Smaller than your fist, your healthy heart just goes on and on. It will beat more than 60 times a minute for 70 years or more. That’s something that most of us take for granted. But it’s an amazing fact.
60 times a minute for 60 minutes is 3,600 times. What physical thing can most of us do 3,600 times in one hour? Blink? Maybe. Tap our fingers on the desk? No. Jump up and down? Certainly not! But our heart keeps beating, hour after hour. Every day, it pumps almost 2,000 gallons of blood through our blood vessels(血管). It takes you about five years to drink 2,000 gallons of water.
And, unlike your knees or your back, your heart does all this work without ever complaining（抱怨）! You never know that it’s even there. Your heart is such a reliable “silent partner” that people forget to care for it. For many, the first indication（迹象）that their heart isn’t working properly is a serious heart illness! Over 650,000 Americans die of some kind of heart disease every year. Cancer kills 560,000, stroke kills 143,000, and accidents kill 118,000 Americans annually.
Like accidental deaths, many heart disease-related deaths can be avoided if people simply follow the advice of the experts. Unfortunately, most people seem to listen to a little voice in their head that says, “It won’t happen to me. ” So these people keep on smoking and drinking. They continue to eat too much meat. And their only “exercise” is getting off the sofa to get something out of the fridge. Please follow the following steps to keep your heart healthy. The text is most probably taken from a (an) __________.
| A．art book | B．science fiction |
| C．healthy magazine | D．psychology book |
Which of the following physical activities can keep going on and on?
| A．Blink. | B．Jump. | C．Finger tap. | D．Heart beat. |
According to the numbers mentioned in paragraph 3, we can know __________.
| A．Accidents can be the biggest “killer” in America every year. |
| B．In America, heart disease causes the highest death rate annually. |
| C．Cancer causes more threat than any other diseases for Americans. |
| D．Recently, nobody died of stroke or heart disease in America. |
What do we know about our healthy hearts?
| A．our healthy hearts work with many complains as our knees. |
| B．our healthy hearts can pump 3,600 gallons of blood everyday. |
| C．our healthy hearts are smaller than our fists. |
| D．our healthy hearts can beat 60 times in one hour. |
What do you think the next paragraph is about?
| A．Some tips for keeping a healthy heart. |
| B．Some suggestions for avoiding accidental deaths. |
| C．Some reasons for doing regular exercise. |
| D．Some exercise for keeping a healthy lifestyle. |
It’s good to make mistakes, and here is why.
First of all, mistakes are a clear sign that you are trying new things. It’s always good to try new things because when you are trying new things you are growing. If you never try anything new, how can you improve? How can you expand? The simple answer is “You can’t”. Look around you. With very few exceptions (例外), either everything you see in your physical world or every single detail of every single thing is the result of someone trying something new.
Another good thing about mistakes is this: When you are making mistakes, you are learning. Consider this: Edison failed 10,000 times before he perfected the light bulb. When asked how it felt to fail that many times, he said that he hadn’t failed 10,000 times, but rather had learned 10,000 things that didn’t work.
Finally, when you make a mistake you are much closer to success. Why?
Because when all is said and done, you will have tried some number of things before you succeed. Every time you make a mistake you eliminate one of those things and are one step closer.
But this all doesn’t mean that you should go ahead without considering the consequences(结果) of a mistake. Quite the contrary, when you try something new you have to be willing to set some reasonable limits so that in the event that it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you will be in a position to try again.
We all have limited resources in the form of time and money so don’t blow them all on one approach to a problem. Realize that it probably won’t be perfect the first time and allocate(分配) these resources appropriately so you can learn, make corrections, and try it again. Only by accepting and using your mistakes in this way can you make significant advances in your business and your career.
There is an old saying that goes, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough.”
So go forth and make mistakes. And learn. And grow. And prosper(成功).The underlined word “eliminate” means _______.
| A．avoid | B．remove | C．accept | D．solve |
According to the article, one thing you should pay attention to about making mistakes is _______.
| A．avoiding making the same mistakes |
| B．accepting the punishment willingly |
| C．taking consequences into consideration |
| D．trying things out one by one |
The article is mainly about _______.
| A．how to deal with mistakes |
| B．what benefits mistakes bring |
| C．how to achieve success |
| D．how to make use of your mistakes |
What would the writer probably suggest we say to ourselves when we make a mistake?
| A．Never mind, I can always try again. |
| B．I’d better stay out of trouble. |
| C．Now I can learn something new. |
| D．Look at this mess. Anyone would be upset. |
Many of us feel uneasy when someone stands too close to us, talks to us too loudly or makes eye contact(接触) with us for too long. But have you ever wondered why those things make you uncomfortable?
It’s all about personal peace, which means not only an imaginary space around the body, but also the space around all the senses. People feel that their space is being violated(侵犯) when they meet with an unwelcome sound, smell or look. This is probably why a man on a crowded bus shouting into his mobile phone or a woman next to you putting on strong perfume(香水) makes you feel angry.
Whether people have had a stronger wish to protect their personal space in recent times is hard to say. Yet studies of airlines show that people have a strong desire(渴望) to have space to themselves. In a survey （调查）by TripAdvisor, a travel website, people said that if they had to pay more for some extra service, they would rather have larger seats than extra food.
Although people may need their personal space, some hardly realize it. For example, people on a bus who hold newspapers in front of their faces to read in fact keep a distance from strangers.
Go and watch a library table. You will notice that one of the corner seats will usually be taken first, because they are the farthest way. What if someone sits opposite to you? Maybe you will pile up books as if to make a wall.
Preference(偏好) for personal space are different from culture to culture. Scientists have found that Americans generally prefer more personal space than people from other cultures. In Latin(拉丁人的) cultures, however, people are more comfortable standing close to each other.The writer mainly _________ in this article.
| A．tells us how to achieve personal space |
| B．explains what personal space people need is |
| C．introduces some knowledge about personal space |
| D．argues for the importance of keeping personal space |
Who might feel his personal space is safe according to the passage?
| A．A person who has to sit next to a lady putting on strong perfume. |
| B．A person who has been watched by a stranger for a long time. |
| C．A person who hears strange noises when reading at home. |
| D．A Latin boy who is chatting with a friend sitting close to him. |
What can we know from the survey by TripAdvisor?
| A．People need a smaller personal space in recent times than before. |
| B．People have a strong desire for personal space in recent times. |
| C．There are not enough seats on the plane to meet people’s needs. |
| D．Food service is better provided than seats on the plane. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The space around the body is more needed than that around all the senses. |
| B．If you hold newspapers on the bus, your personal space won’t be violated. |
| C．People usually choose the corner seats first in a library for personal space. |
| D．Different cultures share the same preferences for personal space. |
There’s no danger of 88-year-old Harry Ward forgetting his wife Doris’s Valentine’s Day card – the couple still use the same one he bought her 70 years ago.
When 17-year-old Harry Ward presented Doris with a Valentine’s Day card as he boarded a train to join the wartime effort on February 14, 1941, he must have been fairly confident about his affections(钟爱). After all the couple had been dating since they met in a café three months earlier.
But little can he have imagined that 70 years on, not only would he still be happy about having married Doris, but that every year she would present him with the very same card he gave her that Valentine’s Day. “I bring it out of the cupboard and put it on our mantelpiece（壁炉台）every Valentine’s Day,” she said. “It’s a special to me now as it was 70 years ago. Harry has never bought me one since, because I have this one every year.”
They first met in a café. “Harry was in the café drinking and he said hello. He asked me my name and we got talking happily. He offered to walk me to the bus stop but when we got outside, a bombing raid（突然袭击）had started and we had to run to a nearby air-raid shelter（防空洞）,” Doris said.
Mr. Ward said,“I knew Doris was the one for me the moment I met her. I gave her the Valentine’s card then and she is still my Valentine now.” Mrs. Ward’s card is not the only thing that has endured the passing of time.
“Harry is quite romantic and we are as still in love as the day he first gave me this card,”Dorris said.When did the couple first meet?
| A．In 1940. | B．In 1939. | C．In 1941. | D．In 1942 |
Why does Mrs. Ward always use the same Valentine’s Day card?
| A．She is an environmentalist. |
| B．She can’t afford a new one. |
| C．She values the card very much. |
| D．She doesn’t want to waste money. |
What do we know about the 70-year-old Valentine’s Day card?
| A．It was first given to Doris on a plane. |
| B．It is usually kept in their cupboard |
| C．It was made by hand by Mr. Ward. |
| D．It is sent to Doris by post every year. |
By saying “Mrs. Ward’s card is not the only thing that has endured the passing of time.”, the author means__________.
| A．The card records their romance |
| B．The card will still be used in future |
| C．They both treasure the very card |
| D．Their affections are still strong |
Producing money requires both artistic and technological skills. Dollar bills are made so that they are interesting to look at but very hard to copy. In total, there are sixty-five separate steps required to make a dollar bill．
The money making process begins when a yearly order is sent by the Federal Reserve Board. That order will then be divided in half. Half will be done here in Washington, D.C. and the other half will be done in Fort Worth, Texas. Next, the Bureau orders special paper which is actually cloth since it is 75% cotton and 25% linen．
This paper is made so that it can last a long time. And, it is made with details that make it hard to copy. For example, bills contain security threads. These narrow pieces of plastic are inside the paper and run along the width of the bill. This special paper is also made with very small blue and red fibers．
Once the money is printed, guillotine cutters (切纸机) separate the sheets into two notes, then into individual notes．The notes are organized in "bricks," each of which contains forty one-hundred-note packages. The bricks then go to one of twelve Federal Reserve Districts, which then give the money to local banks. Ninety-five percent of the bills printed each year are used to replace money that is in circulation, or that has already been removed from circulation．
You may know that America's first president, George Washington, is pictured on the one- dollar bill. But do you know whose face is on the two, five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred-dollar bills? They are, in order. President Thomas Jefferson, President Abraham Lincoln, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, President Andrew Jackson, President Ulysses Grant and statesman Benjamin Franklin．
The average life span of a one-dollar bill is twenty-one months. But a ten-dollar bill lasts only about eighteen months．The one hundred-dollar bill lasts the longest, eighty-nine months．One popular question is about the two-dollar bill. This bill is not printed very often. This is because many Americans believe two-dollar bills are lucky, so they keep them．During money production, we must consider all EXCEPT that it must.
| A．last a long time | B．be hard to copy |
| C．be done by the president's order | D．be interesting to look at |
We can learn from the passage that the security threads.
| A．are narrow pieces of plastic |
| B．are pressed outside the bills |
| C．are longer than the width of the bills |
| D．are actually made of cotton and linen |
How many presidents are printed on the American money?
| A．Four | B．Five | C．Six | D．Seven |
Why are the two-dollar bills not made often?
| A．Because no one wants them． |
| B．Because they aren't damaged quickly like other bills． |
| C．Because they aren't used in America any more． |
| D．Because their material is a bit more expensive． |
Does Fame Drive You Crazy?
Although being famous might sound like a dream come true, today’s stars, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature.
According to psychologist Christina Villarreal, celebrities — famous people — worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the people they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villarreal says, “they feel separated and alone.”
The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C., painters followed Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.
Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say something silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.
If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is that there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.
Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.It can be learned from the passage that stars today________________.
| A．are often misunderstood by the public |
| B．can no longer have their privacy protected |
| C．spend too much on their public appearance |
| D．care little about how they have come into fame |
What is the main idea of Paragraph3?
| A．Great heroes of the past were generally admired. |
| B．Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers. |
| C．Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids. |
| D．The problem faced by celebrities has a long history. |
What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?
| A．Availability of modern media. |
| B．Inadequate social recognition. |
| C．Lack of favorable chances. |
| D．Huge population of fans. |
What is author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?
| A．Sincere. | B．Skeptical. | C．Disapproving | D．Sympathetic. |