TheSegwayHumanTransporterwasin-优题课

When my brother and I were young, my mom would take us on Transportation Days.
It goes like this: You can't take any means of transportation more than once. We would start from home, walking two blocks to the rail station. We'd take the train into the city center, then a bus, switching to the train, then maybe a taxi. We always considered taking a horse carriage in the historic district, but we didn't like the way the horses were treated, so we never did. At the end of the day, we took the subway to our closest station, where Mom's friend was waiting to give us a ride home—our first car ride of the day.
The good thing about Transportation Days is not only that Mom taught us how to get around. She was born to be multimodal (多方式的). She understood that depending on cars only was a failure of imagination and, above all, a failure of confidence—the product of a childhood not spent exploring subway tunnels.
Once you learn the route map and step with certainty over the gap between the train and the platform, nothing is frightening anymore. New cities are just lightrail lines to be explored. And your personal car, if you have one, becomes just one more tool in the toolbox—and often an inadequate one, limiting both your mobility and your wallet.
On Transportation Days, we might stop for lunch on Chestrut Street or buy a new book or toy, but the transportation was the point. First, it was exciting enough to watch the world speed by from the train window. As I got older, my mom helped me unlock the mysteries that would otherwise have paralyzed my first attempts to do it myself: How do I know where to get off? How do I know how much it costs? How do I know when I need tickets, and where to get them? What track, what line, which direction, where's the stop, and will I get wet when we go under the river?
I'm writing this right now on an airplane, a means we didn't try on our Transportation Days and, we now know, the dirtiest and most polluting of them all. My flight routed me through Philadelphia. My multimodal mom met me for dinner in the airport. She took a train to meet me.
According to the writer, what was the greatest benefit of her Transportation Days?

A．Building confidence in herself.

B．Reducing her use of private cars.

C．Developing her sense of direction.

D．Giving her knowledge about vehicles.

The underlined word “paralyzed”(in Para.5) is closest in meaning to “________”．

A．displayed

B．justified

C．ignored

D．ruined

Which means of transportation does the writer probably disapprove of?

A．Airplane.

B．Subway.

C．Train.

D．Car.

On a hill 600 feet above the surrounding land, we watch the lines of rain move across the scene, the moon rise over the hills, and the stars appear in the sky. The views invite a long look from a comfortable chair in front of the wooden house.
Every window in our wooden house has a view, and the forest and lakes seldom look the same as the hour before. Each look reminds us where we are.
There is space for our three boys to play outside, to shoot arrows, collect tree seeds, build earth houses and climb trees.
Our kids have learned the names of the trees, and with the names have come familiarity and appreciation. As they tell all who show even a passing interest, maple（枫树）makes the best fighting sticks and white pines are the best climbing trees.
The air is clean and fresh. The water from the well has a pleasant taste, and it is perhaps the healthiest water our kids will ever drink. Though they have one glass a day of juice and the rest is water, they never say anything against that.
The seasons change just outside the door. We watch the maples turn every shade of yellow and red in the fall and note the poplars（杨树）putting out the first green leaves of spring. The rainbow smelt fills the local steam as the ice gradually disappears, and the wood frogs start to sing in pools after being frozen for the winter. A family of birds rules our skies and flies over the lake.
What can be learned from Paragraph 2?

A．The scenes are colorful and changeable.

B．There are many windows in the wooden house.

C．The views remind us that we are in a wooden house.

D．The lakes outside the windows are quite different in color.

By mentioning the names of the trees, the author aims to show that ______ .

A．the kids like playing in trees

B．the kids are very familiar with trees

C．the kids have learned much knowledge

D．the kids find trees useful learning tools

What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?

A．The change of seasons is easily felt.

B．The seasons make the scenes change.

C．The weather often changes in the forest.

D．The door is a good position to enjoy changing seasons.

What is the main purpose of the author writing the text?

A．To describe the beauty of the scene around the house.

B．To introduce her children’s happy life in the forest.

C．To show that living in the forest is healthful.

D．To share the joy of living in the nature.

“Hey, Jenna, do you think we’ll still be friends when we’re eighty-two?” I asked my friend．It was clear that she was wondering where I had come up with such a question．Losing Jenna would be like losing a very close sister．We hung out together．We gave each other advice．
“Of course, we’ll still be friends when we’re eighty-two.” Jenna announced loudly．
The next year, in the fourth grade, we met Jamie．The three of us soon became close friends．We played together almost every day．I thought even time couldn’t pull us apart, but I was sadly mistaken．
The three of us started fighting a lot．Before Christmas, we had a really big fight, and Jamie and Jenna were against me, both saying I was bossy．I felt helpless and lonely．I thought Christmas would be horrible!
I was surprised when Jenna came to my house and gave me an awesome Christmas card she had made for me．I was so sure that she was still disappointed with me．
“Wow, ” I said, breaking the silence as we stood on either side of my front door．“Thanks．”
“Okay…well…I have to go,” she said softly．
“Okay．See you later then…” and I closed the door．
“Who was that at the door?” my mum asked．
The card started off with “Merry Christmas”, but then it said, “I am so glad we’re friends．I am sorry about what I said when we were fighting．A fight won’t stop us from being friends．Besides, we said we were going to be friends even when we’re eight-two．”
I stopped reading and started laughing．I couldn’t believe I had forgotten what she said that day in her backyard．I couldn’t believe I had been so selfish in making my friends feel sorry for me that I had forgotten about real friendship．
How would the author and Jenna get along with each other after Christmas?

A．They would be close friends again．

B．They would not speak to each other．

C．They would lose touch with each other．

D．They would go on fighting with each other．

The underlined sentence “I was bossy” in the fourth paragraph means “_________”．

A．I looked like a boss	B．I acted as a boss
C．I was fond of giving orders	D．I was fond of fighting

Which of the following is the right time order according to the passage?
a．Jamie became our friend．
b．I felt lonely and unhappy．
c．Jenna, Jamie and I fought a lot．
d．Jenna brought me a Christmas card．
e．I was sorry for what I did to her．
f．Jenna and I promised to be lifelong friends．

A．f a b c e d

B．a c f b d e

C．a b c f e d

D．f a c b d e

The author was delighted when she read the card from Jenna because _________．

A．what Jenna wrote was funny

B．Jenna would be her friend again

C．she was happy about the coming Christmas

D．she was happy to receive a Christmas card

Bobby Moresco grew up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, a poor working-class neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side. But Hell’s Kitchen lies right next door to Broadway, and the bright lights attracted Bobby from the time he was a teen. Being stage-struck was hardly what a street kid could admit to his partners. Fearing their making fun of him, he told no one, not even his girlfriend, when he started taking acting lessons at age 17. If you were a kid from the neighborhood, you became a cop, construction worker, longshoreman or criminal. Not an actor.
Moresco struggled to make that long walk a few blocks east. He studied acting, turned out for all the cattle calls (试戏通告)-- and during the decade of the 1970s made a total of $2,000. “I wasn’t a good actor, but I had a driving need to do something different with my life,” he says.
He moved to Hollywood, where he drove a cab and worked as a waiter. “ My father said, 'Stop this craziness and get a job; you have a wife and daughter.' ”But Moresco kept working at his chosen career.
Then in 1983 his younger brother Thomas was murdered in a killing. Moresco moved back to his old neighborhood and started writing as a way to explore the pain of Hell’s Kitchen. Half-Deserted Streets, based on his brother’s killing, opened at a small Off-Broadway theater in 1988. A Hollywood producer saw it and asked him to work on a screenplay.
His reputation grew, and he got enough assignments to move back to Hollywood. By 2003, he was again out of work and out of cash when he got a call from Paul Haggis, a director who had befriended him. Haggis wanted help writing a film about the country after September 11. The two worked on the writing Crash, but every studio in town turned it down. They kept trying. Studio executives, however, thought no one wanted to see hard lives in modern America.
Crash slipped into the theaters in May 2005, and quietly became both a hit and a critical success. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three -- Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Paul Haggis and the kid from Hell’s Kitchen.
At age 54, Bobby Moresco became an overnight success. “If you have something you want to do in life, don’t think about the problems,” he says, “think about other ways to get it done.”
Why Bobby Moresco did not tell anyone that he started taking lessons at age 17?

A．He wanted to give his girlfriend a surprise.

B．His girlfriend did not allow him to do this.

C．He was afraid of being laughed at.

D．He had no talent for acting.

Which of the following sentences is NOT true?

A．His father did not support his work as a bartender.

B．Before he became an overnight success, his life experienced ups and downs.

C．His brother’s death inspired his writing Half-Deserted Streets.

D．Moresco grew up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen which is a few blocks east of Broadway.

The Studio executives turned the script Crash down because ______________.

A．they thought the script would not be popular.

B．the script was not well written.

C．they had no money to make the film based on the script.

D．they thought Moresco was not famous.

Which of the following can best describe Bobby Moresco?

A．ambitious and persistent	B．shy but hardworking
C．caring and brave	D．considerate and modest

The fourth round of heavy smog to hit Beijing in four weeks has sent more people to the hospital with respiratory (呼吸的) illnesses and led to calls for laws to control the pollution.
Pan Shiyi, a celebrity, said he is planning to propose a Clean Air Act to the local government. As a representative to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, he started an online survey at 9:20 a.m. Within three hours, more than 25,000 web users, or 99 percent of total respondents (应答者) , welcomed his proposal.
They have good reasons to stand alongside Pan. The latest round of haze（雾霾）reduced visibility to under 500 meters in many parts of the city. The smog has also led to a great increase in respiratory illnesses, particularly among children and the elderly. Anxious parents and doctors almost all blame the smoggy air for the illnesses. Though most schoolchildren are home for the winter holidays, the bad air can easily move indoors. Besides, ordinary medical masks fail to provide enough protection, so some people have turned to gas masks.
The causes of the frightening smog are rather mysterious, though experts blame too much emissions (排放) and the mountains around Beijing that trap pollution in winter, unless there is enough wind to clear it away. Some critics blamed China’s top two oil firms, China National Petroleum Corp and China Petrochemical Corporation, saying the companies’ outdated production technologies produce large quantities of high-polluting gas fuel.
Meanwhile, some Beijingers have moved their brainstorming discussion to computers. If Pan’s proposal for a Clean Air Act is adopted, netizens say the new law should include items providing for “car-free days” in times of smog, higher standards for vehicle fuel, stricter limit to industrial and engine gas emissions, and more effective protection for the public.
Beijing is not the only city that has ever lost the blue sky. Five days of thick fog caused thousands of deaths in Britain in December 1952, urging the government to pass the first Clean Air Act in 1956, which introduced smokeless zones and cleaner fuels to reduce pollution. That may provide some experience for Beijing to refer to.
Why did Pan Shiyi started an online survey?

A．To know the public’s opinions on pollution

B．To tell people the danger of the smoggy weather

C．To call on people to support his proposal

D．To collect supporting evidence for his proposal

What can we learn from the passage?

A．People are clear about the causes of the smoggy weather.

B．Children staying indoors will not get respiratory illnesses.

C．Smog is worse for people with lower resistance to diseases.

D．Masks can give people protection against the smoggy weather.

Britain is mentioned in the last paragraph to ______.

A．suggest Beijing should learn from other countries

B．let people know many places have this problem

C．tell people the situation in Britain is worse

D．call on the government to pass Britain’s Clean Air Act

What’s the best title for this passage？

A．The Use of Gas masks and Engines

B．Beijingers Call for Clean Air Act

C．Effective Protection for Blue Sky

D．The Mysterious Causes of the Scary Smog

A．high cost	B．danger to traffic
C．being difficult to use	D．contribution to laziness