Here is a true story about a famous man who worked in the White House and a criminal. They once faced the same thing: their mother gave them apples when they were young.
The criminal said: one day, my mother brought some apples and asked my brother and me: “Which do you want?” “The reddest and biggest one,” my little brother said. My mother stared at him and said to him angrily: “You should learn to give the good things to others; you shouldn’t always think of yourself.” Seeing this, I suddenly changed my idea and then said to my mother: “Mum, please give me the smaller one and give the bigger one to my little brother.” Hearing my words, my mother was very happy. She kissed me on my face and gave the reddest and biggest apple to me as a prize. From then on, I learned to tell lies, fight, steal and rob. In order to get what I wanted, I played hard. As a result, I was sent into prison.
The famous man from the White House said: One day, my mother brought some apples. She said to my brother and me: “You all want the reddest and biggest one, right? Well, let’s have a competition. Now I divide the grassland in front of the gate into two and I will give one to each of you and you must shear(修剪) it well. And I will give the reddest and biggest apple to him who does it the most quickly and best.”
After the competition, I won and I got the biggest apple. In our family, as long as you want to get the best things, you must take part in competition. I think it is fair. No matter what you want, you must pay lots of efforts.The criminal got the reddest and biggest apple because .
A.he told the truth that he wanted a smaller one |
B.his mother loved him more than she loved the younger brother |
C.elder brother should of course have the bigger one |
D.he knew how to make his mother happy from her answer |
We can conclude from the passage that .
A.it’s important to make children aware that no matter what they want, they must pay work |
B.it’s wrong to ask children to choose apples when they are not old enough |
C.it’s wrong to ask children not to always think of themselves |
D.it’s always necessary to have a competition when we give children apple |
The writer tells the story by .
A.organizing it in the order of time |
B.making a comparison between two men |
C.providing some scientific information |
D.describing it in the order of space |
It is implied in the passage that .
A.we should always try to win competitions which can bring us a lot |
B.in order to get what we want, we should play hard |
C.giving children apples will lead them to become criminals |
D.a mother’s educational method has a great influence on a child’s growing |
The New York Times announced Wednesday that it intended to charge frequent readers for access to its Web site, a step being debated across the industry that nearly every major newspaper has so far feared to take.
Starting in early 2011, visitors to NYTimes.com will get a certain number of articles free every month before being asked to pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers(订阅者) to the newspaper’s print edition will receive full access to the site.
But executives(执行主管) of The New York Times Company said they could not yet answer fundamental questions about the plan, like how much it would cost or what the limit would be on free reading. They stressed that the amount of free access could change with time, in response to economic conditions and reader demand.
Still, publishers fear that income from digital subscriptions would not compensate for the resulting loss of audience and advertising revenue.
NYTimes.com is by far the most popular newspaper site in the country, with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, according to Nielsen Online, and analysts say it is easily the leader in advertising revenue, as well. That may make it better positioned than other general-interest papers to charge — and also gives The Times more to lose if the move backfires.
The Times Company has been studying the matter for almost a year, searching for common ground between pro- and anti-pay camps — a debate mirrored in dozens of media-watching blogs — and the system will not go into effect until January 2011. Executives said they were not bothered by the prospect of absorbing barbs(冷嘲热讽) for moving cautiously.
“There’s no prize for getting it quick,” said Janet L. Robinson, the company’s president and chief executive. “There’s more of a prize for getting it right.”
The first paragraph serves as a __________.
A.conclusion | B.comment | C.lead-in | D.background |
We may know from the passage that __________.
A.non-paying readers will get no access to N![]() |
B.readers will be charged more to read more articles on NYTimes.com |
C.visitors to NYTimes.com frequently will get more free online articles |
D.subscribers to the print edition will enjoy free access to the site as well |
Which of the following best describes The Times Company's attitude towards its announcement?
A.rude | B. serious | C.hurried | D.doubtful |
The passage is mainly about_________.
A.the Times to offer free access to its web site |
B.the Times to increase audience to its web site |
C.the Times to attract advertisement to its web site |
D.the Times to charge for frequent access to its web site |
What makes it rain? Rain falls from clouds for the same reason anything falls to Earth. The Earth's gravity pulls it. But every cloud is made of water droplets or ice crystal(冰晶). Why doesn't rain or snow fall constantly from all clouds? The droplets or ice crystals in clouds are extremely small. The effect of gravity on them is slight. Air currents move and lift droplets so that the net downward amount of water is zero, even though the droplets are moving constantly.
It can be seen that droplets and ice crystals behave somewhat like dust in the air in a beam of sunlight. To the casual observer, dust seems to act in a totally random fashion, moving about
without fixed direction. But in fact dust particles(分子) are much larger than water droplets and they finally fall. The average size of a cloud droplet is only 0.0004 inch in diameter(直径). It is so small that it would take sixteen hours to fall half a mile in perfectly still air, and it
doesn't fall out of moving air at all. Only when the droplet grows to a diameter of 0.008 inch or larger can it fall from the cloud. The average raindrop contains a million times as much water as a tiny cloud droplet. The growth of a cloud droplet to a size larger eno
ugh to fall out is the cause of rain and other forms of precipitation. This important growth process is called "coalescence".
Ice crystals do NOT immediately fall to Earth because.
A.they are kept up by air currents |
B.most of them change into steam |
C.they combine with other chemicals in the atmosphere |
D.their electrical charges draw them away from the earth |
The underlined word "random" in line 10 most probablymeans .
A.unpredictable | B.strict | C.independent | D.abnormal |
What can be inferred about drops of water larger than 0.008 inch in diameter?
A.They never occur. |
B.They are not affected by the force of gravity. |
C.In moving air they would fall to earth. |
D.In still air they fall a speed of thirty-two miles per hour. |
How much bigger is the rain drop than a loud droplet?
A.200 times bigger |
B.1,000 times bigger |
C.100,000 times bigger |
D.1,000,000 times bigger |
Spring is just around the corner and it’s a time to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Here is a selection of festivals around the country that are a great excuse to get back in the spring sunshine.
A.$77 | B.$ 58 | C.$ 38 | D.$ 48 |
The underlined word “jockeys” in the second ad is closest in meaning to .
A.judges | B.riders | C.children | D.travelers |
If you want to learn about the history of American colonial period, you can visit .
A.Tulip Time | B.Houses and Gardens |
C.Dana Point of the whales | D.Chandler Ostrich |
It can be concluded that .
A. All the festivals are held in March.
B. All the Festivals are concerned with animals
C. All the Festivals are held in the U.S.A.
D. All the Festivals surely interest children.
Why are so many people so afraid of failure? Quite simple because no one tells us how to fail so that failure becomes an experience that will lead to growth. We forget that failure is part of the human condition and that every person has the right to fail.
Most parents work hard at either preventing failure or protecting their children from the knowledge that they have failed. One way is to lower standards. A mother describes her child’s hastily made table as “Perfect!” even though it doesn’t stand still. Another way is to shift(转移)blame. If John fails science, his teacher is unfair or stupid.
The trouble with failure prevention is that they leave a child unequipped for life in the real world. The young need to learn that no one can be best at everything, no one can win all the time and that it’s possible to enjoy a game even when you don’t win. A child who’s not invited to a birthday party, who doesn’t make the honour roll on the baseball team, feels terrible, of course. But parents should not offer a quick comfort, prize or say “It doesn’t matter.” because it does. The young should be allowed to experience disappointment and be helped to master it.
Failure is never pleasurable. It hurts grownups and children alike. But it can make a positive contribution to your life once you learn to use it. Step one is to ask “Why did it fail? Don’t blame someone else. Ask yourself what you did wrong, how you can improve. If someone else can help, don’t be shy about inquiring. Success, which encourages repetition of old behaviour, is not nearly as good a teacher as failure. You can learn from a bad party how to give a good one, from an ill-chosen first house what to look for in a second. Even a failure that seems definitive can cause fresh thinking, a change of direction. After twelve years of studying ballet, a friend of mine applied for a professional company. She asked. That ballet master shook his head. “You will never be a dancer,” he said,” you haven’t the body for it.”
In such cases, the way to use failure is to take stock bravely asking “What have I left? What else can I do?” My friend put away her shoes and moved into dance treatment center, a field where she’s both able and useful. Failure frees one to take risks because there’s less to lose. Often there is recovery of energy — a way to find new possibilities. The first paragraph tells us ______.
A.failure is very natural for every person |
B.the reason why we don’t know how to fail |
C.the reason why so many people are afraid of failure |
D.one should be ready to face failure at any time |
How many preventions may parents use when a child fails according to the passage?
A.only two | B.no more than three | C.less than three | D.more than three |
Which statement below does the writer support?
A.Failure![]() |
B.Failure is the mother of success. |
C.Failure is far from a good teacher like success. |
D.Definitive failure gives us nothing but fresh thinking. |
We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
A.failure is the recovery of energy |
B.failure makes one free to do something dangerous |
C.failure should be forgotten in our life |
D.failure is likely to do us good in life |
My first most vivid and broad impression of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable raw afternoon towards evening near my parents’ tomb in the churchyard.
“Hold your noise!” came a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the tombs at the side of the church. “Keep still, you little devil(小鬼), or I’ll cut your throat!”
A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. He seized me by the chin(下巴).
“Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!”
“Pip, sir.”
“Show us where you live,” said the man. “Point out the place!”
I pointed to where our village lay, on the flat in-shore among the alder-trees and pollards, a mile or more from the church.
The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and emptied my pockets. There was nothing in them but a piece of bread.
“You young dog,” said the man, licking his lips, “what fat cheeks you ha’ got. Darn me if I couldn’t eat em, and if I han’t half a mind to’t!”
I earnestly expressed my hope that he wouldn’t, and held tighter to the tombstone on which he had put me; partly, to keep myself upon it; partly, to keep myself from crying.
“Now then lookee here!” said the man. “Where’s your mother?”
“There, sir!” said I.
He started, made a short run, and stopped and looked over his shoulder.
“There, sir!” I timidly explained, pointed to the tombstone. “That’s my mother.”
“Oh!” said he, coming back. “And is that your father alonger your mother?”
“Yes, sir,” said I; “him too; late of thisparish(教区).” The “voice” in the second paragraph came from______.
A.the church | B.the man | C.the bank | D.the boy |
The boy probably lived _____.
A.in the parish | B.in the valley | C.in the city | D.in the country |
We can infer from the passage _____.
A.the boy was very calm and smart |
B.the man hit the boy in the face |
C.the boy would forever remember the raw afternoon |
D.the man was very kind and considerate |
The passage is most probably adapted from________.
A.a news report | B.a science fiction | C.a novel | D.a review |