You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people could live to be 150, so at 40, you’re not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt, “Turn red.” It changes from blue to red. In 2035, “smart clothes” contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes’ color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says, “You shouldn’t drink that!” Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk and it knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It’s time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your “smart car” where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true? “For new technology to succeed.” says scientist Andrew Zolli. “it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example － what will be the next?
| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
| A．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| B．More drinks will be available for sale. |
| C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
| D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
| A．Nothing can replace the Internet. |
| B．Fridges will know what people need. |
| C．Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
| D．Cars will be able to drive automatically. |
| A．successful new technology must break through what exists already |
| B．what we have today is sure to disappear because of new technology |
| C．all these things will be turned into reality without any difference |
| D．the Internet has already been the best technology |
| A．Food and clothing in 2035. |
| B．Future technology in everyday life. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future. |
| D．The reason for the success of new technology. |
Writing a long book seemed to be too much for me. So, for a long time, I just wrote short articles. One day, inspiration(灵感) for an article hit me and, as I started writing, paragraphs began flowing out fast. It turned out to be too long to be an article. I thought it would not hurt to try self-publishing a booklet(小册子). The first printing of this 32-page black and white booklet sold out within a week. Here is something that I have learned through my experience.
1.Start small.
Don’t try to have a 400-page work as your first publication. I suggest you publish a booklet under 50 pages to launch your career as an author.
2.Ask for advice.
If you know some people who have published something, ask them for advice and help. You will gain useful information from them and save yourself many problems.
3.
When you put your heart into something only to hear“We’re not interested”,you may get hurt. But you must remind yourself that this is quite common. Every“yes”you receive comes after at least five“noes”,especially at the beginning. You need to revise your book many times to reduce the chances of being turned down.
4.The more you market, the more you sell.
You can publish an excellent book. But if no people know about it, you cannot expect many buyers. Send out an e-mail to friends, family and business partners, telling them your book’s publication date. Ask them to help sell your book.
Do not be afraid to try novel ideas.What does the underlined word“launch”in Point 1 there mean?
| A．Begin. | B．Develop. | C．Lead. | D．Describe. |
What’s the best title for Point 3?
| A．No one will like what you wrote at first. |
| B．You will get hurt by what you wrote at first. |
| C．Prepare for a“yes”rather than a“no”. |
| D．Be prepared to deal with“noes”. |
According to the passage, if you want to have more copies of your book sold, you should.
| A．advertise your book in newspapers |
| B．try to make more people know your book |
| C．ask your business partners to buy your book |
| D．write something that people are interested in |
About self-publishing a book, the writer would most probably agree that.
| A．one usually makes no money out of self-publishing a book |
| B．one should never self-publish a book longer than 400 |
| C．self-publishing a book is impossible for most people |
| D．asking advice from people who have published a book is helpful |
Sitting in the play area of the doctor’s office, my children, Paul, four, and Bailey, three, built a Lego tower while we waited to be called for Paul’s examination.
“Good job, you guys,”I said, trying not to sound too tired. My husband was away on business, and it was difficult being alone with the kids. At times I felt like I was living in the jungle(丛林) rather than the suburbs.
“Don’t put the Lego in your mouth, Bailey,”I said. Paul grabbed(抓取) it from him.“That’s not nice, Paul,”I said. He gave back the Lego. I looked around the waiting room. A woman was eating something, a couple were talking, and an old gentleman in a blue jacket was reading a magazine. I wished I could sit quietly for a while. I wanted to be able to take a rest, or go shopping alone. At once, I was ashamed of myself. What kind of mother was I? “God,”I thought, “help me to be the very best mom I can be.”
The nurse came into the waiting room to get us. Just at that moment, the old gentleman in the waiting room put down his magazine and came up to me. With a smile on his face, he said, “Your children are most certainly lucky to have such a wonderful mother.”“Thank you,”I replied in a low voice and watched him walk back to his seat. We followed the nurse into the examination room. While she weighed Paul, I told her how that man had made my day.
Motherhood is still a jungle sometimes, but now when I feel tired I remember the encouraging words of the old gentleman.The writer went to the doctor’s office because.
| A．one of her children liked to play there |
| B．her son Paul needed an examination |
| C．she was tired and needed to see her doctor |
| D．she wanted to have all her children examined |
.From Paragraph 2, we know the writer felt that looking after her children alone was.
| A．unfair | B．happy | C．hard | D．interesting |
The writer criticized(批评) Paul when he.
| A．put the Lego into Bailey’s mouth |
| B．took away the toy from Bailey |
| C．made trouble in the waiting room |
| D．didn’t follow her advice |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The writer often went shopping alone. |
| B．The writer’s husband was always on business. |
| C．The writer doesn’t know how to be a good mother. |
| D．The writer was greatly encouraged by the old gentleman’s words. |
One night recently, I was driving down a two-lane highway at about 60 miles an hour. A car approached from the opposite direction at about the same speed. As we passed each other, I caught the other driver’s eye for only a second. I wondered whether he might be thinking, as I was, how dependent we were on each other at that moment. I was relying on him not to fall asleep, not to be distracted (分心) by a phone conversation, not to cross over into my lane and bring my life to a sudden end. Though we had never spoken a word to each other, he relied on me in just the same way.
Multiplied a million times over, I believe that is the way the world works. At some level, we all depend upon one another. Sometimes that dependence requires us simply not to do something like crossing over the double yellow line. And sometimes it requires us to act cooperatively, with friends or even with strangers.
As technology makes our world smaller and smaller, the need increases for cooperative action among nations. In 2003, doctors in five nations were quickly organized to identify the SARS virus, which saved thousands of lives. The threat of international terrorism has shown itself to be a similar problem, one requiring team action by police and intelligence forces across the world. We must recognize that our fates are not ours alone to control.
In my own life, I used to put great stock in personal responsibility. But, as time has passed, I’ve also come to believe that there are moments when one must rely upon the good faith and judgment of others. So, while each of us faces the case of driving alone down a dark road, what we must learn with experience is that the approaching light may not be a threat, but a shared moment of trust.The author considers it very important ______.
| A．to drive with a companion | B．to have personal independence |
| C．to gain certain responsibility | D．to share trust and cooperation |
The author said that they depended on each other in the same way because ______.
| A．the approaching car was very dangerous |
| B．they both drove their car at a terrific speed |
| C．he might be killed out of the other’s careless driving |
| D．it was dark and the road was not wide enough |
From the second paragraph, we know the author drew the important lesson from ______.
| A．only one experience | B．many similar experiences |
| C．a driver on a dark road | D．many friends and strangers |
The need for cooperation increases because ______.
| A．people’s fates can’t be controlled by themselves |
| B．certain viruses can spread in a quick way |
| C．terrorism can happen everywhere and every day |
| D．the world has become much more dangerous |
We can infer from the last paragraph that the author has ______.
| A．believed in one’s own personal responsibility |
| B．counted upon himself alone in everything |
| C．had no trust in others’ good faith and judgment |
| D．had a change on his viewpoint of life |
A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves— the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. In fact, we really shouldn’t be because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solve problems, and calm ourselves down. Be aware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying “Good job!”
Often, words come out of our mouths without us thinking about the effect they will have. But we should be aware that our words cause certain responses in others. For example, when returning an item to a store, we might use warm, friendly language during the exchange. And the clerk will probably respond in a similar manner. Or harsh (刻薄的) and critical language will most likely cause the clerk to be defensive.
Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem (自尊) and motivate others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.The main idea of the first paragraph is that _________.
| A．words have a lasting effect on us |
| B．inspiring words give us confidence |
| C．negative words may let us down |
| D．not sticks and stones but words will hurt us |
There is no need for us to feel embarrassed when we talk to ourselves because _________.
| A．almost everybody has the habit of talking to themselves |
| B．talking to ourselves always gives us courage |
| C．we can benefit from talking to ourselves |
| D．it does no harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone |
The underlined part in the third paragraph means that we should also timely ________.
| A．remind ourselves | B．praise ourselves |
| C．make ourselves relaxed | D．give ourselves amusement |
The author would probably hold the view that _________.
| A．encouraging words are sure to lead to kind offers |
| B．negative words may motivate us to make more progress |
| C．people tend to remember friendly words |
| D．it is better to think twice before talking to others |
In which column of the newspaper can you most likely read this passage?
| A．News. | B．Advice column. | C．Health. | D．Language. |
When you make a mistake, big or small, cherish (珍视) it like it’s the most precious thing in the world, because in some ways, it is.
Most of us feel bad when we make mistakes, beat ourselves up about it, feel like failures, get mad at ourselves.
And that’s only natural. Most of us have been taught from a young age that mistakes are bad, and we should try to avoid mistakes. We’ve been scolded when we make mistakes—at home, school and work. Maybe not always, but probably enough times to make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious（无意识的）reaction.
Yet without mistakes, we could not learn or grow. If you think about it that way, mistakes should be cherished and celebrated for being one of the most amazing things in the world. They make learning possible; they make growth and improvement possible.
By trial and error—trying things, making mistakes, and learning from those mistakes—we have figured out how to make electric light, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, to fly.
Mistakes make walking possible for the smallest toddler, make speech possible, and make works of genius possible.
Think about how we learn：We don’t just consume information about something and instantly know it or know how to do it. You don’t just read about painting，or writing，or computer programming，or baking, or playing the piano, and know how to do them right away. Instead, you get information about something, from reading or from another person or from observing usually...then you construct a model in your mind...then you test it out by trying it in the real world...then you make mistakes...then you revise the model based on the results of your real world experimentation...and repeat, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, until you’ve pretty much learned how to do something. That’s how we learn as babies and toddlers, and how we learn as adults. Mistakes are how we learn to do something new—because if you succeed at something, it’s probably something you already knew how to do. You haven’t really grown much from that success—at most it’s the last step on your journey, not the whole journey. Most of the journey is made up of mistakes, if it’s a good journey.
So if you value learning，if you value growing and improving，then you should value mistakes. They are amazing things that make a world of brilliance possible.Why do most of us feel bad about making mistakes?
| A．Because mistakes make us suffer a lot. |
| B．Because it’s a natural part in our life. |
| C．Because we’ve been taught so from a young age. |
| D．Because mistakes have ruined many people’s careers. |
According to the passage, what is the right attitude to mistakes?
| A．We should try to avoid making mistakes. |
| B．We should owe great inventions mainly to mistakes. |
| C．We should treat mistakes as good chances to learn. |
| D．We should make feeling bad about mistakes an unconscious reaction. |
The underlined word “toddler” in Paragraph 6 probably means ________.
| A．a small child learning to walk |
| B．a kindergarten child learning to draw |
| C．a primary pupil learning to read |
| D．a school teenager learning to write |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．most of us can really grow from success |
| B．growing and improving are based on mistakes |
| C．we learn to make mistakes by trial and error |
| D．we read about something and know how to do it right away |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Value Mistakes | B．Mistakes Make Things Possible |
| C．Try to Avoid Mistakes | D．Life is a Journey Full of Mistakes |