Schooling matters
THIS is an excerpt(摘录) from Michelle Obama’s speech at No 7 High School in Chengdu on March 25,2014 :
You see, the truth is that I grew up like many of you. My Mom, my dad, my brother and I, we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago, which is one of the largest cities in America. My father worked at the local water plant……
While we certainly weren’t rich, my parents had big dreams for me and my brother. They had only a high school education themselves, but they were determined to send us both to universities. So they poured all of their love and all of their hope into us, and they worked hard. They saved every penny. And I know that wasn’t easy for them, especially for my father. You see, my father had a serious illness called multiple sclerosis(多发性硬化). And as he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, and it took him longer to get dressed in the morning.
But no matter how tired he felt, no matter how much pain he was in, my father hardly ever missed a day of work, because he was determined to give me and my brother a better life. And every day, like so many of you, I felt the weight of my parents’ sacrifices(牺牲)on my shoulders. Every day, I wanted to make them proud.
So, while most American kids attend public schools near their homes, when it was time for me to attend high school, I took an exam and got into a special public high school where I could get a better education. But the school was very far from my home, so I had to get up early every morning and ride a bus for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half if the weather was bad. And every afternoon, I’d ride that same bus back home and then immediately start my homework, often studying late into the night—and sometimes I would wake up at 4:30 or 5：00 in the morning to study even more.
And it wasn’t easy. But whenever I got tired or discouraged (气馁的，沮丧的), I would just think about how hard my parents were working for me. And I would remember something my mother always told me—she said: “A good education is something that no one can take away from you.”Which of the following is TRUE about Michelle Obama and her family?
| A．Her parents were poor but had good educational backgrounds． |
| B．She attended a public high school near her home． |
| C．She was aware of her parents’ sacrifices and expectations. |
| D．Her father suffered a serious disease and became disabled. |
Which of the following words best describes Michelle’s father?
| A．Strong-minded | B．Humorous | C．Artistic | D．Generous |
What does Michelle mainly want to tell readers in this excerpt?
| A．She struggled a lot to become the US First Lady． |
| B．Our parents always have high expectations for us． |
| C．She is an ordinary person from an ordinary family． |
| D．We should work hard and get good educations． |
It's generally believed that people act the way they do because of their personalities and attitudes. They recycle their garbage because they care about the environment. They pay $5 for a caramel brulée latte because they like expensive coffee drinks.
It's undeniable that behavior comes from our inner dispositions (性情), but in many instances we also draw inferences about who we are, as suggested by the social psychologist Daryl Bern, by observing our own behavior. We can be strangers to ourselves. If we knew our own minds, why would we need to guess what our preferences are from our behavior? If our minds were an open book, we would know exactly how much we care about the environment or like lattes. Actually, we often need to look to our behavior to figure out who we are.
Moreover, we don't just use our behavior to learn about our particular types of character—we infer characters that weren't there before. Our behavior is often shaped by little pressures around us, which we fail to recognize. Maybe we recycle because our wives and neighbors would disapprove if we didn't. Maybe we buy lattes in order to impress the people around us. We should not mistakenly believe that we always behave as a result of some inner disposition.
Whatever pressures there can be or inferences one can make, people become what they do, though it may not be in compliance (符合) with their true desires. Therefore, we should all bear in mind Kurt Vonnegut's advice: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”According to the passage, personalities and attitudes are commonly believed to _______.
| A．determine one's behavior |
| B．reflect one's taste |
| C．influence one's surroundings |
| D．result from one's habits |
Which of the following would Daryl Bern most probably agree with?
| A．The return of a wallet can indicate one's honesty. |
| B．A kind person will offer his seat to the old. |
| C．One recycles plastics to protect the environment. |
| D．One buys latte out of true love of coffee. |
What can be inferred from the underlined sentence in the passage?
| A．We fail to realize our inner dispositions. |
| B．We can be influenced by outside pressures. |
| C．Our behavior is the result of our true desires. |
| D．Our characters can shape our social relationships. |
What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?
| A．Personalities and attitudes. |
| B．Preferences and habits. |
| C．Behavior and personalities. |
| D．Attitudes and preferences. |
A couple who held hands at breakfast every morning even after 70 years of marriage have died 15 hours apart. Helen Felumlee, died at 92 on April 12. Her husband, 91-year-old Kenneth Felumlee, died the next morning.
The couple’s eight children say the two had been inseparable since meeting as teenagers, once sharing the bottom of a bunk (双层) bed on a ferry rather than sleeping on night apart.
They remained deeply in love until the very end, even eating breakfast together while holding hands, said their daughter, Linda Cody. “We knew when one went, the other was going to go,” she said. According to Cody, about 12 hours after Helen died, Kenneth looked at his children and said, “Mon’s dead.” He quickly began to fade, surrounded by 24 of his closest family members and friends when he died the next morning. “He was ready,” Cody said, “He just didn’t want to leave her here by herself.”
Son Dick said his parents died of old age, surrounded by family.
The pair had known each other for several years when they eloped（私奔）in Newport across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, on Feb. 20, 1994. At two days shy of his 21st birthday, Kenneth-who went by Kenny-was too young to marry in Ohio. “He couldn’t wait.’ son Jim said.
Kenneth worked as a railroad car inspector and mechanic before becoming a mail carrier for the Post Office. He was active in the church as a Sunday teacher.
Helen stayed at home, not only cooking and cleaning for her own family but also for other families in need in the area. She taught Sunday school, too, but was known more for her greeting card ministry, sending cards for birthdays, sympathy and the holidays to everyone in her community, each with a personal note inside. “She kept Hallmark in business,” daughter-in-law Debbie joked.
When Kenneth retired in 1983 and the children began to leave the house, the Felumlees began to explore their love of travel, visiting almost all 50 states by bus. “He didn’t want to fly anywhere because you couldn’t see anything as you were going,” Jim said.
Although both experienced declining health in recent years, Cody said, each tried to stay strong for the other. “That’s what kept them going,” she said.From the second paragraph we can infer ______.
| A．Helen and Kenneth have two children |
| B．Helen and Kenneth have eight children |
| C．Helen and Kenneth once stayed on a ferry together |
| D．Helen and Kenneth loved each other since teenage times |
From what Cody said, we can learn the children _____.
| A．were not in front of their father |
| B．don’t look after their father |
| C．foresaw their father would go |
| D．surrounded their father |
What can we learn from the fifth paragraph?
| A．Helen and Kenneth got married when they didn’t reach the demanded ages. |
| B．Helen and Kenneth got married after they had known for 2 days. |
| C．Helen didn’t wait for Kenneth. |
| D．Kenneth was 22 years old when they got married. |
How many jobs did Kenneth get?
| A．Four. | B．Three. | C．Two. | D．One. |
One morning, Ann’s neighbor Tracy found a lost dog wandering around the local elementary school. She asked Ann if she could keep an eye on the dog. Ann said that she could watch it only for the day.
Tracy took photos of the dog and printed off 400 FOUND fliers（传单）, and put them in mailboxes. Meanwhile, Ann went to the dollar store and bought some pet supplies, warning her two sons not to fall in love with the dog. At the time, Ann’s son Thomas was 10 years old, and Jack, who was recovering from a heart operation, was 21 years old.
Four days later Ann was still looking after the dog, whom they had started to call Riley. When she arrived home from work, the dog threw itself against the screen door and barked madly at her. As soon as she opened the door, Riley dashed into the boys’ room where Ann found Jack suffering from a heart attack. Riley ran over to Jack, but as soon as Ann bent over to help him the dog went silent.
“If it hadn’t come to get me, the doctor said Jack would have died,” Ann reported to a local newspaper. At this point, no one had called to claim the dog, so Ann decided to keep it.
The next morning Tracy got a call. A man named Peter recognized his lost dog and called the number on the flier. Tracy started crying, and told him, “That dog saved my friend’s son.”
Peter drove to Ann’s house to pick up his dog, and saw Thomas and Jack crying in the window. After a few moments Peter said, “Maybe Odie was supposed to find you, maybe you should keep it.”What did Tracy do after finding the dog?
| A．She looked for its owner |
| B．She gave it to Ann as a gift. |
| C．She sold it to the dollar store. |
| D．She bought some food for it. |
How did the dog help save Jack?
| A．By breaking the door for Ann. |
| B．By leading Ann to Jack’s room. |
| C．By dragging Jack out of the room. |
| D．By attending Jack when Ann was out. |
What was Ann’s attitude to the dog according to Paragraph 4?
| A．Sympathetic | B．Doubtful |
| C．Tolerant | D．Grateful |
For what purpose did Peter call Tracy?
| A．To help her friend’s son. |
| B．To interview Tracy |
| C．To take back his dog. |
| D．To return the flier to her. |
Well I decided to cut my front lawn （草坪）today, especially since I live on a main street downtown with lots of traffic. Anyway, I finished mine and decided to cut my neighbor—Jean’s grass while I was at it. She is a sweet person who has gone through some trying times in the last year. Her brother passed away of cancer last year; her sister (who lives with her) is mentally challenged—yet so sweet!
It was a difficult time with physical and mental challenges that led her employer in our local hospital to let her go after 25 years of service! Lastly, my neighbor Jean, who is a nurse in our local hospital, was diagnosed with esophageal （食道） cancer in December. She went through radiation and a long recovery—but thankful she is in remission（缓解）.
Anyway, in short I was leaving my house this afternoon and she stopped me to thank me for cutting her grass. She told me her dad passed away on Friday and she just arrived home from the funeral service, so she didn’t know when I would have time to cut her grass. So, when she arrived home and saw it cut she was more than happy and grateful! I said to her “You are welcome, just a small act of kindness for a neighbor.”
I did it for exercise and shared pleasure not knowing it meant more to her than just doing a neighbor a favor!Although a lot of unfortunate matters happened to Jean, she is still _____.
| A．pessimistic | B．optimistic |
| C．depressed | D．disappointed |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word “trying” in the first paragraph?
| A．Happy. | B．Exciting. | C．Simple. | D．Hard. |
What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?
| A．Jean is unlucky. |
| B．Jean lives happily. |
| C．Jean has retired. |
| D．Jean’s employer doesn’t like her. |
How does Jean feel about the author helping her cutting grass?
| A．She feels sad. |
| B．She feels only happy. |
| C．She feels very happy and thankful. |
| D．She feels easy. |
Half of the world’s population is affected by Asian monsoons（季风）, but monsoons are difficult to predict. American researchers have put together a 700-year record of the rainy seasons, which is expected to provide guidance for experts making weather predictions.
Every year, moist （潮湿的）air masses，known as monsoon，produce large amounts of rainfall in India, East Asia, Northern Australia and East Africa. All this wet air is pulled in by a high pressure area over the Indian Ocean and a low pressure area to the south.
According to Edward Cook , a weather expert at Columbia University in New York., the complex nature of the climate systems across Asia makes monsoons hard to predict. In addition, climate records for the area are too recent and not detailed enough to be of much use. Therefore, he and a team of researchers spent more than fifteen years traveling across Asia, looking for trees old enough to provide long-term records. They measured the rings, or circles, inside thousands of ancient trees in more than 300 places.
Rainfall has a direct link to the growth and width of rings on some kinds of trees. The researchers developed a document they are calling a Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas. It shows the effect of monsoons over seven centuries, beginning in the 1300s.
Professor Cook says the tree-ring records show periods of wet and dry weather. “If the monsoon basically fails or is a very weak one, the trees affected by monsoons at that location might put on a very narrow ring. But if the monsoon is very strong, the trees affected by that monsoon might put on a wide ring for that year. So, the wide and narrow ring widths of the chronology that we developed in Asia provide us with a measure of monsoon variability.” With all this information, researchers say they can begin to improve computer climate models for predicting the behavior of monsoons.
“There has been widespread famine and starvation and human dying in the past in large droughts. And on the other hand, if the monsoon is particularly heavy, it can cause extensive flooding.” said Eugene Wahl, a scientist with America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “So, to get a sense of what the regional moisture patterns have been, dryness and wetness over such a long period of time in great detail, I would call it a kind of victory for climate science.”What’sthe passage mainly about？
| A．The effects of Asian monsoons. |
| B．A breakthrough in monsoon prediction. |
| C．The achievements of Edward cook. |
| D．The necessity of weather forecast. |
It is difficult for experts to predict Asian monsoons because_________
| A．it is hard to keep long-term climate records. |
| B．they are formed under complex climate systems. |
| C．they influence many nations. |
| D．there is heavy rainfall in Asia. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Long and details climate records can offer useful information for monsoon research. |
| B．The Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas has a monsoon record for about 1,300 years. |
| C．The trees affected by monsoon grow fast if the monsoon is weak. |
| D．The rainfall might be low although the monsoon is strong in monsoon-affected areas. |
What do we know about the research according to Eugene Wahl?
| A．It will help people prevent droughts and floods. |
| B．It should include information about human life in the past. |
| C．It has analyzed moisture models world wide, |
| D．It is a great achievement in climate science. |
Which of the following best describes the tone of this passage?
| A．Humorous | B．Pessimistic |
| C．Matter-of –fact | D．Friendly. |