Last week the manager of an old jeweler’s shop received a letter marked “personal”, so of course his secretary gave it to him unopened. As he was very busy, the letter lay on his desk till tea-time. Then he opened it and a ￡10 note fell out onto his desk. With the note was a short letter. This is what it said:
Dear Sir,
In 1935 I got engaged. But unfortunately at that time there was a lot of unemployment and I lost my job. I was six months without a job and then I got work again. But of course was very short of money. I came to your shop to buy a wedding ring. The assistant brought some rings for me to look at, but she was called away for a moment, and I put one of the rings in my pocket. When she came back, I said I did not know the size of my girl-friend’s finger. So I left the shop without buying a ring.
My wife died a short while ago and the fact that I never paid for her ring has been on my conscience (良心) all these years. At the time the ring cost ￡2 so I reckon (估计) that is about ￡10 at today’s price. And I am sending you that amount.
Yours truly,
A customer
“Well, well, well,” said the manager, “life is full of surprises!”Why didn’t the secretary open the letter? Because _______.
| A．he was very busy |
| B．it was a personal letter |
| C．there was a ￡10 note in it |
| D．the letter was unimportant |
What was true about the assistant?
| A．She lost her job. |
| B．She was short of money. |
| C．She was called away while serving the customer. |
| D．She put one of the rings in her pocket. |
What happened to the writer of the letter in 1935?
| A．He married a girl. |
| B．He was out of work for six months and short of money. |
| C．He lost a ring. |
| D．His parents died. |
The best headline for this article would be _______.
| A．A Customer Pays His Bill | B．An Old Jeweler’s Shop |
| C．The Manager and the Letter | D．A Letter with ￡2 |
Anyone who has worn a cast (石膏) knows that rebuilding muscle strength once the cast is removed can be difficult. Now researchers at the Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI) at Ohio University have found that the mind is critical in maintaining muscle strength following a long period of not moving and that mental imagination may be key in reducing the associated muscle loss.
Strength is controlled by a number of factors---the most studied by far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important, though not fully understood, determining factor of strength and weakness.
Brian C. Clark and colleagues set out to test how the system functions in strength development. They designed an experiment to measure changes in wrist (腕) muscle strength in three groups of healthy adults. Twenty-nine subjects wore a hard cast that extended from just below the elbow (肘) past the fingers, effectively preventing the hand and wrist from moving, for four weeks. Fifteen subjects who did not wear casts served as the control group.
Of the 29 people wearing a hard cast, half were asked to regularly perform an exercise, imagining they were strongly contracting their wrist for five seconds and then resting for five seconds. This was repeated four times in a row followed by a one-minute break for a total of 13 rounds per session and five sessions per week. The other half performed no imagination exercises.
At the end of the four-week experiment, both groups who wore casts had lost strength in their unmoving limbs (肢体) when compared to the control group. But the group that performed imagination exercises lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group. The nervous system’s ability to fully make the muscle recover also returned more quickly in the imagination group compared to the non-imagination group.What does the underlined word “critical” mean in the first paragraph?
| A．Serious. | B．Embarrassing. |
| C．Important. | D．Normal. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Scientists have partly understood the nervous system. |
| B．Whoever has worn a cast for long may have difficulty in muscle recovery. |
| C．Scientists have already spent a lot of time in studying skeletal muscle. |
| D．The number of the subjects in the experiment was 29 in all. |
What can we learn from the experiment?
| A．The control group lost 50% less strength than the non-imagination group. |
| B．The imagination group lost more strength than the non-imagination group. |
| C．The control group wore casts but didn’t perform the imagination exercise. |
| D．The speed of non-imagination group’s muscle recovery was slower. |
Where can you most probably find the passage?
| A．In a science magazine. | B．In a storybook. |
| C．In a textbook . | D．In a book review. |
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.
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．She needn’t stop on the way. |
| B．It would be faster and easier. |
| C．Her kids would feel less confined. |
| D．She felt better with other drivers nearby. |
What does the author discover from the trip 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 |
Beaches are not only great for lying on and doing water sports, and in fact one of the best ways of enjoying them is a classic beach walk. Here at iWantSun. Co. Uk, we’ve been searching the globe to find you the world’s best and most glorious beach walks, and here’s our pick of the top.
The Footpath of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy
The name says it all really and you truly do feel up there to walking along this wonderful mountain coastal path, which offers some of the most striking views on the planet. The path begins at town of Bomerano to charming Positano along the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Amalfi Coast. The whole walk will take you approximately four and a half hours to complete and pass over narrow rocky paths, past sheer cliffs and shining blue bays.
Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk, Australia
Sydney’s coastline is one of the most beautiful and diverse in the world. Here you have national parks, historic sites, steep cliffs, sparkling beaches and quiet bays all in one place. Sydney’s Great Walk runs all the way from Barrenjoey in the north to Royal National Park in the south and takes an incredible seven days to complete. However, if you’re not up to doing the full walk, then there are many different parts of the walk that you can do right in the city. Walking from the city’s famous Bondi Beach to the sweeping curve of Bronte Beach takes just an hour, which takes in some top scenery.
Great Ocean Walk, Australia
The Great Ocean Walk stretches 104 km along Victoria’s famous Great Ocean Road, located on the southern coast of Australia, from the resort town Apollo Bay to the magnificent Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are the area’s famous stone landmarks which stand out like giants from the sea. The walk passes through a range of landscapes and sights, from national parks, famous surfing spots and deserted beaches, to wild coastlines, cascading waterfalls, lush forests, historic lighthouses and ghostly shipwrecks. Day walks and shorter three-hour walks such as the Wreck Beach Walk or the Lighthouse Cemetery and Lookout Walk can also be enjoyed.
So next time when you’re looking for a beach holiday don’t just think about the resorts and the sand, but consider a more active sun holiday, discovering some of the best beaches in the world.The author intends to tell us ____________.
| A．the world’s best places for beach walks |
| B．the wonderful beaches in the world |
| C．the ideal tourism resort for health |
| D．the beautiful beaches in Australia |
When you arrive at the Amalfi Coast _______________.
| A．you must be disappointed at the footpath |
| B．you will be fascinated by the scenery |
| C．you can start walking from Positano |
| D．you may be trapped in narrow rocky paths |
What is special about Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk?
| A．It takes about more than five hours to complete. |
| B．It starts from Royal National Park in the north. |
| C．It provides visitors a variety of great landscapes. |
| D．It really has the longest coastline in the world. |
According to the fourth paragraph we can know that __________________.
| A．Apollo Bay is at the end of the Great Ocean Walk |
| B．the Twelve Apostles exists below the surface of the sea |
| C．the Wreck Beach Walk can also give visitors pleasure |
| D．most visitors can finish the 104 km walk in three hours |
Christian Eijkman, a Dutch doctor, left the Netherlands for the island of Java. Many people on the island had a disease called beri-beri. He was going there to try and find a cure.
At first, Eijkman thought some kind of germ (细菌) caused beri-beri. He raised some chickens. He didn’t eat them, but made experiments on them. The local people were quite surprised at that. One day he noticed that his chickens became sick when they were fed the food most Javanese ate — refined white rice (精炼米). When he fed them with unrefined rice, also known as brown rice, they recovered. Eijkman realized that he had made an important discovery — that some things in food could prevent disease. These things were named vitamins. The Javanese were not getting enough vitamins because they had actually removed the part that contains vitamins. Later, other diseases were also found to be caused by the lack of vitamins in a person’s food.
Today many people know the importance of vitamins and they make sure they have enough vitamins from the food they eat. If they don’t, they can also take vitamin pills.Christian Eijkman went to the island of Java to ______.
| A．help the Javanese with their illness |
| B．find ways to grow better crops |
| C．do some research about the island |
| D．spend his holiday |
Why did Christian Eijkman raise some chickens?
| A．To eat them. |
| B．To make money by selling them. |
| C．To give the Javanese a surprise. |
| D．To carry out his experiments. |
If a person doesn’t get enough vitamins in his diet, he’d better ______.
| A．eat more rice | B．eat vitamin pills |
| C．eat some chicken | D．eat more meat |
In the Internet age, speed reading is a necessary and important skill. We skim over articles and e-mails to try to get key words and the main idea of the text. With so much information through our electronic devices (电子设备), it would be impossible to get through everything if we read word by word, line by line. However, a new trend calls on people to enjoy reading slowly.
A recent story from The Wall Street Journal reported on a book club in Wellington, New Zealand, where members meet in a café and turn off their smartphones. They sit back in comfortable chairs and read in silence for an hour.
Unlike typical book clubs, the point of the slow reading club isn’t to exchange ideas about certain books, but to get away from electronic devices and read in a quiet, relaxed environment. According to the story, the Wellington book club is just one example of a movement started by book lovers who miss the traditional way of reading.
Traditional readers, like Maura Kelly, say a regular reading habit sharpens the mind, improves concentration, reduces stress levels and deepens the ability to understand others. Some of these benefits have been backed up by science. For example, a study of 300 elderly people published by the journal Neurology last year showed that adults who take part in activities that use their brain, such as reading, suffer less memory loss as they get older. Another study published last year in Science showed that reading novels helps people understand others’ mental states and beliefs — a key skill in building relationships.
Yet technology has made us less careful readers. Computer and phone screens have changed our reading patterns from the top-to-bottom, left-to-right reading order we traditionally used, to a wild skimming pattern as we hunt for important words and information. Reading text online that has many links to other web pages also leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text. The Internet may have made us stupider, says British journalist Patrick Kingsley, only half joking. Because of the Internet, he says we have become very good at collecting a wide range of factual tidbits (花边新闻), but we are also gradually forgetting how to sit back, think and connect all these facts with each other.Speed reading is a necessary and important skill in the Internet age because people ______.
| A．no longer read word by word, line by line |
| B．have to get the meaning faster |
| C．have much more information to read |
| D．must use their smartphones more frequently |
Members of the Wellington book club are expected to ______.
| A．make coffee for the other members |
| B．read peacefully for an hour |
| C．regularly exchange ideas about books |
| D．turn off their smartphones for sleeping |
According to the Neurology study, who is most likely to suffer memory loss?
| A．A 79-year-old woman who reads regularly. |
| B．A 17-year-old middle school student who seldom reads. |
| C．A healthy 24-year-old university graduate who often plays games. |
| D．A 65-year-old man who rarely reads. |
The last paragraph is written to ______.
| A．explain the secrets of others’ minds |
| B．describe the problems caused by electronic reading |
| C．call on people to read more about science |
| D．encourage people to read as slowly as possible |