Blind imitation (模仿)is self-destruction. To those who do not recognize their unique worth. Imitation appears attractive: to those who know their strength. Imitation is unacceptable.
In the early stages of skill or character development, imitation is helpful. When I first learned to cook, I used recipes (菜谱) and turned out some tasty dishes. But soon I grew bored. Why follow someone else’s way of cooking when I could create my own? Imitating role models is like using training wheels on a child’s bicycle; they help you get going, but once you find your own balance, you fly faster and farther without relying on them.
In daily life, imitation can hurt us if we subconsciously (下意识地) hold poor role models. If, as a child, you observed people whose lives were bad, you may have accepted their fear and pain as normal and gone on to follow what they did. If you do not make strong choices for yourself, you will get the results of the weak choices of others.
In the field of entertainment, our culture glorifies celebrities. Those stars look great on screen. But when they step off screen, their personal lives may be disastrous. If you are going to follow someone, focus on their talent, not their bad character or unacceptable behaviors.
Blessed is the person willing to act on their sudden desire to create something unique. Think of the movies, books, teachers, and friends that have affected you most deeply. They touched you because their creations were motivated by inspiration, not desperation. The world is changed not by those who do what has been done before them, but by those who do what has been done inside them. Creative people have an endless resource of ideas. The problem a creator faces is not running out of material; it is what to do with the material knocking at the door of imagination.
Syudy your role models, accept the gifts they have given, and leave behind what does not server. Then you can say,” I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors” tragedies and tory, and know that they are cheering on. Imitation proves useful when you .
| A．know you are unique |
| B．lose the balance of life |
| C．begin to learn something new |
| D．get tired of routine practice |
To avoid the bad result of imitation, we should________.
| A．forget daily fear and pain |
| B．choose the right example |
| C．ask others for decisions |
| D．stay away from stars |
Acording to the author. The world moves on because of those who are .
| A．desperate to intruence others with their knowledge |
| B．ready to turn their original ideas into reality |
| C．eager to discover what their ancestors did |
| D．willing to accept others’ ideas |
The trouble a creator faces is .
| A．the lack of strong motivation |
| B．the absence of practical ideas |
| C．how to search for more materials |
| D．how to use imagination creatively |
What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
| A．To highlight the importance of creatively. |
| B．To criticize the characters of role models. |
| C．To compare imitation with creation. |
| D．To explain the meaning of success. |
During my high school years, the most important thing was what I was wearing to the Friday night dance and who I was taking. Although college was talked about, it was the least of my worries.
When I was graduating eighth grade and starting high school, my older brother was graduating twelfth grade and going onto college. For my graduation, he gave me a card in which he wrote, “Enjoy your four years…, they go by fast.” I remember not believing him then, but looking back…, he was right. Those four years shaped who I was as a person, pushed me to my limit and encouraged me to become an adult.
However, I was so completely absorbed in my junior and senior years of high school, that when someone spoke of college I brushed it off. I wasn't ready to leave my comfort zone of having all of my closest friends together and knowing what every single day was going to be like . Studying was something I did only AFTER I nailed my half-time dance performance. I knew my parents wanted me to go to college, so I told them I would go to community college and I didn’t worry about my SAT scores.
When my senior year passed and everyone graduated and went off to their own college ,I started to wish I had done the same. My friends were living away, meeting new people, discovering new places, and I was living at home and driving to and from class every day. It seemed exactly like high school. I hated it! I thought college was supposed to be different! Why didn’t I take more time to research colleges and do the same? I ended up loving college and wishing I had four years to enjoy the campus atmosphere instead of two.
My advice to anyone thinking about attending college is to think about it very seriously and look into all of your choices well ahead of time. Now I have graduated and I am working full time and I would do anything to go back to my high school days for a second chance!
| A．He had a gift for dance.. |
| B．He wanted to go to community college |
| C．He was well prepared for the exam. |
| D．He believed his brother would help him. |
| A．buried himself in his study all the time |
| B．lived in the school except on holidays |
| C．enjoyed talking about future college life |
| D．drove to and from class every day |
| A．He advised the author to value the years. |
| B．He encouraged the author to leave his comfort zone. |
| C．He wished the author to have more dance. |
| D．He suggested the author aim at a community college. |
| A．Lonely | B．regretful | C．angry | D．pleased |
Sorry to say, our brains naturally start slowing down at the cruelly young age of 30. It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped, but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster. “Your brain is a learning machine ”, says University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich. Given the right tools, we can train our brains to act like they did when were younger. All that’s required is the practice designed just for the purpose: a few exercises for the mind.
Merzenich has developed a computer---based training method to speed up the process in which the brain deals with information. Since much of the data we receive comes through speech, the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy.
Over the course of training, the program starts asking you to distinguish sounds (between “dog” and “bog”, for example) at an increasingly faster speed. “It’s a bit like tennis instructor,” says Merzenich , “hitting balls at you faster and faster to keep you challenged. You may start out slow, but before long you’re pretty quick.”
The biggest finding in brain research in last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic. If you ask your brain to learn, it will learn. And it may even speed up while in the process.
To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you: playing table tennis or bridge, doing crossword puzzles, learning a language...... “When it comes to preventing aging, you really do “do it or lose it”, says Barbara Sahakian, professor at Cambridge University.
| A．the information being dealt with |
| B．computer languages |
| C．the activities one joins in |
| D．speech training |
| A．developed | B．mastered |
| C．used | D．researched |
| A．Practice makes a quick mind |
| B．Brain research started ten years ago. |
| C．Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer |
| D．People used to believe nothing could stop the brain slowing down. |
| A．The training methods work better for the old |
| B．The training of the brain should start at an early age |
| C．People should use the brain to stop it from aging. |
| D．It’s necessary to take part in as many activities as possible. |
My husband Ollie had retired from teaching and we were making plans to travel together to Florida. Then he was terribly ill and became very weak, hardly able to speak. Weeks passed and it became clear that Ollie was near death, but I prayed day and night that he could get better.
One of us was always in Ollie's hospital room--either me, or our grown children, Bruce and Karen. One day, in his broken and weak speech, Ollie told Bruce, “Go home. You should be with Gwen.” Gwen was Bruce's wife. They had been married for six years and lived hundreds of miles away. Gwen was about to have a baby. We felt an extra sadness, knowing Ollie would never see his first grandchild.
“I don't want to leave you, dad, ” Bruce said. Ollie repeated, “You should be with Gwen. ” Reluctantly, Bruce left. “When the baby comes, ”he promised Ollie, “you will be the first to know. ” A few days later, around 2 p. m., Ollie awoke from a sleep. He turned and looked at me. I sat close to hear his weak words. “The baby is coming now. It's a boy, ” he said. For a moment his eyes were filled with tears. Then he went back to sleep again. Not long after that, Karen ran into the room. “Bruce called, ” she said, a smile lighting her face. “Gwen gave birth to a healthy baby boy around two o' clock. ”
Ollie smiled; he had been the first to know. That night, Ollie died in his sleep.
| A．he could hardly be able to speak |
| B．he was too weak to travel |
| C．he could not afford the trip |
| D．he was waiting for his grandchild to be born |
| A．Ollie didn't want his son to be absent when his baby was born. |
| B．Ollie wanted Bruce to bring the baby along as soon as it was born. |
| C．Ollie thought it was too much trouble for Bruce to stay at hospital. |
| D．Ollie couldn't bear his son seeing him dying with a broken heart. |
| A．Disappointedly | B．Immediately |
| C．Excitedly | D．Unwillingly |
| A．Ollie and his wife had planned to settle in Florida. |
| B．Ollie cared for his son more than his daughter. |
| C．Ollie died happy and in peace. |
| D．Ollie was sad about not being able to see his first grandchild. |
Most respected scientists agree that we need to find another source of energy- and quickly. If we continue to burn oil and pump carbon into the atmosphere, then the effects on global climate will lead to global disasters even before the oil disappear.
The British government has set a target of a 20 percent reduction in carbon emission by 2010. Central to this policy is the search for alternative, renewable forms of energy production---and this is where the serious disagreement among scientists begins.
Here, two people active in the debate about wind farms give their points of view.
Simon Shearman
“First, a few facts about wind power. Wind is one of the cheapest of the new, renewable forms of energy. It is extremely safe---no member of the public has ever been injured at a wind farm. The shallow waters around Britain are the windiest in Europe---ideal locations for wind farms and, by 2010, up to ten percent of the electricity used in the UK could be produced by wind power. I find it annoying and frustrating that the biggest objection that opponents of wind farms can come up with is that the crisis of global warming is real and something must be done urgently.”
Alice Evans
“The simple, obvious fact is that wind turbines（涡轮机） cannot generate electricity if the wind is too light or too strong and it often is. Many scientists estimate that wind turbines generally produce only 30 percent of their capacity（容量）. This is not a reliable enough supply to enable us to close down conventional power stations. In fact, wind power can’t keep up with the growth of the demand for electricity, let alone replace other sources of power.”
It’s a topic that is causing heated debate around the country---but one we must address before it’s too late---before the oil runs out.Many scientists have different opinions on the search for a renewable energy because ______.
| A．they think fossil fuels are everlasting. |
| B．British government’s target is not realistic. |
| C．they are not sure in finding the clean and renewable energy. |
| D．the technology is not advanced enough. |
We can learn from the passage that ______.
| A．there won’t be a global disaster before the world runs out of oil. |
| B．the British government wants people to use 20 percent less oil by 2010. |
| C．Alice Evans supports the idea of wind power. |
| D．Simon Shearman thinks Britain a particularly suitable place for wind farms. |
If we generate electricity with wind turbines, _______.
| A．a light wind will do. |
| B．we cannot make full use of the capacity. |
| C．a strong wind will do |
| D．we’ll have enough electricity. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Wind power is a good solution to energy crisis. |
| B．We’re experiencing the oil crisis now. |
| C．We should find alternative energy for oil as soon as possible. |
| D．There is no need for us to worry about energy problem. |
Technology is creating big changes in the music industry. Music lovers listen to and buy music on the Internet. They can watch live concerts of favorite artists online. And music makers, as well as music industry officials, use social media(媒体) to reach an increase public interest.
Nick Sherwin is the founder of the band called Suburban Skies. He says today’s technology permits a band to control its own future. He said, “Social media is a wonderful thing. You can make use of it to reach the public.” Sherwin says the Internet and social media have created possibilities for musicians. He says the new way to success is to give visitors more than one type of experience. “The most important thing is the content. You have to have songs and videos to show the audience. But I think it is extremely important to do shows, to build your brand, and to make you well known, ” Sherwin said.
Music industry officials discussed the future of the business during an international conference in Los Angeles, California. They said musicians are choosing to perform live across the country, following the drop in CD sales in the Unites States. Rob Light is head of music with a creative artists agency. He said, “Most of the income for artists is now coming from the live marketplace.”
Along with the popularity of live music there has been a big increase in the number of music festivals. These events are advertised on social media. Pasquale Rotella leads Insomniac, a company that produces electronic dance music festivals in several countries. “Someone could make it in their bedroom and put it out there. People can gain fans online without anyone’s help. That has completely helped the growth of dance music. ” said Rotella.
Bob Pittman leads the radio organization — Clear Channel Communication. He says music lovers are still listening to the radio, although there are new ways of finding music. He says 70 percent of Americans say they discover new music from what they hear on the radio. But Rob Light says radio will soon be a thing of the past. However, Nick Sherwin is not worried. He just wants to reach everyone who likes his style of music with the help of the Internet.From Paragraph 2, we learn that Nick Sherwin ______.
| A．doesn’t have any good ways to reach the public. |
| B．doesn’t believe his band has good content to draw attention. |
| C．thinks social media can help make his band’s music well known. |
| D．thinks everyone can become famous through making good use of the Internet. |
What Pasquale Rotella said in Paragraph 4 shows that ______.
| A．dance music has finally become popular. |
| B．there is too much music for people nowadays. |
| C．electronic dance music festivals are easy to hold. |
| D．people can make their music heard easily nowadays. |
According to Bob Pittman, radio ______.
| A．will be out of date quite soon. |
| B．is no longer listened to today. |
| C．will always be loved by some people. |
| D．is the best tool to introduce new songs. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．People prefer to listen to music online nowadays. |
| B．Technology is greatly changing the music industry. |
| C．The number of live concerts has greatly increased. |
| D．CD sales in the United States have greatly dropped. |