Not many people can say that they have lived in two totally different environments, and technically neither can I. I have lived in the same house in the same Connecticut town my whole life, but a lot of my childhood and teenage years have been spent visiting my family in New York City.
Wethersfield is a typical New England town, a small close community (社区) where almost everyone knows your name. My friends all go to the same high school and my parents are friendly with my friends’ parents. Most of my friends don’t realize what life is like outside this little town. Maybe every so often a few take a day trip to Manhattan or Boston, but none really knows what it’s like to live in an urban environment.
My parents are both from New York City and since they have siblings and friends who still live there, we visit a lot. From an early age I have been exposed to urban life. Jeff, one of my cousins, lives with his mother in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. He has never had his own room and has always been very much on his own. I don’t think any of my friends could understand how someone could live like that.
When I go to the city I see things I would never see in my hometown. I see poverty and people struggling to make a living. I observe a whole different pace; there, you’re just one guy living with millions of others who will never know your name.
I feel blessed to have experienced the lifestyles of two completely different places. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had. I feel that living in Wethersfield has given me a solid base in forming my character and the ability to deal in a close-knit society. On the other hand, my time spent in New York has exposed me to diverse cultural experiences. I feel that I would be comfortable in any environment and could make the best of any situation.According to the author, most of his friends in the town _____.
| A．have never experienced city life |
| B．can only understand the rural life |
| C．prefer the small close community |
| D．know little about the real city life |
The underlined word “siblings” in paragraph 3 means _____.
| A．schoolmates | B．colleagues | C．relatives | D．parents |
The author’s life in New York has brought him _____.
| A．his present character | B．the social ability |
| C．the comfort of city life | D．diverse cultural experiences |
What could be the best title for the passage?
| A．A Small Town and a Big City |
| B．A Man of Two Different Worlds |
| C．Experience Various Environments |
| D．Make the Best of Diverse Cultures |
The quest for success always begins with a target. As Berra once said, “You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.”
Too many people wander through life like sleepwalkers．Each day they follow familiar routines, never asking, “What am I doing with my life?” and they don’t know what they’re doing because they lack goals．
Goal-setting is a focusing of the will to move in a certain direction．Begin with a clear conception of what you want．Write down your goals and date them—putting them into words clarifies them．Rather than concentrating on objects to acquire and possess, focus on fulfilling your desires to do, to produce, to contribute—goal-setting that yields the true sense of satisfaction we all need．
It’s important to visualize（想象）yourself accomplishing your goal．While losers visualize the penalties（不利）of failure, winners visualize the rewards of success．I’ve seen it among athletes, statistics contrasting air and highway safety, but it made no difference．I had read too many articles describing crash scenes and imagined these scenes vividly．I had programmed myself, without realizing it, to stay off planes．
Then one summer I had the opportunity to fly on a private plane with friends to a resort；I didn’t want to miss out on a great vacation．So I spent two weeks imagining a smooth flight on a beautiful sunny day and an easy landing．
When the day arrived, I was eager to go．To everyone’s surprise, I got on the plane and I loved every minute of it, and I still use the techniques I employed that day．According to the passage, if you want to be successful, the first thing for you to do is ________．
| A．find the right methods | B．be careful about everything |
| C．know your ability | D．have a clear goal |
If you have a target, you will ________．
| A．wander like a sleepwalker |
| B．know well what you are doing |
| C．do the same work every day |
| D．put it into words |
The problem with the author before he overcame his fear of air travel is that________．
| A．he didn’t know air travel is safer than highway travel |
| B．he couldn’t imagine himself accomplishing his goal |
| C．he read too much about plane crashes and tried to avoid flying |
| D．he wanted to take a private plane instead of a public one |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Define Your Coal |
| B．Visualize Rewards of Success |
| C．Overcome the Fear of Air Travel |
| D．Sleepwalking Through Life |
The home of the future won’t be completely different and we will be living in houses and flats just as we do today．But people will want to shape their homes to match their dreams．No two homes will be the same．People will be able to buy “house kits” containing a basic house structure, with movable walls, doors and windows．They will put together the different parts to create the home they want．
Many jobs that we do today will disappear, others will still exist but will change and new jobs will be created. Skilled workers such as builders, gardeners and electricians won’t disappear because machines can’t replace them. Teachers will still exist because students need human contact. But they will be using modern technology in class more and students will be working more from home. The medical technology revolution and space travel will create new jobs which we can only imagine today．
Space holidays will develop in the future, but these holidays won’t be for everyone because they won’t be cheap. Short space trips will develop first, then space hotels will orbit the earth where it will be possible to have a longer vacation. By the end of the next century, there will be holiday centres on the moon with leisure facilities for families．
Paper won’t exist in the future. Instead, there will be e-paper which people will be able to use over and over again. This will develop in order to save natural resources. E-newspapers and e-magazines will replace traditional newspapers and magazines and we will download information and news articles from the Internet every day onto our reuseable paper．
The laws of physics tell us that the earth is going to disappear some time in the future．This isn’t going to happen tomorrow but scientists predict that it will happen in five billion years when our sun explodes (爆炸)．We will have to explore the universe and find another home. At some point in the distant future, either we stay on the earth and die with it, or we leave and move to another planet. There won’t be any other choice.Homes of the future will ________．
| A．be completely different from those of today |
| B．be very similar to our homes |
| C．all be different from one another |
| D．be movable as you want |
Space trips and staying in space hotels will ________．
| A．become a very common way to spend a holiday |
| B．be the best holiday option for families |
| C．attract a lot of people |
| D．still only be for very rich people |
E-paper will replace traditional paper because ________．
| A．we will use it again |
| B．it won’t waste natural resource |
| C．it will be cheaper to produce |
| D．it will be convenient to carry |
We will have move to another planet ________．
| A．if we want to save the human race |
| B．when the sun explodes |
| C．when the earth disappears |
| D．when the earth is too crowded to fill people on |
As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. Once you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go from morning till night, it is hard to slow down. But relaxation is essential for a healthy mind and body.
Stress is a natural part of everyday life and there is no way to avoid it. In fact, it is not the bad thing it is often supposed to be. A certain amount of stress is vital to provide motivation and give purpose to life. It is only when the stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and ill health．
The amount of stress a person can withstand depends very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such characters are obviously prime material for managerial responsibilities, others lose heart at the first sign of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we react both chemically and physically. In fact we make choice between “flight or fight” and in more primitive days the choices made the difference between life or death. The crises we meet today are unlikely to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it involves the same response. It is when such a reaction lasts long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes endangered. Since we can't remove stress from our lives (it would be unwise to do so even if we could), we need to find ways to deal with it．People are finding less and less time for relaxing themselves because ________.
| A．they regard working as their greatest enjoyment |
| B．they believe that work is superior to relaxation |
| C．they are traveling fast all the time |
| D．they are becoming busier with their work than ever before |
According to the author, the most important character for a good manager is his________.
| A．strong will to hold out stress |
| B．knowing the art of relaxation |
| C．high sense of responsibility |
| D．having control over performance |
Which of the following statements is TRUE, according to the passage?
| A．We can find quite a few ways to avoid stress． |
| B．Stress is always harmful to people's health |
| C．It’s easy to change the habit of keeping oneself busy with work． |
| D．Different people can bear different amount of stress． |
In the last sentence of the passage, “do so” refers to ________.
| A．“expose ourselves to stress” |
| B．“find ways to deal with stress” |
| C．“remove stress from our lives” |
| D．“establish links between diseases and stress” |
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper．Money was tight and he became infuriated（愤怒的） when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree．Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty．He yelled at her, stating, “Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?” The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all．I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”
The father was crushed．He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness．
Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child．It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there．
In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family members, friends, and God．There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this．The 3-year-old girl was punished by her father for ________．
| A．decorating a box |
| B．wasting wrapping paper |
| C．putting the box under the Christmas tree |
| D．bringing the gift to her father |
The father remembered the love of his daughter by ________．
| A．kissing the gold box |
| B．putting gold into the box． |
| C．taking out an imaginary kiss from the box． |
| D．keeping the little girl’s ash box by his bed． |
What’s the best title for the passage?
| A．The kisses in the box |
| B．A girl and his father |
| C．A love story |
| D．The box under the Christmas tree |
Michael Fish may soon be replaced as a weather forecaster by the shark (鲨鱼).
Research by a British biology student suggests that sharks could be used to predict storms. Lauren Smith, 24, is close to completing her study on shark’s ability to sense pressure. If her studies prove the theory, scientists may be able to monitor the behavior of sharks to predict bad weather.
Miss Smith had previously studied the behavior of lemon sharks in the Bahamas.
She then used their close relatives, lesser spotted dogfish, for further research at Aberdeen University.
Her work---thought to be the first of its kind to test the pressure theory ---- resulted from the observation that juvenile blacktip sharks off Florida moved into deeper water ahead of a violent storm in 2001.
Miss Smith said: “I’ve always been crazy about traveling and diving and this led me to an interest in sharks.”
“I was delighted to have been able to research in the area for my degree. I know there’s so much more we need to understand ---- but it certainly opens the way to more research.”
It has been discovered that a shark senses pressure using hair cells in its balance system.
At the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas, Miss Smith fixed hi-tech sensors to sharks to record pressure and temperature, while also tracking them using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
In Aberdeen, she was able to study the effects of tidal (潮汐的) and temperature changes on dogfish----none of which were harmed. She also used a special lab which can mimic (模拟) oceanic pressure changes caused by weather fronts.
She is due to complete her study and graduate later this year. She says she will be looking for a job which will give her the chance to enrich her experience of shark research.The passage is most probably taken from _______.
| A．a short-story collection |
| B．a popular science magazine |
| C．a research paper |
| D．a personal diary |
What do we learn from the first four paragraphs of the passage?
| A．Sharks may be used to predict bad weather. |
| B．Sharks’ behavior can be controlled. |
| C．Michael Fish is not fit for his job. |
| D．Lauren Smith will become a weather forecaster. |
Lauren Smith conducted her research by _______.
| A．removing hair cells from a shark’s balance system |
| B．measuring the air pressure of weather fronts |
| C．recording sharks’ body temperature |
| D．monitoring sharks’ reaction to weather changes |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A popular way of forecasting weather. |
| B．A new research effort in predicting storms. |
| C．Biologists’ interest in the secrets of sharks. |
| D．Lauren Smith’s devotion to scientific research. |