InDecemberofl992．Iwasahappyhus-优题课

第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
The key to happiness is how quickly you can get back your focus on what’s important.
-----Anonymous
Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened. I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car’s back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, who almost caused a big accident, started yelling bad words at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
Many people are like garbage (rubbish) trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did.
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do anymore."
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about. The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by? Here's my bet. You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don't.
56. What happened one day when the author was taking a taxi?
A. The taxi almost hit another car.
B. The taxi driver was injured.
C. The author scolded the driver of the other car.
D. The author learned a lesson from the driver of the garbage truck.
57. How did the taxi driver respond to the behaviour of the driver of the black car?
A. He yelled back at the driver. B. He sent the driver to the hospital.
C. He was friendly towards the driver. D. He dumped some garbage in front of his car.
58. What can we infer from Paragraph 4?
A. The author used to have a lot of garbage trucks.
B. The author used to complain a lot.
C. The author used to have a lot of money.
D. The author used to be a good manager.
59. According to the passage, what should you do if people “dump garbage” on you?
A. Ignore them and go on with our own work.
B. Try our best to persuade them not to do that again.
C. Tell them to dump the garbage in the right place.
D. Take over their work and carry the garbage to somewhere else.

E
More than seven hundred students will serve for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games not as volunteers but as interns(实习生), working for months before the event and during the Games to help ensure its success.
A co-operation agreement was signed between the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (GOCOG) and 16 Beijing-based universities and colleges. The schools will prepare the students to be interns.
Although the interns will work without pay, they are considered different to volunteers, who will also provide services for the Games.
Well-known schools such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University and Beijing Jiaotong University are included on the list.
The interns will work much longer than the Games’ volunteers, since they have to begin their work at BOCOG as early as one year before the Games start, while most of the volunteers work only during the 16 days of the Games. They have to finish the required lessons of their universities first and then learn more in their specialities to qualify to work for the BOCOG. They will take some special classes on Olympic knowledge and certain professional lessons outside the university to meet the needs of serving in the Olympics.
The 706 interns will be made up of 446 postgraduates, 118 undergraduates and 142 higher vocational students. They will come from such majors as foreign languages, media and communications, logistics and legal affairs.
According to university officials, the undergraduates will be students who have been admitted to college this year (2005) while the postgraduates will be those who enter next year.
72.The interns will be chosen from __________.
A．students whose homes are in Beijing B．students studying in Beijing
C．only 6 famous schools D．schools all over China
73. What’s the difference between the interns and the volunteers?
A．The volunteers receive no pay. B．The interns work during the Games.
C．The volunteers come mainly from universities. D．The interns provide longer, more specialized services.
74.The chosen students will be busy because they have to __________.
A．learn both in and outside the university B．graduate ahead of time
C．look for part-time jobs D．learn many extra subjects at college
75.A chosen undergraduate will begin to work for BOCOG __________.
A．in his or her first college year B．in his or her second college year
C．in his or her third college year D．in his or her fourth college year

D
A wallet that looks like a piece of newspaper, an atlas, or an express parcel receipt? Or a business card that looks like a notepad? No kidding.
Bai Minghui, a Beijing-based designer, creates his artwork using Tyvek, a synthetic paper material which is difficult to tear, waterproof and, more importantly, totally recyclable.
Born to a worker family in 1983 in Tangshan, Hebei Province, Bai worked as a graphic designer at a financial magazine in Beijing after graduating from Minzu University of China.
In the spring of 2008, Bai visited an exhibition about Tyvek in Beijing's 798 art zone, and then worked with the material, trying to bring his designs to life. The first thing that came into his mind was the paper wallet, a must-try handicraft assignment（手工作业）that most Chinese students do in elementary school.
"A paper wallet is definitely more useful than a paper crane or frog," Bai told Beijing Review, smiling. "At first, many people have no idea what it is, because it looks like a piece of newspaper or an express parcel receipt, and feels like real paper. But it's hard to tear.
"The completed, folded wallet is seamless, which creates so much fun for a designer. To be honest, I didn't think about profits at all," he said.
After months of research and development on printing and designing, the first generation of his paper wallet made a stunning debut（上市） in May 2008. The second generation, which offers a greater range of pattern options, was put on the market at the beginning of 2009.
"You can have graffiti（涂鸦） or write down phone numbers on it, or paint whatever you like. I would like people to be able to use it easily," he said. "I don't want to do things without creative ideas. Now my focus is on how to create better design rather than the wallet itself."
68. In which order did Bai do the following things?
a. create the paper wallet b. study in Minzu University
c. work as a graphic designer d. visit an exhibition about Tyvek in Beijing
A. cbad B. bcda C. cbda D. bcad
69. Which of the following words can best describe the designer?
A. diligent B. creative C. friendly D. honest
70. Tyvek, a synthetic paper material, has the following characters EXCEPT ____.
A. recyclable B. waterproof C. foldable D. profitable
71. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Most of the Chinese students have tried to make some kind of paper work.
B. Many Chinese are fond of painting different things on their wallets.
C. Most of the wallets that people use nowadays can be recycled.
D. Most of the designers based in Beijing have tried Tyvek to create their own work of art.

E
If you don’t have a college degree, you’re at greater risk of developing memory problems or even Alzheimer’s （老年痴呆）．Education plays a key role in lifelong memory performance and risk for mental disorder, and it's well documented that those with a college degree possess a cognitive（认知的） advantage over their less educated counterparts in middle and old age．
Now, a large national study from Brandeis University published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry shows that those with less schooling can significantly make up for poorer education by frequently engaging in mental exercises such as word games, puzzles, reading, and lectures．
“The lifelong benefits of higher education for memory in later life are quite impressive, but we do not clearly understand how and why these effects last so long,” said lead author Margie Lachman, a psychologist．She suggested that higher education may encourage lifelong interest in cognitive efforts, while those with less education may not engage as frequently in mental exercises that help keep the memory agile （敏捷地）．
But education early in adulthood does not appear to be the only route to maintain your memory．The study found that intellectual activities undertaken regularly made a difference．“Among individuals with low education, those who are engaged in reading, writing, attending lectures, doing word games or puzzles once a week or more had memory scores similar to people with more education,” said Lachman．
The study, called Midlife in the United States, assessed 3,343 men and women between the ages of 32 and 84 with a mean age of 56 years．Almost 40 percent of the participants had at least a 4-year college degree．The researchers evaluated how the participants performed in two cognitive areas, verbal memory and executive function --- brain processes involved in planning, abstract thinking and cognitive flexibility．Participants were given a battery of tests, including tests of verbal fluency, word recall, and backward counting．
As expected, those with higher education said they engaged in cognitive activities more often and also did better on the memory tests, but some with lower education also did well, explained Lachman．
“The findings are promising because they suggest there may be ways to level the playing field for those with lower educational achievement, and protect those at greatest risk for memory declines,” said Lachman．“Although we can not rule out the possibility that those who have better memories are the ones who take on more activities, the evidence is consistent with cognitive plasticity （可塑性）, and suggests some degree of personal control over cognitive functioning in adulthood by adopting an intellectually active lifestyle．”
57．What is the text mainly about?
A．Higher education has a better cognitive advantage．
B．Better memories result from college degree．
C．Cognitive activity does a mind good．
D．Poor education has more risk of memory declines．
58．According to the result of Margie Lachman’s study, we can conclude that ________．
A．education is responsible for the lifelong memory performance and risk for mental disorder
B．education early in adulthood can be the only route to maintain your memory
C．those with higher education did better on the memory tests than those with lower education
D．an intellectually active lifestyle does help to maintain your memory
59．What do we know about the study called Midlife?
A．Participants each were given a battery to test their memory．
B．The average age of the participants are 56 years old．
C．Participants had to perform in one of the two cognitive areas．
D．One in four of the participants had a 4-year college degree．
60．Why are the findings of the Lachman’s study promising?
A．The lower educated may have the same opportunities to keep up memory．
B．We may have ways to cure the people who have memory declines．
C．Adopting a different lifestyle can control over cognitive functioning．
D．We can find out the possibility to have better memories．

D
“Pay has little to do with motivation in the workplace”．That’s the argument put forward by best-selling author Daniel Pink in his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us．“Pay for performance is supposed to be a folk tale,” he says．
Daniel argues that, if employees receive a basic level of payment, three other factors matter more than money: a sense of independence, of mastery over one’s labor, and of serving a purpose larger than oneself．For example, in 2008 at the offices of Best Buy’s Richfield, salaried workers there were allowed to organize their own work day, putting in only as many hours as they felt necessary to get their jobs done．Productivity increased by 35% according to The Harvard Business Review．
But the managers at Goldman Sachs aren’t exactly making some efforts to adjust．Like others on Wall Street, the banking giant argues that fat bonuses （extra rewards） are essential to make its numbers．“That’s exactly the attitude that leads to the recent financial crisis in the United States,” responds Daniel, “as managers always focus on short-term rewards that encourage cheating, shortcuts, and dishonest behavior．”
Moreover, the 45-year-old author and former Al Gore speechwriter refers to social-science experiments and experiences at such workplaces as Google and 3M．In one 2005 experiment he describes, economists working for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston tested the power of incentives （激励） by offering cash rewards to those who did well in games that included reciting a series of numbers and throwing tennis balls at a target．The researchers’ finding: Over and over, higher incentives led to worse performance --- and those given the highest incentives did the poorest job．
From this and other cases, Daniel draws a conclusion that monetary incentives remove the element of play and creativity, transforming “an interesting task into a dull one．” It’s even possible, he adds, for oversized rewards to have dangerous side effects, like those of a drug dependency in which an addicted requires ever larger amounts．He refers to scientific testing that shows the promise of cash rewards increase a chemical in the brain similar to that brought on by cocaine or nicotine．
Daniel, however, is also aware that his company examples --- no GE, no IBM, no Microsoft --- hardly represent the commanding heights of the economy．But he thinks his approach will catch on, even in the biggest companies．“Managers tend to be realistic, and in time they will respond,” he says．
53．In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink is promoting the idea that _____．
A．it is a money-driven society B．all workers are not driven by money
C．money plays a key role in management D．pay has nothing to do with workplaces
54．In Daniel’s point of view, many Wall Street managers are _______．
A．dishonest B．considerate C．short-sighted D．ridiculous
55．In paragraph 5, the example of drug-taking is given to show _______．
A．money is as addictive as cocaine or nicotine
B．big rewards bring about dangerous side effect
C．nicotine and money bring the same chemical
D．workers do not need the incentives of money at all
56．We can learn from the last paragraph that _______．
A．Daniel’s approach will be popular in a wider field
B．realistic managers will first consider Daniel’s approach
C．Daniel’s approach meets the demand of economic crisis
D．GE, IBM and Microsoft will join in Daniel’s approach next

A．Optimistic and outspoken	B．Strong-willed and determined
C．Generous and easy-going	D．Brave and warm-hearted