When asked to point out one or two things that are most important to themselves, many put friends ahead of homes, jobs, clothes and cars.
A true friendship carries a long history of experience that determines who we are and keeps us connected. It is a treasure we should protect. Unfortunately, the better friends you are, the more probably you’ll have disagreements. And the result can be what you don’t want ---an end to the relationship.
The good news is that most troubled friendships can be mended. First, don’t let your pride get in your way. Most of us can forgive each other when differences are brought out in the open. Second, apologize when your’re wrong---even if you’ve been wronged. Over the course of a friendship, even the best people make mistakes. Sometimes, it may be best if the wronged person takes the lead and apologizes. When you apologize, give your friend a chance to admit that he has been wrong also. Third, see things from your friend’s point of view. And finally, accept that friendships change as our needs and lifestyle change. Making friends can sometimes seem easy. The hard part is keeping the connections strong during the natural ups and downs that have an effect on all relationships. My suggestion: consider friendship an honour and a gift, and worth the effort to treasure and nurture.What is likely to happen if you have disagreements with your friends?
| A．An end to the friendships. |
| B．Getting experience for the later life. |
| C．Quarrelling with each other. |
| D．Sitting down and have a talk. |
The author wrote the article mainly to tell us ________.
| A．how to make friends |
| B．the benefits of making friends |
| C．what is a true friendship |
| D．how to mend a troubled friendship |
The underlined word “nurture” probably means ________.
| A．mend | B．develop | C．keep | D．accept |
What causes the change of friendships?
| A．Our characters. | B．Our hobbies. |
| C．Our living habits. | D．Our needs and lifestyle. |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．A true friend can never have a disagreement with each other. |
| B．Most troubled friendships can be mended. |
| C．You don’t need to apologize when you know you are wronged. |
| D．Friends are more important than jobs, homes and cars. |
Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half the people that smoke today, that is about 650 million people, will eventually be killed by tobacco.
Tobacco is the fourth most common risk factor for disease worldwide. The economic costs of tobacco use are equally devastating (破坏性的). In addition to the high public health costs of treating tobacco-caused diseases, tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity, depriving (剥夺) families of breadwinners(养家糊口的人) and nations of a healthy workforce. Tobacco users are also less productive while they are alive due to increased sickness. A 1994 report estimated that the use of tobacco resulted in an annual global net loss of 200 thousand million US dollars, a third of this loss being in developing countries.
Tobacco and poverty are closely linked. Many studies have shown that in the poorest households in some low-income countries as much as 10% of total household expenditure is on tobacco. This means that these families have less money to spend on basic items such as food, education and health care. It contributes to a higher illiteracy rate, since money that could have been used for education is spent on tobacco instead.
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the first paragraph?
| A．Smoking causes 10 percent of the deaths worldwide. |
| B．About 10 million people will die from smoking each year by 2020. |
| C．Half the people in the world will be killed by smoking. |
| D．Roughly there are 1,300 million smokers nowadays. |
According to the passage, tobacco affects a family in the following aspects EXCEPT _______.
| A．relationship | B．education |
| C．health | D．economy |
The text uses a lot of figures to _____.
| A．show we shouldn’t smoke too much |
| B．tell people exactly the number |
| C．warn people of the harm of smoking |
| D．indicate the writer had a careful investigation |
The underlined word “illiteracy” in the last paragraph means ____.
| A．great intelligence | B．good education |
| C．bad behaviors | D．inability to read or write |
What is the best title of the passage?
| A．Tobacco Should Be Banned. |
| B．Why Is Tobacco a Major Threat to Public Health. |
| C．Tobacco and Poverty Go Hand in Hand. |
| D．Tobacco May Cause Death. |
Since we are social beings, the quality of our lives depends in large measure on our interpersonal relationships. One strength of the human condition is our possibility to give and receive support from one another under stressful conditions. Social support makes up of the exchange of resources among people based on their interpersonal ties. Those of us with strong support systems appear better able to deal with major life changes and daily problems. People with strong social ties live longer and have better health than those without such ties. Studies over types of illnesses, from depression(沮丧) to heart disease, show that the presence of social support helps people defend themselves against illness, and the absence of such support makes poor health more likely.
Social support cushions stress in a number of ways. First, friends, relatives and co-workers may let us know that they value us. Our self-respect is strengthened when we feel accepted by others in spite of our faults and difficulties. Second, other people often provide us with informational support. They help us to define and understand our problems and find solutions to them. Third, we typically find social companionship supportive. Taking part in free-time activities with others helps us to meet our soc
ial needs while at the same time distracting (转移注意力) us from our worries and troubles. Finally, other people may give us instrumental support money 
aid, material resources, and needed services - that reduces stress by helping us resolve and deal with our problems. Interpersonal relationships are important because they can ________
| A．make people live more easily |
| B．smooth away daily problems |
| C．deal with life changes |
| D．cure types of illnesses |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word "cushions"?
| A．takes place of | B．makes up of |
| C．lessens the effect of | D．gets rid of |
What is the subject discussed in the text?
| A．Interpersonal relationships. |
| B．Kinds of social support. |
| C．Ways to deal with stress. |
| D．Effects of stressful condition. |
Watercolor（水彩画） is the oldest paints known. It dates back to the early cave men. They discovered that they could mix the natural colors found in the earth with water. In this way they could add lifelike qualities to drawings of animals and other figures on the wall of caves.
Fresco（壁画）, one of the greatest art forms, is done with watercolor, it is created by mixing paints
and water and applying these to wet plaster（灰泥）. Of the thousands of people who stand under Michelangelos’ works in the Sistine Chapel, very few know they are looking at perhaps the greatest watercolor painting in the world.
The invention of oil painting by the Glemish masters in the fifteenth century made fresco painting go downhill, and for the next several centuries watercolor was used mainly for doing sketches（素描） or as tool for study. It was not until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that English painters put back watercolor as a serious art form. The English have widely-known love for the outdoors and also for small, private pictures. The softness o
f watercolor had a strong attraction for them.
The popularity of watercolor continued to grow until the twentieth century. The United States took the place of England and became the cen
ter of watercolor. It produced such well-known watercolor artists as Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth. The first watercolor users were___________
| A．the early cave men |
| B．Italian fresco artists |
| C．Flemish masters |
| D．the English artists in the 18th century |
In the 16th and 17th centuries the artists thought__________.
| A．watercolor was more costly, but better |
| B．oil painting lasted less long, but clearer and brighter |
| C．watercolor was not suitable for serious works |
D．oil painting was difficult to use |
According to the passage, watercolor painting was put back in England because ______
| A．it was easy to use outdoors |
| B．it was a strong tool |
| C．it was extremely bright in color |
| D．it was well suited to popular tastes |
What is the passage mainly about?________
| A．the gradual weakness of fresco painting. |
| B．Oils having more power of influence over watercolor. |
| C．The rediscovery of watercolor in England. |
| D．The start and development of watercolor. |
What will people die of 100 years from now? If you think that is a simple question, you have not been paying attention to the revolution that is taking place in bio-technology(生物技术). With the help of new medicine, the human body will last a very long time. Death will come mainly from accidents, murder and war. Today's leading killers, such as heart diseases, cancer, and aging itself, will become distant memory.
In discussion of technological changes, the Internet gets most of the attention these days. But the change in medicine can be the real technological event of our times. How long can humans live? Human brains were known to decide the final death. Cells(细胞) are the ba
sic units of all living things, and until recently, scientists were sure that the life of cells could not go much beyond 120 years because the basic materials of cells, such as those of brain cells, would not last forever. But the upper limits will be broken by new medicine. Sometime between 2050 and 2100, medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or so, people will be able to take medicine to repair their organs(器官). The medicine, made up of the basic building materials of life, will build new brain cells, heart cells, and so on---in much the same way our bodies make new skin cells to take the place of old ones.
It is exciti
ng to imag
ine that the advance in technology may be changing the most basic conditional human existence, but many technical problems still must be cleared up on the way to this wonderful future. According to the passage, human death is now mainly caused by _______.
| A．diseases and aging | B．acci dents and war |
| C．accidents and aging | D．heart diseases and war |
In the author's opinion, today's most important advance in technology lies in _____.
| A．medicine | B．the internet | C．brain cells | D．human organs |
Humans may live longer in the future because ______.
| A．heart disease will be far away from us |
| B．human brains can decide the final death |
| C．the basic materials of cells will last forever |
| D．human organs can be repaired by new medicine |
We can learn from the passage that _____.
| A．human life will not last more than 120 years in the future |
| B．human have to take medicine to build new skin cells now |
| C．much needs to be done before humans can have a longer life |
| D．we have already solved the technical problems in building new cells. |
A morning rarely began so perfect. I took in the fresh air and felt my heart run into an enthusiastic rhythm. Though cool, the sun warmed my back as it rose over the horse from not far from my house. The slightest wind danced on my skin. Just enough to keep a runner form overheating. My ever-faithful jogging partner, a black dog named Nika pulled my leg with her mouth, mirroring my eagerness to start our run.
We raced forward with determination, ready to leap tall buildings and race against speeding trains. We pushed harder and ran faster, demonstration our skill and impressing passing motorists and neighbors.
We kept on running until we hit the Beast, a name for a very difficult, nearly two-mile long steep climb.
Only a few paces into the Beast, I gasped for air. Far short of superhero status, my enthusiasm and active steps were lost somewhere at the base of the hill. A vision of the newspaper and a cup of coffee waiting in my kitchen appeared, attracting me to turn back toward home.
With a glance I noticed Nika wasn’t doing any better. She continued to faithfully follow me, putting one paw in front of the other, but without her former eagerness. Her tiredness touched me. And in that moment, I felt a sudden spark of renewed determination to press on. I couldn’t allow this mountain to get the better of us. To improve both our spirits, I managed to shout, “Good girl, Nika! Keep going…you can do it!”
“I’m encouraging a dog, for heaven’s sake!’’ I needed to pull myself together. With a few simple words, I changed our course. One moment we were on the edge of quitting. The next, our feet picked up the pace and we continued. Though tired and discouraged myself, with a few kind words I impacted a dog’s ability to go further. I’m sure I could have completed the opposite with ill-chosen comments and an unpleasant tone. Instead, the Beast was defeated and we flew like heroes the rest of the way home.
Life is full of beasts to conquer. For some, it is the seemingly impossible climb of cancer. For others, their beast takes the shape of parenting a child or a teenager. Uphill climbs come in all shapes and sizes, common only in their ability to defeat, discourage and tempt tired travelers to quit. Sometimes all that’s needed is a few spoken, well-timed words of encouragement from a fellow runner – someone who sees the struggle, dares to jogs alongside, and cares enough to say, “Keep going! You can do it! You’re not alone. I believe in you!” The writer starts the text by describing________.
| A．the beautiful scene of the morning |
| B．his or her preparations for a jogging |
| C．a lively dog named Nika |
| D．the growth of crops at the farm |
The writer mentioned the newspaper and coffee to suggest that he or she _______.
| A．liked reading newspapers while drinking coffee |
| B．had an intention to give up running |
| C．would treat himself or herself to coffee after running |
| D．might appear on the newspaper for the long running |
The writer decided to continue running _______.
| A．after he or she found the dog was still energetic |
| B．because they came near the top of the hill |
| C．when he or she noticed the tired dog |
| D．before they arrived at the bottom of the hill |
What does the writer expect to show by telling the story?
| A．Words are powerful than deeds. |
| B．Beasts in life aren’t easily to conquer. |
| C．Dogs are the best friend of humans. |
| D．Try it one more time before giving up. |