I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled. I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”
At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.
I stood watching her, speechless .What on earth?
She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room--if you do anything to upset my husband, out you go!”
Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.
After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood（情绪）had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.Why did the author shout at the telephone?
| A．He was mad at the telephone. |
| B．He was angry with his agent. |
| C．He was anxious about his wife. |
| D．He was impatient with the secretary. |
What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?
| A．She said nothing. |
| B．She shouted at him. |
| C．She called the agent. |
| D．She threw the phone away. |
What made the author laugh?
| A．His own behavior. |
| B．His wife’s suggestion. |
| C．His changeable feelings. |
| D．His wife’s sweet kiss. |
What does the underlined word “antics” refer to?
| A．Smart words. | B．Unusual actions. |
| C．Surprising looks. | D．Anxious feelings. |
Do you want to go out of town for a bit of rest and relaxation? Before you start packing, visit these best travel sites for vacationers. In my opinion, they help people deal with common problems that pop up during a trip.
Oyster.com
Based on the advertised photos, the hotel you are considering appears to be clean and modern. Take a second look through the eyes of Oyster.com. Their representatives inspect resort areas and post the real images uncovering marketing lies. You see ACTUAL pictures of the rooms, attractions and beautiful beaches.
Skyscanner.net
Are you planning to travel on a budget? Discover the best deals for flights, hotels and car rentals at Skyscanner.net. They offer reasonable and comprehensive travel comparison. The best part is that their services are free. You don’t have to sign up, provide personal information or go through a social network.
Virtualtourist.com
Chat with someone other than a travel agent about a location. At Virtualtourist.com, fellow travelers and locals talk about their experiences in specific areas. This site is set up like a forum(论坛), so you can ask questions and get answers in the comfort of your own home. Find out where to eat, play and get pleasure in a place without getting food poison or robbed by criminals.
Travel.state.gov
Unfortunately, Americans get into trouble abroad sometimes. Prepare for possible emergencies by visiting Travel.state.gov. There, the Bureau of Consular Affairs offers advice on how to handle the bad things that happen to good people in other countries. You learn what to do in the case of child abduction(绑架), a lost passport and illness. In addition, these officials post travel warnings regarding dangerous regions and why foreigners should avoid them.
Are you ready to do your homework? Prepare for your departure by checking out these best travel sites for vacationers. Learn what you need to know now before walking out of the door.What is the characteristic of Oyster.com?
| A．It offers you a lot of travel information. |
| B．It tells tourists where the cheap hotels are. |
| C．The photos on the site are really reliable. |
| D．The representatives of Oyster.com are enthusiastic. |
What is the biggest benefit of your visiting Skyscanner.net?
| A．You can accept their services for free. |
| B．You can book the most modern hotels. |
| C．You can make many friends through the social network. |
| D．You can find the cheapest tour description and direction. |
We can learn from this passage that _____.
| A．Virtualtourist.com gives you a chance to chat with a travel agent |
| B．you’ll get answers to your travel questions at Virtualtourist.com |
| C．the Bureau of Consular Affairs is in charge of Travel.state.gov |
| D．if you lose your passport you’ll get help from Virtualtourist.com |
Everyone knows that the French are romantic, the Italians are fashionable and the Germans are serious. Or do they? Are these just stereotypes or is there really such a thing as national character? And if there is, can it affect how a nation succeed or fail?
At least one group of people is certain that it can. A recent survey of the top 500 entrepreneurs (实业家) in the UK found that 70 percent felt that their efforts were not appreciated by the British public.
Britain is hostile to success, they said. It has a culture of jealousy (嫉妒) . As a result, the survey said, entrepreneurs were “unloved, unwanted and misunderstood”. Jealousy is sometimes known as the “green-eyed monster” and the UK is its home. Scientists at Warwich University in the UK recently tested this idea. They gathered a group of people together and gave each an imaginary amount of money. Some were given a little, others a great deal. Those given a little money were given the chance to destroy the large amounts of money given to others—but at the cost of losing their own. Two thirds of the people tested agreed to do this.
This seems to prove the entrepreneurs were right to complain. But there is also conflicting evidence. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently reported that the UK was now the world’s fourth largest economy. That is not bad for people who are supposed to hate success. People in the UK also work longer hours than anyone else in Europe. So the British people are not lazy, either.
“It’s not really success that the British dislike,” says Carey Cooper, a Professor of management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. “It’s people using their success in a way that seems arrogant (傲慢) or unfair or which separates them from their roots.”
Perhaps it is the entrepreneurs who are the problem. They set out to do things in their way. They work long hours. By their own efforts they become millionaires. But instead of being happy they complain that nobody loves them. It hardly seems worth following their example. If they were friendlier, people would like them more. And more people want to be like them.What does the underlined “it” in the second paragraph refer to__________?
| A．One group of people | B．A great survey | C．A nation | D．National character |
Most entrepreneurs surveyed believe that.
| A．the British public are hardworking |
| B．they are not popular simply because they are successful |
| C．love of success is Britain’s national character |
| D．they are considered as “green-eyed monsters” |
What does the result of the Warwich University test show_________?
| A．Most people would rather fail than see others succeed |
| B．Two thirds of the people tested didn’t love money |
| C．An imaginary amount of money does not attract people |
| D．Most people are willing to enjoy success with others |
The writer of the passage seems to suggest that.
| A．jealousy is Britain’s national character |
| B．British entrepreneurs are not fairly treated |
| C．the British dislike the entrepreneurs because they do not behave properly |
| D．the scientists at Warwich University did a successful test |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Everyone knows that the French are romantic, the Germans are fashionable and the Italians are serious. |
| B．About 350 entrepreneurs in the UK felt that their efforts were not appreciated by the British public. |
| C．The British people are not lazy and they work longer hours than anyone else in the world. |
| D．Carey Cooper said that the British really dislike success. |
A few years ago, Paul Gerner began to gather a group of architects in Las Vegas to ask them what it would take to design a public school that used 50 percent less energy, cost much less to build and obviously improved student learning. “I think half of them fell off their chairs,” Gerner says.
Gerner manages school facilities (设施)for Clark County, Nevada, a district roughly the size of Massachusetts. By 2018, 143,000 additional students will enter the already crowded public-education system. Gerner needs 73 new schools to house them. Four architecture teams have nearly finished designing primary school prototypes (样品); they plan to construct their schools starting in 2009. The district will then assess how well the schools perform, and three winners will copy those designs in 50 to 70 new buildings.
Green schools are appearing all over, but in Clark County, which stands out for its vastness, such aggressive targets are difficult because design requirements like more natural light for students go against the realities of a desert climate. “One of the biggest challenges is getting the right site orientation(朝向),” Mark. McGinty, a director at SH Architecture, says. His firm recently completed a high school in Las Vegas. “You have the same building, same set of windows, but if its orientation is incorrect and it faces the sun, it will be really expensive to cool.”
Surprisingly, the man responsible for one of re most progressive green-design competitions has doubts about ideas of eco-friendly buildings. “I don’t believe in the new green religion,” Gerner says. “Some of the building technologies that you get are impractical. I’m interested in those that work.” But he wouldn’t mind if some green features inspire students. He says he hopes to set up green energy systems that allow them to learn about the process of harvesting wind and solar power. “You never know what’s going to start the interest of a child to study math and science,” he says.How did the architects react to Gerner’s design requirements?
| A．They lost balance in excitement. | B．they showed strong disbelief. |
| C．they expressed little interest. | D．they burst into cheers. |
Which order of steps is followed in carrying out the project?
| A．Assessment－Prototype－Design－Construction. |
| B．Assessment－Design－Prototype－Construction. |
| C．Design－Assessment－Prototype－Construction. |
| D．Design－Prototype－Assessment－Construction. |
What makes it difficult to build green schools in Clark County?
| A．The large size. | B．Limited facilities. |
| C．The desert climate. | D．Poor natural resources. |
What dose Gerner think of the ideas of green schools?
| A．They are questionable. | B．They are out of date. |
| C．They are advanced. | D．They are practical. |
Oscar-winning actress Joan Fontaine, who rose to fame during Hollywood's golden age as the star of several Alfred Hitch．cock classics, died from natural causes at her home in Carmel, northern California on December 16, 2013 aged 96, US media reports said．
Born in Japan to British parents, Fontaine moved in 1919 to California, where she and her elder sister －screen idol Olivia de Havilland－were to shape successful movie careers．Fontaine and de Havilland remain the only sisters to have won lead actress honours at the Academy Awards．Yet the two sisters also had an uneasy relationship, with Fontaine recording a bitter competition in her own account "No Bed of Roses "．
Fontaine began her acting career in her late teens with Largely less important roles on the stage and later in mostly B-movies in the 1930s． It was not before famous British film director Hitchcock spotted her a decade later that her career took off．
Greatly surprised by her expressive looks, the suspense (悬念） master cast Fontaine in his first US film, a 1940 adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel "Rebecca"． She received an Academy Award nomination（提名） for her performance as a troubled wife． A year later, Fontaine finally won the long-sought golden figure, for her role as leading lady in "Suspicion" opposite Cary Grant, becoming the first and only actress to earn the title for a Hitchock film．
Although her sister, Olivia de Havilland, preceded her in gaining Hollywood fame, Fontaine was the first of the sisters to win an Oscar, beating Olivia's nomination as best actress in Mitchell Leisen's "Hold Back the Dawn"．
The dislike ,between the sisters was felt at the Oscars ceremony．"I froze． I stared across the table, where Olivia was sitting．'Get up there!' she whispered commandingly," Fontaine said．"All the dislike we'd felt toward each other as children…all came rushing back in quickly changing pictures…I felt Olivia would spring across the table and seize me by the hair．"
Olivia did not win her first Oscar until 1946, for her role as the lover of a World War I pilot in Leisen's " To Each His Own"． Fontaine later made it known that her． sister had slighted her as she attempted to offer congratulations．“She took one look at me, ignored my hand, seized her Oscar and wheeled away,” she said．
The sisters were also reportedly competitors in love． Howard Hughes, a strange businessman who dated the elder de Havilland for a time, offered marriage to Fontaine several times．"I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be extremely angry because I beat her to it!" Fontaine once joked．
As her film career fruited in the 1950s, Fontaine turned to television and dinner theatre, and also appeared in several Broadway productions, including the Lion in Winter"． Anything but the ordinary lady, Fontaine was also a licensed pilot, a champion balloonist, an accomplished golfer, a licensed .decoration designer and a first-class cook．When she moved to California, Joan Fontaine wasyears old．
| A．two | B．twelve | C．twenty | D．twenty -two |
Fontaine did not become successful or popular until the _．
| A．1930s | B．1940s | C．1950s | D．1960s |
Fontaine won her Oscar for her role in the film of “”．
| A．Rebecca ' | B．Suspicion |
| C．To Each His Own | D．Hold Back the Dawn |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Olivia preceded Fontaine in getting married． |
| B．Olivia gamed Hollywood fame after Fontaine． |
| C．Fontaine won an Oscar before her sister Olivia, |
| D．Fontaine wanted to meet her death before Olivia． |
The dislike between Fontaine and Olivia began when they．
| A．competed for an Oscar | B．competed for a husband |
| C．were small children | D．were successful actresses |
As can- be seen from the passage, Fontaine was a person who was．
| A．disliked by her family | B．always a troubled wife |
| C．able to do few jobs | D．gifted in many ways |
Imagine you’re in a dark room, running your fingers over a smooth surface in search of a single dot the size of this period, How high do you think the dot must be for your finger to feel it?
Scientists have determined that the human finger is so sensitive it can detect a surface bump just one micron（l0－6m）"high． The human eye, by contrast, can't tell anything much smaller than100 microns．No wonder we rely on touch rather than eyesight when faced with a new roll of toilet paper．
Biologically, touch is the mother of all sensory（感觉的） systems．It is an ancient sense in evolution: even the simplest single-celled living things can feel when something brushes up against them and will respond by moving closer or pulling away． It is the first sense aroused during a baby’s development and the last to weaken at life's peak． Patients in a deep coma （昏迷）who seem otherwise lost to the world will show skin reaction when touched by a nurse．
“Touch ,is so central to what we are that we almost cannot imagine ourselves without it,” said Chris Dijkerman．“It's 'not like eyesight, where you close your eyes and you don't see anything． You can't do that with touch．It's always there．"
Long ignored in favor of the sensory heavyweights of eyesight and hearing, the study of touch lately:: has been gaining new concern among scientists．They're exploring the effects of recently reported false touch impressions, of people being made to feel as though they had three arms, for example, with the hope of gaining the true understanding of how the mind works．
Others are turning to touch for more practical purposes: to build better touch screen instruments and robot hands, a more well-rounded virtual life．。“There's a fair amount of research into new ways of offloading information onto our sense of touch," said Lynette Jones． "To have your cell phone buzzing （making a low sound） as opposed to ringing turned out to have a lot of advantages in．some situations．"
Touch is our most active sense, our means of seizing the world and experiencing it 'first hand． Dr．Susan Lederman pointed out that while we can become aware of something by seeing or hear,ing7;-．from a distance and without really trying, if we want to learn about something by means of touch, we must make a move．We must rub the cloth, or pet the cat． Touching is a two-way street, and that's not true for seeing or hearing． If you have a soft object and you squeeze it, you change its shape． The physical world reacts back．"
Our hands are smart and can do many tasks automatically - button a shirt, fit a key in a lock, play the; piano for others．Dr．Lederman and her colleagues have shown that blindfolded subjects can easily recognize a wide range of common -objects placed．in their hands．But on some feeling tasks, touch is all thumbs （very clumsy）． When people are given a raised line drawing of a common object, they're puzzled．“If all we've got is outline information;" Dr．Lederman said,．“no weight, no texture, no temperature information, well, we're very, very bad with that．"
Touch also turns out to be easy to fool, Among the sensory tricks now being investigated is something called the Pinocchio illusion． Researchers have found that if they shake the band of the biceps（二头肌）, many people report feeling that their forearm is getting 'longer, their hand floating ever further from their elbow（肘）． And if they are told to touch the forefinger of the shaken arm to the tip of their nose, they feel as though their nose was lengthening, too．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Our eyes are more sensitive than our fingers． |
| B．Our fingers are more sensitive than our eyes． |
| C．Our eyes are more sensitive than our ears． |
| D．Our noses are less sensitive than our ears． |
The sense that is firstly awaked during a child's development is the sense of．
| A．sight | B．taste | C．hearing | D．touch |
The underlined sentence “You can't do that with touch” here means “You can't”．
| A．close your skin | B．close your eyes ' | C．touch anything | D．see anything |
Scientists are lately getting interested in the following except．
| A．living a well-rounded virtual life |
| B．understanding how the mind works |
| C．favoring eyesight and hearing |
| D．building better 'touch screen objects |
In the view of, movement is needed when we want to know something by touching．
| A．the author | B．Chris Dijkerman |
| C．Lynette Jones | D．Susan Lederman |