Recently I spoke to some of my students about what they wanted to do after they graduated, and what kind of job prospects they thought they had.
Given that I teach students who are training to be doctors, I was surprised to find that most thought that they would not be able to get the jobs they wanted without “outside help”. “What kind of help is that?” I asked, expecting them to tell me that they would need a relative or family friend to help them out.
“Surgery(外科手术)”, one replied. I was pretty alarmed by that response. It seems that the graduates of today are increasingly willing to go under the knife to get ahead of others when it comes to getting a job. One girl told me that she was considering surgery to increase her height.“They break your legs, put in special extending screws, and slowly expand the gap between the two ends of the bone as it regrows, you can get at least 5cm taller!”
At that point, I was shocked. I am short, I can’t deny that, but I don’t think I would put myself through months of agony(痛苦) just to be a few centimeters taller. I don’t even bother to wear shoes with thick soles, as I’m not trying to hide the fact that I am just not tall! It seems to me that there is a trend toward wanting “perfection”, and that is an ideal that just does not exist in reality.
No one is born perfect, yet magazines, TV shows and movies present images of thin, tall, beautiful people as being the norm. Advertisements for slimming aids, beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery clinics fill the pages of newspapers, further creating an idea that “perfection” is a requirement, and that it must be purchased, no matter what the cost. In my opinion, skills, rather than appearance, should determine how successful a person is in his chosen career.We can know from the passage that the author works as ______.
| A．a doctor | B．a model | C．a teacher | D．a reporter |
.Many graduates today turn to cosmetic(美容） surgery to______.
| A．marry a better man\woman |
| B．become a model |
| C．get an advantage over others in job-hunt |
| D．attract more admirers |
According to the passage, the author believes that ______.
| A．everyone should purchase perfection, whatever the cost |
| B．it’s right for graduates to ask for others to help them out in hunting for jobs |
| C．media are to blame for misleading young people in their seeking for surgery |
| D．it is one’s appearance instead of skills that really matters in one’s career |
What does the author think of his height?
| A．He hates to be called a short man. |
| B．He tries to increase his height through surgery. |
| C．He always wears shoes with thick soles to hide the fact. |
| D．He just accepts it as it is |
We each have a memory（记忆力）. That’s why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can easily learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got surprising memories.
A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is a small child. He hears the sounds, remembers them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living with their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy to learn a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with other subjects, too.
But your memory will become better and better when you do more and more exercises.、Some people can easily learn many things by heart because .
| A．they always sleep very well | B．they often eat good food |
| C．they read a lot of books | D．they have very good memories |
.、Everybody learns his mother language .
| A．at the age of six | B．when he is a small child |
| C．after he goes to school | D．when he can read and write |
.、Before a child can speak, he must .
| A．read and write | B．make sentences |
| C．hear and remember the sounds | D．think hard |
.、In school the pupils can’t learn a foreign language well because .
| A．they have no good memories | B．they have no recorders |
| C．they have too much time for it | D．they are busy with other subjects |
.、Your memory will become better and better .
| A．if you have plenty of good food |
| B．if you do more and more exercises |
| C．if you do morning exercises every day |
| D．if you get up early |
When Mr. David retired（退休）,he bought a small house in a village near the sea. He liked it and hoped to live a quiet life in it.
But to his great surprise, many tourists（游客）came to see his house in summer holidays, for it was the most interesting building in the village. From morning to night there were tourists outside the house. They kept looking into the rooms through the windows and many of them even went into Mr. David’s garden. This was too much for Mr. David. He decided to drive the visitors away. So he put a notice on the window. The notice said: “If you want to satisfy your curiosity（好奇心）, came in and look round. Price（价格）: twenty dollars.” Mr. David was sure that the visitors would stop coming, but he was wrong. More and more visitors came and Mr. David had to spend every day showing them around his house. “I came here to retire, not to work as a guide（导游）.” he said angrily. In the end, he sold the house and moved away..
、Mr. David’s house was that many tourists came to see it.
| A．so small | B．so quiet | C．so interesting | D．such interesting |
.
、Mr. David put a notice on the window in order .
| A．to drive the visitors away |
| B．to satisfy the visitor’s curiosity |
| C．to let visitors come in and look round |
| D．to get some money out of the visitors |
.
、The notice made the visitors .
| A．more interested in his house |
| B．lost interest in his house |
| C．angry at the unfair price |
| D．feel happy about the price |
.
、After Mr. David put up the notice .
| A．the visitors didn’t come any longer |
| B．fewer and fewer visitors came to see his house |
| C．more and more tourists came for a visit |
| D．no tourist would pay the money for a visit |
.
、At last he had to sell his house and move away because .
| A．he did not like it at all |
| B．he could not work as a guide |
| C．he made enough money and wanted to buy a new expensive house |
| D．he could not live a quiet life in it |
I Don’t Think I Wrote Wrong
Lao Yang was born in a small town. He liked reading when he studied at school. He thought the writers were respected(尊敬) and could get a lot of money. He wrote a lot of stories and posted them to the editorial departments (编辑部) but didn’t receive any answers.
Now he works in a factory. He’s busy at work. When he’s free, he always reads something. He always remembers he hoped to be a writer when he was young. One day, Xiao Ping, his ten-year-old daughter, came back. She looked worried and didn’t eat anything. She said Miss GAO, her Chinese teacher, told them to write a solicit article(征文) “My Father” that evening. But she did not know what to write.
“That’s easy,” said Lao Yang. “Let me help you.”
Then he sat down to write the solicit article at once. He easily finished it on time. He was sure Miss GAO would like it. But one afternoon he asked his daughter if the article had been chosen to post to the editorial department.
“My teacher said your article digressed from the subject(离题),” said the girl.
“I don’t think so,” Lao Yang shouted angrily. “I described(描写) just my father!”.. Lao Yang wrote a lot of stories because _______.
| A．he likes reading |
| B．he learned much at school |
| C．he wanted to be a writer |
| D．he wanted to help others |
.. Lao Yang posted the stories to the editorial departments, _______.
| A．and he got a lot of money | B．and he became a famous man |
| C．and he was respected | D．but he failed |
.. As _______, Lao Yang decided to help his daughter.
| A．he was a writer |
| B．he was free |
| C．he wanted to realize his ideal(理想) |
| D．he wanted to make his daughter happy |
. Lao Yang hoped _______.
| A．his article could surprise the teacher |
| B．his article could be chosen |
| C．the children could like his article |
| D．everyone could soon know him |
.. Lao Yang’s solicit article digressed from the subject _______.
| A．because he couldn’t write it at all |
| B．because he didn’t know his father well |
| C．because it was too bad to be chosen |
| D．just because he described his father |
Cities in Europe and around the world may be growing “bike trees” in the near future. Invented by Japan’s JFE engineering Corp., the invention proved useful in the busiest parts of this nation’s crowded cities.
Local governments of Japan have struggled for ways to encourage people to park their bikes considerately, particularly close to big stations, but that may block some roads and entrances to home and businesses. “Our cities do not have a lot of space for any kind of parking, including bicycles.” said Mitsuharu Oshima, a spokesman for JFE Engineering. The bike tree comes in two types; one in a tower that is above ground, and on the contrary, the other in a subterranean structure.
A cyclist registers（登记）with the operator of the equipment, pays a monthly fee and pushes the wheels of his bicycle into restraints at the base of the bike tree. Each bicycle is fitted with an electronic card with the owner’s details. A mechanical arm then pulls the bike into the base of the tower and moves it to a free location inside. To collect the bike later, the cyclist puts his card through a reader and his bike is automatically (自动地)returned to him in seconds. “The science of the equipment has been difficult----even though they may look simple ----because bikes come in many different shapes and sizes.” said Oshima.
As well as clearing away the road, bicycles cannot be stolen from a bike tree. There are presently versions at seven sites in Japan and two others are under construction, while work is under way on an even larger version----with room for 9,400 bicycles---in Thailand. And Oshima believes that the idea could catch on in Europe, particularly in countries such as France, Holland and Denmark, where cycling is so popular. What is the right order of the following things when you use the bike tree?
① the wheels of the bicycle are put into restraints at the base
② the card is read and the bike is automatically returned
③ an electronic card with the owner’s details is given
④ the bike is pulle
d and moved to a free location inside
| A．③②①④ | B．②①④③ | C．③①④② | D．②④③① |
What made it difficult to design “bike trees”?
| A．The location of “bike trees” |
| B．The differences of the bikes |
| C．The method of finding enough bikes |
| D．The importance of traffic safety |
From the passage, we can know that___________.
| A．cyclists can use “bike trees” for free in Japan |
| B．there are seven “bike trees” used for holding bikes in Japan |
| C．local government of Japan encourage people to ride bikes |
| D．countries with many cyclists in Europe will like the idea of “bike trees’ |
Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost certainly mention recycling. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more material than we need. We are dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the greenest way possible, but it would be far better if we did not need to bring so much material home in the first place.
The total amount of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a typical household’s waste in the UK. In many supermarkets nowadays food items are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.
Too much packaging is doing serious damage to the environment. The UK, for example, is running out of areas for burying this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect. Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The solution is not to produce such items in the first place. Food waste is a serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers to buy more than they need. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue, encouraging customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example.
But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to connect packaging with quality. We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. This is especially true of food. But it also applies to a wide range of consumer products, which often have far more packaging than necessary.
There are signs of hope. As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realise just how much unnecessary material we are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.What does the underlined phrase “that over-consumption” refer to?
| A．Using too much packaging. |
| B．Recycling too many wastes. |
| C．Making more products than necessary. |
| D．Having more material than is needed. |
The author uses figures in Paragraph 2 to show _______.
| A．the tendency of cutting household waste |
| B．the fact of packaging overuse |
| C．the rapid growth of supermarkets |
| D．the increase of packaging recycling |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality. |
| B．Supermarkets care more about packaging. |
| C．It is improper to judge quality by packaging. |
| D．Other products are better packaged than food. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Needless material is mostly recycled. |
| B．Fighting wastefulness is difficult. |
| C．People like collecting recyclable waste. |
| D．The author is proud of their consumer culture. |