How I Turned to Be Optimistic
I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt's house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see—the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost—having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times”.
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule：almost all common troubles eventually go away！Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little！I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.How did the author get to know America?
| A．From her relatives. | B．From her mother. |
| C．From books and pictures. | D．From radio programs. |
Upon leaving for America the author felt ________.
| A．confused | B．excited | C．worried | D．amazed |
For the first two years in New York, the author ________.
| A．often lost her way | B．did not think about her future |
| C．studied in three different schools | D．got on well with her stepfather |
Long long ago people made fires from lightning(闪电)。 But they had to keep the fire burning, for they couldn’t start it again if there was no lightning. Later, they found out hitting two piece of stone together could make a spark (火花). The spark could fire dry leaves. In this way they could make the fire again if it went out. Them people also learned to make a fire by rubbing. They made a hole on a big piece of wood and put a smaller stick into the hole. They turned the stick again and again. After a few minutes they got a fire.
As years went by, people learned other ways to make a fire. Sometimes they used the heat from sun. they held a piece of glass in the right way and made a piece of paper on fire.
About two centuries ago, people began to make matches (火柴). Matches brought people a quick and easy way to make fire. Today matches are still being used, but people have more new ways to make fires. One of them is to use an electric fire starter. Of course an electric fire starter is much more expensive than a box of matches. But it is more useful.A spark can _________.
| A．fire any leaves | B．burn anything | C．burn dry leaves | D．keep fires burning |
We can also get a fire by _________.
| A．making a hole on a big piece of wood |
| B．putting a smaller stick into the hole |
| C．turning the stick hard for a while |
| D．doing all the above together |
Matches have been used _________.
| A．for about two thousand years |
| B．for about two hundred years |
| C．since people began to use fire for cooking |
| D．since people used the heat from the sun. |
From this passage we know _______.
| A．using matches is the easiest and most useful way to make fires |
| B．people don’t use matches any more since they had electric fire starters |
| C．today there are only two ways to make fires |
| D．some forest fires happen from lightning |
Choose the right order of the ways to make fires people got to know _________.
a. with a match b. from the sun c. from lightning
d. by rubbing e. with an electric fire starter.
| A．d ,b, c, a,e | B．d, c, b, a, e | C．c, d, b, a, e | D．c, b, d, a ,e |
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy. He was the oldest of five children in his family. His father was a wool weaver. He helped his father with the weaving, but he always wanted to sail the seas.
He didn’t get to school very much, but he learned to read and write Spanish during his travels. He also taught himself Latin because all the geography books were written in Latin. Some people thought he was trying to prove the world was round, but this is not true. He wanted to find a short way to get to the Indies by ship.
He was a Christian and wanted to tell the story of Christ to the people he would find in the far-away lands. He also wanted wealth for himself and for Spain, and he wanted to be famous. He tried for eight years to get King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to supply him with ships and money.
They left Spain on August 3, 1492 and sailed toward the west. After many days, the sailors had covered a long distance on the sea and were ready to turn around for home when they saw land, an island Columbus named San Salvador. He thought he had found the Indies and called the people he saw there “Indians”. When they got to Cuba, he thought he was in Japan. The world was a lot larger than he thought.
On Christmas Eve, the Santa Maria was wrecked near Haiti. Columbus built a fort(城堡) and left 40 men to hunt for gold. Then he returned to Spain on the Nina. The people of Spain welcomed him as a hero. He made three more voyages across the ocean. His 13-year-old son, Ferdinand, went with him on the fourth voyage.
Columbus did not become rich as he had hoped. At the end of his life he only had a pension the king and the queen had given him because he was the first to reach the New World. He spent the last few months of his life in bed because of the pain of arthritis(关节炎). Columbus not only discovered a New World, but he led the way for other explorers.Columbus taught himself Latin because _______.
| A． he wanted to prove the earth was round. |
| B．he wanted to find a short way to the Indies by sea. |
| C．he found Latin was very useful at that time. |
| D．he wanted to travel around the world. |
How was Columbus able to make his voyage to the west?
| A．He was supported by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. |
| B．He worked hard for eight for to save enough money for his voyage. |
| C．The king and the queen helped him with money and ships. |
| D．Many people supported him with money and food for his voyage. |
Why did Columbus call the local people in Salvador “Indians”?
| A．Because he thought he had arrived in Japan. |
| B．Because he thought he looked like in the Indies. |
| C．Because he thought it was a wealthy place. |
| D．Because he thought he had arrived in the Indies. |
From the fifth paragraph we can infer that “Santa Maria” and “Nina” must be the names of_________.
| A．trains | B．ships | C．cities | D．women |
From the text we know that ________.
| A．Columbus lived a difficult life in his later life. |
| B．Columbus was considered as a hero all his life. |
| C．Columbus didn’t get the wealth as he had hoped for. |
| D．Columbus was the first person to travel round the world. |
At five he was collecting old newspapers to make money. And when he was 15 he signed his schoolmates up to start a baby-sitting circle.
Now 20, third-year Cambridge University student, Peter Blackburn is managing director of a company with a £ 30,000 plan. And he thinks it will make more than $15,000 by next summer. He set up Peter Blackburn Ltd last year to bring out a new, color term-planner that now students all over the UK are using.
"I felt that most of the planners going around were pretty unimaginative," he says, "I believed that I could do a better job and decided to have a go".
Blackburn admits that he is putting far more effort into business than his computer studies course at university. While fellow students are out with their friends, he keeps in touch with his business office in Lancashire by movable phone. Before he set up the company he spent one holiday preparing a plan that would persuade his bank to lend him money.
"Most students work hard for a good degree because they believe that will help them get a job to support themselves," he says "I work hard at my company, because that is what will support me next year, after I leave college."
Friends believe that Blackburn will make £ 1 million within 5 years. He is not quite so sure, however. "There's a lot to be done yet," he says.Choose the right order of the facts given in the passage.
a. He spent his holiday preparing a plan. b. He collected newspapers.
c. He set up his own company. d. He asked the bank for money.
e. He set up a babysitting circle.
| A．e, b, c, a, d | B．b, e, a, d, c |
| C．b, e, d, a, c | D．b, e, c, a, d |
When he was quite young, Blackburn _______ .
| A．already made a lot of money | B．already had a business brain |
| C．was already managing director of a company | D．already set up his own business |
The underlined expression in the fourth paragraph "have a go," here means _______ .
| A．give up this job and have a new one | B．leave the company |
| C．have a try | D．develop my business quickly |
In spite of（尽管） a college student, Blackburn _______ .
| A．spends more time on his business than on his studies course |
| B．keeps in touch with his business office by movable phone |
| C．seldom goes out with his friends |
| D．often spends whole holiday preparing business plan |
Which of the following best explain why Blackburn works hard at his company?
| A．He wants to do more business practice before he leaves college. |
| B．He wants to make more money before he leaves college. |
| C．He wants to get a good job like most students after he leaves the college. |
| D．he depends on the company for his living in the future. |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads in their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get a success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness doesn’t mean money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge yourself. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving（旋转的）door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.When you do something wrong, people around you will_______.
| A．quarrel with you | B．help you correct it |
| C．do something wrong like you | D．laugh at you |
What will your friends say when you make great progress?
| A．Oh, so do I. | B．Congratulations! | C．Good luck! | D．Just so-so! |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．You can get help from others when you are in trouble. |
| C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
| D．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
The passage mainly tells us_______.
| A．parents always care for our life and health |
| B．we’re not happy if we meet with difficulties |
| C．happiness is always around us |
| D．life is colorful |
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict（冲突）between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part，this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ （青少年）complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrel on unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong，for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress. Why does the author compare the parent teen war to a border conflict?
| A．Both can continue for generations. |
| B．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens accuse their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
Parents and teens want to be right because they want to__________.
| A．give orders to the other | B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other | D．get the other to behave properly |
What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war |
| C．Solutions for the parent-teen problems |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship |