As we all know, Stephen Hawking writes the book A Brief History of Time that explains the origin of the universe. The book spent 147 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List and has sold 10 million copies. He is, most agree, very smart.
In his recently published autobiography My Brief History，Hawking offers four life lessons on
how to become a genius.
1) Don’ t miss opportunities by being too cool
“We showed an air of complete boredom and the feeling that nothing was worth making an effort for. One result of my illness has been to change all that. When you are faced with the possibility of an early death, it makes you realize that life is worth living and that there are lots of things you want to do.” Seize the moment, as Oxford would say.
2) Keep it simple
When writing A Brief History of Time，he tried to make science understandable for the rest of
Us. “I was sure that nearly everyone is interested in how the universe operates, but most people
cannot follow mathematical equations(数学公式). ”He has trouble with them, too.“This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don't have an inborn feeling for equations. My aim in the book was to describe these mental images in words. It is such an easy book that everybody can understand it.” The moral: You don't have to be a genius to know everything.
3）Have fun
Hawking has a long history of being a joker，and he has placed lots of bets with other scientists on the nature of black holes. One was with Cal-Tech scientist John Preskill. After paying off his bet by giving Preskill a baseball encyclopedia, Hawking wrote,“but maybe I should have just given him the ashes.” So lighten up! Geniuses like bad jokes too.
4) Always look for a silver lining (even if you are seriously ill)
Hawking's disease has slowly robbed him of the ability to walk，move his arms，even speak.
But, Hawking says，“in some ways I guess my disability has been an assist：I haven't had to lecture or teach students, and I haven't had to sit in meetings. So I have been able to devote myself completely to research.”In other words, Hawking was given lemons, and he made Champagne.The passage tells us the facts about A Brief History of Time EXCEPT that ________.
| A．it explained the origin of the universe |
| B．it has sold 10 million copies up to now |
| C．it spent 147 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List |
| D．it included Hawking's four life lessons on how to become a genius |
According to the passage，which of the following statements is guiding you to be a genius?
| A．Place lots of bets with your friends. |
| B．Seize the moment to learn everything. |
| C．Find something good even in bad situations. |
| D．Get to know everything including math equations. |
Hawking shows his viewpoint by ____________.
| A．making comparisons |
| B．quoting a famous saying |
| C．listing the numbers and equations |
| D．talking about his own experience |
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.Generally speaking, children’s skills __________.
| A．come from their parents |
| B．have nothing to do with their education |
| C．may be different from child to child |
| D．have something to do with their marks in the exams |
The writer of this passage does not seem to be satisfied with_______.
| A．the parents’ ideas of educating their children |
| B．the education system |
| C．children’s skills |
| D．children’s hobbies |
Doing some cooking at home helps children_________.
| A．learn how to serve their parents |
| B．learn how to become strong and fat |
| C．benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future |
| D．make their parents believe that they are clever |
According to the passage, which of the following is True?
| A．Chinese are not very generous on educating their children. |
| B．All Parents know how to teach their children well. |
| C．Teaching a child to cook can improve the skills that he will need in the future. |
| D．Poor parents cannot buy a computer for their children. |
Cooking_____
A demands patience B demands time.
C. is an enjoyable but difficult experience.
D.above all
It was a dark and cold night. The car driver didn’t have even one passenger all day. When he went by the railway station, he saw a young man coming out with two bags in his hands. So he quickly opened the door of the car and asked, “Where do you want to go, sir?”
“To the Star Hotel,” the young man answered. When the car driver heard that, he didn’t feel happy. The young man would give him only three dollars because the hotel was not far from the railway station. But suddenly, he had an idea. He took the passenger through many streets of the big city.
After a long time, the car finally arrived at the hotel. “You should pay me fifteen dollars,” the car driver said to the young man. “What! Fifteen dollars? Do you think I’m a fool? Only last week I took a car from the railway station to this same hotel and I only gave the driver thirteen dollars. I know how much I have to pay for the trip. I won’t pay you one dollar more than I paid to the other car driver last week.”Which of the following is true? ____________
| A．The young man went past the railway station. |
| B．The young man was working in the railway station |
| C．The young man had just got off a train. |
| D．The young man was waiting for his friend there. |
What do you think of the car driver?__________
| A．He was a nice and clever man. | B．He liked to work very hard. |
| C．He was good at driving | D．He was not an honest person. |
The driver felt very _________ when he saw the young man coming out of the railway station.
| A．sad | B．sorry | C．happy | D．worried |
From the passage we know that the young man__________.
| A．knew clearly how far it was from the station to the hotel. |
| B．had been to the hotel several times. |
| C．didn’t want to stay in this city. |
| D．Must be a stranger and didn’t know the city very well. |
The young man should have paid the driver_____
A 15 dollars B.13dollars C.3 dollars D. 8dollars
Rhinos(犀牛) are big and can be dangerous. They are also shy and seldom seen. Once there were hundreds of rhino species, but today there are only five. One ancient rhino called Indricotherium was the largest land mammal that ever lived. It was 5m high at the shoulders, and 8.5m long— twice the size of today’s biggest elephant! The living rhinos are still big, averaging 2-3m long and weighing up to 3,600kg.
To see all five species of living rhino you would need to do a bit of exploring. First you might visit Africa for a look at the white rhino and the black rhino. They live in Africa’s dry woodlands and grasslands. Then you could head to India and Nepal for a look at the Indian rhino. It lives in the high grasslands near rivers, where you have to ride an elephant to find one. Finally you might travel to the rainforests on the islands of Indonesia to see the Sumatran and Javan rhinos. These are the smallest and rarest rhinos in the world and extremely difficult to find.
Most rhinos are gentle and timid (胆小的).They have a bad reputation for being very aggressive, but that may be partly because they get frightened easily. Also, they have poor eyesight. They rely on their strong sense of smell to tell them a stranger is approaching, but if the wind is blowing the wrong way, they may not know someone is there until it’s too late.
Rhinos can be found only in their habitats, which is why habitat destruction has caused rhino populations to decline. As they disappear from certain places, their absence leads to many changes to the landscape. For example, black rhinos in Africa only eat shrubs (灌木) and small trees, pruning (修剪) the plants and limiting their growth. Many other species benefit from this, and as rhinos disappear, so do many other animals sharing their habitat. Bushes and trees take over the land and force species like the antelope to leave in search of food. In a short time the whole habitat has changed.From the text we learn that ______.
| A．rhinos are all big and dangerous |
| B．rhino numbers have declined greatly |
| C．rhinos are twice as large as elephants |
| D．Indricotherium is the world’s biggest living animal now |
The white rhino can be found in______.
| A．Indonesia’s island |
| B．Nepal’s high grasslands |
| C．Africa’s dry woodlands and grasslands |
| D．India’s high grasslands near rivers |
What can we conclude from Paragraph 2?
| A．Most rhinos live alone. |
| B．Rhinos are disappearing from their habitats. |
| C．The five rhino species are all different in colour. |
| D．Rhinos’ habitat ranges from rainforests to grasslands. |
The underlined word “aggressive” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by_____.
| A．energetic | B．attractive | C．useless | D．fierce |
The example of the black rhinos in the last paragraph is mainly to show that_____.
| A．rhinos only eat plants |
| B．all rhinos are endangered |
| C．all the habitat of rhinos has been damaged |
| D．the disappearance of rhinos has led to habitat change |
Sea lions and seals may swim in cold ocean water, but even they get chilly sometimes. Seeing an injured seal wrapped in a blanket at a marine(海的) mammal center gave Haley Humes and Hayley Jeffries an idea for a special Girl Scout project. They decided to make blankets to keep injured animals warm. They would give these blankets to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, California.
“We knew we wanted to help animals,” Haley said. “We went to the center to ask questions about what they needed. They don’t have a heated floor, and all the babies crowded together to stay warm.”
Friends since kindergarten, Haley and Hayley made 12 blankets to keep the Marine Mammal Center’s seals and sea lions warm. Using fun images like Winnie-the-Pooh, the girls took two hours to make each blanket. The first sea lion to test out a blanket looked pretty in pink.
“It was a sick baby and really liked it,” Haley said. “It curled up in it right away.”
“The blankets are beautiful and the animals love them!” said the Mammal Center’s Michele Hunter. “It’s nice to see children taking pride in their work and doing something to help animals.”
During the project, the girls took dozens of pictures for the PowerPoint presentations they gave to Girl Scout leaders. Those presentations helped Haley and Hayley raise $250 to buy additional supplies the center needed.
This was the first project the girls ever worked on and took months to plan and carry out.
“I learned that in order to make something happen, you have to take it slowly and step by step,” Hayley said. Just as important, the girls discovered that two people really can make a difference. “Knowing you’re making a difference……with these animals is amazing,” Haley said. “It was like the animals became my new friends.”
The Pacific Marine Mammal Center cares for sea lions and seals, as well as for other marine mammals. Since opening in 1971,the center has saved more than 5,000 injured marine mammals.What does the underlined word“ chilly” in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A．Sick. | B．Cold. | C．Afraid. | D．Bored. |
When Haley and Hayley saw an injured seal wrapped in a blanket, they_____.
| A．decided to help animals | B．asked Girl Scout for help |
| C．went to the animal center to work. | D．called on others to protect animals |
What can we learn about Haley and Hayley from the text?
| A．They raised $2,500 for the Mammal Center. |
| B．They made 120 blankets by themselves. |
| C．It took them an hour to make a blanket. |
| D．They felt great about what they did. |
Which of the following words can best describe the work of Haley and Hayley?
| A．Difficult. | B．Successful. | C．Experimental. | D．Dangerous. |
According to the text, the Mammal Center_____.
| A．has a history of about 40 years |
| B．has an advanced heating system |
| C．has saved ten thousand animals so far |
| D．protects both land and marine mammals |
Bright, Spacious Room
Spacious, single furnished room in owner- occupied home is available now, for one and a half years. Ground floor flat. Five-minute walk to the town center and local bus services. Well-equipped shared kitchen, including washing machine. Shared shower& toilet. Large rooms, with high ceilings, a warm and pleasant home. Responsible for own food & cooking, washing, telephone, insurance, etc. No smoking or pets. Not suitable for children. WiFi （无线网络）available locally.
Call Jenna on 85756624 if you are interested.
One Bedroom Newly Refurbished (整修) Flat in Burnage
A fantastic one-bedroom flat in the heart of Burnage is available for however long you want. The property has just been refurbished to a high standard. Situated above the pharmacy （药房）on Burnage Lane the property boasts a kitchen, large lounge, separate shower and toilet, and bedroom with in- built wardrobes. A must-see!
Call Daniel on 70554323 at the weekend.
Two Bedrooms Left in Four-bed House Share
A great four- bedroom property in the heart of Fallowfield. Two Bedrooms left in a mixed student house. The property has a dining area, toilet, lounge and one bedroom on the ground floor, followed by three bedrooms on the first floor with an extra toilet. Very close to the main bus stop & local amenities (设施): supermarket, Lloyds pharmacy and local launderette. Two minutes’ walking distance to the centre of Fallowfield. The property is available from the 1st of July 2012 to 30th June 2013. Half rent for July/ Aug. We are a private landlord; so there are no agency fees!
Jack welcomes you to call. Phone:22604322.
Board and Lodgings Close to Boston, Lincolnshire
We have a double room available on a board and lodgings basis from 1st of June, 2012 to 1st of May, 2013. Within a comfortable, peaceful farmhouse, set in lovely gardens and beautiful countryside. Share a bathroom with one other person only. Room has own TV with Freeview and access to wireless broadband,. Use of the garden and rest of the house. On the bus route to Boston and Horncastle. Free car parking space. All meals, bills, etc. included. Can cater for a variety of special dietary（饭食的）needs if required, Please call Alice at the weekend or after 7p.m. On workdays. Phone:42556755.Which of the following is TRUE about the first advertisement?
| A．It is suitable for a family with a baby. |
| B．It is a pleasant home though it is a little small. |
| C．It is convenient to get to the town center. |
| D．Access to the Internet is not convenient. |
Who should you contact if you want to rent long term?
| A．Jenna. | B．Daniel. | C．Jack. | D．Alice. |
What does Jack provide, according to the advertisement?
| A．Half rent all year around. |
| B．Rooms on the third floor. |
| C．Two student bedrooms. |
| D．One year or more rental period. |
If someone needs a free parking space in particular, he should call__________.
| A．85756624 | B．70554323 | C．22604322 | D．42556755 |
What kind of person would prefer to rent Alice’s house?
| A．Someone who likes living alone. |
| B．Someone who wants to cook for himself. |
| C．Someone who likes to live in a house in a busy street. |
| D．Someone who wants to live in a quiet and beautiful area. |