I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch (大牧场) in San Isidro. He lets me use his house to hold events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he greeted me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let you use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of a poor horse trainer who would go from stable (马厩) to stable, farm to farm, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school was continually interrupted (打断). One day in the last year of high school, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to do when he grew up.
“He wrote a seven-page paper about his goal of owning a horse ranch in great detail. He put a great deal of his heart into the project and even drew a detailed floor plan for the dream ranch. Then the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. But he got a low mark with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’ “The boy went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive a low mark?’”
“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from a poor family. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper, I will reconsider your mark.’
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’
“Finally, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He wrote, ‘You can keep the low mark and I’ll keep my dream.’”Which of the following statements is TRUE about Monty Roberts?
| A．He was born in a poor family. |
| B．He received a good education. |
| C．He is raising money for the poor. |
| D．He is a horse trainer who owns a big ranch. |
From Paragraph 3, we know Monty Roberts _____.
| A．was just a daydreamer |
| B．decided to follow his father’s example |
| C．expected the teacher to praise him |
| D．had a great plan for his future |
The teacher thought Monty Roberts’s dream was _____.
| A．strange | B．great | C．pleasant | D．impossible |
The purpose of the text is to tell readers that _____.
| A．seeing is believing |
| B．knowledge is power |
| C．all roads lead to Rome |
| D．where there is a will, there is a way |
One day my 13-year-old daughter told me that she was going to spend the afternoon at her friend Jesse’s house. I didn’t doubt it until I called Jesse’s number to remind Liz that it was her turn to walk the dog, and Jesse’s mom picked up the phone and said, “I thought she and Jesse were planning to be at your house.” It turned out that the two of them had decided to hang out at a coffee shop instead. When I questioned my daughter, she replied coldly, “What’s the big deal? You’re such a psycho(精神变态者).”
Can you say it is right or wrong for them to behave like that? Their changeable personalities leave you feeling angry and guilty at the same time. In fact, if your kids don’t annoy you from time to time, you’re not doing your job.
“There’s nothing wrong about being angry with your child,” Says Laurence Steinberg, Ph.D., author of The 10 Basic Principles of Good Parenting. “Conflict is natural when your innocent, lovely child turns into an adolescent who can hardly tolerate (忍受) you. It’s part of the process of separation.” Kids insisted on their individuality with behavior to purposely drive you crazy. It’s their way of saying, “I am my own person” -- but doing it in a context that’s safe and that has clear limits.
So when your little darling changes into a silent person who still expects meals, clothing, and transportation, don’t panic. Here’s how to handle some common problems without losing your temper or your self-respect.It can be learned from the first paragraph that ________.
| A．Jesse’s mother told a lie |
| B．the writer was too sensitive |
| C．Liz told a lie to her mother |
| D．the writer’s daughter stayed at Jesse’s house |
By saying “In fact, if your kids don’t annoy you from time to time, you’re not doing your job”, the writer probably means that _________.
| A．when you are doing a job, your kids shouldn’t annoy you |
| B．parents should be responsible for children’s bad behavior |
| C．parents shouldn’t tolerate their children’s bad behavior |
| D．it’s understandable for kids to annoy their parents |
What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
| A．It’s right for parents to be angry with their children. |
| B．It’s allowed for children to do anything as they like. |
| C．It’s bad behavior for children to drive their parents angry. |
| D．It’s normal for adolescents to go against the wishes of their parents sometimes. |
What would the writer state in the following paragraphs?
| A．How to be good parents. |
| B．How to be good children. |
| C．Rules for children to follow. |
| D．How to deal with adolescents’ common problems properly. |
China’s government has been trying all measures to reduce pollution in the past few years. Now people can enjoy a fresh environment everywhere. The following two graphs are adopted from the column of “City Information” on the webpage of Beijing Review.
Graph 1: Olympic Cities Air Quality Report
| City |
Date |
API |
Major Pollutant |
Air Quality Degree |
Quality Condition |
| Beijing |
Sep. 8 |
37 |
N/A |
Ⅰ |
Very good |
| Qinhuangdao |
Sep. 8 |
52 |
PM10 |
Ⅱ |
Good |
| Qingdao |
Sep. 8 |
68 |
PM10 |
Ⅱ |
Good |
| Shanghai |
Sep. 8 |
67 |
PM10 |
Ⅱ |
Good |
| Shenyang |
Sep. 8 |
88 |
PM10 |
Ⅱ |
Good |
| Tianjin |
Sep. 8 |
54 |
PM10 |
Ⅱ |
Good |
Graph 2: Chinese National Standard
| API Values |
Levels of health concern |
Colors |
| When the API is in this range: |
...air quality conditions are: |
...as symbolized by this color: |
| 0 to 50 |
Very good |
Blue |
| 51 to 100 |
Good |
Green |
| 101 to 150 |
Slight pollution |
Yellow |
| 151 to 200 |
Moderate pollution |
Orange |
| 201 to 250 |
Medium pollution |
Red |
| 251 to 300 |
High pollution |
Purple |
| 301 to 500 |
Hazardous |
Brown |
Notes:
**API stands for Air Pollution Index(指数).
**Particulate matter (PM10) is a major component of air pollution that threatens both our health and our environment. It consists of very small liquid and solid particles floating in the air.
**Sulfur dioxide(SO2) acts as an acid．Inhalation(吸入) results in labored breathing, coughing, or a sore throat and may cause permanent lung damage.According to Graph 1, which of the following cities has the worst air pollution?
| A．Qinhuangdao. | B．Tianjin. |
| C．Qingdao | D．Shenyang. |
If your city is symbolized by either red or purple, the pollution in your city is.
| A．Moderate or high. | B．Moderate or slight. |
| C．Medium or high. | D．Medium or slight. |
Which of the following statements is TURE?
| A．With API value below 150 the air is free from being polluted. |
| B．The colors from purple to Yellow indicate the air quality is becoming much worse. |
| C．When there are floating solid particles and dust in the air, it is dangerous pollution. |
| D．On September 8th the color-symbol of Beijing City’s air quality is ‘Blue’. |
When more citizens are beginning to have labored breathing soon after they are in the open air, it suggests that.
| A．there is a large amount of sulfur dioxide in the air |
| B．it is so cold that they may have caught a cold |
| C．they are starting to cough or have a fever |
| D．they must be infected with permanent lung disease |
How do people traditionally manufacture (制造) things? They usually start with a sheet of metal, wood or other material and cut, drill (钻) and shave it to create a desired shape. Sometimes, they use a mold (模具) made of metal or sand, pour liquid plastic or metal into it and let it cool to create a solid part.
Now, a completely different method is gaining popularity.
On Oct. 9, 2013, London Science Museum kicked off its new exhibition, 3-D: Printing the Future, with over 600 3-D printed objects on display, including space probes (探测器), toy dolls and even human organs – basically any product you can think of, reported Live Science.
You might find it hard to believe that an object can actually be “printed out” like a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it works. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷洒) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂) and certain metals. The thinner each layer is – from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair – the smoother and finer the object will be. And objects always come out in one piece, sparing you the trouble of putting different parts together afterward.
For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost ￡20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now it costs only about ￡1,000, according to the BBC. In fact, 3-D printers have been around for some time, but until recently they hadn’t been very popular since few people could afford them. Last year, though, saw a big decrease in the price of 3-D printers.
However, as 3-D printing technology becomes more commonplace, it may trigger certain problems. One of them is piracy (盗版). “Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?” an expert on 3-D printing told Forbes News.
Even more frightening, the world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully fired in the US in May of this year, which means that 3-D printing could potentially give more people access to weapons.According to the article, in the future, 3-D printing technology will probably ______.
| A．change the way people make products |
| B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers |
| C．forbid many countries to make purchases of weapons |
| D．take the place of normal printers and save lots of energy |
What was the big event that happened in the 3-D printing industry last year?
| A．Over 600 3-D printed objects were on display in an exhibition. |
| B．3-D printing technology came to be used in various fields. |
| C．The world’s first 3-D printed gun was successfully made. |
| D．The 3-D printer became more affordable for consumers. |
What is the author’s attitude toward 3-D printing technology?
| A．Amused. | B．Objective. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Negative. |
As prices and building costs keep rising, the ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U.S. continues to grow.
‘We needed furniture (家具) for our living room,’ says John Ross, ‘and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.’ John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. ‘I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car by myself.’
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a ‘do-it-yourselfer’, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.We can learn from the text that many newly married people ________.
| A．find it hard to pay for what they need |
| B．have to learn to make their own furniture |
| C．take DIY courses run by the government |
| D．seldom go to a department store to buy things |
John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ________.
| A．run a DIY shop |
| B．make or repair things |
| C．save time and money |
| D．improve the quality (质量) of life |
When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ________.
| A．keeps house and looks after his children |
| B．does his own car and home repairs |
| C．does extra work at night |
| D．makes shoes in his home |
Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourselfer when ________.
| A．he had to raise the children all by himself |
| B．the car repair class was not helpful |
| C．he could not possibly do two jobs |
| D．his car repairs cost too much |
What would be the best title for the text?
| A．the Joy of DIY |
| B．You Can Do It Too! |
| C．Welcome to Our DIY Course! |
| D．Ross and Hatfield: Believers in DIY |
The report came to the British on May 21, 1941. The German battleship (战列舰) Bismarck, the most powerful warship in the world, was moving out into the Atlantic Ocean. Her task: to destroy the ships carrying supplies (补给) from the United States to war-torn England.
The British had feared such a task. No warship they had could match the Bismarck in speed or in firepower. The Bismarck had eight 15-inch guns and 81 smaller guns. She could move at 30 nautical miles (海里) an hour. She was believed to be unsinkable.
However, the British had to sink her. They sent out a task force headed by their best battleship Hood to hunt down the Bismarck. On May 24, the Hood found the Bismarck.
It was a meeting that the German commander Luetjens did not want to see. His orders were to destroy the British ships that were carrying supplies, but to stay away from a fight with British warships.
The battle didn’t last long. The Bismarck’s first torpedo (鱼雷) hit the Hood, which went down taking all but three of her 1,419 men with her.
But in the fight, the Bismarck was a bit damaged. Her commander decided to run for repairs to France, which had at that time been taken by the Germans. The British force followed her. However, because of the Bismarck’s speed and the heavy fog, they lost sight of her.
For two days, every British ship in the Atlantic tried to find the Bismarck, but with no success. Finally, she was sighted by a plane from Ireland. Trying to slow the Bismarck down so that their ships could catch up with her, the British fired at her from the air. The Bismarck was hit.
On the morning of May 27, the last battle was fought. Four British ships fired on the Bismarck, and she was finally sunk.The Bismarck sailed (航行) into the Atlantic Ocean ________.
| A．to sink the Hood |
| B．to gain control of France |
| C．to cut off American supplies to Britain |
| D．to stop British warships reaching Germany |
Many people believed that the Bismarck could not be defeated because she ________.
| A．was fast and powerful |
| B．had more men on board |
| C．was under Luetjens’ command |
| D．had bigger guns than other ships |
We learn from the text that on 24 May ________.
| A．the British won the battle against the Bismarck |
| B．the Bismarck won the battle against the British |
| C．the British gunfire damaged the Bismarck seriously |
| D．the Bismarck succeeded in keeping away from the British |
Luetjens tried to sail to France in order to ________.
| A．have the ship repaired | B．join the other Germans |
| C．get help from the French | D．get away from the British |
Which of the following is the immediate cause of the sinking of the Bismarck?
| A．The British air strikes. |
| B．The damage done by the Hood. |
| C．Gunfire from the British warships. |
| D．Luetjens’ decision to run for France. |