Four years ago my sweet mom went to be with God. She did it her way.
I got the call at work, and I headed home quickly. Mom and Dad lived on a small farm that they had owned since I was seven. I hated going there every weekend. There was nothing for a young girl to do but watch the one station on the old TV set, if the weather allowed reception.
My mom, on the other hand, loved the peace and quiet of the land and loved to work in the garden among her flowers and vegetables. The place was simple, with no indoor pipes or heating. We had a big wood stove in the kitchen that did its best to heat the little farmhouse, but it always seemed cold and too quiet to me.
In the evenings, my mom and I would sit for hours singing in the little kitchen. I sang the rhythm and Mom harmonized. Her favorite song was "Moon River" and we sang it over and over. Mom told me stories about how when I was a little girl, I could sing before I could talk. She loved to tell there was one song I particularly loved called "Ivory Tower".
As time passed, I had my own children and went to visit every week or two. The kids loved the farm and the tractor rides with my dad. Me, well, I still hated the silence of the farm. While my mom loved to sit at her kitchen table and look out at her garden and flowers and retell all the old stories, I missed the hustle and bustle(喧闹) of my life at home. But I sat there listening quietly as she reminisced.
Now, I sat back in the silence and turned on an old radio. Music always comforted me.
My heart skipped a beat. "Moon River" was playing on the radio. I sat there shocked, with a tear running down my cheek, as I listened to every familiar note.
Then the radio announcer of this old station came on. "Here's one we haven't heard in a while," and an unfamiliar song began. I began to cry harder as I heard the words sung over the airwaves "Come down, come down from your Ivory Tower…".The writer didn’t like staying in the farm for the following reasons Except that ________.
| A．it was too cold and quiet |
| B．she could only sing one song in the small farm |
| C．there was nothing more that could make her excited |
| D．it had no indoor pipes or heating |
From the first paragraph, we know that the writer’s mother ________.
| A．passed away four years ago | B．left the small farm |
| C．left to live her own way | D．preferred to be with God |
The underlined word reminisced in the fifth paragraph probably means ________.
| A．remembered | B．comforted | C．shouted | D．sighed |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．The writer was able to sing before she could speak. |
| B．The writer preferred to live a busy life in the city. |
| C．The writer was still quite familiar with the song "Ivory Tower". |
| D．The writer treasured all her childhood memories in the small farmhouse. |
Which would be the best title for this passage?
| A．Cherish life | B．My happy childhood |
| C．Our small farmhouse | D．Mom’s music |
Things Your Pilot Won't Tell You
You may not be getting the airline you paid for．
You may go to an airline website and buy a ticket, and get onto an airplane that has a similar name painted on it, but half the time, you're really on a regional （地方的） airline．The regionals aren't held to the same safety standards as the majors: their pilots aren't required to have as much training and experience, and the public doesn't know that．
—Captain at a major airline
If you're a nervous flier, book a morning flight．
The heating of the ground later causes bumpier （颠簸的） air, and it's much more likely to thunderstorm in the afternoon．
—Jerry Johnson , pilot, Los Angeles
The smoothest place to sit is often over or near the wing．
The bumpiest place to sit is in the back．If you're in the middle, you don't move as much．
—Patrick Smith, pilot, and author of Cockpit Confidential
Sit in the front if you want fresher air．
The general flow of air in any airplane is from front to back．So if you're really concerned about breathing the freshest possible air or not getting too hot, sit as close to the front as you can．Planes are generally warmest in the back．
—Tech pilot at a regional airline, Texas
You never know where the safest seat is．
There is no safest place to sit．In one accident, the people in the back are dead; in the next, it's the people up front．
—John Nance, aviation safety analyst and retired airline captain, Seattle
I've been struck by lightning twice．
Most pilots have．Airplanes are built to take it．You hear a big boom and see a big flash and that's it．You're not going to fall out of the sky．
—Charlotte, pilot for a regional earner,．North Carolina
People don't understand why they can't use their cell phones．
Well, what can happen is 12 people will decide to call someone just before landing, and I can get a false reading on my instruments saying that we are higher than we ideally are．
—Jim Tilmon, retired American Airlines pilot, PhoenixJerry Johnson advises nervous fliers to ______．
| A．sit in the back |
| B．fly in the morning |
| C．fly with major airlines |
| D．avoid flying in bad weather |
The best seats for those who need fresh air are ______．
| A．in the front | B．in the middle |
| C．in the back | D．near the wing |
Passengers' use of cellphones before landing is likely to ______．
| A．increase the risk of being struck by lightning |
| B．make it difficult for pilots to control the plane |
| C．cause the instruments of the plane to break down |
| D．affect pilots' judgment about the height of the plane |
This summer, Monika Lutz’s life took an unusual turn. Instead of heading off to college, the high school graduate packed her bags for a Bengali jungle. Lutz, like a growing number of other young Americans, is taking a year off. Gap(间隔) years are quite common in Britain and Australia, but they are just beginning to catch on in the U.S. Lutz, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., has put together a 14-month schedule that includes helping deliver solar power to some communities in India and interning (实习) for a fashion designer in Shanghai---experiences that are worlds away from the lecture halls and university dormitories that await other students. “I could not be happier,” she says.
Why are students attracted to the gap-year concept? According to new survey data from Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson, education-policy experts and co-authors of The Gap-Year Advantage, the most common reason for this is to avoid burnout. “I felt like I was focused on college as a means to an end,” says Kelsi Morgan, an incoming Middlebury College freshman who spent last year interning for a judge in Tulsa, Okla., and teaching English at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. The hope is that after a year out of the classroom, students will enter college more energized, focused and mature. That can be an advantage for colleges too. Robert Clagett, dean of admissions at Middlebury, did some research a few years ago and found that a single gap semester was the strongest predictor of academic success at his school.
Most experts recommend securing a spot in college before taking a gap year and warn against using the time off to lengthen your resume. “Most admissions folks can see right through that,” says Jim Jump, the academic dean of St. Christopher’s School in Richmond, Va. But for students like Lutz, who, after getting rejected from five Ivies, decided to take time off, a gap year can help focus interests. Lutz now plans to apply mostly to non-Ivies that have strong marketing programs. “This experience has really opened my eyes to the opportunities the world has to offer,” she says.
But at least one education expert doesn’t want schools spreading the gap-year message. In a study that followed 11,000 members of the high school class of 1992 for eight years after graduation, Stefanie DeLuca, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, found that, all things being equal, those who delayed college by a year were 64% less likely to complete a bachelor’s degree than those who didn’t. DeLuca did not say whether these students voluntarily started college late, but at the very least, her work indicates that taking a gap year doesn’t guarantee success. “I’m not going to say that time off does not have benefits,” says DeLuca. “But I think we should not be so enthusiastic.”The students take gap years mainly because ______.
| A．they want to be more unusual |
| B．they want to refresh themselves |
| C．some experts advise them to do so |
| D．their parents think it good for them |
According to Lutz, the gap year has made her more ______.
| A．energetic | B．relaxed |
| C．practical | D．enthusiastic |
Stefanie DeLuca probably agrees that ______.
| A．students should think twice before taking gap years |
| B．taking gap years enables students to achieve success |
| C．schools should encourage their students to take gap years |
| D．taking gap years increases students’ chances of getting a good job |
What’s the author’s attitude towards gap years?
| A．Sceptical. | B．Positive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Objective. |
A bargain is something offered at a low and advantageous price. A more recent definition is: a bargain is a dirty trick to force money out of the pockets of silly and innocent people.
The cost of producing a new - for example - toothpaste would make 80p the proper price for it, so we will market it at £1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste, and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that happens we will reduce the price to £1.15. And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it.
Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking rudeness to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or whatever! Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult(侮辱), but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. People say one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper.
The real danger starts when unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. Many people just cannot resist bargains. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear or furniture they have no space for. Once I heard of a man who bought an electric saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.
Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady once told me: “I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for £120, reduced from £400; and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for £600, reduced from £900.” It will never occur to her that she has actually wasted £720. She feels as though she had made £580. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out of it.
Some people buy in large quantities because it is cheaper. Once a couple bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. They thought it a bargain not to be missed. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their toilet was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the toilet became extremely sticky.
To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right.Which word best describes the language style of the passage?
| A．Polite. | B．Foolish. | C．Humorous. | D．Serious. |
What does the underlined word “novelty” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
| A．Good quality. | B．Low price. |
| C．Newness. | D．Curiosity. |
How does the author feel about 1p OFF a product?
| A．It’s a gift for poor people. |
| B．It’s an offense to shoppers. |
| C．It’s a bargain worth trying. |
| D．It’s a real reduction in price. |
Which statement will the author probably agree with?
| A．Bargains are things people don’t really need. |
| B．Bargains are often real cheap products. |
| C．Bargains help people make a living. |
| D．Bargains play tricks on people. |
The Truth Can Set You Free
I recently got pulled over for speeding not far from my new home in Virginia. I hadn’t been paying attention, and I had driven a few miles an hour over the speed limit.
“Can I see your license and registration?” the police officer asked me. I pulled both out for him, and he saw my Pittsburgh address on my Pennsylvania driver’s license.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Are you with the army?”
“No, I’m not.” I answered. I explained that I had just moved to Virginia, and I hadn’t had time to re-register yet.
“So what brings you here?”
He had asked a direct question. Without thinking very hard, I gave him a direct answer. “Well, officer,” I said, “since you’ve asked, I have cancer. I have just months to live. We’ve moved down here to be close to my wife’s family.”
“So you’ve got cancer,” he said flatly. He was trying to figure me out. Was I really dying? Was I lying? He took a long look at me. “You know, for a guy who has only a few months to live, you sure look good.”
He was obviously thinking: “Either this guy is pulling one big fat line on me, or he’s telling the truth.” He was trying to question my honesty without directly calling me a liar. And so he had forced me to prove that I was being honest.
“Well, officer, I know that I look pretty healthy. I look great on the outside, but the tumors（肿瘤）are on the inside.” And then, I don’t know what possessed me, but I just did it. I pulled up my shirt, showing the operational scars.
He looked at my scars. He looked in my eyes. He now knew he was talking to a dying man. Well, he wasn’t taking this any further. He handed me back my license. “Do me a favor.” he said, “Slow down from now on.”
The awful truth had set me free. As he went back to his police car, I had a realization. I had been one of those gorgeous blondes (金发美女) who could bat her eyelashes and get out of tickets. I drove home under the speed limit, and I was smiling like a beauty queen.The author was stopped by the police officer because ______.
| A．he didn’t have a license |
| B．he forgot to re-register |
| C．he was seriously ill |
| D．he drove too fast |
The author moved to Virginia probably because ______.
| A．he was homesick |
| B．he served in the army there |
| C．Virginia had better hospitals |
| D．his family could be better cared for |
On hearing about the author’s cancer, the police officer ______.
| A．said it was an excuse |
| B．doubted his honesty |
| C．showed sympathy for him |
| D．asked him to show his scars |
It can be inferred from the passage that the author was ______.
| A．optimistic | B．adventurous |
| C．dishonest | D．romantic |
Summer Rain
The worst days of any summer are the rainy ones. We spend all year looking forward to nice weather and long, hot days. All of winter, with its cloudy days and bitter cold, we dream of those endless days at the beach, lying on the sand and enjoying the bright and burning sun. And then, summer comes, and it rains.
As a child, I would wake up to rainy summer days and come close to crying. It wasn’t fair. We suffered through months of school and experienced bad weather for those short ten weeks of freedom and pleasant weather.
On those rainy summer days, I had nothing fun to do and could only sit inside, staring out at the rain like a bird in a cage. I was an only child, so there was no one else to play with. My father worked from home, so I was not truly alone, but he could not actively play with me since he was at work. It was those days that I would watch whatever was on television or read any books that I could find lying around. I’d drag through the day and pray each night that the rain would not be there the next day.
As an adult, though, my opinion of summer rain has changed. When you have to work every day, summer is not as exciting. Everything seems dull. Such a mindset makes you cheer for anything new or different. I spend the winter dreaming of summer and the summer dreaming of winter. When summer comes, I hate how hot it is. And then I look forward to the rain, because the rain brings with it a cold front, which makes me comfortable. Rainy days are still the worst days of the summer, but summer rain today means positively beautiful—and considerably cooler—weather tomorrow.When the author was a child, he ______.
| A．hated rainy days |
| B．liked staying indoors |
| C．preferred cooler weather |
| D．dreamed on summer days |
We can learn from the passage that the author ______.
| A．had no brothers or sisters |
| B．was often left alone at home |
| C．could enjoy the brilliant sun in winter |
| D．preferred reading to playing outside |
As an adult, the author views summer rain differently because ______.
| A．heknowsit won’t last long |
| B．rain makes the weather cooler |
| C．his summer holiday is very short |
| D．he can better deal with his downtime |