In 1883. John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However, bridge building experts throughout the world thought this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea, but Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.
The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
"We told them so." "Crazy men and their crazy dreams.'' "It's foolish to chase wild visions." Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap, Washington was never discouraged.
One day he was lying on his bed in hospital, seeing the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment with the sunlight streaming through the windows, and a gentle breeze bowing the flimsy white curtains apart when an idea hit him. He decided to make the best use of the only finger he could move. Thus, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.
He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.
For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm until the bridge was finally completed.Which of the following is true of Washington and his father?
| A．They are hardworking and courageous. |
| B．They are stubborn and bold. |
| C．They are creative and persistent. |
| D．They are curious and modest. |
In the third paragraph, the underlined phrase ''wild vision" refers to______.
| A．the tragic accident | B．the building of the bridge |
| C．the brain damage | D．the discussion and persuasion |
What can we learn about Washington's wife?
| A．She could understand Washington and helped him a lot. |
| B．She couldn't understand him but took good care of him. |
| C．She didn't like Washington's idea about building the bridge. |
| D．She took the responsibility to continue building the bridge. |
From the passage, we know that_______ when Roebling proposed building the bridge.
| A．people all over America supported him |
| B．almost no bridge experts in the world supported him |
| C．his friends were strongly in favor of his idea |
| D．many people considered it would be a great feat |
The passage suggests that______.
| A．NO pains, no gains. | B．Many hands make light work. |
| C．A lighted heart is a good medicine. | D．Passion creates wonder. |
A teacher stood in front of his history class of twenty students just before handing out the final exam. His students sat quietly and waited for him to speak.
“It’s been a pleasure teaching you this term,” he said. “You’ve all worked very hard, so I have a pleasant surprise for you. Everyone who chooses not to take the final exam will get a ‘B’ for the course.”
Most of the students jumped out of their seats. They thanked the teacher happily, and walked out of the classroom. Only a few students stayed. The teacher looked at them. “This is your last chance,” he said. “Does anyone else want to leave?” All the students there stayed in their seats and took out their pencils.
The teacher smiled. “Congratulations (祝贺),” he said. “I’m glad to see you believe in yourselves. You all get A’s.”This story most probably took place.
| A．at the beginning of the term |
| B．in the middle of the term |
| C．at the end of the term |
| D．at the beginning of the school year |
Most of the students got Grade ______.
| A．‘A’ | B．‘B’ | C．‘C’ | D．‘F’ |
Why did some students stay in their seats?
| A．Because they wanted to take the exam. |
| B．Because the teacher told them to stay in their class. |
| C．Because they were afraid to leave. |
| D．Because they didn’t have anything to do. |
The teacher gave the students who stayed in the classroom A’s because ______.
| A．the teacher liked them |
| B．they were cleverer than the other students |
| C．they believed in themselves |
| D．they studied hard |
The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 3 refers to “______”.
| A．students staying in their seats |
| B．students leaving the classroom |
| C．their seats |
| D．all the students |
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Birdies, build your nest;
Weave (编织) together straw and feather,
Doing each your best.
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
Flowers are coming too:
Pansies, lilies, daffodillies
Now are coming through.
Spring is coming, spring is coming,
All around is fair,
Shimmer (闪烁) and quiver (轻微颤动) on the river,
Joy is everywhere.
——William BlakeThe poet felt _____ when he was writing the poem.
| A．surprised | B．lonely | C．happy | D．sad |
What does the underlined word “fair” mean?
| A．Pleasant. | B．Noisy. | C．Dirty. | D．Busy. |
Many a online shopper stayed up until 2 am on Sunday, looking through the Internet to buy products being sold at half price before they could be snapped up（be bought）by other shoppers. Tens of millions of the Internet users were crazy to take advantage of the halfprice promotion, started by the ecommerce(电子商务) giant Alibaba Group on Sunday, Nov. 11, which is known as Singles’ Day in China, and is the Chinese answer to Cyber Monday in the United States.
By 7 pm on Sunday, 14.1 billion yuan’s worth of sales was made on tmall. com and taobao. com. That could make Singles’ Day the biggest ecommerce sales day on record. The research company comScore said US online retailers (零售商) saw $ 1.25 billion of sales during last year’s Cyber Monday, the day after Thanksgiving weekend and the busiest day for online retailers as US shoppers start to prepare for Christmas.
Singles’ Day originated with university students, and was later adopted by ecommerce companies as a promotional opportunity. Ecommerce companies, including Jingdong Mall and Amazon China, also took part in the promotion.“ In the past, people only shopped online occasionally, but now, online shopping is a lifestyle accepted by many，” said Zhang Yong, Tmall president.
Alibaba began to hold Singles’ Day promotions in 2009, and last year, its sales totaled 5.2 billion yuan.“I don’t know whether we would lose money, but I don’t think we could earn much on this day by selling goods at half price，” said Hao Hongfeng, chairman of Beijing Jiuxian ECommerce, a liquor retailer in Beijing who took part in the event. He said it is a good opportunity for online retailers to get their names known.Who first introduced Singles’ Day to the public?
| A．Some college students. |
| B．The online shoppers. |
| C．Researchers in comScore. |
| D．The online retailers. |
Why were the online retailers so active in the promotion?
| A．To make their names known to more people. |
| B．To make a lot more money. |
| C．To make more business friends through the event. |
| D．To sell more products. |
What’s the secret behind the success of this promotion?
| A．The quality of the products. |
| B．The fame of the retailers. |
| C．The favorable price. |
| D．The aftersales service. |
Which title do you think is more suitable for this article?
| A．Chinese Shopping Style |
| B．The Origin of Singles’ Day |
| C．Online Purchasing Power |
| D．A Craze for Online Promotion |
Enter your kid’s photo today and win! We’re giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers’ Choice votes. Plus, our editors will select one entry(参赛作品) to win our grand prize of $7,000.
Official Contest Rules
No purchase necessary to enter or win.
The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12：00 am March 23,2013, and ends December 21, 2013 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must be received by 9：00 pm on December 21,2013 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.
SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.
ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.
Share My Entry：
Visit http：//www.parents.com/photos/photocontests1/kidoftheyear and click the button to enter.
Facebook Entry：
Visit Facebook. com/Parents Magazine and click the Kid of 2012 tab (选项卡)．
Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos, without any brand names or trademarks, must be taken by participants, nonprofessional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be.jpeg or.bmp image formats (格式) and cannot be over 3 MB.
This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook.
You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents. com.
Photos must not contain material that infringes (侵犯) the rights of another, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement. Photos must not contain brand names or trademarks.
LIMIT: One entry per household, per eligible (有资格的) child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one eligible child in the household, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.To enter the contest, photos must ________.
| A．have won some prize or award |
| B．contain parents’ personal information |
| C．contain brand names or trademarks |
| D．be taken by nonprofessional participants |
Linda, a mother with sevenyearold twins, wants to enter the contest. She must ________.
| A．complete the entry process separately for each of her kids |
| B．go to Meredith Corporation to fill out the registration forms |
| C．provide a description and an album title for the kid’s photos |
| D．provide the information to Facebook if she chooses Facebook Entry |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．you should buy something first before you enter the contest |
| B．you should send your entry before 9：00 pm on December 21,2013 |
| C．your entry will not be returned even if you don’t win the contest |
| D．the editors of the contest will decide who will win the 20,000 dollars in prizes |
The purpose of the passage is ________.
| A．to advertise the website Facebook. com |
| B．to encourage parents with children to enter a photo contest |
| C．to introduce two methods of entering a photo contest |
| D．to attract photographers’ interest in a photo contest |
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down on the computer and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup(备用) computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington, ” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know, ” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. ‘It’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The word soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.The best title for the article is _______.
| A．When the Computer Is Down |
| B．The Most Frightening Words |
| C．The Computer of the Airport |
| D．Asking the Computer |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could sell a ticket. |
| B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could answer the passengers’ questions. |
| D．She could do nothing. |
Why do you think they had not a backup computer?
| A．Because it was easy down |
| B．Because it was very expensive. |
| C．Because it was not advanced enough. |
| D．Because it was not as big as the main computer. |
The last paragraph suggests that _______.
| A．a modern computer won’t be down. |
| B．computers can take the place of humans |
| C．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
| D．there will be great changes in computers |