without their agieement. One hundred years later, however, the Indians only had a very small part of the land that originally belonged to them. How did this great
Injustice(不公正） occur?
After 1812 white settlers began to move west across North America. At first, the settlers and the Indians lived in peace. However, the number of settlers increased greatly every year. and slowly the Indians began to see the white settlers as a danger to their survival. To feed themselves, the settlers killed more and more wild animals. the Indians, who depended on these animals for food, had to struggle against starvation. The settlers also brought with them many diseases which were common in white society. but which were new for the Indians. Great numbers of Indians became sick and died.Between 1843 and 1854 the Indian population in one area of the country went down from 100,000 to30,000.
More land was needed for the increasing number of white settlers. In Washington, the old respect for the rights of the Indians disappeared. The old promises to the Indians were broken; the government began to move groups of Indians fiom their original homelands to other poorer parts of
the country. Some Indians reacted angrily and violently to this treatment. They began to attack white settlers, and the Indian war began. For 30 years, until the late 1880s, different groups of Indians fought against the injustices of the white mari. They had a few famous successes, but the result of the siruggle was never in doubt. There were too many white soldiers, and they were too powerful. Many Indians were killed; the survivors were moved from their homelands to different areas of the country.It was a terrible chapter in the history of a country that promised freedom and equality to everyone.
57. What can we infer from the passage?
A. In the U.S. there were many laws that provided the rights of American Indians.
B. The law which was passed in 1789 by the U.S. government was not successfully carried out.
C. In the 19th century no injustices were done against the Indians by the U.S. government.
D. The majority of white settlers were openly opposed to the law passed in 1789.
58. According to the passage which of the following is TRUE?
A. The Indians believed that killing too many wild animals had disturbed the balance of nature.
B. The government began to have a better understanding of the Indians in the fifties of the nineteenth century.
C. Between 1843 and 1854 about 70,000 Indians were killed in the battle.
D. The whites carried serious diseases into where the Indians lived.
59.It is implied ln the passage that____
A. the Indians had many great successes in the Indians wars
B. the Indians had no doubt that they would win the wars
C. after the war the indians stayed where they were before
D. the Indians were too weak to win the struggle
60.What is the writer's opinion about the treatment that the Indians received from the U.S. government?
A. He believed that the government always respected the rights of the Indians.
B. He believed that the government can't be criticized for its treatment to the Indians.
C. He believed that the government treated the Indians unjustly
D. He believed that the government's unfair treatment against the Indians was not on purpose.

A．Old Bear	B．Half-Minute Horrors
C．Leaves	D．Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’.

A．Old Bear	B．Half-Minute Horrors
C．Leaves	D．Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’.

A．Adults.	B．Old people
C．Little children	D．Middle school students.

A．In a travel guide.	B．In an advertisement.
C．In a science textbook.	D．In an official report