Jimmy is an automotive mechanic, but he lost his job a few months ago. He has a good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.
One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 am and it was already 8：30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no need to pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, “Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It's the least I could do. Please, I insist.” Jimmy agreed.
Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line of applicants waiting to be interviewed. Jimmy still had some grease on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer's office with disappointed looks on their faces. Finally his name was called. The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked, “Do you really need to be interviewed？” Jimmy's heart sank.“With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview ？” he thought to himself.
Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy's surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out he was the General Manager of the company.
“ Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right dicision to have you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into this office. I just know you'd be a trustworthy worker. Congratulations！” Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of welldeserved coffee as he landed himself a new job. Why did Jimmy apply for a new job?
| A．He was out of work. |
| B．He was bored with his job. |
| C．He wanted a higher position |
| D．He hoped to find a better boss |
What did Jimmy see on the way to the interview?
| A．A friend's car had a flat tyre. |
| B．A wild man was pushing a car. |
| C．A terrible car accident happened. |
| D．An old man's car broke down. |
Why did the old man offer Jimmy a ride?
| A．He was also to be interviewed. |
| B．He needed a travelling companion. |
| C．He always helped people in need. |
| D．He was thankful to Jimmy. |
How did Jimmy feel on hearing the interviewer's question?
| A．He was sorry for the other applicants. |
| B．There was no hope for him to get the job. |
| C．He regretted helping the old man. |
| D．The interviewer was very rude. |
What can we learn from Jimmy's experience?
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Good is rewarded with good. |
| D．Two heads are better than one. |
The world is filled with smart, talented, educated and gifted people. We meet them every day. A few days ago, my car was not running well. I pulled it into a garage and the young mechanic had it fixed in just a few minutes. He knew what was wrong by simply listening to the engine. I was amazed. The sad truth is, great talent is not enough.
I am shocked at how little talented people earn. I heard the other day that less than 5 percent of American earn more than $100,000 a year. A business consultant (顾问) who specializes in the medical trade was telling me how many doctors, dentists and people like them struggle financially. All this time, I thought that when those students studying medicine graduated, the dollars would pour in. It was this business consultant who gave me the phrase “They are one skill away from great wealth.” When I ask the classes I teach “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald’s ?”, almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald’s makes more money than you?” The answer is obvious---McDonald’s is excellent at business systems. The reason why so many talented people are poor is that they focus on building a better hamburger and know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. All too often, they’re poor or struggle financially or earn less than they are capable of , not because of what they know but because of what they do not know.The example mentioned in the first paragraph is to show ______.
| A．how little talented people earn |
| B．the world is filled with talented people |
| C．he is not good at repairing cars |
| D．the mechanic is good at repairing cars |
According to the writer, of 300 million Americans, ____ Americans earn over 100 thousand dollars a year.
| A．about 0.15 million | B．about 1.5 million |
| C．about 15 million | D．about 150 million |
The writer seems to believe that _____.
| A．all talented people are not rich |
| B．a person with a talent is sure to become rich |
| C．a talented person is poor just because he knows too much |
| D．many talented people earn little because of something they don’t know |
Fear may be felt in the heart as well as in the head, according to a study that has found a link between the cycles of a beating heart and the chance of someone feeling fear.
Tests on healthy volunteers found that they were more likely to feel a sense of fear at the moment when their hearts are contracting (收缩) and pumping blood around their bodies, compared with the point when the heartbeat is relaxed. Scientists say the results suggest that the heart is able to influence how the brain responds to a fearful event, depending on which point it is at in its regular cycle of contraction and relaxation.
Sarah Garfinkel at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School said: "Our study shows for the first time that the way in which we deal with fear is different depending on when we see fearful pictures in relation to our heart."
The study tested 20 healthy volunteers on their reactions（反应）to fear as they were shown pictures of fearful faces. Dr Garfinkel said, "The study showed that fearful faces are better noticed when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxed. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don't see - and guide whether we see fear."
To further understand this relationship, the scientists also used a brain scanner (扫描仪) to show how the brain influences the way the heart changes a person's feeling of fear.
"We have found an important mechanism by which the heart and brain ‘speak’ to each other to change our feelings and reduce fear," Dr Garfinkel said.
"We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is dealt with and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for anxiety disorders, and also for those who may be suffering from serious stress disorder."What is the finding of the study?
| A．One's heart affects how he feels fear. |
| B．Fear is a result of one's relaxed heartbeat. |
| C．Fear has something to do with one's health. |
| D．One’s fast heartbeats are likely to cause fear. |
The study was carried out by analyzing _______.
| A．volunteers' heartbeats when they saw terrible pictures |
| B．the time volunteers saw fearful pictures and their health conditions |
| C．volunteers' reactions to horrible pictures and data from their brain scans |
| D．different pictures shown to volunteers and their heart-brain communication |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to "mechanism" in Paragraph 6?
| A．Order. | B．System. | C．Machine. | D．Treatment. |
This study may lead to _______.
| A．treating anxiety and stress better |
| B．explaining the cycle of fear and anxiety |
| C．finding the key to the heart-brain communication |
| D．understanding different fears in our hearts and heads |
LONDON - A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake (假冒的) bomb detectors (探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn't cared about potentially (潜在的) deadly consequences.
It is believed that James McCormick got about $77.8 million from the sales of his detectors ---which were based on a kind of golf ball finder---to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia. McCormick, 57, was convicted (判罪) of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.
"Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people," Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. "You have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt."
The detectors, sold for up to $42,000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they "lacked any grounding in science" and were of no use. McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.
"I never had any bad results from customers," he said. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?
| A．He sold bombs. | B．He caused death of people. |
| C．He made detectors. | D．He cheated in business. |
According to the judge, what McCormick had done _______.
| A．increased the cost of safeguarding |
| B．lowered people's guard against danger |
| C．changed people's idea of social security |
| D．caused innocent people to commit crimes |
Which of the following is true of the detectors?
| A．They have not been sold to Africa. |
| B．They have caused many serious problems. |
| C．They can find dangerous objects in water. |
| D．They don't function on the basis of science. |
It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick _______.
| A．sold the equipment at a low price |
| B．was well-known in most countries |
| C．did not think he had committed the crime |
| D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text |
Astronauts on shorter shuttle missions (使命) often work very long days. Tasks are scheduled (安排) so tightly that break times are often used to finish the day’s work. This type of schedule is far too demanding for long missions on the International Space Station (ISS). ISS crewmembers usually live in space for at least a quarter of a year. They work five days on and two days off to mimic the normal way they do things on Earth as much as possible. Weekends give the crew valuable time to rest and do a few hours of housework. They can communicate with family and friends by email, internet phone and through private video conferences.
While astronauts cannot go to a baseball game or a movie in orbit, there are many familiar activities that they can still enjoy. Before a mission, the family and friends of each ISS crewmember put together a collection of family photos, messages, videos and reading material for the astronauts to look at when they will be floating 370 kilometers above the Earth. During their mission, the crew also receives care packages with CDs, books, magazines, photos and letters. And as from early 2010, the internet became available on the ISS , giving astronauts the chance to do some “web surfing（冲浪）” in their personal time. Besides relaxing with these more common entertainments, astronauts can simply enjoy the experience of living in space.
Many astronauts say that one of the most relaxing things to do in space is to look out the window and stare at the universe and the Earth’s vast land mass and oceans. What does the word “mimic” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
| A． Find | B． Copy | C．Change | D．Lose |
Which of the following best describes the families of the astronauts on the ISS ?
| A．They are caring and thoughtful. |
| B．They are patient and annoyed. |
| C．They are impatient and annoyed. |
| D．They are excited and curious. |
In the final paragraph, the author shows that astronauts .
| A．get more pleasure in space than on the Earth |
| B．find living in space a bit boring and tiring |
| C．regard space life as common |
| D．love to see the Earth from space |
The passage mainly discusses how astronauts .
| A．work for longer missions in space |
| B．connect with people on the Earth |
| C．observe the Earth from space. |
| D．spend their free time in space |
Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work，others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute (分配) his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes，accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales (童话).
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained €10, 000 with a cutting from the Braunschiveiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag; similar plain white anonymous (匿名) envelopes, each containing €10, 000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelopes keep coming, and; so far at least €190, 000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper’s own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14-year-old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschiveiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of € 500 inside with a copy of the article. The name of the family was underlined.
“I was driving when I heard the news," Claudia Neumann, the boy's mother, told Der Spiegel magazine. “I had to park on the side of the road; I was speechless."
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair-accessible and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
"For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing," Mrs. Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske，the editor of the Braunschiveiger Zeitung, said: "Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know." However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city's hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.The Braunschiveiger Zeitung is the name of ______.
| A．a church | B．a bank | C．a newspaper | D．a magazine |
Which of the following is TRUE about the donation to Tom?
| A．The donation amounted to €190, 000. |
| B．The donation was sent directly to his house. |
| C．The money will be used for his education. |
| D．His mother felt astonished at the donation. |
It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
| A．the donator is a rich old man |
| B．the donation will continue to come |
| C．the donation comes from the newspaper |
| D．the donator will soon be found out |
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Money Is Raised by the Newspaper. |
| B．Newspaper Distributes Money to the Needy. |
| C．Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes |
| D．Robin Hood Returns to the City |