Everyone in our village likes my father, so he has a sense of humor. On other words, he canmake others laugh easy and people feel happy to be around him. I admire him very much anddream of that some day I will be as humorous as him. I even asked him how have a good sense ofhumor, but what she replied disappointed me. “Not someone can be humorous, because those whois humorous are usually born to be humorous,” he said. However, later, he adds, “But you can be humorous too if you know a lot of joke.” That’s why now I’m reading a book of jokes.
In the 18th century, New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How can the change in its size and importance be explained?
To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history, and economics. Together these three will explain the huge growth of America’s most famous city.
The map of the Northeast shows that the four areas with the largest populations in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter the United States, and the products of the land are sent there for export across the sea.
We know that places where transportation lines meet are good places for making raw materials into finished goods. That is why seaports often have cities nearby. But cities like New York needed more than their geographical location in order to become great industrial centers. Their development did not happen simply by chance.
About 1815, when many Americans from the east had already moved toward the west, transportation routes from the seaports to the central regions of the country began to be a serious problem. The slow wagons of that time, usually drawn by horses, were too expensive for moving heavy freight (货物) very far. In New York State a canal seemed the best answer to the transportation problem. From the eastern end of Lake Erie all the way across the state to the Hudson River there is a long strip of low land. Here the Erie Canal was built, and after several years of work it was completed in 1825.
The canal produced an immediate effect. Freight costs were cut to about one tenth of what they had been. New York City, which had been smaller than Philadelphia and Boston, quickly became the leading city of the coast. In the years that followed, transportation routes on the Great Lakes were joined to routes on the Mississippi River. Then New York City became the end point of a great inland shipping system that started from the Atlantic Ocean far up the western branches of the Mississippi.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Development of Transportation in New York |
| B．Export and Import of New York |
| C．How New York Became America's Largest City |
| D．How New York Exchanged with Europe |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．The Erie Canal connected Lake Erie with the Hudson River. |
| B．Economists are of the opinion that places where farming is done are good for making raw materials into finished goods. |
| C．Wagons drawn by horses and oxen soon proved to be better and cheaper than canal transportation. |
| D．The seaports usually have less population but more business. |
Freight costs were reduced to 10% of what they had been because of ________.
| A．cheap and fast wagons | B．the new sea routes |
| C．the construction of the Erie Canal | D．the development of industry |
Risk of death is 3.5 to 5 times greater for obese (肥胖的) smokers than it is for people who have never smoked and are at a normal weight, according to a study published in the November, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study, which began with a self-administered questionnaire taken between 1983 and 1989, asked more than 80,000 radiologic technologists aged 22 to 92 questions about age, height, weight and smoking behavior.
BMI (body mass index) was calculated, with a BMI of 30 to 34.9 being considered obese, and 35 and over being very obese. Smoking behavior was analyzed by looking at a person's tobacco consumption level, number of years smoked, and current smoking status. Researchers then followed participants through December of 2002, noting the number of deaths that occurred.
The study involved researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the University of Minnesota and the American Registry of Radiolegic Technologists.
Key Findings:
20 percent of obese adults in the United States smoke.
Obese smokers face a greater risk of death from cancer and circulatory disease.
Current smoking is a greater risk factor for death by cancer than obesity is, generally speaking.
The higher a person's pack-years (number of packs smoked per day times the number of years smoked) are, the greater the risk of death.
Men and women of all ages faced an elevated risk of death due to circulatory disease as BMI increased. And for those who were both obese and currently smoking, risk of circulatory disease increased 6 to 11 times under the age of 65, as compared to their never-smoking, normal weight counterparts.
While it's not surprising that obesity coupled with smoking is a recipe for trouble, it is important to highlight this growing health concern in America today.
Taking Charge of Your Health
Making healthy choices can be difficult when we're constantly exposed to products that are dangerous to our health, but it's not impossible. With education and some motivation, we all have the ability to make lasting changes for the better. If you're an overweight smoker worried about gaining weight due to quitting, take heart. It's never too late to change your course and even reduce damage to some extent.60. What is the American Journal of Preventive Medicine?
| A．An medical institute. | B．A research center. |
| C．A medical magazine | D．A TV station |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．Obese smokers are less likely to suffer from cancer. |
| B．Obese smokers are more likely to suffer from cancer. |
| C．Obese smokers tend to gain fewer body mass index. |
| D．Obese smokers tend to get heavier than those who never smoke. |
According to the author, it is ________ to get rid of smoking.
| A．easy and possible | B．difficult and impossible |
| C．easy ant worthwhile | D．difficult but worthwhile |
What is the purpose of the text?
| A．To inform the readers of the findings about obese smoking. |
| B．To warn the readers of the danger of obese smoking. |
| C．To tell us what obese smoking is. |
| D．To call on the obese smokers to quit smoking. |
Twenty years is just a blink in time. But 20 years is also long enough for a man to grow up. It is always painful. For Andrew Agassi, maturing in the spotlight of international tennis competition was even harder.
On September 3, the American tennis player said a tearful goodbye to his 21-year career after a third-round defeat in the US Open. The 36-year-old tried his best, but was unable to keep up with German Benjamin Becker, more than ten years his junior.
"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what I've found," Agassi said to the fans. "I have found inspiration and you willed me to succeed." It was an emotional speech at the end of a long career.
Agassi hated tennis as a teenager as much as he loves it now. His father made him play when he was a child. He got bored, and became a rebel(叛逆). The strict training that his father pushed upon him got in the way of his wild lifestyle. He grew hair long, wore colorful clothes and spat at a judge. Over the years, he has made bad jokes during news conferences. Asked what he would say to his 17-year-old self, Agassi answered, "I would say, I understand you a lot more than I want to be you."
The turning point in Agassi's career came in 1992 when he unexpectedly won his first Grand Slam (大满贯赛事)at Wimbledon. It was the first time Agassi understood what real champions finally understand: winning is a test of courage and not just power, it's a marathon, not a sprint(短跑).
And what a marathon Agassi was about to begin. He cut his long hair, got fitter and tightened up emotionally. On the court, he ranked No. 1 for almost two years. His lowest point came in 1997 when his ranking dropped to No. 141. He didn't quit though. "I knew that I would try to get the most out of myself every day from that day forward. That was my promise," he said. "That never stopped." The underlined phrase "more than ten years his junior" in the second paragraph means _________.
| A．having lower ranking than Agassi for more than ten years |
| B．having higher ranking than Agassi for more than ten years |
| C．more than ten years older than Agassi |
| D．more than ten years younger than Agassi |
How did Agassi feel when he was defeated in the competition?
| A．He felt angry with the judge |
| B．He felt satisfied with the scoreboard |
| C．He felt regretful but encouraged |
| D．He felt in great desperation |
The passage implies ______.
| A．after 1997 Agassi began to take up marathon besides tennis |
| B．Agassi began to play tennis before he was fifteen |
| C．Agassi hesitated to quit his sports career |
| D．the reason why Agassi lost his last competition was that he lacked courage and power |
The score of the match between Agassi and Becker is ______.
| A．0-2 | B．0-3 | C．1-3 | D．2-3 |
When Sally Ride was ten years old, she had no idea that she would some day grow up to be one of America’s first woman astronauts. In fact, if you had asked her then what wanted to be, she would have said, “ I want to play shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers.” Sally collected baseball cards by the boxful, and she knew the name and batting average (击球率)of every player in the National League.
But major league baseball didn’t seem much of a possibility for a girl, even an athletic one like Sally, so her father and mother talked her into taking tennis lessons when she was twelve. At first she hated to trade in her baseball bat for a tennis racket, but it wasn’t long before she started to win tournaments in her new sport. “ Tennis became much more fun when I started winning,” Sally remembers. Soon a row of trophies （奖牌）replaced her box of baseball cards, and tennis star Billie Jean King replaced Dodger shortstop Maury Wills as her sports idol.
Sally first became interested in the space program in 1962 when astronaut John Glenn orbited the earth in his Mercury space capsule. Sally was ten years old at the time, but she remembers the launch and the splashdown (掉落) as if they happened yesterday. The girl who used to memorize batting averages became a space fan. She quickly learned the name of every NASA astronaut(there were only eight of them in 1962), the date of every launch, and the name and number of every spacecraft from Freedom 7 to Skylab 3. She could tell you the speed of light (186,300 miles per second), the distance to the moon (238,860 miles), and the names of the three nearest stars( the Sun, Alpha Centauri, and Barnard’s Star).
By the time she was sixteen, Sally had decided to become an astrophysicist, a scientist who studies space. She had also become a nationally ranked tennis player. She remembers yawning（打哈欠） through an important tennis match on June 20, 1969, after staying up all night to watch Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Sally lost the match.
As Sally got older, many of her friends started playing professional tennis. Some of them tried to talk her into quitting school to join them on the professional tennis circuit. But Sally said no. “ Black holes are more interesting to me than backhands,” she told them. Now she knows that she made the right choice, but in 1970 Sally had no way of knowing that NASA would open the space program to women.At the age of twelve, Sally Ride ________.
| A．was interested in playing tennis |
| B．was persuaded into taking tennis training |
| C．began to become interested in space |
| D．decided to become an astrophysicist |
Sally Ride lost the match on June, 1969 just because________.
| A．she was tired |
| B．she couldn’t decide whether to be an astrophysicist |
| C．she couldn’t decide whether to take part in a professional tennis circuit |
| D．she wasn’t interested in tennis |
From the story we know that Sally ________.
| A．had been a professional baseball player |
| B．had never been a professional player |
| C．had never been a woman astrophysicist |
| D．wasn’t interested in space program |
A capsule is ________.
| A．the name of the neareast star |
| B．a place where the American astronauts and the crew work |
| C．a place where astronauts and the crew are trained |
| D．a container of the crew and astronauts detached(分离) from a rocket |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．According to the story, Sally Ride is a woman astrophysicist. |
| B．The ambition of becoming a woman astronaut was made in Sally’s childhood. |
| C．Freedom 7 and Skylab 3 are the names of the nearest stars. |
| D．Sally didn’t quit her schooling at the time as she knew sooner or later NASA would hire woman astronaut. |
The island of Great Britain being small (compare the size of Australia), the natural place for holiday relaxation and enjoyment is extensive coastline, above all its southern and eastern coasts, and the favorite resort of the mass-population of industrial Lancashire, is on the north-west coast. Distant and little-inhabited area like Northern Scotland, are too remote for the development of large seaside resorts.
For most children, going to the seaside suggests a week or fortnight of freedom on the beach, ideally a sandy one providing enough opportunities for the construction of sandcastle, fishing in pool, paddling in shallow water or swimming in deep water. Their parents spend sunny days swimming in the sea and sunbathing on the beach. Not that the British sun can be relied on and the depressing sight of families wandering round the town in old –fashioned and under umbrellas is only too common. However, there are always shops with their tourist souvenirs, plenty of cafes and if the worst comes to the worst, the cinema to offer a refuge.
The average family is unlikely to seek accommodation in a hotel as they can stay more cheaply in a boarding-house. There are usually three or four-storeyed Victorian buildings, whose owners spend the summer season letting rooms to a number of couples or families and providing three cooked meals a day at what they describe as a reasonable price, with the hope that in this way they will add enough to their savings to see the winter through. Otherwise there are the camping sites for those who prefer self-catering.
Nowadays, even when an increasing number of people fly off to Mediterranean resorts where a well-developed suntan (晒黑) can be assured, or explore in comfort Swiss lakes and mountains or romantic Italian or Spanish cities, the British seaside is still the main attraction for families, especially those with younger children. As they queue for boats trips, cups of tea or ice-cream under gray skies and in dizzling rain, the parents are reliving (重温) their own childhood when time seemed endless, their own sandcastles the most splendid on the beach, the sea always blue and friendly and the sun always hot.Children enjoy the seaside because ________.
| A．their parents can live and play with them |
| B．they can buy what they want there |
| C．there are a variety of enjoyable ways of spending time there |
| D．they can learn how to build sandcastles, how to swim, etc. |
The reason suggested for running a boarding-house is that ________.
| A．people can live as where they live at home |
| B．people can cook what they are favorite |
| C．the owners provide three cooked meals a day at a reasonable price |
| D．the resulting additional income will ensure a living for several months |
Many parents once played on the British beach and ________.
| A．still have their happy memories of it |
| B．don’t want to have a holiday there |
| C．don’t want to take their children to have a holiday there. |
| D．want to build their own sandcastles the most splendid on the beach again |
Nowadays more and more people fly off to Mediterranean resorts for ________.
| A．an exploration of lakes in comfort | B．a well-developed suntan |
| C．a well-equipped boarding-house | D．a romantic party |
Which of the following is True according to the passage?
| A．It is suggested that as a form of holiday entertainment the cinema is the best place to go in bad weather. |
| B．A reason suggested in the first paragraph for the appeal of the English seaside is that it is an ideal place for children. |
| C．Northern Scotland is little-inhabited and remote. |
| D．Few people in Britain go abroad for holiday relaxation and enjoyment. |