(2013·重庆，A)
The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I'd been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt: “The trouble with you is that you won't put yourself in my place. Can't you see things from my point of view？” I shook my head stubbornly—and felt the ache in my tooth. I'd thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunchtime, I got lucky.
“If you come by right now，” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn't he as busy as the others?
In the dentist's office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my icecold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said，“Don't worry. The dentist is very good.”
“How long do I have to wait for him？” I asked impatiently.
“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork，”the assistant said.
“The artwork？”I was puzzled.
The chair went back. Suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it: on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
Which of the following best describes the author's feeling that morning?
| A．Cheerful. | B．Nervous. |
| C．Satisfied | D．Upset. |
What made the author begin to doubt about the dentist?
| A．The dentist's agreeing to treat her at very short notice. |
| B．The dentist's being as busy as the other dentists. |
| C．The surroundings of the dentist's office. |
| D．The laughing assistant of the dentist. |
Why did the author suddenly smile?
| A．Because the dentist came at last. |
| B．Because she saw a picture on the ceiling. |
| C．Because she could relax in the chair. |
| D．Because the assistant kept comforting her. |
What did the author learn from her experience most probably?
| A．Strike while the iron is hot. |
| B．Have a good word for one's friend. |
| C．Put oneself in other's shoes. |
| D．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
It seems some people have something bad to say about Facebook, the social media website that now has attracted more than 300 million members. To them I have only this to say: Stop please!
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal blamed Facebook’s ability to ruin friendships, saying that it limits communication to typing and encourages people to spend far too much time with friends they have never met.
Having used Facebook since its first year, I find these arguments false. The simple truth is that the problems are only a symptom of Facebook abuse. Like many things, it is only as harmful to your life and relationships as you allow it to be. Consider arguments against watching too much TV and overeating.
Try using Facebook to find friends who may have long ago changed their e-mail addresses and phone numbers, to find out what your old college friends are up to, to congratulate your friends on their latest birthdays, to share pictures and articles you find interesting, and to join in the discussion about them with your friends.
Sure, I had days when I wasted a little more time on Facebook than I should, but I’m not going to blame Facebook for my own laziness. If Facebook wasn’t there, I would have found something else to waste time on. To my “friends”: if you don’t feel like broadcasting your life stories on your Facebook, don’t. If you tire of my personal updates, ignore them. If you don’t want to join in the popular online games, don’t. It is a fun tool at your fingers that can be used for both good and bad. If you don’t like using Facebook, don’t.
I am now a consultant at the Department of State. I use Facebook to keep in touch with friends, family, and colleagues who live and work all over the world.Why did the article in the Wall Street Journal blame Facebook?
| A．Because it makes people spend too much time online. |
| B．Because it can make people lose their real-life friends. |
| C．Because it is as harmful to people’s lives as watching TV. |
| D．Because it encourages people to make friends with strangers. |
What does the author suggest using Facebook to do?
| A．To find out lost e-mail addresses and phone numbers. |
| B．To arrange appointments with our old college friends. |
| C．To collect interesting pictures and articles from our friends. |
| D．To keep in touch with friends who we haven’t called for long. |
We can imply from the passage that by using Facebook we can ____.
| A．read other’s personal updates |
| B．write our life stories online secretly |
| C．decide who can read our life stories |
| D．refuse to join in popular online games |
The author writes the last paragraph to ____.
| A．prove that Facebook can be well used |
| B．gain support from the Department of State |
| C．show that Facebook is used all around the world |
| D．introduce how she uses Facebook in her work as a consultant |
The skin which covers the tips of the fingers and thumbs is crossed by numerous ridges (隆起) arranged in different patterns. These patterns are permanent from birth and remain exactly the same throughout a person's life, even when the skin becomes wrinkled and cracked as a result of old age. Such patterns are never passed on from parents to children, and no one in the world has the same patterns as anyone else. Even identical twins have different sets of fingerprints. As a result, fingerprints offer a most useful and foolproof way of identifying people. Any ridged part of the hand and the foot may be used as a means of identification, but finger impressions are usually preferred since they can be taken easily and quickly.
Fingerprints are classified in the ways: by general shapes and contours(轮廓), by the finger positions of the pattern-types, and by size (often measured by counting the ridges in the loops). Every set of fingerprints has different “ridge characteristics” (i. e. the print of each separate finger is different from that of all the other fingers), which belong to one of four basic groups: arches, loops, whorls and composites. All fingerprints can then be divided into 1, 024 groups. By using details in the patterns above, these 1, 024 groups can be further divided into thousands of smaller groups, thus making it possible to find a particular set of fingerprints in a few minutes.According to this passage, the true statement about human fingerprints is that ____.
| A．people's fingerprints sometimes can be passed on from parents to children |
| B．people’s fingerprints are unique but identical twins may have the same fingerprints |
| C．using fingerprints is the only way to identify people |
| D．people's fingerprints will not change in all their lives |
We prefer to use fingerprints to identify people because ____.
| A．we can never find the same set of fingerprints among human beings |
| B．finger impressions can be taken easily and quickly |
| C．fingerprints offer a most useful and foolproof way of identifying people |
| D．all of the above |
The word “foolproof” (Line 7, Para. 1) most probably means ____.
| A．that is permanent | B．that is acceptable |
| C．that can not go wrong | D．that is not foolish |
About the classification of fingerprints, which is TRUE? ____.
| A．Fingerprints can be classified in three ways |
| B．All fingerprints can be divided into 1, 024 groups and can not be divided further |
| C．It is not easy to find a particular set of fingerprints in a short time |
| D．People can not classify the fingerprints in an effective way |
Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag
Difficulty: Very Easy
Average User Rating:★★★★☆(4.3/5)
Milk can become homemade ice cream in five minutes by using a bag! This homemade, creamy treat is a summertime delight for your kids and you alike.
What you’ll need:
1 tablespoon of sugar; 1/2 cup of milk; 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla (香草香精); 6 tablespoons of rock salt; 1 small-sized plastic food storage bag; 1 gallon-sized plastic food storage bag; ice cubes.
How to make it:
lFill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
lPut milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
lPlace the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
lShake until the mixture turns into ice cream, which takes about five minutes.
lWipe the top of the small bag, and then open it carefully. Enjoy!
Tips:
1/2 cup of milk will make about one spoon of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don’t increase the amount more than that—a large amount might be too big for kids to pick up because the ice itself is heavy.
Here is another version of the homemade ice cream recipe from another parent!
These are the homemade ice cream ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla butter and nuts; 1 tablespoon of sugar; 1/2 cup of milk.
These are the other supplies:
Plastic sandwich bag; 12 salt pellets; 1 dish of ice; large plastic bag.
Put the ice cream ingredients in the small bag, and then put the bag, salt and ice in the big bag. Hold the bag shut and move it around on the floor for about 5 minutes.
When I made ice cream at home last time, although the salt pellets didn’t really dissolve (溶解) that well, I still got ice cream. It was not smooth ice cream, probably because of the low-fat milk. It was incredible that it could be ready in 5 minutes (not counting preparing the ingredients)
Next, I changed the recipe, using a tablespoon of cocoa, a tablespoon of sugar, and a cup of milk. It was a bit too chocolaty, but good!The underlined “that” in “Tips” section refers to ____.
| A．1/2 cup of milk | B．1 cup of milk |
| C．1 spoon of ice cream | D．2 spoons of ice cream |
Which of the following things is NOT included in both recipes?
| A．Sugar | B．Ice | C．Plastic bag | D．Nuts |
Which of the following statements about the second parent is TRUE?
| A．He/ She doesn’t agree with the first parent. |
| B．He/ She doesn’t think five minutes is enough |
| C．He/ She doesn’t like cocoa better than nuts. |
| D．He/ She doesn’t think the chocolaty tastes bad. |
One evening I went out and left my 17-year-old son in charge of his 8-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister. On this occasion, the task was made less troublesome by the presence of his girlfriend. I left with complete confidence that the older children would do a wonderful job of babysitting the younger children and the younger children would do a wonderful job of accompanying the older ones. Later, I discovered that complete confidence was the last thing I should have left home with.
I had decided to return home earlier than planned so that my son and his girlfriend could go out. I called home with this happy news. But instead of hearing his cheerful, grateful voice on the other end of the line, all I heard was the sound of a telephone ringing.
It was, I should point out, after 10 p.m., when the two younger children should have been in bed, and when the two older children should have been answering the phone. “I’ll give him a lesson,” I said. I decided they must be outside. Why they might be outside at 10:30 on a wintry night I had no idea, but it was the only explanation I could come up with.
Finally, in desperation, I called his girlfriend’s house. After what seemed like countless rings, his girlfriend answered. “Yes,” she said brightly, “He’s right here.”
He came on the phone. I was not my usual calm, rational self. After all, one of the rules of survival for modern parents is that you can’t trust modern teenagers. “Where are the children?” I said. He said they were with him. They had done nothing wrong. My son had taken the younger children over to his girlfriend’s house just for ice cream and cake. This was too favorable to be believed. Well, it turned out that I shouldn’t have believed it. It was only part of the truth.
The following Saturday evening we were at my parents’ home, celebrating my birthday. My oldest son gave me the children’s gifts. Mounted(裱装) and framed were a series of lovely color photographs of my children, dressed in their best clothes, and wearing their most wonderful expressions. They are pictures to treasure a lifetime, all taken by the father of my son’s girlfriend.
That was the most precious gift of all.Shortly after the author left home one evening, she discovered that ____.
| A．her son had brought his girlfriend home |
| B．the father of her son’s girlfriend had come to her home to take photos of the children |
| C．she shouldn’t have completely trusted her son |
| D．she should have taken the children along with her |
According to Paragraph 3, “it” means ____.
| A．the two younger children have been in bed |
| B．the older children have been answering the phone |
| C．the author will give her older son a lesson |
| D．the older son has gone outside with his girlfriend |
The sentence “It was only part of the truth.” (Para. 5) implies that the children not only enjoyed ice-cream but also ____.
| A．had a birthday party | B．framed some photographs |
| C．had their pictures taken | D．showed off their best clothes |
Which of the following possible titles best expresses the main idea of this passage?
| A．Puppy Love | B．Brotherhood |
| C．Mother and Children | D．A Precious Birthday Gift |
A new generation addiction is quickly spreading all over the world. Weboholism（醉心于网络）, a twentieth century disease, affects people from different ages. They surf the net, use e-mail and speak in chat rooms. They spend many hours on the computer, and it becomes a compulsive habit. They cannot stop, and it affects their lives.
Ten years ago, no one thought that using computers could become compulsive（强迫性的）behavior that could affect the social and physical life of computer users. This obsessive behavior has affected teenagers and college students. They are likely to log on computers and spend long hours at different websites.
They become hooked on computers and gradually their social and school life is affected by this situation. They spend all free time surfing and don’t concentrate on homework, so this addiction influences their grades and success at schools. Because they can find everything on the websites, they hang out there. Moreover, this addiction to websites influences their social life.
They spend more time in front of computers than with their friends. The relation with their friends changes. The virtual（虚拟的）life becomes more important than their real life. They have a new language that they speak in the chat rooms and it causes cultural changes in society.
Because of the change in their behavior, they begin to isolate（孤立 themselves from the society and live with their virtual friends. They share their emotions and feelings with friends who they have never met in their life. Although they feel confident on the computer, they are not confident with real live friends they have known all their life. It is a problem for the future. This addictive behavior is beginning to affect the whole world.The main idea of the passage is about _______.
| A．the cause of weboholism | B．the advantage of weboholism |
| C．the popularity of weboholism | D．the influence of weboholism |
The underlined work “obsessive” in the second paragraph most probably means “______”.
| A．attractive | B．addictive | C．professional | D．potential |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．weboholism has the greatest effect on teenagers. |
| B．students can hardly balance real and virtual life. |
| C．people are addicted to games on the Internet. |
| D．virtual life is more vivid and attractive anyway. |
Which of the following is NOT true of weboholism?
| A．It contributes to the development of the web. |
| B．The chat room language may change social culture. |
| C．The problem will be getting more and more serious later. |
| D．People addicted to the web often become inactive in real life. |
The author’s attitude towards weboholism is that of being ________.
| A．optimistic | B．positive | C．oppositive | D．acceptable |