J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, began writing at age 6. In her biography（传记）, she well remembers her good friend, Sean, whom she met in secondary school, helped build her confidence in becoming a very good writer. “He was the first person to know my serious dream to be a writer. He was also the only person who thought I was certain to be a success at it, which meant much more to me.”
Rowling met many difficulties in her writing, especially fantasy(幻想) stories. It wasn't until l990 that she first got the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester that “the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into my head. I didn't have a pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four(delayed train) hours, and all the details appear in my brain, and this thin, black-haired, glasses-wearing boy who didn't know he was a wizard (男巫) became more and more real to me.”
That same year, her mother passed away after a ten-year illness, which deeply affected her writing. She went on to marry and had a daughter, but separated from her husband shortly afterwards.
During this time, Rowling suffered from depression(抑郁症). She, out of work,completed her first novel in the cafes, where she could get her daughter to fall asleep. After being refused by l2 publishing houses, the first Harry Potter novel was sold to a small British publishing house.
Now with seven books sold nearly 400 million copies in 64 languages, J. K. Rowling is the highest earning novelist in history. And it all began with the confidence of a friend!
Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?
| A．Confidence of a Friend Helped the Success of Harry Potter |
| B．J.K.Rowing’s Hard Life and the Success of Harry Potter |
| C．J.K.Rowing---author of the Harry Potter book series |
| D．How J.K.Rowing Firstly Got the Idea of Harry Potter |
According to the passage, we know J.K.Rowing_______.
| A．had a happy family |
| B．had a ten-year illness |
| C．earned a lot from her novels |
| D．published 12 books in 64 languages |
Where did J.K.Rowing first have the shape of Harry Potter?
| A．in the cafes | B．on a train |
| C．in a secondary school | D．in a publishing house |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Harry Potter’s friends didn’t know he was a wizard until he graduated. |
| B．J.K.Rowing wrote down her idea while she was on the train by borrowing a pen. |
| C．It’s lucky that J.K.Rowing didn’t have a pen while she got the idea of Harry Potter. |
| D．Harry Potter was a thin, yellow-haired handsome boy with a pair of glasses on his nose. |
Businesses put lots of time and money into new plans, programs and excellent employees with the hope things will change. Yet, at the end of the effort, not much changes. What happens?
In most cases, those new plans, programs and employees enter a company with an existing culture (文化). And plans, programs and new employees have a way of conforming to(顺应)the existing culture. The culture of your business is the result of a particular mindset, or a particular way of thinking and the general feelings about certain things. Most often, it is the mindset of the founder or people managing the business.
The founder has gotten to where he is because of his skill sets, knowledge base and personal beliefs, which unfortunately all come with inherent (固有的)limits. Why Skills, knowledge and beliefs come from what he or she already knows or has experienced. In other words, it comes from the past. We (people) try to make the past fit the future. Just because something worked in the past, doesn't mean it is suitable for the future. As the saying goes, if you do and think what you have always done and thought, you will have what you have always had.
Therefore, lasting changes have to start with the way people think. To make changes in the way you think, you will be required to set goals beyond your basic abilities and continuously think them through. It is a way to train yourself and people to get out of the comfort zone where you feel happy with your knowledge and skills.Which question does the author try to answer?
| A．What past experience is useful for businesses |
| B．How much time is needed for making plans |
| C．How can changes be made in businesses |
| D．What kinds of employees are the best |
Where does the business culture mainly come from?
| A．The founder | B．The progress | C．The new employees | D．The collective effort |
What does the author think about the mindset of the company leader?
| A．It can prevent the enrichment of experience |
| B．It is useful far skill and knowledge learning |
| C．It is important for personal beliefs build-up |
| D．It may limit the company's development |
It's not much, but it's home. Francis Chan, an engineer, lives in Hampstead, north London, in a flat that's just 4ft wide by 21ft long. He loves it.
Tiny though it is, it has got all the comforts. Peter Baynes, Chan’s architect (建筑师),has achieved a clever piece of design, according to architectural experts.
The Chan mini-house was built on what was once a path down the side of a big Victarian house. Not an inch of space is wasted.
When you step in through the front door, you're standing in the shower, on Britain' s only self-cleansing doormat (自动清洁门垫). A door opens on to an equally tiny toilet with washbasin. Two steps further in comes the kitchen, complete with full-sized cooker and fridge, and washer/ drier. A worktop folds down from the wall.
Another step and you're into the dining/ office area. Four people can sit here for dinner, says Chan as he sets the table-top into place. He even has a fold-down drawing-board for when he's working at home. The bed is hidden under a cover board right at the back. "I don't even have to make the bed," Chan says." I just put the cover down. "
Chan's business suits hang neatly on the wall over the bed. Daylight comes in through the skylight. The house feels like a very small boat and Chan admits he toyed with the idea of naming it the "boat-house".
"It cost around ￡4,700 to build last year. Now it's been valued at ￡30,000. It proves that good design doesn't need to cost more. It just needs a lot of care." says Chan.By saying "It's not much" (line 1, para. 1), the author means that Chan's flat______.
| A．is cheap | B．has cheap furniture | C．has a simple design | D．is fairly small |
Where is Chan's flat?
| A．Next to a big house | B．Under an old building |
| C．In a busy London street | D．By the side of a country road |
Which of the following is the right order of things described in the text?
| A．Shower, kitchen, toilet, dining table and bed |
| B．Shower, toilet, dining table, kitchen and bed |
| C．Shower, toilet, kitchen, dining table and bed |
| D．Shower, kitchen, toilet, bed and dining table |
What is the purpose of this writing?
| A．To sell Chan's flat for more money |
| B．To tell people how to take care of small flat |
| C．To introduce to readers a cleverly-designed flat |
| D．To call on engineers to design their own home |
Scientists say they now have proof to support the old-fashioned advice that it's best to sleep on a problem. They say sleep strengthens the memory and helps the brain organize the masses of information we receive each day.
Lead researcher Bob Stickgold at the Harvard Medical School said, "Sleep helps us draw rules from our experiences. It's like knowing the difference between dogs and cats even if it's hard to explain."
The US research team studied how well students remembered connections between words and symbols (象征) , reports New Scientist. They compared how the students performed if they had had a sleep between seeing the words and having the test, and if they had not slept. They found that people were better able to remember lists of related words after a night's sleep than after the same time spent awake during the day. They also found it easier to remember themes (主题) that the words had in common. But they forgot around one in four more themes if they had been awake. Prof. John Groeger, of Surrey University's Sleep Research Centre, said, "People have been trying for years to find out what the purpose of sleep is, as we know that only certain parts of it have a restorative (有助恢复的) value. " "We form and store huge numbers of experiences in the head every day, and sleep seems to be the way the brain deals with it all."The phrase" to sleep on a problem" in Paragraph 1 most likely means to______.
| A．pay full attention to a problem | B．wait until later for a decision |
| C．sleep to forget a problem | D．have difficulty sleeping |
In the study by the US research team, students were asked to______.
| A．put together words of similar meanings |
| B．remember words and their meanings |
| C．show their knowledge of words |
| D．make up lists of related words |
Which of the following may be easier to remember?
| A．Themes learned right before the test |
| B．Rules from personal experience |
| C．Words learnt before a good sleep |
| D．Ideas stored together in the brain |
What may be the importance of the research?
| A．It shows sleep may help us manage information |
| B．It helps find out the common themes of word |
| C．It tells us that more sleep can improve health |
| D．It proves the value of old-fashioned advice |
Email Announcement Weekly
University libraries to be closed for day on Friday
All university libraries will be closed from 8 a. m. to 1 p. m. on Friday (Aug.10). The closure will allow librarians to complete various tasks to prepare for the coming fall term. Library users are asked to change their study or research plans around this short closure.
Bring your old films to Home Movie Day
Find your old home movies and bring them to Home Movie Day from 1-5 p. m. Saturday (Aug.11). The free event at Will's Campbell Hall, 300 N. Goodwin, includes a clinic on caring for old films and continuous showing of movies brought in by students like you. Sponsors (主办者) are WILL and the U of C Library.
Ireland garden tour set for June 2008
The public is invited to join Illinois Master Gardeners on a trip to visit popular public gardens and castles in Ireland. The tour (June 2-12, 2008) also includes several personal gardens as well as free time to find more. Bookings due Sept. 15. For trip introduction and booking information, please visit travels. To whom is the first email announcement probably sent?
| A．International tourist | B．University people | C．The general public | D．Movie lovers |
What do people do on Home Movie Day?
| A．They watch old movies at home |
| B．They give away old movies for free |
| C．They share home movies with others |
| D．They show movies at the U of C library |
People need to book the Ireland trip______.
| A．by Sep 15, 2007 | B．on Sep 15, 2007 |
| C．between June 2-12, 2008 | D．after June 12, 2008 |
What can people do at Campbell Hall?
| A．Learn how to take care of old movie |
| B．Visit a clinic to get advice on health |
| C．Get information for free event |
| D．Plan their study and research |
How do you think of the following example? Many Japanese never take the vacations they should enjoy, but with the coming of “Golden Week”, several holidays following one after another in late April and early May, they pour out of the country in the tens of thousands.
So when traveling, whether on business or for pleasure, the first thing to think about are hotels. The kind of hotel you choose is decided according to how much money you want to spend. There are small hotels with very few services, where the prices are low, or there are large hotels with all the very latest comforts, where you could spend all the money you have in the bank for a very comfortable night.
There are several different kinds of people who go to hotels. Some want to live, rather than just stay, in a hotel; hotels which are designed to meet their needs are called residential hotels. However, most people who stay in hotels are either business people or tourists on holiday.
In most hotels, there are two kinds of rooms: single rooms, for the use of one person, and double rooms, for the use of two people. In addition, in large hotels, there are also suites (套房), which include two or more rooms connected together — perhaps a bedroom and a living room. They are for people who are very rich or very important.From the example of many Japanese, we can learn that .
| A．they don’t enjoy taking vacations because it’s too expensive |
| B．they enjoy touring in “Golden Week” because it consists of several holidays |
| C．they don’t have vacations unless they go abroad |
| D．they enjoy staying at home unless they have enough time and money |
A person’s choice of a particular hotel is made mainly according to .
| A．how much he is willing to pay for a night |
| B．whether he is traveling on business or for pleasure |
| C．whether the hotel is in the central part of a city |
| D．how good the services of the hotel are |
If the president of a certain country comes, he will most probably .
| A．live in a new hotel | B．stay in a single room of a hotel |
| C．stay in a double room of a hotel | D．stay in a suite of a modern hotel |
If a person stays in a modern hotel with the latest comforts for a night, .
| A．he will become poor |
| B．he will have to pay a lot of money |
| C．he will have to spend all the money he has in the bank |
| D．he will have to draw all of his money out of the bank |