Have you ever made contact with the creative spirit, that certain something hard to describe, but full of good—and sometimes great—ideas? It is more than an occasional great thought. When we feel the moving of the creative spirit, it brings to life a style of being: a lifetime filled with the desire to invent, to explore new ways of doing things, and to turn dreams into reality.
That flash of inspiration is the final moment of a process marked by unique stages—the basic steps in creative problem-solving. The first stage is preparation, when you look for any information that might be important. It's when you let your imagination run free.
But one barrier(障碍) is the inside voice of judgment that locks up our creative spirit within the limits of what we think acceptable. It's the voice that whispers to you, "They'll think I'm foolish," or "That will never work." But we can learn to recognize this voice of judgment and have the courage to discount its unhelpful advice.
Once you have thought about all the relevant(相关的) pieces and pushed your mind to the limits, you can let the problem remain and take in all you have gathered. It's a stage when much of what goes on occurs outside your focused awareness. As the saying goes, "You sleep on it."
We are more open to creative thoughts from the unknowing mind when we are not really thinking of anything. That is why daydreams are so useful in the search for creativity. Anytime you can just daydream and relax is useful in the creative process: a shower, long drives, a quiet walk, etc.
With luck, daydreaming will lead to a light turning on above your head, when all of a sudden the answer will come to you as if from nowhere. This is the popular stage—the one that usually gets all the glory and attention, the moment that people sweat and long for, the feeling "This is it!" But the thought alone is still not a creative act. The final stage is translation, when you take your creative thought and transform it into action; it becomes useful to you and others.In Paragraph 1, “the moving of the creative spirit” probably means ________.
| A．preparation | B．exploration | C．problem-solving | D．inspiration |
According to the article, what keeps us from creativity?
| A．Having less information to form a good idea. |
| B．Relying on others during the creative process. |
| C．Caring about other people’s opinions about us. |
| D．Thinking about too many ideas at the same time. |
What can we learn from the fifth paragraph?
| A．The unknowing mind is very difficult for us to understand. |
| B．Creativity arrives when we aren’t focused on any one thing. |
| C．Daydreaming is useless and has nothing to do with creativity. |
| D．Showers, long drives and quiet walk are good for our bodies. |
When does creativity become useful to us and others?
| A．When thought is turned into action. |
| B．When people understand our ideas. |
| C．When the popular stage is reached. |
| D．When we think “This is it!”. |
Which of the following would the author probably support?
| A．The creative spirit means an occasional great thought. |
| B．Others’ voice of judgment allows us to ignore barriers. |
| C．Creative problem-solving calls for barrier-free imagination. |
| D．Daydreaming is sure to bring a sudden answer to a problem. |
| Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O’Connor (Author), Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrator) Reading level: Ages 3-6 Publisher (出版商): HarperCollins Summary: This year, Nancy is especially excited about decorating the Christmas tree. She bought a new tree topper with her own money and has been waiting for Christmas to come. But when things don’t turn out the way Nancy planned, will Christmas still be splendiferous? |
| Drummer Boy by Loren Long Reading level: Ages 3-8 Publisher: Philomel Summary: In a cold little town, a drummer boy appears on a child’s doorstep. And when it is still and quiet, the drummer boy plays, boom pum pum boom pum, and warms the child’s heart. But one day the drummer boy is knocked into the trash by accident, sending him on a journey he never imagined — a journey on which he continues to play his drum, warming the hearts of others. |
| The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll (Author), Jeni Bassett (Illustrator) Reading level: Ages 4-8 Publisher: Cartwheel Books Summary: It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and the town mouse Clayton and the country mouse Desmond feel the cold in the air. The cool weather makes them think of Christmas … and Christmas makes them think of Christmas trees! Who’ll find the biggest one? In the story, Clayton and Desmond team up to bring the spirit of Christmas to Mouseville — in a BIG way. |
| Merry Christmas Splat by Rob Scotton Reading level: Ages 4-7 Publisher: HarperCollins Summary: It’s the night before Christmas, and Splat wonders if he’s been a good enough cat this year to deserve a really big present. Just to make sure, he offers some last-minute help to his mom and, in typical (典型的) Splat fashion, he messes up completely! That night Splat stays awake hoping to see Santa Claus. But when Splat misses him, he’s sure his Christmas is ruined — along with his hope for a really big present… |
60.We can learn from the text that the drummer boy .
| A．enjoys his journey very much |
| B．plans his journey in advance |
| C．is warmed by the child |
| D．feels sad about being thrown away |
61. Which of the following two books share the same publisher?
| A．Drummer Boy and The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever. |
| B．Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas and Merry Christmas Splat. |
| C．The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever and Merry Christmas Splat. |
| D．Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas and Drummer Boy. |
62. Why does Splat think his Christmas is ruined?
| A．Because he doesn’t help his mother. |
| B．Because he always makes things a mess. |
| C．Because he doesn’t get a big present. |
| D．Because he doesn’t see Santa Claus. |
63. The writer writes this text in order to .
| A．teach kids to care about small animals |
| B．tell readers how to celebrate Christmas |
| C．introduce some kids’ books to readers |
| D．introduce some famous authors |
Once when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. One family between us and the ticket counter made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of 12. Their clothes were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands.
The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly said, “Please let me buy eight children’s tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus.”
The ticket lady told him the price. The wife’s head dropped, and the man’s lip began to quiver (抖动). The father asked, “How much did you say?”
The ticket lady told him the price again.
The man didn’t have enough money.
Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground (We were not wealthy either). My father reached down, picked up the bill, tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, this fell out of your pocket.”
The man knew what was going on. He wasn’t begging for money but certainly thanked the help in a difficult, embarrassing situation. He looked straight into my dad’s eyes, took my dad’s hand in both of his, and with a tear streaming down his cheek, he replied, “Thank you, sir. This really means a lot to me and my family.”
My father and I went back to our car and drove home. We didn’t go to the circus that night, but we didn’t go without.Why was the writer impressed by the family?
| A．Because the family was very large. |
| B．Because the family was very happy. |
| C．Because the family was very noisy. |
| D．Because the family was very poor. |
When the ticket lady told them the price, the wife .
| A．hardly heard | B．felt disappointed |
| C．hardly understood | D．felt confused |
Which of the following words can be best used to describe the writer’s father?
| A．Patient. | B．Careful. | C．Honest. | D．Kind. |
What did the writer mean by saying “we didn’t go without”?
| A．They returned home with another kind of joy. |
| B．They were very happy to meet the family. |
| C．They wanted to go to the circus very much. |
| D．They had already seen the circus before. |
There’s a guy like me in every state and federal prison in America, I guess — I’m the guy who can get these for you: cigarettes, a bag of cigar, if you want that, a bottle of wine to celebrate yourson or daughter’s high school graduation, or almost anything else. . . within reason, that is. It wasn’t always that way.
I came to Shawshank when I was just twenty, and I am one of the few people in the prison who is willing to admit what he did. I committed murder(谋杀). I put a large insurance policy(保险单) on my wife, who was three years older than I was, and then I fixed the brakes of the car her father had given us as a wedding present. It worked out exactly as I had planned, except I hadn’t planned on her stopping to pick up the neighbor woman and the woman’s son on the way down Castle Hill and into town. The brakes let go and the car crashed through the bushes, gathering speed. Bystanders said it must have been doing fifty or better when it hit the base of the Civil War statue in the town arid burst into flames.
I also hadn’t planned on getting caught, but I was caught. I got a pass into this place. My state has no death penalty(死刑), but I was tried(审判) for all three deaths and given three life sentences, to run one after the other. That fixed up any chance of parole(假释) I might have, for a long, long time. The judge called what I had done ‘an extremely evil(邪恶的) crime’, and it was, but it is also in the past now.
Have I transformed myself, you ask? I don’t know what that word means, at least as far as prisons and corrections go. I think it’s a politician’s word. It may have some other meaning, and it may be that I will have a chance to find out, but that is the future. . .
I was young, good-looking, and from the poor side of town. I met a pretty, headstrong girl who lived in one of the fine old houses on Carbine Street. She got pregnant(怀孕的) later. Her father was agreeable to the marriage if I would take a job in the company he owned and ‘work my way up’. I found out that what he really had in mind was keeping me in his house and under his thumb, like a disagreeable pet that has not quite been housebroken and which may bite. Enough hate eventually piled up to cause me to do what I did.
Given a second chance I would not do it again, but I’m not sure whether that means I am transformed.What do we know about the man from the passage?
| A．He is treated unfairly in the prison. |
| B．He is in charge of the federal prison. |
| C．He is quite an able person as a prisoner. |
| D．He is the most powerful man in the prison. |
By saying that “I got a pass into this place” (in Para. 3), the man means that _______.
| A．he had to stay in prison |
| B．he was allowed to go home |
| C．he was caught by the police without a pass |
| D．he has stayed in the federal prison before |
The man committed such an evil crime because ________.
| A．he had made a secret deal with an insurance company |
| B．he had been angry for a long time with his father-in-law |
| C．his wife’s family members had disapproved of their marriage |
| D．his wife had looked on him as a pet and he didn’t feel respected |
Which of the following is TRUE about the man?
| A．He regrets having committed the crime. |
| B．He will be out of prison in the near future. |
| C．He thinks the trial a mistake and is unfair. |
| D．He has found out the meaning of ‘transform’. |
Bigger-brained birds survive better than their feathered friends with smaller brains, according to a study published on Tuesday.
Scientists have suspected that birds with large brains in relation to their body size lived longer because they were able to adapt their behavior to environmental challenges.
Now they have provided evidence that it does.
“We have tested the hypothesis(假设) that the brain can buffer(缓冲) animals against the environment and help them to survive when they face environmental challenges,” said Daniel Sol of the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications in Barcelona, Spain.
After comparing death rates, brain size and body mass of 236 species of birds from different regions of the world, Sol and scientists in Britain, Hungary and Canada discovered that the bigger the brain the better. Crows and parrots have the largest brains, while pheasants (野鸡) have a relatively small brain.
Earlier studies have shown there is a relationship between the size of the brain and an animal’s capacity to create new behavior and adapt more easily.
“The idea is that if you have a big brain, you are more capable of adjusting behavior and responding to environmental changes. This can help you to survive,” said Sol, who reported the finding in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
Tamas Szekely of the University of Bath in England and a co-author of the report, said birds were ideal to test the hypothesis because they are the only species in which brain size and behavioral response to environmental challenges such as climate and habitat destruction is understood.The finding of bird’s brains recently refers to ________.
| A．the smaller brain the birds have, the longer they live |
| B．the smaller brain the birds have, the cleverer they are |
| C．the bigger brain the birds have, the larger their bodies are |
| D．the bigger brain the birds have, the abler they are to deal with environment |
Scientists from ________ countries have made the discovery.
| A．two | B．three | C．four | D．five |
According to the text we can know that the report of the finding was written by________.
| A．Daniel Sol |
| B．Tamas Szekely |
| C．Daniel Sol and Tamas Szekely |
| D．someone whose name was not mentioned |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Pheasants have the smallest brains of all birds. |
| B．Crows and parrots have the largest brains in all animals. |
| C．A pig’s brain is bigger than a cock, so it must be cleverer than the cock. |
| D．The discovery is now only certain about and mainly limited to birds. |
Micro bloggers: don’t be too excited if you have more fans than your friends on your Sina Weibo or Tencent micro blog—some of them might be “zombie fans”, or fake(假的) followers.
That’s what Chen Chuanliang, creator of Leijian Network, found when he bet against his friend several months ago. Chen, who used to do data mining for Microsoft Asia Research Institute, discovered that there were far more invalid(无效的)micro blog accounts than he had imagined.
Later Chen picked 10 users on Sina Weibo and analyzed their statistics. Kai-Fu Lee, the former CEO of Google China, who’s on Chen’s list of research, posted a message on his micro blog after he found out that he had more than 1 million fake fans(out of about 5 million), joking “I have 1 million zombie fans? If united, we can finally defeat those plants.”
According to a report by S Weekly in March, zombie fans on micro blogs are defined as invalid accounts signed up by network companies for the purpose of increasing the number of fans for certain users and getting them more attention.
And this kind of fake followers are also very much alive on Western social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.
The Financial Times reported in August，that Newt Gingrich，a Republican candidate in the US presidential election, bought about 80 percent of his 1.3 million Twitter followers and tried to use them as help in his campaign.
Now there are also business deals through which users can get hundreds of thousands of fans for their micro blog accounts, by paying a small amount of money.
“We have been working to find ways to block or delete those invalid accounts,” Mao Taotao, a spokesperson for Sina Weibo told S Weekly.
“But as the fake accounts grow so fast, they’re going to be here for a while.”
Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Micro Bloggers | B．Blog Accounts |
| C．Zombie Fans | D．Micro Blog Fans |
Users get zombie fans for their micro blog accounts by________.
| A．making friends with people |
| B．paying a little money |
| C．helping their weibo followers |
| D．doing search on the Internet |
It can be learnt from the passage that________.
| A．there are more fake fans in America than in China |
| B．invalid accounts for micro blogs will be deleted in no time |
| C．there exist many fake fans on western social networks as well |
| D．Newt Gingrich had 1.3 million followers in his presidential election |
The underlined word “their” in the passage refers to ________.
| A．deals’ | B．fans’ |
| C．campaigns’ | D．users’ |