My wife Julie and I were out on the road that runs around where we live, when we saw an old worn-out dog stumbling (蹒跚) painfully up the road. We stopped, bent down, talked gently to the dog and patted it. I checked and there was a collar with a phone number. I called but no one answered.
The dog was painfully thin. So Julie ran home to get some of our dog’s food while I tried to encourage the dog. After Julie came back, we sat down on the sidewalk while our new friend made short work of the food. Eventually we got her home.
After trying for many times we got a response from the number. A lady came around with a bunch of flowers for us. She explained that Tara had been her father’s dog. She was very old and got lost that morning. So, Tara was safely returned home.
Here is the truth of the story:
Actually Julie and I were out that morning because I was leaving. She was trying to persuade me to come back, but I wasn’t hearing anything that made that sound likely.
I was about to turn and go when an old black dog walked between us and almost fell down. Suddenly we had something more important than our problem to worry about. There was a creature in need right before us and we had to work together to help it.
We did help it. And here I am writing the story in my own home, in my own family.
In the song “Love Is Not a Fight” Warren Barfield talks about marriage. At one point he sings, “And if we try to leave, may God send angels (天使) to guard the door.”
Sometimes angels come disguised (伪装) as dogs. How was the dog when found?
| A.Too weak to walk. | B.Thin and worn out. |
| C.Unable to eat food. | D.Homeless but gentle. |
We can infer from Paragraph 2 that .
| A.the dog didn’t go with the writer |
| B.the writer had his own pet dog |
| C.Julie bought some food for the dog |
| D.the dog didn’t eat any of the food |
The underlined part “our problem” in the passage refers to the fact that .
| A.the writer didn’t want to take Julie’s advice |
| B.an old black dog appeared in front of them |
| C.Julie disagreed with the writer’s travel on business |
| D.the couple had some trouble with their marriage |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A.An Angel Dog | B.A Helpful Couple | C.Saving the Dog | D.A Famous Song |
IV. 阅读理解(共16 小题,每小题2 分,满分32 分)
Recently I gave my adult students homework. It was “go to someone you love and tell them you love them.” It has to be someone you have never said those words to before or at least haven’t shared those words with for a long time.
It sounds like very tough homework since most of the men were over 35 and were raised in the generation of men that were taught expressing emotions is not “macho (阳刚之气).” Showing feelings or crying was just not done. So this was very threatening homework for some.
At the beginning of our next class, I asked if someone wanted to share what happened when they told someone they loved them. I fully expected one of the women to volunteer, as was usually the case, but on this evening one of the men raised his hand, quite moved and a bit shaken.
As he unfolded out of his chair (all 1.85 meters of him), he began by saying, “Dennis, I was quite angry with you last week when you gave us this homework. Who were you to tell me to do something
that personal?”
“But as I began driving home my conscience (良心)started telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say ‘I love you’ to.”
“Five years ago, my father and I had a severe disagreement and really never settled it since then. We avoided seeing each other unless we absolutely had to at Christmas or other family gatherings. But even then, we hardly spoke to each other.”
“So last Tuesday by the time I got home I had convinced myself. I was going to tell my father I lov
ed him. It’s strange, but just making that decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest.”
59. The homework is threatening for some students because_________.
A. they are middle-aged people B. they are not macho enough
C. they were taught to hide their emotions D. they didn’t know how to show feelings
60. From the passage we know that_________.
A. the adult students
have classes in the day time only
B. not all the adult students in the writer’s class are male
C. the man refused to meet his father after their quarrel
D. the man quickly decided to say “I love you” to his father
61. The underlined phrase “unfolded out of his chair” in Para 4 is closest in meaning to_________.
A. stood on his chair straight B. sat quietly in the chair
C. bent himself over his chair D. raised himself slowly from the chair
62 What does the man imply by saying the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?
A. He felt it too strange to say “I love you” to his father.
B. He felt relaxed just thinking of saying “I love you” to his father.
C. He felt very relaxed after saying “I love you” to his father.
D. He had to lift a heavy load off his chest before saying “I love you”.
Attitude is an internal(内在的)state that influences the choices of personal action made by the individual. Some researchers consider that attitudes come from differences between beliefs and ideas; others believe that attitudes come from emotional states. Here, we focus on the effects of attitudes upon behavior, that is, upon the choices of action made by the individual.
The kinds of actions taken by human beings are obviously influenced greatly by attitudes. Whether one listens to classical music or rock, whether one obeys the speed limit while driving, whether one encourages one’s husband or wife to express his or her own ideas-all are influenced by attitudes. These internal states are acquired throughout life from situations one is faced with in the home, in the streets, and in the school.
Of course, the course of action chosen by an individual in any situation will be largely determined by the particulars of that situation. An individual who has a strong attitude of obeying laws may drive too fast when he is in a hurry and no police cars in sight. A child who has a strong attitude of honesty may steal a penny when she thinks no one will notice. But the internal state wh
ich remains unchanged over a period of time, and which makes the individual behave regularly in a variety of situations, is what is meant by an attitude.
Attitudes are learned in a variety of ways. They can result from single incidents, as when an attitude toward snakes is acquired by an experience in childhood at the sudden movement of a snake. They can result from the individual’s ex
periences of success and pleasure, as when someone acquires a posi
tive attitude toward doing crossword puzzles by being able to complete some of them. And frequently, they are learned by copying other people’s behavior, as when a child learns how to behave toward foreigners by observing the actions of his parents. Regardless of these differences, there is something in common in the learning and modification(修正)of attitudes.
72. According to the passage, attitudes _______ .
A. come from different situations in one’s life
B. are largely affected by one’s behavior
C. remain unchanged in one’s daily life
D. could be chosen according to one’s will
73. The author uses the examples in Paragraph 3 to show _______ .
A. people often make mistakes when they are not noticed
B. people with good attitudes may sometimes do bad deeds
C. particulars of a situation may influence an individual’s action
D. an individual may change his or her attitude fairly easily
74. Which of the following is TRUE about the learning of attitudes?
A. Attitudes are only learned through one’s success.
B. Attitudes learned in danger will last longer.
C. Copying others’ behavior is not a good idea.
D. Attitudes can be learned from one’s parents.
75. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Differences of Attitudes. B. Nature of Attitude.
C. Choices of Attitudes. D. Modification of Attitude.
LONDON, England(CNN)--- The youngest person to sail solo around the world returned home Thursday from his 30,000-mile, 282-day ocean journey.
Mike Perham, 17, sailed into Lizard Point in Cornwall, the southernmost point in Britain, at 9:47 a.m., his race team said.
“It feels absolutely brilliant,” Mike told CNN by phone hours before crossing the finishing line. “I’m really, really excited to be going across the line at last. It doesn't feel like long since I crossed it first.”
Mike set off on his round-the-world trip on November 18, 2008. He has been sailing his yacht(游艇), single-handedly, though a support team has been sailing next to him along the way.
The teen has now achieved the title of Youngest Sailor to Circumnavigate the Globe Solo, according to the Guinness World Records.
Mike learned how to sail when he was seven years old from his father, Peter and at age 14, he sailed across the Atlantic alone.
The teenager’s school --- which Mike describes as “highly supportive” of his trip --- has redesigned his coursework to fit in with his trip. It also gave him some coursework to do during “quiet moments,” according to Mike’s Web site.
There haven’t been many of those quiet moments. Repeated autopilot failures forced him to stop for repairs in Portugal, the Canary Islands, South Africa, and twice in Australia, according to his Web site.
Bad weather in the Southern Ocean --- between Australia and Antarctica --- forced Mike to battle 50ft waves and 57 mph winds. He said at one point, a “freak wave” picked up the boat and turned it on its side.
“My feet were on the ceiling at the time,” he told CNN. “That was a really hairy moment, and I was certainly thinking, ‘Why am I here?’ But
we took the sails off and the day after I thought, ‘This is brilliant!’”
Mike describes his father as his biggest hero, always supportive of what he wanted to achieve. Peter Perham said he wasn't too worried about his son facing dangerous situations at sea, as long as he knew what to do and stayed safe.
67. Mike Perham returned to Britain in _______ .
A. August B. September C. October D. November
68. Mike Perham is _______ that went on the round-the-world trip in the world up till now.
A. the first B. the bravest C. the luckiest D. the youngest
69. We can infer from the passage that _______ .
A. the English school is the same as ours
B. the English school doesn’t care for students
C. the English school has a humane management
D. the English school gives students a lot of course work
70. According to the passage, Mike did anything EXCEPT _______ on his trip.
A. regret B. worry C. abandon D. fear
71. The passage mainly tells us _______ .
A. Mike’s exciting sail trip around the globe
B. how Mike’s father taught him to sail a boat
C. why CNN wanted to report the news to the public
D. the introduction of the Guinness World Records
All plant cells are capable of taking up water. Even dead ones do to a certain degree. Absorption(吸收)of water by dead cell walls makes wood become larger. In common land plants, the living cells of roots take up most of the water. Land plants without roots do exist, however. Those greenish-yellow lichens(苔藓)you see on rocks in the high mountains have no roots. Half a billion years ago, when water plants started to enter the land, the first land plants did not have roots.
Even among the flowering plants, one finds rootless forms. These flowering plants are “the higher plants” because they evolved(进化)recently and are thus considered higher on the evolutionary scale(进化度). In the Peruvian desert, there grows one of these rootless higher plants, a bromeliad. It is a relative of the pineapple. Even if this plant had roots, they would be of no use, because where the plant grows, it never rains. The plant gets its water only from the dew(露水)it collects at night, when its leaves cool off. Such rootless plants, of course, can be moved with ease, but they will only grow when they are placed out in the open. If they are placed too near a house, the radiation from the heat of the house prevents the leaves from cooling and so prevents dew from forming, and the plant dies. In the southern United States and in Puerto Rico, one sees bromeliads growing high above the streets on the insulation(绝缘物)of electric wires. These plants get their water from rain, and the only soil they ever come in contact with is the dust that may blow on their leaves.
64.From the passage we know that the evolutionary scale is graded according to _______ .
A. evolutionary
cycles B. heights and depths
C. time D. kinds
65.The “bromeliad” is a plant that _______ .
A.has useless roots B. is a pineapple
C.can grow anywhere D. takes up water through its leaves
66.The most suitable title for this passage is “_______ ”.
A. Absorption of water by plants B. Rootless plants
C. Plants in the desert D. Higher plants
The resounding film Avatar has been very popular in the UK and around the world, becoming the fastest film ever to earn $1bn(7bn yuan) in ticket sales.
But as well as being an entertaining feast for the eyes, the sci-fi epic(叙事诗)also introduces the audience to a brand new language invented especially for the film.
The movie is set on an alien planet called Pandora which is inhabited by many strange species. The most humanoid of the planet’s inhabitants are the Na’vi, and it is th
e struggle between the Na’vi and human invader that forms the main story of the film.
The film has been released in 2D and 3D versions.
In order to add a sense of reality to his vision of an alien race the film’s director James Cameron asked a professor of language form the University of Southern California to invent a language for the Na’ vi.
Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years to build upon the original 30 words or so that the director had already come up with for the language.
According to Professor Frommer, the most important aspect of the Na’ vi language was that it could be pronounced.
“This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors,” Professor Frommer told the BBC, “it has to be sounds that human beings are comfortable producing.”
The language currently has around 1,000 words but Professor Frommer hopes to expand it in possible sequels(续集)to the film and in video games.
The professor hopes that one day his creation will have a high level of the Klingon alien language from the Star Trek films.
“There’s a translation of Hamlet into Klingon,” says Professor Frommer.
“If anything happened like this with Na’vi, I’d be delighted.”
60. The underlined word “resounding” in Paragraph 1 means _______ .
A. later B. scientific C. hit D. surprising
61. Which of the following is Right according to the passage?
A. A kind of new language was invented especially for the film.
B. The film Avatar is as good as a film as the Star Trek.
C. The creation in Alien Language is different from that in human beings.
D. Avatar is one of an excellent films invented by Pandora.
62. The most challenging part in the creation of the language is _______ .
A. that Professor Frommer needs to create 1,000 words for the film Avatar by himself
B. that the language is based on that of the Alien planet called Pandora
C. that James Cameron introduces a new style of language to the audience
D. that an Alien language is created to be spoken by human beings
63. We can infer from the passage that _______ .
A. the film Avatar has been released in 2D and 3D versions
B. the most important aspect of the Na’vi language was that it could be pronounced
C. Professor Paul Frommer believes his language creation in the film Avatar is very successful
D. Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years for a sense of reality of the film