How many men do housework? Recently a European Commission tried to find out people’s ideas and reactions to the women’s movement. As part of their survey (调查), they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!
The housework they asked people about were: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework, many of them said they never helped at all!
But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most trustful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives’ answers.
Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.The survey was carried out in ______.
| A．Britain | B．Europe | C．Denmark | D．Italy |
The subject for the survey is ______.
| A．how many boys do the housework |
| B．who are more diligent（勤劳）, wives or husbands |
| C．how many women do the housework |
| D．who does the housework at home |
From the passage we can see that ______.
| A．there were more husbands who did the housework than wives |
| B．husbands did half of the housework all the time |
| C．there were more wives who did the housework than husbands |
| D．wives did all the housework at home |
More ______ husbands help in the house than ______ husbands.
| A．British; Danish | B．Italian; Danish | C．Danish; British | D．Italian; British |
Some people think that success is only for those with talent or those who grow up in the right family, and others believe that success mostly comes down to luck. I’m not going to say luck, talent, and circumstances don’t come into play because they do. Some people are born into the right family while others are born with great intelligence, and that’s just the reality of how life is.
However, to succeed in life, one first needs to set a goal and then gradually make it more practical. And, in addition to that, in order to get really good at something, one needs to spend at least 10,000 hours studying and practicing. To become great at certain things, it’ll require even more time, time that most people won’t put in.
This is a big reason why many successful people advise you to do something you love. If you don’t enjoy what you do, it is going to feel like unbearable pain and will likely make you quit well before you ever become good at it.
When you see people exhibiting some great skills or having achieved great success, you know that they have put in a huge part of their life to get there at a huge cost. It’s sometimes easy to think they got lucky or they were born with some rare talent, but thinking that way does you no good, and there’s a huge chance that you’re wrong anyway.
Whatever you do, if you want to become great at it, you need to work day in and day out, almost to the point of addiction, and over a long period of time. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work, don’t expect to receive any rewards. Consistent, hard work won’t guarantee you the level of success you may want, but it will guarantee that you will become really good at whatever it is you put all that work into.Paragraph 1 mainly talks about ________.
| A．the standards of success | B．the meaning of success |
| C．the reasons for success | D．the importance of success |
In Paragraph 2, the underlined word “that” refers to ______.
| A．setting a practical goal | B．being good at something |
| C．putting in more time | D．succeeding in life |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Having a goal is vital to success. |
| B．Being good is different from being great. |
| C．One cannot succeed without time and practice. |
| D．Luck, talent and family help to achieve success. |
One day, when I was working as a psychologist in England，an adolescent boy showed up in my office. It was David. He kept walking up and down restlessly, his face pale, and his hands shaking slightly. His head teacher had referred him to me. "This boy has lost his family," he wrote. "He is understandably very sad and refuses to talk to others, and I'm very worried about him. Can you help?”
I looked at David and showed him to a chair. How could I help him? There are problems psychology doesn’t have the answer to, and which no words can describe. Sometimes the best thing one can do is to listen openly and sympathetically.
The first two times we met, David didn't say a word. He sat there, only looking up to look at the children's drawings on the wall behind me. I suggested we play a game of chess. He nodded. After that he played chess with me every Wednesday afternoon一in complete silence and without looking at me. It's not easy to cheat in chess, but I admit I made sure David won once or twice.
Usually, he arrived earlier than agreed, took the chess board and pieces from the shelf and began setting them up before I even got a chance to sit down. It seemed as if he enjoyed my company. But why did he never look at me?
"Perhaps he simply needs someone to share his pain with," I thought. "Perhaps he senses that I respect his suffering.”Some months later, when we were playing chess, he looked up at me suddenly.
"It’s your turn," he said.
After that day, David started talking. He got friends in school and joined a bicycle club. He wrote to me a few times about his biking with some friends, and about his plan to get into university. Now he had really started to live his own life.
Maybe I gave David something. But I also learned that one一without any words一can reach out to another person. All it takes is a hug, a shoulder to cry on, a friendly touch, and an ear that listens. When he first met the author, David.
| A．looked a little nervous | B．walked energetically |
| C．felt a little excited | D．showed up with his teacher |
As a psychologist, the author.
| A．was able to describe David's problem |
| B．was skeptical about psychology |
| C．was ready to listen to David |
| D．was sure of handling David's problem |
David enjoyed being with the author because he________.
| A．wanted to ask the author for advice |
| B．beat the author many times in the chess game |
| C．liked the children’s drawings in the office |
| D．need to share sorrow with the author |
Right in front of the Minneapolis Central Library，a row of green bikes sits parked in a special stand．Each bike is designed with the logo“Nice Ride”—the name of the city’s bike-share program.
Nice Ride bikes are a lot like the library books that people come here to borrow．To rent a bike，you simply use your membership card at a Nice Ride bike station．Members can rent one of 1,200 bikes from 138 stations throughout Minnesota's largest city．People use the Nice Ride bikes to go to work，to go out on business，or just to enjoy the city’s many bike paths．
The rise of bike-share programs like Nice Ride is encouraging more people than ever to choose biking over driving．Rising gas prices and concerns about the environment have also gotten people to dust off their bike helmets， pump air into flat tires，and hit the road．
Why ride? Not only is biking good exercise，but switching from a car to a bike also reduces the amount of pollution in the air．Carbon dioxide，a greenhouse gas linked to climate change，is one of the many polluting substances that come out of a car's tallpipe．
Bike-share systems are found around the world in cities like London，Paris，Barcelona，and Melbourne，Australia．The largest program-with 70,000 bikes-is in Wuhan，China.
To make roads friendlier to non-motorists，the U．S．Department of Transportation has invested more than a billion dollars in cycling and pedestrian projects in recent years．The money went toward building thousands of miles of on-street bike lanes and bike-and pedestrian-only passages called green ways．If one wants to use the bike，it's a must to __________．
| A．give away a bicycle | B．know Nice Ride well |
| C．pay the cost in advance | D．get a membership card |
Which of the following can people do with the bikes?
| A．Earn a living． | B．Enjoy bikeways． |
| C．Compete in a race． | D．Rent them out to others． |
Paragraph 4 is mainly about _____________．
| A．benefits of biking | B．pollution caused by cars |
| C．methods to use the bikes | D．ways to reduce pollution |
Which of the following is true of Nice Ride?
| A．It will take the place of taxi companies． |
| B．China has better public bike systems． |
| C．It attracts more people to choose biking． |
| D．The government lacks money to support it. |
The author's purpose in writing this text is to ______________．
| A．spread bike-share programs |
| B．seek advice for Nice Ride |
| C．compare Nice Ride with libraries |
| D．introduce the public bike system |
The day my husband fell to his death，it started to snow，just like any November day．His body，when I found it，was lightly covered with snow．It snowed almost every day for the next four months，while I sat on the couch and watched it pile up．One morning，I shuffled downstairs and was surprised to see a snow remover clearing my driveway and the bent back of a woman shoveling(铲)my walk．I dropped to my knees，crawled through the living room．And back up stairs so those good people would not see me．I was embarrassed．My first thought was，how would I ever repay them? I didn’t have the strength to brush my hair let alone shovel someone’s walk．
Before John’s death，I took pride in the fact that I rarely asked for help or favors，I defined myself by my competence and independence．So who was I if I was no longer capable and busy? How could I respect myself if all I did was sit on the couch every day and watch the snowfall?
Learning how to receive the love and support that came my way wasn't easy．Friends cooked forme and l cried because I couldn't even help them set the table．“I'm not usually this lazy，”I wept．Finally，my friend Kathy sat down with me and said,"Mary，cooking for you is not a burden. I love you and I want to do it．It makes me feel good to be able to do something for you．”
Over and over，I heard similar emotions from the people who supported me during those dark days．One very wise man told me，“You are not doing nothing．Being fully open to your sorrow may be the hardest work you will everdo．”
I am not the person I once was，but in many ways I have changed for the better．My heart is now filled with thanks for people around me．I have been surprised to learn that there is incredible freedom that comes from facing one’s worst fear and walking away whole．I believe there is strength，for sure，in accepting a dark period of our life.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The writer’s friend was unwilling to cook for her． |
| B．The writer had been busy with her life before． |
| C．The writer recovered from her sorrow quickly with his friend‘s help． |
| D．The day her husband died，it was snowing heavily． |
We can describe the writer before her husband died as the following except ___________．
| A．hard-working | B．independent |
| C．smart | D．capable |
The underlined word“shuffled”in Paragraph 1 probably means ___________．
| A．stepped steadily | B．walked slowly |
| C．ran swiftly | D．fell sadly |
We can infer from the passage that ____________.
| A．the writer found her husband immediately he fell off the roof |
| B．the writer became strong-willed immediately after John's death |
| C．the people around the writer were friendly and supported her |
| D．before John’s death，the writer never asked others for help |
The writer wrote the passage to ___________．
| A．share her sad story with us |
| B．express her guilty conscience to the people who helped her |
| C．show her thanks to the people who love and support her |
| D．tell us the changes she has made because of her husband’s death |
CHICAGO(Reuters)-Smoking not only can wrinkle(皱纹)the face and turn it yellow—it can do the same to the whole body，researchers reported on Monday．
The study，published in the Archives of Dermatology，shows that smoking affects the skin all over the body-even skin protected from the sun．
“We examined non-facial skin that was protected from the sun，and found that the total number of packs，of cigarette smoked per day and the total years a person has smoked were linked with the amount of skin damage a person experienced，”Dr．Yolanda，who led the study，said in a statement.
“In participants older than 65 years，smokers had significantly more fine wrinkling than nonsmokers．Similar fmdings were seen in participants aged 45 to 65 years．” Yolanda’s team added in their report．
The researchers tested 82 people，smokers and nonsmokers，taking pictures of the inner right arms．They ranged，in age from 22 to 91 and half were smokers．In dependent judges decided how wrinkled each person’s skin was.
When skin is exposed to sunlight，especially the face，it becomes coarse(粗糙的)．Wrinkled and discolored with a pale yellow tint，Yolanda's team wrote．
Several previous studies have found that cigarette smoking led to premature(过早的)skin aging asmeasured by facial wrinkles，the study said，but little has been done to measure the aging of skin not exposed to light．
The report did not discuss die mechanism involved but previous research has found that cigarette smoke，among other things，causes blood vessels(血管)beneath the skin to constrict(紧缩)，reducing blood supply to the skin．
Smoking can also damage the connective tissue(组织)that supports both die skin and the internal organs.The best title for this passage would be ______________．
| A．The danger of smoking | B．Smoking causes skin aging |
| C．Quit smoking for health | D．A survey of smokers |
It can be inferred from the study _____________．
| A．smoking won’t affect skin protected from the sun |
| B．smoking will do damage to skin rather than other organs |
| C．smokers over 65 usually won’t worry about their skin |
| D．the age of smokers is not connected，with the result of the test |
When your skin is exposed to sunlight long，it becomes all of the following but _________.
| A．flexible | B．coarse |
| C．rough | D．discolored |
According to the passage，how wrinkled a person’s skin is doesn’t relate to ___________．
| A．the number of cigarettes a person smokes |
| B．the kind and characteristics of skin |
| C．how long a person smokes |
| D．how long skin is under sunlight |
From the passage smoking results in skin aging mainly because ____________．
| A．it will lower blood supply to skin |
| B．it can make you feel tired |
| C．it can make skin come off |
| D．it can make blood run faster |
The main purpose of the passage is to ____________．
| A．inform people about the study of skin． |
| B．advise people how to protect skin |
| C．warn people not to smoke again |
| D．introduce a new way of avoid skin aging |