When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at hospital.
On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned toast in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him spread butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned toast."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burned. He took me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's really tired. And besides – a little burned toast never hurt anyone!"
You know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. What I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. This good quality is the base of any relationship --- husband-wife or parent-child or friendship! As far as I’m concerned, I’m not the best engineer as expected. However, I have made my efforts. That’s enough.
So learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life. Burnt toast isn’t a deal-breaker! Don’t put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket but into your own.When his mother put the burnt biscuit on the table, the author _____.
| A.wanted to see how his father reacted |
| B.pretended not to notice it |
| C.pretended to enjoy the burnt food |
| D.stopped his father eating the burnt toast |
We can infer from the passage that the author’s mother .
| A.She was not good at cooking. |
| B.She hardly had time to cook at home. |
| C.She felt sorry for the burnt food. |
| D.She spent more time on breakfast than dinner. |
How did the author feel when his father said he loved burnt toast?
| A.Moved. | B.Puzzled | C.Surprised. | D.Disappointed. |
According to the text, to get a happy life, one should______ .
| A.give help to people in need | B.try to be a perfect person |
| C.learn from one’s mistakes | D.learn to be understanding |
第二部分阅读理解(共20小题,每小题2分,满分40分)
Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us. Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember-- despite the benefit of notes-- exactly what everyone said. But success depends on getting things right--and that means listening.
Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively. It demands attention and concentration. It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification------ it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong. However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you’ll miss what the speaker is saying------ probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical. And not having heard, you won’t know you’ve missed anything until it’s too late.
The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished. We then stop listening. Even worse, this often adds rudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it. Good listeners don’t interrupt. In fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points. Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well.
Above all be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators. It’s helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying. Equally important you should put yourself in the other person’s place, both intellectually and emotionally; it will help you to understand what they are getting at and form a response. But don’t be too clever. Faced with a know-all, many people keep quiet because they see no point in continuing.
56. Which is the best title for this passage?
A. Don’t be too cleverB. Be a good listener.
C. Don’t miss anything critical D. Think of the speaker
57. In the last paragraph, “…… what they are getting at ……” means________ .
A. what they imply B. what they like
C. what they attack D. what they achieve
58. What is the writer’s opinion?
A. If you want to be a good listener, you should be very clever and emotional.
B. Speakers won’t continue talking when their listeners explain what they’ve heard.
C. If you don’t want to get things wrong, it’s important to be a good listener,
D. It’s hard to be a good listener because listening tests you on your intelligence.
59. What is the lesson we can learn from this passage?
A. Don’t accuse others of not listening while talking with them.
B. Don’t get anything wrong if you miss what the speaker is saying.
C. Listening inattentively may cost you the loss of your success.
D. Think carefully of what you’re going to say before the speaker finishes.
A wallet misplaced during a romantic embrace has been returned to its forgetful owner after 55 years.
Two classic car collectors from the US state of Idaho found the wallet after it fell out of the back of a vintage(旧式的)car they were planning to restore.After an Internet search they found and contacted the owner,Glenn Goodlove.Mr.Goodlove said he probably lost the wallet in the back seat of his 1946 Hudson car when he was home on leave from the US Navy.
Jon Beck,61,and Chuck Merrill,72,bought the now-vintage vehicle in Idaho after placing an ad in a local newspaper to buy a classic car in need of restoration.Driving the car home after buying it,the collectors stopped at a restaurant and saw something from below the back seat.
“Like a couple of kids,we thought we had a goldmine,”Mr.Beck said.Instead,they found some small change--the leather wallet held a$10 bill,Mr.Goodlove’s military ID, his social security card,his driver's license and several jewellery receipts from 1952.But they were all in the name of Glenn Putnam.
After searching online,Mr.Beck discovered that Mr.Putnam had changed his name to Glenn Goodlove and moved to San Diego,California.He called Mr.Goodlove,asking to speak to a man who used to drive a’46 Hudson.
“There was a silence for about 15 seconds,”Mr.Beck told the Twin Falls Times-News.“Then he said,‘Who is that?”Mr.Goodlove,now 75,says he did not even remember losing the wallet,but the find has brought memories of his youth in Everett,Washington,flooding back.“I could see the house and the car and the town and all the good stuff from living there”’he said.“They’ve been flowing ever since he talked to me.”
67.The lost wallet contained all the following EXCEPT .
A.some money B.some jewellery
C.some receipts D.some cards
68.Which of the following happened last?
A.The vintage car was purchased.
B.An advertisement was placed.
C.Mr.Goodlove’s name was changed.
D.Some personal belongings were found.
69.What difference did the wallet make to Glenn?
A.He gained unexpected wealth. B.He got back his lost car as well.
C.He improved his poor memory a lot. D.He recalled what had long been forgotten.
70.The most proper title for the passage is .
A.A Forgetful Wallet OwnerB.Two Car Collectors and a Good Deed
C.Price Paid for Romance D.Lost Wallet Found after 55 Years
Zanzibar,Tanzania--Hundreds of dead dolphins were washed up on Friday along the shore of a popular tourist place on Tanzania’s northern coast.Scientists have ruled out poisoning.
It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins,whose dead bodies lied along a 4-kilometer coast of Nungwi,said Narriman Jidawi,a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Science in Zanzibar.But the bottleneck dolphins,which live in deep offshore waters,had empty stomachs,meaning they could have got lost and had been swimming for some time to reorient themselves.They did not die of hunger and were not poisoned,Jidawi said.
In the US,experts were looking into the possibility that sonar(声呐)from the US submarine could have caused a similar incident in Marothon,Florida,where 68 deep-water dolphins stranded(搁浅)themselves in March 2005.
The deaths are a blow to the tourism industry in Zanzibar,where thousands of visitors go to watch and swim with dolphins.Villagers,fishermen and hotel residents found the dead bodies and told officials.Mussa Aboud,Zanzibar’s director of fisheries,went on state radio to warn the public against eating the dolphins’meat,saying the cause of death had not been found.
The Indo-Pacific bottlenose,commonly known as dolphins,are the most common species in Zanzibar’s coastal waters,with bottlenose and humpback dolphins often found in mixed-species groups.
63.According to the passage,the bottleneck dolphins .
A.are often attacked by submarine in deep water
B.find it hard to find enough food near the coast
C.often fall ill along the shore of a tourist place
D.1ike living in the deep waters near the coast
64.The underlined word“reorient”means .
A.lose their way B.find their way
C.look for food D.fight against enemies
65.What can we infer from the passage?
A.The dolphins died because of the sonar from US submarines.
B.The dead dolphins can not be eaten as they are poisonous.
C.The US experts are researching sonar at present.
D.The ability of locating is extremely important for dolphins.
66.What would be the best title for the passage?
A.400 dolphins died along the coast of Nungwi.
B.Dolphins are facing increased risk of death.
C.It’s necessary for us to protect dolphins.
D.Nungwi is famous for many dolphins there.
WASHINGTON--President Bush plans to meet next week with top Pentagon and State Department officials, and hopes to offer a revised Iraq plan within two weeks, aides (政府官员的副手)said Friday.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today Bush wants to give a major speech on Iraq before Christmas, "but that is not set in stone."
At a morning meeting with congressional leaders, Bush said, "We talked about the need for a new way forward in Iraq."
Bush will visit the State Department on Monday and meetings with military officials will follow over the next two days, according to a tentative White House schedule. All are involved in an ongoing administration review of the situation in Iraq.
"These are deliberative(慎重的) meetings and discussions," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council. "They will inform the president's thinking, and he will inform their thinking."
Bush said he is also reviewing the Iraq Study Group report released Wednesday. Its suggestions include withdrawing US troops by early 2008, conditions permitting, and a new diplomatic(外交的) effort including Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria.
The president said he also wanted the troops home too, but not until the new Iraq government can sustain(支撑) itself. He expressed skepticism(怀疑态度) about possible talks with Iran and Syria, saying they must stop efforts to undermine(削弱) Iraq's fledgling(年轻的) democracy.
60. The word “revised” in Paragraph One can be replaced by "_______".
A. rewriting B. changed C. important D. directed
61. The word "that" in Paragraph Two refers to ________.
A. President Bush plans to meet next week with top Pentagon and State Department officials
B. the thing that President Bush hopes to offer a revised Iraq plan within two weeks
C. what White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today
D. the thing that President Bush wants to give a major speech on Iraq before Christmas
62. The last paragraph shows us that _____.
A. President Bush wants to have a talk with Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria
B. Bush will make his troops go home unless the new Iraq government can sustain itself
C. Bush will make his troops go home if the new Iraq government can sustain itself
D. President Bush is sure to have a talk with Iraq's neighbors, Iran and Syria
第二部分 阅读理解 (共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
Residents along Australia’s east coast awoke in the morning to an orange sky as winds swept millions of tons of red dust from the country’s inland and dumped it on Sydney.
Tanya Ferguson,living in Sydney,saw that the room was completely orange.She thought there was a bush fire.But when she went outside,the entire city was covered in a film of orange dust.
“It was like being in the outback(澳大利亚内陆),but it was right here in the city,”she said On that day,a big dust storm swept through Sydney.It covered the city in orange dust for about eight hours,making landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge invisible.
The storm affected the transportation system.Flights were delayed.Roads were busy as drivers struggled in the difficult conditions.Children and the elderly were told to stay indoors until the dust had cleared.Later strong winds blew it out to the sea and up the coast.
No one was hurt in the storm,though health officials answered hundreds of calls from
people with breathing difficulties.Emergency services responded to hundreds of calls about
tree branches brought down by strong winds.
Dust storms are common in the Australian outback,where the land is arid(贫瘠的).But the storms rarely reach the coastal regions.
Officials said it was the worst dust storm of the past 70 years.Air pollution levels were
15,500 micrograms of pollutants per cubic meter.
“On a clear day the pollutants are around 10—20 micrograms per cubic meter,”said Chris
Eiser of the NSW department of the environment.
Experts said that dry conditions in the outback and strong winds caused the sandstorm.
“Ten very dry years over inland southern Australia and very strong winds have combined to produce the storm,”said Nigel Tapper,an environmental scientist at Monash University, Australia.
56.The article is about .
A.the causes of the major dust storm in Australian cities
B.different reactions to a dust storm in Australia
C.the damage caused by the big dust storm in Australia
D.the worst dust storm in Australia in the past 70 years
57.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.The dust storm didn’t blow up to the coastal regions of Australia.
B.The level of air pollution was very high due to the dust storm.
C.People called the emergency service because they had got lost.
D.Children stayed indoors for the schooling had been cancelled.
58.From the passage we can see that .
A.Tanya Ferguson lives in the Australian outback at the moment
B.a bush fire may have brought the orange dust along the coast
C.this terrible sandstorm lasted about 24 hours after it hit the city
D.Sydney’s landmarks were out of sight when the storm happened
59.The tone of the article is .
A.worried B.sympathetic C.objective D.angry