One determined student stepped off the traditional job for blind people in China, and now challenges a new life at university in Britain. Being a message therapist （按摩师）is a perfect job for many people with a visual disability, but for Zheng Jianwei, it was far from enough.
The 30-year-old former massage therapist gave up his hospital job in 2009to prepare for admission to graduate school. He took IELTS（雅思考试）, the language-fluency test necessary for university admission in the UK, in 2012 and scored 6.5 points. He was the first blind examinee to take the IELTS in the Southeast Chinese region. After about four year’s struggles, Zheng successfully gain an offer from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and became a graduate student.
However,Zheng’s path to graduate school was not easy. “I can’t take China’s national entrance exam for graduate school, which doesn’t provide study material（材料）for blind students,” he says.
He then turned to search for graduate school overseas. However, English became his nightmare. Zheng studied in special schools for visually challenged students since primary school, but foreign language was never a main subject.
Before giving up his job and learning English again in 2009, Zheng only knew the alphabet, a few words and some basic expressions. “Learning English again in my late 20s is not easy,” he says.
It took him three years of intensive study to gain entrance to a graduate school overseas. Because of the lack of study material, Zheng needs to spend hours and days looking for textbooks for the visually disabled and copying them, while it may take only five minutes for a sighted person to order a plain English textbook from Amazon.
In his parents’ eyes, Zheng has been a sensible, independent and decisive man from a young age. Zheng made all the major decisions by himself, including studying abroad and choosing majors. “We just follow his decisions, ” the mother says.According to the first paragraph, a blind person in China is likely to .
| A．go abroad for graduate school | B．work as a message therapist |
| C．be far from pleased with life | D．enjoy a perfect job |
It can be learned from the passage that the blind students in China .
| A．can’t take the national entrance exam to college |
| B．can find less study material than normal students |
| C．can never learn a foreign language well |
| D．can’t afford the English textbooks for an entrance exam |
Which of the following can match Zheng Jianwei’s story?
| A．All mankind is created equal. | B．Many hands make light work. |
| C．Rome is not built in a day. | D．Nothing is impossible when mind is set. |
It can be inferred from the passage that Zheng’s .
| A．parents have to follow any of his decisions |
| B．parents don’t understand or care about him |
| C．visual disability meant a hopeless damage to him |
| D．mind is healthy though physically disabled |
B
People are being lured onto Facebook with the promise of a fun, free service without realizing they’re paying for it by giving up large amounts of personal information. Facebook then attempts to make money by selling their data to advertisers that want to send targeted messages.
Most Facebook users don’t realize this is happening. Even if they know what the company is up to, they still have no idea what they’re paying for Facebook because people don’t really know what their personal data is worth.
The biggest problem, however, is that the company keeps changing the rules. Early on, you keep everything private. That was the great thing about Facebook — you could create your own little private network. Last year, the company changed its privacy rules so that many things — your city, your photo, your friends' names—were set, by default (默认) to be shared with everyone on the Internet.
According to Facebook’s vice-president Elliot Schrage, the company is simply making changes to improve its service, and if people don’t share information, they have a “less satisfying experience”.
Some critics think this is more about Facebook looking to make more money. Its original business model, which involved selling ads and putting them at the side of the page, totally failed. Who wants to look at ads when they’re online connecting with their friends?
The privacy issue has already landed Facebook in hot water in Washington. In April, Senator Charles Schumer called on Facebook to change its privacy policy. He also urged the Federal Trade Commission to set guidelines for social-networking sites. “I think the senator rightly communicated that we had not been clear about what the new products were and how people could choose to use them or not to use them,” Schrage admits.
I suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy is only the beginning, which is why I’m considering deactivating(撤销) my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I’m upset by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don’t know. That’s too high a price to pay.What does the writer want to tell us in the passage?
| A．Mor1e people are being attracted to use Facebook. |
| B．People shouldn’t use Facebook. |
| C．Facebook is invading people’s privacy. |
| D．Facebook is selling more ads |
Why does the author plan to cancel his Facebook account?
| A．He is dissatisfied with its current service. |
| B．He doesn’t want his personal information abused. |
| C．He finds many of its users untrustworthy. |
| D．He is upset by its frequent rule changes. |
What is Charles Schumer’s attitude toward Facebook selling users’ data?
| A．Indifferent. | B．Unclear. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Disapproval. |
According to Elliot Schrage, Facebook keeps changing its rules because _______.
| A．it wants to better its service |
| B．it wants to adjust to new surroundings |
| C．it wants to expand its global business |
| D．it wants to improve its connectivity |
We can infer from the passage that ___________.
| A．Facebook makes profits by selling its users’ personal data. |
| B．Facebook often provides misleading information to its users. |
| C．Facebook protects users’ privacy |
| D．Facebook makes money only by advertising. |
A
Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said.
The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to look through paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Bruno Mottin of the French Museums’ Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting, it became clear that Mona Lisa’s dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze dress.
“This type of gauze dress was typical of the kind worn in the early 16th century in Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that has never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine,” he told a news conference. “We can now say that this painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted to commemorate the birth of the second son of Mona Lisa, which helps us to date it more precisely to around 1503. The young woman with the half smile has been identified as Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine merchant Francesco de Giocondo. She had five children.”
Mottin also said that, contrary to popular belief, the subject had not let her hair hang freely, but in fact she had worn a bonnet from which only a few curls had managed to escape.
"People always wrote that the Mona Lisa had allowed her hair to hang freely over her shoulders. This greatly surprised historians because letting your hair hang freely during the Renaissance was typical of young girls and women of poor virtue," he said.
The team had hoped to discover more details about Leonardo's "sfumato " technique of subtly blending one tone into another, which the artist used to create a special effect. But scientist John Taylor said the team had been frustrated by the lack of brush stroke detail on the painting.This passage mainly discusses___________..
| A．a new discovery about Leonardo da Vinci |
| B．a new discovery of Mona Lisa |
| C．the way Leonardo da Vinci painted Mona Lisa |
| D．the relationship between Mona Lisa and Leonardo da Vinci |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Mona Lisa was in fact the wife of Lisa Gherardini. |
| B．The painting is in French now. |
| C．Mona Lisa lived in the 1500s in Canada. |
| D．Leonardo da Vinci painted the masterpiece in memory of the birth of his second son. |
What did people think of the hair of Mona Lisa?
| A．People thought her hair was in fashion. |
| B．People thought she had her hair curled. |
| C．People thought she had let her hair hang freely over her shoulders. |
| D．People thought she wore fake hair. |
Why didn’t people find Mona Lisa’s dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze dress at first ?
| A．Because they didn’t look carefully. |
| B．Because the painting was in bad condition. |
| C．Because Leonardo da Vinci fooled people. |
| D．Because the color of the painting was dark. |
From the last two paragraphs we can know the scientists felt a little_________.
| A．discouraged | B．satisfied |
| C．hopeful | D．surprised |
A few minutes later she got up and went to the phone. She knew the number of the police station, and when the man at the other end answered, she cried to him. “Quick! Come quick! Patrick’s dead!”
“Who’s speaking?”
“Mrs Maloney. Mrs Patrick Maloney.”
“You mean Patrick Maloney’s dead?”
“I think so,” she sobbed. “He’s lying on the floor and I think he’s dead.”
“Be right over,” the man said.
The car came very quickly, and when she opened the front door, two policemen walked in. She knew them both—she knew nearly all the men at that precinct. Briefly, she told her story about going out to the grocer and coming back to find him on the floor. While she was talking, crying and talking, Noonan discovered a small patch of congealed blood on the dead man’s head. He showed it to O’Malley who got up at once and hurried to the phone.
Later, one of the detectives came up and sat beside her. Did she know, he asked, of anything in the house that could’ve been used as the weapon? Would she mind having a look around to see if anything was missing—a very big spanner, for example, or a heavy metal vase.
They didn’t have any heavy metal vases, she said.
“Or a big spanner (扳手)?”
She didn’t think they had a big spanner. But there might be some things like that in the garage.
The search went on. She knew that there were other policemen in the garden all around the house. She could hear their footsteps on the gravel outside, and sometimes she saw the flash of a torchlight through a chink in the curtains.
Then one by one they came in and were persuaded to take a little nip of whisky. They stood around rather awkwardly with the drinks in their hands, uncomfortable in her presence, trying to say consoling things to her. Sergeant Noonan wandered into the kitchen, came out quickly and said. “Look, Mrs Maloney. You know that oven of yours is still on, and the meat still inside…I better turn it off for you, hadn’t I?”
“Will you do that, Jack. Thank you so much.”
When the sergeant returned the second time, she looked at him with her large, dark, tearful eyes.
“Would you do me a small favour—you and these others?” She said.
“We can try, Mrs Maloney.”
“Well,” she said. “You must be terribly hungry by now because it’s long past your supper time. Why don’t you eat up that lamb that’s in the oven? It’ll be cooked just right by now.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sergeant Noonan said.
“Please,” she begged. “Please eat it.”
The four policemen vacillated, but they were clearly hungry, and in the end they were persuaded to go into the kitchen and help themselves. The woman stayed where she was, listening to them through the open door, and she could hear them speaking among themselves, their voices thick and sloppy because their mouths were full of meat.
“The guy must’ve used a big thing to hit Patrick,” one of them was saying. “The doctor says his skull was smashed all to pieces.”
“That’s why it ought to be easy to find.”
“Exactly what I say.”
“The murderer’s not going to carrying a thing like that around with him longer than he needs.”
One of them belched.
“Personally, I think it’s right here on the premises.”
“Probably right under our very noses. What you think, Jack?”
And in the other room, Mary Maloney began to giggle.Which of the following is incorrect according to the passage?
| A．The policemen searched around the house until night. |
| B．The policemen were dealing with the murder of Mary’s brother. |
| C．The Maloney’s didn’t have a big spanner. |
| D．Patrick died because of a critical damage to his head. |
What is the meaning of the underlined word “vacillate”?
| A．discuss | B．refuse | C．hesitate | D．agree |
What could you learn about Mrs Maloney from the passage?
| A．She is a careless person who may not notice subtle sound. |
| B．She was in the kitchen when the officers enjoyed the lamb. |
| C．She was very familiar with the policemen and the officers. |
| D．She put the lamb into the oven before her husband died. |
Why do you think Mary giggled at the end?
| A．She was happy that they finished the real weapon without noticing. |
| B．She was glad that the policemen had a supper after working hard. |
| C．She was amused by the way they spoke with meat filled in their mouths. |
| D．She was pleased that they ate the lamb which she could not finish alone. |
When I was walking down a path through some woods, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path. I angled my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn't covered by water or mud. As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn't sure what to do. After all, it's just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate's sake （缘故）, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life, should I have been careless enough to step on her. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate's safety seemed admirable. I couldn't do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I've always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.What does the underlined world “angled” in the first passage mean?
| A．reached | B．changed | C．checked | D．noticed |
The writer feel funny because he________?
| A．make the attacker pause. |
| B．was attacked by a butterfly. |
| C．was stepped on by his mate. |
| D．discover the energetic butterfly. |
The writer learnedfrom this experience.
| A．what he should do when faced with trouble |
| B．people should show sympathy to the weak |
| C．how he should deal with attacks |
| D．people should protect butterflies |
What does the writer think of the butterfly?
| A．Careless. | B．Amusing. |
| C．Courageous. | D．Aggressive. |
One suicide and three attempted ones that left two seriously injured, all by middle school students in Shanghai last week, cast a gloom (忧郁) over an otherwise happy beginning of a new term there. The terrible things took place even as the Ministry of Education and China Central Television organized the first lesson on TV about personal safety for students last Monday, the first day of the new semester. Such things suggest that this first lesson is more than necessary. Not only should kids be taught how to protect themselves in times of emergency, they should also be made aware of the value of life. One student was prevented from killing himself from his school building. He said he just could not accept the fact of not being able to go tip to a higher grade with his classmates, and thus considered life meaningless. Another 12-year-old boy who jumped off a building to his death was said to have been a good student, and no one could say why he chose to end his life. Obviously, their inner worlds were seriously affected. But when they chose to take their own lives, their irresponsible choice was clearly the result of a lack of adequate understanding of the value of life.
Undoubtedly, those kids who chose to take their own lives were faced only with their own sadness that they could not overcome. If they had a little concern for their parents, for their parents' expectations of them or for their own potential contributions to this world in the future, they would not have gone that far. Difficulties or sufferings are supposed to help kids develop their sense of responsibility and thus help them better understand the value of life.
Too much attention and care from their parents and grandparents have made most of the only children self-centered. Many think it is natural that they deserve to be taken care of by others in whatever way they want. They expect to have their problems solved by their parents or someone else. With such a false sense, they fail to grasp the tough reality of life. They suffer from the illusion (幻觉) that their life should be nothing but plain sailing, Whenever the illusion is broken, they can hardly gather enough courage to face life as it is. So a hotline is indeed necessary to help those kids who find it hard to accept the tough reality of life. But parents and teachers also need to take lessons from the things. They need to know that life should not always be sugar-coated for kids; they should be made to taste the bitter side too as early as possible.Why is the first lesson on TV necessary according to passage?
| A．It will make students prepared for the new term. |
| B．It is published by the Ministry of Education and China Central Television. |
| C．It will increase the students’ awareness of the value of life. |
| D．It will keep the students away from danger. |
From the passage we know that _________.
| A．four students took their lives in Shanghai last week |
| B．being unable to catch up with other classmates led to the 12-year-old boy killing himself |
| C．the importance of life lies in the sense of responsibility for parents |
| D．parents are supposed to tell the kids the bitter side of life as well as the sweet side |
The main reason why those kids took their own lives is that _________.
| A．they are worried that they may fall behind others in studies |
| B．they lack the respect for their parents |
| C．they may be physically healthy, but mentally unhealthy |
| D．their parents expect too much from them |
What may be the best title of the passage?
| A．An irresponsible choice. | B．The value of life. |
| C．Weak-minded generation. | D．The reality of life. |