America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.
Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily.
Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.
For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!The writer of this passage must be ______.
| A．an American | B．a Chinese | C．a professor | D．a student |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Friendships between Americans usually extend deeply into their families. |
| B．Friendships between Americans usually last for all their lives. |
| C．Americans always show their warmth even if they are very busy. |
| D．Americans will continue their friendships again even after a long break. |
From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.
| A．warmly welcomed at the airport |
| B．offered a ride to his home |
| C．treated hospitably at his home |
| D．treated to dinner in a restaurant |
The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.
| A．strict with time |
| B．serious with time |
| C．careful with time |
| D．willing to spend time |
A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.
| A．Friendships between Chinese |
| B．Friendships between Americans |
| C．Americans’ hospitality |
| D．Americans’ and Chinese’s views of friendships |
LakeLander ·2 hours ago
Today, a man talked very loud on his phone on a train between Malvern and Reading, making many passengers upset. I wonder how he would react if I were to read my newspaperoutloudonthetrain, Ihave never had the courage to do it, though.
Pak50 ··· ·57 minutes ago
Why not give it a try? Perhaps you should take lessons on a
musical instrument. The late musician Dennis Brian is said to have
asked a fellow train passenger to turn off his radio. When his
request was refused, he took out his French horn(号) and started to practice.
Angie O'Edema·42 minutes ago
I don't see how musical instruments can help improve manners in public. Don't do to others what you wouldn't like to be done to yourself. Once, a passenger next to me talked out loud on his mobile phone. I left my seat quietly, giving him some privacy to finish his conversation. He realized this and apologised to me. When his phone rang again later, he left his seat to answer it. You see, a bit of respect and cooperation can do the job better.
Taodas ·29 minutes ago
I did read my newspaper out loud on a train, and it turned out well. The guy took it in good part, and we chatted happily all the way to Edinburgh.
Sophie 76 ·13minutes ago
I have not tried reading my newspaper out loud on a train, but ,several years ago, I read some chapters from Harry Porter to my bored and noisy children. Several passengers seemed to appreciate what I did.
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The passenger made an apology to Angie O'Edema because.
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Who once read a newspaper out loud on a train?
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In ancient Egypt, a shopkeeper discovered that he could attract customers to his shop simply by making changes to its environment. Modern businesses have been following his lead,with more tactics（策略）.
One tactic involves where to display the goods. Foe example, stores place fruits and vegetables in the first section. They know that customers who buy the healthy food first will feel happy so that they will buy more junk food（垃圾食品）later in their trip. In department stores, section is generally next to the women's cosmetics(化妆品) section：while the shop assistant is going back to find the right size shoe, bored customers are likely to wander over cosmetics they might want to try later.
Besides, businesses seek to appeal to customers' senses. Stores notice that the smell of baked goods encourages shopping, they make their own bread each morning and then fan the bread smell into the store throughout the day. Music sells goods, too. Researchers in Britain found that when French music was played, sales of French wine went up.
When it comes to the selling of houses, businesses also use highly rewarding tactics. They find that customers make decision in the first few second upon walking in the door, and turn it into a business opportunity. A California builder designed the structure of its houses smartly. When entering the house, the customer would see the Pacific Ocean through the windows, and then the poll through an open stairway leading to the lower level. The instant view of water on both levels helped sell these $10 million houses.
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Why do stores usually display fruits and vegetables in the first section?
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According to Paragraph 3, which of the following encourages customers to buy?
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What is the California builder's story intended to prove?
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What is the main purpose of the passage?
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At thirteen, I was diagnosed（诊所） with kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.
In my first literature class, Mrs.Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said,"Mrs.Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it."
She glanced down at me through her glasses, "you are no different from your classmates, young man."
I tried, but I didn't finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.
In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn't get much education. But Louis didn't give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots（点）, which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.
Wasn't I the "blind" in my class, being made to learn like the "sighted" students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was no different from others; Ijust needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problems, why should I ever give up?
I didn't expect anything when I handled in my paper to Mrs.Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day- with an"A" on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words:" See what you can do when you keep trying?"
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The author didn't finish the reading in class because.
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D
In 2004 ,when my daughter Becky was ten , she and my husband ,Joe, were united in their desire for a dog . As for me , I shared none of their canine lust.
But why , they pleaded. “Because I don’t have time to take care of a dog.” But we’ll do it. ” Really? You’re going to walk the dog? Feed the dog? Bathe the dog?” Yes, yes , and yes .”I don’t believe you .” We will . We promise.
They didn’t . From day two (everyone wanted to walk the cute puppy that first day ) , neither thought to walk the dog . While I was slow to accept that I would be the one to keep track of her shots , to schedule her vet appointments , to feed and clean her , Misty knew this on day one . As she looked up at the three new humans in her life (small, medium, and large) , she calculated ,”The medium one is the sucker in the pack .”
Quickly, she and I developed something very similar to a Vulcan mind meld (心灵融合) . She’d look at me with those sad brown eyes of hers , beam her need , and then wait , trusting I would understand — which , strangely , I almost always did . In no time , she became my feet as I read , and splaying across my stomach as I watched television .
Even so , part of me continued to resent walking duty . Joe and Becky had promised. Not fair , I’d balk (不心甘情愿地做) silently as she and I walked . “Not fair , ” I’ d loudly remind anyone within earshot upon our return home .
Then one day — January 1, 2007 , to be exact — my husband ‘ s doctor uttered an unthinkable word : leukemia ( 白血病) .With that , I spent eight to ten hours a day with Joe in the hospital , doing anything and everything I could to ease his discomfort. During those six months of hospitalizations, Becky, 12 at the time, adjusted to other adults being in the house when she returned from school. My work colleagues adjusted to my taking off at a moment's notice for medical emergencies. Every part of my life changed; no part of my old routine remained.
Save one: Misty still needed walking. At the beginning, when friends offered to take her
through her paces, I declined because I knew they had their own households to deal with.
As the months went by，I began to realize that I actually wanted to walk Misty. The walk in the morning before I headed to the hospital was a quiet, peaceful time to gather my thoughts or to just be before the day's medical drama unfolded. The evening walk was a time to shake off the day's upsets and let the worry tracks in my head go to white noise.
When serious illness visits your household, it's , not just your daily routine and your assumptions about the future that are no longer familiar. Pretty much everyone you acts differently.
Not Misty. Take her for a walk, and she had no interest in Joe's blood counts or ’one marrow test results. On the street or in the park, she had only one thing on her mind: squirrels! She Was so joyous that even on the worst days, she could make me smile. On a daily basis she reminded me that life goes on.
After Joe died in 2009，Misty slept on his pillow.
I'm grateful一to a point. The truth is, after years of balking, I've come to enjoy m’ walks with Misty. As I watch her chase after a squirrel, throwing her whole being into the here-and-now of an exercise that has never once ended in victory, she reminds me, too, that no matter how harsh the present or unpredictable the future , there's almost always some measure of joy to be extracted from the moment.why didn't the writer agree to raise a dog at the beginning of the story?
| A．She was afraid the dog would get the family, into trouble. |
| B．It would be her business to take care of the dog |
| C．Her husband and daughter were united as one. |
| D．She didn't want to spoil he’ daughter. |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to "The medium one is “he sucker in the pack.” (Paragraph 3)?
| A．"The middle-aged person loves me most.” |
| B．”The medium-sized woman is the hostess.” |
| C．"The man in the middle is the one who has the final say.” |
| D．"The woman is the kind and trustworthy one in the family.” |
It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that_______.
| A．Misty was quite clever |
| B．Misty could solve math problems |
| C．the writer was a slow learner |
| D．no one walked Misty the first day |
The story came to its turning point when________.
| A．Joe died in 2009 |
| B．Joe fell ill in 2007 |
| C．the writer began to walk the dog |
| D．the dog tired to please the writer |
Why did the writer continue to walk Misty while Joe was in hospital?
| A．Misty couldn’t live without her |
| B．Her friends didn’t offer any help |
| C．The walk provided her with spiritual comfort. |
| D．She didn't want Misty to ’others companion. |
What is the message the writer wants to convey in the passage?
| A．One should learn to enjoy hard times. |
| B．A disaster can change everything in life. |
| C．Moments of joy suggest that there is still hope ahead. |
| D．People will change their attitude toward you when you are in difficulty. |
If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars，we would go in darkness happily，the midnight world as visible to us as it is to the vast number of nocturnal(夜间活动的) species on this planet. Instead，we are diurnal creatures, with eyes adapted to living in the sun's light. This is a basic evolutionary fact, even though most of us don't think of ourselves as diurnal beings. Yet it's the only way to explain what we've done to the night: We've engineered it to receive us by filling it with light.
The benefits of this kind of engineering come with consequences 一 called light pollution 一 whose effects scientists are only now beginning to study. Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design，which allows artificial light to shine outward and upward into the sky. III-designed lighting washes out the darkness of night and completely changes the light levels 一 and light rhythms - to which many forms of life, including, ourselves, have adapted. Wherever human light spills into the natural world, some aspect or life is affected .
In most cities the sky looks as though it has been emptied of stars, leaving behind a vacant haze(霾) that mirrors our fear of the dark. We've grown so used to this orange haze that the original glory of an unlit nigh, - dark enough for the planet Venus to throw shadow on Earth, is wholly beyond our experience, beyond memory almost.
We've lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further form the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing, Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet(磁铁). The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being "captured" by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms. Migrating at night, birds tend to collide with brightly lit tall buildings.
Frogs living near brightly lit highways suffer nocturnal light levels that are as much as a million times righter than normal, throwing nearly every aspect of their behavior out of joint including most other creatures ,we do need darkness .Darkness is as essential to our biological welfare, to our internal clockwork, as light itself.
Living in a glare of our making,we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural heritage-the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night .In a very real sense light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way-the edge of our galaxy arching overhead.
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The writer mentions birds and frogs to
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It is implied in the last paragraph that
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What might be the best title for the passage?
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