Poet William Stafford once said that we are defined more by the detours (绕行路) in life than by the narrow road toward goals. I like this image. But it was quite by accident that I discovered the deep meaning of his words.
For years we made the long drive from our home in Seattle to my parents’ home in Boise in nine hours. We traveled the way most people do: the fastest, shortest, easiest road, especially when I was alone with four noisy, restless kids who hate confinement (限制) and have strong opinions about everything.
Road trips felt risky, so I would drive fast, stopping only when I had to. We would stick to the freeways and arrive tired.
But then Banner, our lamb was born. He was rejected by his mama days before our planned trip to Boise. I had two choices: leave Banner with my husband, or take him with me. My husband made the decision for me.
That is how I found myself on the road with four kids, a baby lamb and nothing but my everlasting optimism to see me through. We took the country roads out of necessity. We had to stop every hour, let Banner shake out his legs and feed him. The kids chased him and one another. They’d get back in the car breathless and energized, smelling fresh from the cold air.
We explored side roads, catching grasshoppers in waist-high grass. Even if we simply looked out of the car windows at baby pigs following their mother, or fish leaping out of the water, it was better than the best ride down the freeway. Here was life. And new horizons (见识).
We eventually arrived at my parents’ doorstep astonishingly fresh and full of stories.
I grew brave with the trip back home and creative with my disciplining technique. On an empty section of road, everyone started quarreling. I stopped the car, ordered all kids out and told them to meet me up ahead. I parked my car half a mile away and read my book in sweet silence.
Some road trips are by necessity fast and straight. But that trip with Banner opened our eyes to a world available to anyone adventurous enough to wander around and made me realize that a detour may uncover the best part of a journey—and the best part of yourself.Why did the author use to take freeways to her parents’ home?
| A．It was less tiring. |
| B．It would be faster and safer. |
| C．Her kids would feel less confined. |
| D．She felt better with other drivers nearby. |
The author stopped regularly on the country roads to _____.
A. relax in the fresh air
B. take a deep breath
C. take care of the lamb
C. let the kids play with Banner.What does the author discover from the trio according to Paragraph 6?
| A．Freeways are where beauty hides. |
| B．Getting close to nature adds to the joy of life. |
| C．Enjoying the beauty of nature benefits one’s health. |
| D．One should follow side roads to watch wild animals. |
Why did the author ask the kids to get out of the car on their way back home?
| A．To give herself some time to read. |
| B．To order some food for them. |
| C．To play a game with them. |
| D．To let them cool down. |
What could be the best title for the passage?
| A．Charm of the Detour |
| B．The Road to Bravery |
| C．Creativity out of Necessity |
| D．Road Trip and Country Life |
Mary’s plan for next week
| Monday |
7:30 go to the cinema with Alice |
| Tuesday |
11:00 doctor |
| Wednesday |
9:00 table tennis game evening-study for exam |
| Thursday |
8:30 concert |
| Friday |
Afternoon—help Uncle Sam in his restaurant |
| Saturday |
9:00—10:30 art class 14:00 visit grandmother |
| Sunday |
8:00 supper with Betty and Ann |
Peter’s plan for next week
| Monday |
study group meeting 3:00 p.m. |
| Tuesday |
basketball match 4:30 p.m. |
| Wednesday |
go to see some friends 2:00 p.m. |
| Thursday |
noon, lunch with Larry |
| Friday |
2:00—4:00 p.m. volunteer(志愿者) work @ Student Centre |
| Saturday |
Shopping 10:00 a.m. |
| Sunday |
Basketball team party 9:00 p.m. |
Peter’s study group meeting will be on ______.
| A．Saturday morning | B．Monday afternoon |
| C．Saturday evening | D．Friday afternoon |
From Peter’s plan we learn that Peter likes ______.
| A．table tennis | B．music | C．art | D．basketball |
On Sunday morning Mary will ______.
| A．be free | B．be busy | C．see the doctor | D．go shopping |
What will Mary do on Wednesday evening?
| A．See her friends | B．Play basketball |
| C．Go to her art class | D．Prepare for an exam |
We are already familiar with computers—computers work for us at home, in offices and in factories. But it is also true that many children today are using computers at schools before they can write. What does this mean for the future? Are these children lucky or not?
Many people who do not know about computers think of them as machines that children play with. They worry that children do not learn from experience but just from pressing a button and that this is not good for them. They think that children are growing not knowing about the real world.
But people who understand more about computers say that computers can be very good for children. A computer can help them to learn about the real world more quickly, to learn what they want to learn and think for themselves. And for the future, don’t we need people who can think clearly, who know how to get information quickly and use it well? What do you think?“To be familiar with” means to ______.
| A．know nothing | B．know about | C．dislike | D．like |
Does everyone think computers are good for children?
| A．Yes, they do. | B．No, not everyone thinks so. |
| C．They don’t know. | D．They are not sure. |
What can computers help children to do?
| A．To think clearly, to do homework and to write. |
| B．To play games, to do math and to copy. |
| C．To think clearly, to get information and to use it well. |
| D．To count, to clean the house and to get information. |
Christmas Eve means a warm get-together with friends, a candlelight dinner, or perhaps a celebration at a pub(酒馆) for students. But, for Cai Yingjie, the night has a different meaning: helping beggars(乞丐) and the homeless(people without homes).
Cai, who is a student in journalism at Tsinghua, could be found at Beijing’s Wudaokou Light Railway Station that special evening. When she saw an old beggar, she took the cold, rough hands of the woman with her warm, clean hands, and gave the woman some warm bread and helped her put on a pair of new gloves(手套).
The woman was surprised for a few seconds, then burst into tears, saying “for the first time I feel respected(尊重)”.
Cai said, “A beggar’s life is very hard. That’s why I want to help them.”
Cai was one of 14 Tsinghua students spendingChristmas Eve among the poor. They walked in the cold wind along the streets from 4to 7 pm on Friday, visiting 15 beggars in Beijing’s Haidian District.
They brought bread and gloves with them, and stopped to greet beggars and offer them some of the warm food. Each beggar greeted them with a look of surprise.
“I know the activity can’t help much, but it’s meant to show our respect and care for beggars and the homeless who have been neglected for so long,” said Sun, head of the group. “And Christmas is a good time for that.” What does Christmas Eve mean to the 14 Tsinghua students?
| A．Taking 15 beggars to Tsinghua. |
| B．Getting together with friends. |
| C．Showing care to the beggars and the homeless. |
| D．Selling bread and gloves to the beggars. |
What does the beggar mean by saying “for the first time I feel respected”?
| A．The beggar has been waiting for Cai for long. |
| B．The beggar hasn’t been shown care for so long. |
| C．The beggar has been respecting Cai for a long time. |
| D．This is the first time the beggar has seen Tsinghua students. |
What did each beggar feel when they received greetings?
| A．Sad | B．Amazed. | C．Frightened. | D．Proud. |
The word “neglected” in the last passage means _______.
| A．protected | B．found |
| C．taken care of | D．given no enough care |
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 it for carrying 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 associate 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 are collecting. We need to face the wastefulness of our consumer culture, but we have a mountain to climb.What does the underlined phrase “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 super markets | D．the increase of packaging recycling |
According to the text, recycling ______.
| A．helps control the greenhouse effect | B．means burning packaging for energy |
| C．is the solution to gas shortage | D．leads to a waste of land |
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．Fighting wastefulness is difficult. | B．Needless material is mostly recycled. |
| C．People like collecting recyclable waste. | D．The author is proud of their consumer culture. |
The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological（生态的） disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.
For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.
However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.
Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.
A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine（带状矿）. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer（层） of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.
In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.
Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen. What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?
| A．To seek help for Nauru’s problems. | B．To give a warning to other countries. |
| C．To show the importance of money. | D．To tell a heartbreaking story of a war. |
What was Nauru like before the Europeans came?
| A．Rich and powerful. | B．Modern and open. |
| C．Peaceful and attractive. | D．Greedy and aggressive. |
The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from .
| A．soil pollution | B．phosphate over mining |
| C．farming activity | D．whale hunting |
Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem?
| A．Its leaders misused the money. | B．It spent too much repairing the island. |
| C．Its phosphate mining cost much money. | D．It lost millions of dollars in the civil war. |
What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?
| A．The phosphate mines were destroyed. | B．The leaders will take the experts’ words seriously. |
| C．The island was abandoned by the Nauruans. | D．The ecological damage is difficult to repair. |