It was time to break free.
I needed to run away and the Bloomsburg Fair was the best place to go.
I don’t know if you can call it running away wince it was only and hour away from my home. But once I entered the fair grounds, I crossed over into another world. The loudspeaker offered background music over the sounds of people of people talking, bargaining and food sellers yelling for your attention.
I belonged here. I didn’t know if I had it in my blood or not, but I always wanted to have a small food stand and travel in my off season from fair to fair selling goodies. Perhaps one day. It certainly wasn’t a priority(优先考虑的事)in my life , Perhaps it should be.
After I was there a while, I needed to get away to a quiet spot. Most of the time, I could find that anywhere the farm animals were kept. They needed the quiet. So I went there to find peace with the cows, goats, horses, pigs and yes, the turkeys. You'd think being this close to "Thanksgiving", they'd be a little scared, but they were not.
It was in the dairy barn（仓库）where I found peace this time. I so admired the young folks who tended to farm animals. I thought they had a greater appreciation for life. They participated in it firsthand. I once watched a young fanner help bring a baby cow into the world.
My favorite scene was to come across a young cowboy lying in the hay asleep among the cows that had settled down for a rest. There, with his heads in a small soft spot alongside his favorite cow, I had seen him in a much deserved sleep. Perhaps better at rest there than in his own bed.
I had the pleasure of speaking with a young teenage farm girl that day.
"You look so comfortable," I said to her.
"Oh I am," she said. "Life makes it comfortable for me."
"You mean being a farm girl?"
"No, Life! That's the name of my cow," she said, smiling as she gently patted the cow's side.
"I thought they called cows Betsy and Elsie. Why did you call her Life?"
“I discovered life again here. It was the only meaningful name that came to mind. I had been raised in the big city and really hated it. Then we moved to the country, running away from Lt all. I think my parents called it a mid-life crisis," she said, laughing.
"Oh, I can understand that. I've been in one since birth," I said.
"It was on the farm that I learned to love life again. I was there when Life was born. It was so exciting. My whole outlook on the world changed. So I named her Life. Now, I can say I really love 'Life'," she said.
"How amazing! I write stories and I am always trying to get people to enjoy life, to wake up each day expecting the best from it. But they all too often go to bed with so much bad stuff in their soul, and on their mind, that they wake up feeling bad and expect it to only get worse from there. All too often it does, just because that's all they choose to see in that otherwise perfectly beautiful day," I told her.
"That's too bad. They need to see a cow born, a chicken hatch. I guess they need to wake up early and hug Life!" she said, laughing.
"When was the last time you hugged Life?" she asked me.
"I am sorry to say even I have had trouble doing that lately," I said.
"Come here!" she said.
Then standing up and stepping aside, she said, "Go ahead…hug Life!"
I paused for a moment and dropping all thoughts of looking silly, I did. I hugged a cow.The writer went to the Bloomsburg Fair probably in order to .
| A．have fun | B．get ideas for writing |
| C．do shopping | D．escape something he disliked |
The following things happened in the Bloomsbury Fair except .
| A．food sellers' shouting |
| B．the writer's selling goodies |
| C．people's bargaining and talking |
| D．the loudspeaker's broadcasting music |
What can we learn from Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7_______?
| A．The writer tended to farm animals firsthand. |
| B．The cowboy was lazy and fell asleep among the cows. |
| C．The writer found peace where farm animals were kept. |
| D．The turkeys got into panic with "Thanksgiving" approaching |
The underlined word "it"（Paragraph 14）refers to .
| A．the city | B．the country | C．the barn | D．the fair |
The writer was surprised at the farm girl's words and he thought people often________.
| A．expected to get the best things |
| B．enjoyed perfectly beautiful days |
| C．ignored the bright side of each day |
| D．felt really bad due to poor sleep at night |
What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Farm Life and Happiness | B．Hugging Life |
| C．A Farm Girl and Her Cow | D．Enjoying Freedom |
Scientists Alan M．Goldberg and Thomas Hartung describe recent advances in replacing the use of animals in toxicology(毒物学)testing．Improvements in cell and tissue culture technologies，for example，allow a growing number of tests to be performed on human cells alone．Computer models are becoming increasingly complex and many could one day become more accurate than trials in living animals．
Since the late 1990s，Huntingdon Life Sciences--a company that conducts testing of substances on animals conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration—has become a proving ground for aggressive strategies by animal-rights militants （好战分子）．At a hearing，a Senate．committee listened to testimony（证词） against Huntingdon employees and financial institutions providing services to the company．One experimentation witness at the hearing insisted that any means necessary were justified（辩护） to spare animals’ lives；he has previously accepted the idea of murder to that end．
Use of animals in testing and in biomedical research continues to be necessary in many instances and is ethically（伦理道德地）preferable to experimenting on humans or giving up cures that could save human lives．But for the sake of people and animals alike，the development and acceptance of animal substitutes deserve enthusiastic support．
In some instances, substitutes are already thought as good or better than animals，but supervising agencies（监督机构）have yet to catch up．In both the European Union and the U．S．，scientists and companies wanting to use the new alternative tests complain that regulatory standards for proving a drug or chemical to be safe for humans force the continued use of animals．Thus，animal-loving Americans might turn to persuading the EPA and the FDA to speed validation（确认）of new methods so that they can be more widely employed．And animal advocates（保护者） who want to influence business could consider investing in the small biotech’s and large pharmaceutical（药品的） companies that are working to develop alternatives to animals in research．_____ plays a leading role in replacing the use of animals in testing．
| A．Huntingdon Life Sciences | B．Improvement in technologies |
| C．Animal-fights militants | D．Scientists Alan and Thomas |
Accordingly, the animal-rights militants hold the view that_____．
| A．animals shouldn’t be used in toxicology testing |
| B．animals should enjoy equal rights with human beings |
| C．animals should live wildly and freely |
| D．we should protect animals from being killed casually |
From the passage，we can find _____．
| A．the use of animals in testing has been stopped abruptly |
| B．animal substitutes are not preferable |
| C．supervising standards contribute to the continued use of animals in testing |
| D．only Huntingdon Life Sciences is accused |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Saving animals and people． |
| B．The new trend in toxicology testing |
| C．The use of animals in testing is against human nature |
| D．New technology changes the fate of animals |
The writer’s attitude towards replacing the use of animals in toxicology is____．
| A．arbitrary（武断的，随意的） | B．pessimistic |
| C．indifferent（不关心的 ） | D．optimistic |
The unwanted disturbing of a mobile phone ringing at a critical moment has led to some famously strong reactions
British actor Richard Grif-fiths，stopped a performance at the National Theatre and ordered The offending party to leave
Judge Robert Restaino went considerably further．He was hearing a session of domestic violence offenders in a court when proceedings were interrupted by rings of a phone．
“Everyone is going to jail unless I get that instrument now,” he shouted．
Over the next two hours，the judge entered a period of “incredible madness”．He began by ordering the doors of the court locked，and set the officers to searching for the phone．
When that failed to find the offending item he ordered each of the defendants(被告) present in the room up to his bench and in turn asked them if they had no idea, he sent each in turn to jail(监狱).
All 46 of them．
When a defendant protested the judge’s actions were not fair to those who didn’t possess the phone，Restaino replied：“I know it isn’t．
Judge’s actions caused chaos．Extra officers had to be drafted into the court to control the crowd．and booking officers at the city jail were at full stretch．“We were playing Twister in here”, one said at the time．
Fourteen of the defendants were shackled(束缚 )in irons and sent to the county jail．
The judge cooled off and later that afternoon released all 46．
The “two hours of viral lunacy（疯狂）”, has probably cost Restaino his job．The commission ruled that he should be removed from his $14,000 job．Restaino now has 30 days to appeal(上诉)．
His lawyer pointed out that until that moment he had served 11 years as a judge without any disciplinary issues．“With the exception of two hours．his record is spotless．”The underlined sentence in the passage means _____．
| A．we are just playing games |
| B．we are struggling to control the crisis here |
| C．we can hardly survive the crisis |
| D．we’re searching casually |
Why is British actor Richard mentioned?
| A．To indicate the disadvantage of mobile phone． |
| B．To scold the misusage of mobile phone． |
| C．To provide an excuse for Richard’s offence． |
| D．To support the opinion above |
Two hours of viral lunacy will_____
| A．make Robert pay a large sum of money |
| B．make no difference to Robert |
| C．most likely make Robert lose his job |
| D．make him world famous |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Phone-rage(狂怒) judge | B．Judge，prisoner and mobile phone |
| C．The story in court | D．Mobile phone in court |
From the passage we can find_____．
| A．Robert is always challenging the disciplines |
| B．Robert is now in jail |
| C．judge is not a well-paid job |
| D．all the defendants didn’t follow Robert’s instructions willingly |
Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. His purpose is settled and decided in advance. He knows what he wants, and his objective is to find it and buy it; the price is a secondary consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman promptly shows it, and the business of trying it on follows at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction.
For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants, or does not have exactly what he wants. In that case the salesman, as the name implies, tries to sell the customer something else, he offers the nearest he can to the article required. No good salesman brings out such a substitute(替代品)impolitely; he does so with skill: "I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size? It happens to be the colour you mentioned. Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is: “This is the right colour and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on.”
Now how does a woman go about buying clothes? In almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only "having a look round". She is always open to persuasion; indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her, even by what companions tell her. She will try on any number of things. Uppermost in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Contrary(相反的) to a lot of jokes, most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lockout for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one rail to another, to and fro(来回地), often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a laborious process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.According to the passage, when a man is buying clothes, ________.
| A．he buys cheap things, regardless of quality |
| B．he chooses things that others introduce |
| C．he does not mind how much he has to pay for the right things |
| D．he buys good quality things, so long as they are not too dear |
What does the passage tell us about women shoppers for clothes?
| A．They welcome suggestions from anyone. |
| B．Women rarely consider buying cheap clothes. |
| C．Women often buy things without giving the matter proper thought. |
| D．They listen to advice but never take it. |
What does a man do when he can not get exactly what he wants?
| A．He buys a similar thing of the colour he wants. |
| B．He usually does not buy anything. |
| C．At least two of his requirements must be met before he buys. |
| D．So long as the style is right, he buys the thing. |
Many jokes make fun of women shoppers by saying that________.
| A．they waste money on inferior(劣质的) goods |
| B．they should buy only the best clothes |
| C．they are much more sensible than men |
| D．they think of the price of clothes and nothing else |
What is the most obvious difference between men and women shoppers?
| A．The fact that men do not try clothes on in a shop. |
| B．Women bargain for their clothes, but men do not. |
| C．Women stand up to shop, but men sit down. |
| D．The time they take over buying clothes. |
Once upon a time, on an isolated island in the Java sea, lived short people who dominated(支配, 占优势) the food chain. Standing no more than three and a half feet tall, these human ancestors hunted giant rats, lumbering lizards（笨拙的蜥蜴), and miniature elephants.
It sounds a bit like a fairy tale, but it's true. Unearthed relics on the island uncovered the remains of a race of tiny human ancestors. Homo floresiensis, as the newly discovered species has been named, apparently could date back to 13,000 years ago. This means they have a lot in common with modern humans.
So how and why did these people get so small? Scientists suspect that it's due to the fact that this race lived on an isolated island with limited resources. Take the miniature elephants for example. When elephants first came to the island either by swimming or by some kind of natural land raft, they were probably close to full size. But since there wasn't much to eat, over time smaller elephants lived longer and better. The smaller the elephant was, the less it had to eat to stay strong and healthy.
Scientists call this the "island role", and it can apply to humans as well as animals. Given the island's sparse(稀少) food supply, it makes sense that the early humans living there would have evolved (进化) a body size requiring less food to survive. So bigger isn't always better.
In the floresiensis, at least, getting smaller was the way to go.According to the passage, the fact Homo floresiensis are very small is based on________.
| A．the islanders in the Java Sea | B．the human ancestors |
| C．the unearthed relics | D．a newspaper report |
The underlined word "miniature" in the first paragraph most probably means______.
| A．tiny | B．active | C．rare | D．wild |
People on the island got so small because____________.
| A．they did not have enough food to eat. |
| B．they gradually developed for lack of food. |
| C．they shared less food with elephants. |
| D．they remained alive as the elephants. |
What might be the most suitable title of the passage?
| A．The history of short people |
| B．Short people from a fairy tale |
| C．The proofs on short people |
| D．Short people on an isolated island |
According to the passage, getting smaller can make people and animals ____
| A．run quickly | B．live longer | C．live weaker | D．run slowly |
The video rooms have been open since Jan. 2. If successful, the chain hopes to expand the service to other provinces, or even other countries. In addition to the food, customers pay 200 yuan per hour for using the room.
''The video rooms have been fully booked in February,'' said Chen Yu, manager of the Wangfujing branch. The Video room in Beijing is about 30 square meters and large enough for six customers.
''Many customers prefer to use the room for dinners rather than lunch,'' Chen said, adding the average age of customers who booked the video hotpot(火锅) is about 30.
''The whole process is very smooth. The image and the voice transmission(转换) are as good as those of video conferencing at work, ''said one of Chen's colleagues surnamed Luo.
''I have a lot of friends in Beijing, whom I haven’t met for a long time because of being busy at work,'' said a woman surnamed Yu who is having dinner with her husband at Haidilao.''The new service gives us a chance to have a dinner together without traveling. I would like to give it a try.''
The video hotpot also helped establish a friendship between waitresses in the two cities.
Zhao Huanhuan, in her 20s, who is specially trained for serving in the video room in Shanghai, developed a friendship with a waitress named Lu Ke in the Beijing branch.
Zhao said excitedly: ''It was too amazing to believe. I'm so interested in using the special room and enjoy serving people there. I also talk about some interesting interactive games with Lu before guests come for dinner''.
Although Lu felt a little bit nervous when she first served in front of the screens, she said the new mode of communication also encouraged her to supply better services for customers.
''It's like a service competition. We saw each other through video and I could learn from Zhao's serving,'' Lu said, adding she will visit Zhao if she goes to Shanghai.
It seems that video hotpot doesn't satisfy everyone's taste, however.From the passage we know that ______.
| A．the video room service has been open for a long time |
| B．the video room service has been open in many provinces in China |
| C．using the video room, you have to pay extra 200 yuan per hour |
| D．the Video room in Beijing is only designed for six people to use |
Haidilao may be the name of ______.
| A．a theatre | B．a restaurant | C．a cinema | D．a hotel |
Why do many customers choose the video room service?
| A．Because the service there is excellent. |
| B．Because they can have dinner with friends without traveling. |
| C．Because the food there is delicious. |
| D．Because the room is large enough for six people. |
We can learn from the passage that Zhao Huanhuan ______.
| A．enjoys communicating with Lu Ke |
| B．hasn't met Lu Ke for a long time |
| C．is twenty years old now |
| D．learned a lot from Lu Ke |
What do you suppose will be talked about in the paragraph to be followed?
| A．Lu's visit to Zhao in Shanghai. |
| B．Other customers' praise for the service. |
| C．How to improve the service. |
| D．Other customers' complaint about the service. |