Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. The “standard” retirement age varies from country to country, but it is generally between 50 and 70. However, for a long time, people have got into an argument about whether the age of retirement should be increased or reduced in their own countries.
There are several arguments for allowing older people to continue working as long as they are able. Many people think that older employees have a large amount of knowledge and experience which can be lost to a business if they are made to retire. Besides, older employees are often extremely devoted employees and are more willing to implement company rules than the young. A more important point is regarding the attitudes in society to old people. To force someone to resign or retire at 60 or 65 indicates that the society does not value the input of these people and that their useful life is over.
Allowing older people to work indefinitely (无限地), however, is not always a good policy. Some people took the strong view that age alone is no guarantee of ability. Many young employees have more experience or skills than older staff, who may have been stuck in one area for most of their working lives. On the other hand, older people should be rewarded by society for their life’s labor by being given generous pensions and the freedom to enjoy leisure. They can have time to do whatever they like, that is, they can have their own plans and achieve their retirement goals.
With many young people unemployed or frustrated in low-level positions, there are often calls to compulsorily retire older workers. However, this can affect the older individual’s freedom and right to work. In my opinion, giving workers more choices over their retirement age will benefit society and the individual.What does this passage mainly talk about?
| A．How to set a standard of the retirement age. |
| B．More opportunities should be given to young people. |
| C．Companies should make full use of old people’s wisdom. |
| D．Opinions about retirement age are different among people. |
Some people think older people should go on with work because ______.
| A．they have a sense of achievement |
| B．they want to learn more knowledge |
| C．they have grasped much practical experience |
| D．they will help the business not to fail quickly |
The underlined word “implement” in Paragraph 2 probably means “______.”
| A．take over | B．carry out |
| C．get rid of | D．set aside |
Which point of view may the author agree to?
| A．Older people are encouraged to retire on time. |
| B．Older people would like to do something else. |
| C．Older people’s experience should be valued. |
| D．Older people can choose whether to work on or not. |
How to improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They’ll say, “This is my destiny(命运). I cannot change it.”
Of course not! You don’t have to suffer needlessly. Your life depends on you, not on other factors.
I know a woman who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, and then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls “doing her best”? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that has been intended for her and that her luck can only change if God wills it. She hasn’t realized that we have to do our share of making the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you harvest what you sow. You have to get off the sofa, get your eyes off the TV screen, get your hands off the phone (unless it’s helpful to your success), and get your mind and body to work! Don’t expect your luck to change, unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don’t just regard it as a temporary(暂时的) problem; Instead, learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It’s not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone’s life is in trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don’t just stand (or sit) there, do something to improve your life.According to the woman mentioned in Para.3, her life________.
| A．doesn’t need improving |
| B．couldn’t be improved |
| C．will be better some day |
| D．will be worse in the future |
What does the author think of the woman’s life?
| A．Positive. | B．Passive. |
| C．Disturbing. | D．Colorful. |
In Para.5, the author emphasized the importance of ________.
| A．positive action | B．positive thinking |
| C．hope for the best | D．intention to succeed |
The text is mainly written to advise you to _________.
| A．understand yourself | B．believe in yourself |
| C．improve your life | D．change your normal way |
If you have a chance to go to Finland, you will probably be surprised to find how “foolish” the Finnish people are.
Take the taxi drivers for example. Taxis in Finland are mostly high-class Benz with a fare of two US dollars a kilometer. You can go anywhere in one, tell the driver to drop you at any place, say that you have some business to attend to, and then walk off without paying your fare. The driver would not show the least sign of anxiety.
The dining rooms in all big hotels not only serve their guests, but also serve outside diners. Hotel guests have their meals free, so they naturally go to the free dining rooms to have their meals. The most they would do to show their good faith is to wave their registration card to the waiter. With such a loose check, you can easily use any old registration card to take a couple of friends to dine free of charge.
The Finnish workers are paid by the hour. They are very much on their own as soon as they have agreed with the boss on the rate(价钱). From then on, they just say how many hours they have worked and they will be paid accordingly(相应地).
With so many loopholes(漏洞) in everyday life, surely Finland must be a heaven to those who love to take “petty advantages”. But the strange thing is, all the taxi passengers would always come back to pay their fare after they have attended to their business; not a single outsider has ever been found in the free hotel dining rooms. And workers always give an honest account of the exact hours they put in. As the Finns always act on good faith in everything they do, living in such a society has turned everyone into a real “gentleman”.
In a society of such high moral practice, what need is there for people to be on guard against others?While taking a taxi in Finland, ________.
| A．a passenger can go anywhere without having to pay the driver |
| B．a passenger pays two US dollars for a taxi ride |
| C．a passenger can never be turned down by the taxi driver wherever he wants to go |
| D．a passenger needs to provide good faith demonstration(证明) before leaving without paying |
We know from the passage that big hotels in Finland ________.
| A．are mostly poorly managed |
| B．provide meals for any diners |
| C．provide free wine and charge for food |
| D．provide meal for only those who live in the hotels |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．The workers in Finland are paid by the hour. |
| B．The workers are always honest with their working hours. |
| C．The workers and their bosses will make an agreement in advance about the pay. |
| D．The bosses in Finland are too busy to check the working hours of their employees. |
The word “those” in the last but one paragraph probably refers to _______.
| A．people who are dishonest |
| B．people who often have meals in big hotels |
| C．people who often take taxis |
| D．people who are worthy of trust |
Nowadays, with the busy working hours, parents have no time left to spend with their children. However, spending time with children is of extreme importance. Giving some time for children will play an important role in their development. Therefore, it is a must for parents to spend time with children. Here are some tips for parents which will help them spend time with their little suns.
Having Dinner with Children
Even if you are not there at home for a whole day, you should make sure that you have dinner with your children. Moreover, you should make it a point that you are having dinner with your entire family. Also, you should avoid watching TV when you are having dinner with your family.
Helping Child Complete Homework
Helping your child complete homework will help you know how he/she is at studies. It is not that you have to spend hours regularly helping your child with homework. But, sometimes you can help your child solve some questions. In this way, you will get to spend time with your child as well as get to know about his or her studies.
Fun Activities
During weekends you can indulge your child in fun activities like gardening, painting etc. However, do not force your child to do so. You can also spend some time in teaching your child finger painting, vegetable painting and craft work. You may even help your child complete his or her art and craft assignments. These activities will help you improve creativity of your child as well as the interaction between you and your child.The passage is mainly about_________.
| A．the importance of spending time with children |
| B．the ways to spend time with children |
| C．the reasons to spend time with children |
| D．the activities children like to take part in |
In the second paragraph, the author suggests that parents should________.
| A．watch TV with their children |
| B．stay at home a whole day |
| C．spend time with the whole family |
| D．avoid listening to some music |
The underlined word “indulge” in the last paragraph means_______.
| A．push | B．put | C．ask | D．allow |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Spending time with children for parents is a must. |
| B．Parents should spend time regularly with children’s homework. |
| C．Helping children with homework will help improve their creativity. |
| D．Parents should pick up their children regularly. |
The most frightening words in the English language are, “Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said, “I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket. Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I noticed every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the black screen. Then I looked down on the computer and asked her, “What do all you people do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly with us or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That’s good, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down? I wanted to know.”
“I have no idea. Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes, sometimes for two hours. There’s no way we can find out without asking the computer, and since it’s down it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no backup computer, I said. “Let’s forget the computer—What about your planes? They are still flying, aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could, just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he is flying to Washington,” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to. Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the dark screen. “Only ‘IT’ knows. It can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines. The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down. Some people went white, some people started to cry and still others kicked their luggage.Where do you often hear the frightening words “Our computer is down”?
| A．at the airport. | B．At the gate. |
| C．On business | D．In the ticket office |
What could the girl in the ticket office do without asking the computer?
| A．She could do nothing. |
| B．She could write out a ticket. |
| C．She could still sell a ticket. |
| D．She could answer passengers’ questions. |
What does the underlined word “down” in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A．White | B．Broken |
| C．Black | D．Dark |
We can learn from the last paragraph that .
| A．a modern computer won’t be down |
| B．computers can take the place of human |
| C．there will be great changes in computers |
| D．sometimes a computer may bring suffering to people |
After I made it to the city center, I started to feel it might be easy for a foreigner to deal with the great size of Beijing. With growing confidence, I decided to take the subway to the hotel, not realizing that the network didn’t go that far. Impressed with the cleanliness of the station, I bought a ticket and boarded the first train that came along.
After a few minutes I asked in English of course a young man seated next to me where I should get off closest to the Friendship Hotel. Wearing a smart business suit and tie, he would surely speak English, wouldn’t he? Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand me but seemed very friendly. I showed him the room card with all the information of the Friendship Hotel in Chinese characters. He looked at it, and then his eyes moved quickly to the carriage （车厢） subway map. Next, he raised three fingers of his right hand.
In Australia, raising fingers at someone is not usually nice, but this man wasn’t smiling. At the next station he showed me two fingers. Now in Australia, that’s really rude, but I got the message. When we stopped at the third station, he didn’t just point to the door, but got up, took me out of the train, and led me to the top of the stairs, and out onto the street. Then he stopped a taxi and told the driver where to take me.
All this came from a man who couldn’t speak my language, and I couldn’t speak his. I was now speechless, especially when he refused my offer of money. I felt a little embarrassed having even thought he would accept a tip.
This experience made it clear I had to learn some Chinese quickly or my adventures might start turning into bad luck.The author decided to take the subway because ________.
| A．he lived near the city center |
| B．the network covered most of the stops |
| C．he believed in his ability to deal with the trip |
| D．he had a good impression of its cleanliness |
Having been shown the room card, the young man_________.
| A．understood the author well |
| B．still remained puzzled |
| C．answered the author directly |
| D．pointed at the subway map |
Which of the following can’t be used to describe the young man?
| A．helpful | B．rude |
| C．warmhearted | D．caring |
The author’s purpose of writing this passage is mainly to ________.
| A．prove the importance of being careful |
| B．appreciate the kindness of the young man |
| C．complain some cultural misunderstanding |
| D．describe one of his adventurous experiences |