Untilafewmonthsago,hewasabutle-优题课

In the late 1970’s,many people in North America turned their attention to environmental problems ，and new steel — and — glass skyscrapers were widely criticized. Some ecologists (生态学家）pointed out that a number of tall buildings in a city often overburden public transportation.
Skyscrapers are also lavish consumers of electric power and water. In just one recent year, the addition of 17 million square feet of skyscraper office space in New York City itself has already raised the top daily demand for electricity by 120, 000 kw — enough to supply the entire city of Albany in New York area for a single day.
Glass—walled skyscrapers can also be especially wasteful. The heat loss ，or gain， through a wall of half 一 inch plate glass is more than ten times that through a typical ordinary wall filled with bricks or board. In order to decrease the pressure on heating and air — conditioning equipment, builders of skyscrapers have begun to use double—layered glass ，and reflective glasses coated with silver or gold mirror films that could reduce glare (强光）as well as heat gain. However, mirror — walled skyscrapers may raise the temperature of the surrounding air and affect neighboring buildings as well.
Skyscrapers put a severe pressure on a city's sanitation (卫生）facilities, too. If fully occupied, the towers just within the central area of New York would alone produce 2. 25 million gallons of waste water each year^—as much as the city size of Stanford， Connecticut, which has a population of more than 109，000.
The underlined phrase“ lavish consumers ”in the 2nd paragraph probably means ____

A．trash producers

B．great spenders

C．pressure makers

D．poor customers

Glass walls of skyscrapers are specially mentioned in order to _____.

A．show how skyscrapers manage to lessen their pressure

B．explain why skyscrapers can control its air conditions

C．describe further how wasteful skyscrapers could be

D．present the stability of skyscrapers in modern buildings

From the last paragraph we can learn that _____.

A．central New York skyscrapers are a large waste water producer

B．the central area of New York is as large as the city of Stanford

C．more than 109，000 people live in the skyscrapers in New York

D．New York produces 2. 25 million gallons of waste water each year

When the writer talks about skyscrapers ，his tone sounds _____

A．positive

B．doubtful

C．grateful

D．negative

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, was a good and tireless writer, and he wrote The Declaration of Independence. There is much we can learn from him. Here are some of the things he said and wrote:
Go and see. Jefferson believed that a free man obtains knowledge from many sources besides books, and personal investigation is important as well.
Judge for yourself. Jefferson refused to accept other people’s opinions without careful thought. “Neither believe nor reject anything，” he wrote to his nephew.
Learn from everyone. Jefferson once visited the French nobleman, Lafayette, and said to him, “You must go into the people’s home as I have done ，look into their cooking pots and eat their bread. If you will only do this, you may find out why people are dissatisfied. ”
Do what you believe is right. In a free country, there will always be conflicting ideas， and this is a source of strength. It is not unquestioning agreement but conflict that keeps freedom alive. Though Jefferson was for many years the object of strong criticism, he never answered his critics. He expressed his philosophy, “There are two sides to every question. If you take one side with decision and act on it with effect, those who take the other side will of course resent(憎恶）your actions. ”
Trust the future and trust the young. Jefferson felt that the present should never be chained to customs which have lost their usefulness. “The earth belongs to the living generation. ” He didn’t fear new ideas, nor did he fear the future. “How much pain has been caused by evils which have never happened?” he remarked，“I expect the best, not the worst. ”
The author mentioned Jefferson’s visit to Lafayette to show______.

A．Jefferson was dissatisfied with Lafayette

B．Jefferson had a close relationship with his people

C．Jefferson was a great American president

D．Jefferson valued the importance of learning from others

Jefferson was determined never to answer his critics because______.

A．he believed silence was a source of strength

B．he thought it useless to defend obviously correct ideas

C．he believed in conflict rather than in unquestioning agreement

D．he knew the more he said ,the more people would resent him

What would be the best title of the passage?

A．Jefferson’s Great Works	B．Jefferson’s Philosophy
C．Jefferson’s Teaching	D．Jefferson's Life Story

For a lang time,a boy wonder why his next-desk-pal was always the first in the class , whereas he could only rank the 21^st.
At home,he asked his mom：“Am I more stupid than other kids? How can I alwasys fall behind? I just can’t come with an answer.”Mom was aware that her son’s selfrespect had been damaged by the ranking system,but she didn’t know what to say to help.
She tended to say that intelligence differs and that yes,her son’s friend really was the smarter boy.But that would so upset her son .Thank goodness she resisted the temption (诱惑)to say it .
Her son and his friend went on to high school that year,but despite trying as hard as he could,her son’s friend still outdid him.But she was proud of her boy for his hard work, sincerely proud,It was aroud this time that she decided to take him on a trip to the seaside,On the trip,she at last found an answer for him.
Today her son no longer care about rankings.He doesn’t have to,for he himself is now the top of the class at the national unversity he attands,After university his Teachers and peers fully expect him to have promising career.
Invited to speak to his old high school, he mentioned a valuable childhood experience. It concerned that holiday his mother had prepared for them: “Once, on a trip to the sea, my mother and I were lying on the beach. She pointed to the sea and said to me: Do you see the seabirds fighting for food out there? When a wave comes near, the little birds rise quickly. The clumsy(笨拙的)seagulls are far slower and have to struggle to get away from the wave. But these clumsy birds prove to have the biggest, strongest wings, which allow the bird to travel the furthest. When the season changes, they leave for foreign shores, leaving the little birds behind. Son, I have a feeling that you are one of those seagulls.”
The story convey the message that.________.

A．competion between students is good for society

B．only rankings show intelligence of a child

C．chilren take competion among them to heart

D．parents should build up chilren’s self-respect

Form the 2^nd paragraph,we can see that the mother

A．decided to help with her son’s homework

B．saw the negative effects of the ranking system

C．knew her son was weak in his study

D．felt sorry for her son’s bad behavior

We can infer from the passage that

A．the mother was cafeful to protect her son’s self-respect

B．the mother was not strong enough to face the truth

C．the son knew intelligence didn’t mean anything

D．the son would forget his rankings soon after leaving high school

Which of the following has the similar meaning with the underlined word “outdid”?
A.was equal to B..laughed at C did better than D.worked harder than

Traditional fairytales are being abandoned by parents because they are too horrible for their young children, a study found.
Research revealed one in five parents dislike old classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Rapunzel and are in favor of more modern books. One third of parents said their children have been left in tears after hearing the horrible details of Little Red Riding Hood. And nearly half of mothers and fathers refuse to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids as the themes of the story are about kidnapping and crimes. Similarly, Goldilocks and the Three Bears was also a tale likely to be left on the book shelf as parents felt it forgives stealing.
The survey of 2,000 adults was conducted to mark the launch of the hit US drama GRIMM, which starts tonight at 9pm on Watch, and sees six episodes based on traditional fairytales. The survey found a quarter of parents questioned wouldn’t consider reading a fairytale to their child until they had reached the age of five, as they prompt too many awkward questions from their children.
Steve Hornsey, General Manager ofWatch, said: “Bedtime stories are supposed to calm down children and send them off to sleep soundly. But as we see in GRIMM, fairytales can be dark and dramatic tales so it’s understandable that parents worry about reading them to young children.”
“As adults we can see the innocence in fairytales, but a five-year-old child with an over active imagination could take things too seriously. Despite the dark nature of classic fairytales, as we see in GRIMM, good will triumph over evil and there is always a moral to the story.”
The study also found two thirds of mums and dads try to avoid stories which might give their children nightmares.
However, half of parents said traditional tales are more likely to have a strong moral message than a lot of modern kids’ books, such as The Gruffalo, The Hungary Caterpillar and the Mr. Men books.
Why don’t some parents want to read Rumplestiltskin to their kids?

A．Rumplestiltskin forgives stealing

B．Rumplestiltskin is too difficult

C．Rumplestiltskin is too long

D．Rumplestiltskin may have bad influence on Children

We can learn from paragraph 3 that Grimm is _____.

A．a fairytales book

B．a movie for children

C．a play loved by children

D．a drama based on traditional fairytales

Which of the following may Steve Hornsey agree to?

A．There is a moral to a classic fairytale.

B．Fairytales are dark.

C．Adults take fairytales too seriously.

D．Fairytales are not good for children's sleep.

What’s the author’s attitude towards traditional fairytales?

A．Optimistic

B．Not mentioned

C．Casual

D．Disapproving

Why are people interested in eating raw foods or whole foods (天然健康食品) ? One reason is that eating these types of food reduces the risk of acid (酸) accumulation in your body.
Raw and whole foods are usually digested more efficiently than cooked foods. When we cook foods, we destroy the natural enzymes (酶) that are part of the food in its raw form. These enzymes were intended by nature to help us digest the food. When we consume food without these natural enzymes, our bodies either digest the food improperly or allow too many nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream. In both instances, the result is overweight. When too many nutrients are absorbed at once, the body grows fat. Improperly digested food moves slowly through the digestive system, where it becomes increasingly acidic. To protect its vital organs from this acidic waste, the body changes the acid into fat and stores it safely away from the organs.
Processed foods (加工食品) contain chemical elements, which might confuse the appetite mechanism that tells us when we’ve had enough to eat; as a result, people often overeat. Processed foods also upset the digestive cycle. The body will either identify these foods as allergens and then store them safely away from the organs as fat, or the remains of undigested food will become acidic and enter the bloodstream as acid waste, which will stick to the blood vessel walls and block the passage of vital oxygen and nutrients heading for the body’s cells. The body’s metabolism (新陈代谢) becomes inactive, and the result is weight gain and obesity.
The accumulation of acid in the digestive system makes digestion increasingly inefficient. When that happens, even healthy foods can become acidic and the food allergies will become more common.
To stop this vicious circle in its tracks, people need to consume food and supplements that will neutralize the acid already accumulated in body. Eating the right types of raw and whole foods can help. It’s also important to restore your enzyme balance. You need to identify and avoid the foods that cause acid accumulation and consume the foods that increase enzyme production. If you truly want to change and help your body heal itself, you need to take an active approach. One effective way is to choose raw and whole foods appropriately according to your health conditions and personal preferences.
It can be inferred from Para. 2 that __________.

A．we’d better be cautious about raw and whole foods

B．foods with natural enzymes help people keep fit

C．it is important for people to protect their vital organs

D．giving up cooked and refined foods is a new lifestyle

Processed foods are unhealthy because they __________.

A．destroy body’s cells	B．harm your stomach
C．may lead to obesity	D．stop body’s natural function

What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．To warn people of the problem of overweight.

B．To inform people of the harm of processed foods.

C．To advocate eating more raw and whole foods.

D．To tell the differences between raw and processed foods.

What is likely to be talked about following the last paragraph?

A．Different causes of acid accumulation.

B．Correct ways to cook raw foods.

C．Active approaches to avoid acid.

D．Suitable types of raw and whole foods.