Have successful people ever felt sad? Do they have any “secrets” to success? The answers to these questions can be found in US president Barack Obama’s “Back to school” speech. Here is an excerpt(摘录) from his speech.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense that you can be rich and successful without any hard work—that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. Not all the homework will seem completely important to your life right this minute. And you may not succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was turned down 12 times before it finally came out. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots (投篮) during his career. But he once said, “I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures beat you — you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time.
No one’s born being good at things. You become good at things through hard work.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new.
And even when you are struggling, even when you are discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you — don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.Why does Barack Obama mention JK Rowling and Michael Jordan in the fourth paragraph?
| A．To compare these two famous persons. |
| B．To explain that writing and sports are difficult skills. |
| C．To show that the two persons were treated unfairly. |
| D．To prove that failure is the mother of success. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
| A．No one can be successful without working hard. |
| B．Failure can be good if you treat it in a right way. |
| C．Those who believe in themselves shouldn’t ask others for help. |
| D．One should try his best to make his dream come true. |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?
| A．One should change his mind when others give honest advice to him. |
| B．One should believe in himself no matter what difficulty he is faced with. |
| C．One doesn’t have to work hard when he has failed several times. |
| D．One doesn’t have to take others’ advice when they get away from him. |
Look carefully at the back of a California state quarter．A man with a walking stick is pictured there．A bird called a California condor(大秃鹫)is flying overhead. Who is this man，and why is he so important that he is featured(处于显著地位)on the back of a coin?
The man on this quarter is John Muir．Even as a child, Muir loved watching nature. As a young man，he spent much of his life exploring the beauty of the wilderness．He walked more than a thousand miles across the country，through fields and woods．John Muir liked writing about the places he visited，describing their beauty.
Muir also wrote about problems．In order to create more farmland for sheep and cattle, many trees were being cut down．This made Muir unhappy and worried，because he knew that trees were important to forests and to the animals that lived in them．Muir believed that nature should be conserved(保护)instead of being changed by human beings．He wrote articles in magazines and newspapers to spread the word about conserving forests．Soon，others began to listen．
Muir wrote letters to important people，such as President Theodore Roosevelt．The president admired Muir’s love for nature．When Roosevelt came to visit Muir in California. Muir convinced(说服)the president to go camping with him for three nights under the trees so they could talk about conservation．Later，President Roosevelt set aside 148 million acres of land for national forests and established(建立)five national parks．National parks are large areas of land that are protected from development. This means that people cannot build homes or businesses there. One of these parks is Yosemite National Park，the area that is featured on the back of the California quarter．
Though it has been almost one hundred years since John Muir died，people continue his work today．His work as a conservationist helped us to see the beauty of our natural world．John Muir made us understand the importance of protecting our earth and our resources---then，now，and for the future．
What did John Muir spend much of his life doing when he was a young man?
| A．Watching natural views． |
| B．Writing about the places he visited． |
| C．Exploring the beauty of the wilderness． |
| D．Creating farmland for sheep and cattle． |
Why did President Theodore Roosevelt visit John Muir?
| A．Because Roosevelt loved watching nature． |
| B．Because Roosevelt received letters from John Muir． |
| C．Because Roosevelt admired John Muir’s love for nature. |
| D．Because Roosevelt was sad about the problems with farmland． |
What happened after President Roosevelt went camping with John Muir?
| A．Many trees were cut down． |
| B．Five national parks were established． |
| C．More homes and businesses were built. |
| D．More farmland was used for sheep and cattle. |
Why is John Muir featured on the back of a California state quarter?
| A．Because he walked over a thousand miles across the country． |
| B．Because he helped people understand the importance of protecting the natural world. |
| C．Because he wrote articles to spread the word about conserving forests． |
| D．Because he once wrote several letters to President Theodore Roosevelt． |
What is the writer’s purpose of writing this article?
| A．To advise readers to become active conservationists. |
| B．To make us interested in the story about a great man． |
| C．To tell us something about an important person in history． |
| D．To give information about how to conserve the environment． |
Smoking in indoor public places including public working places, public transport vehicles and some other special outdoor working places has been banned(禁止)in China since January 2011.Let’s look at the following advantages of banning smoking.
First, banning smoking will not only help in saving smokers from health problems and diseases, but will also be good for passive(被动)smokers. When the smoker is smoking in a restaurant, the people around him are sure to breathe in the smoke and suffer from the diseases an active smoker gets. If smoking is banned, spread of these diseases can be controlled.
Next, banning smoking will put stress on smokers to give up. Since a smoker is prevented from smoking, he will learn how to live without smoking for long hours. When a smoker doesn’t smell or see anybody around him smoking, it might reduce his wish to smoke too. As a result, people have to give up smoking.
Smoking in public places influences non-smokers to start smoking, especially adolescents. When teens see people around them smoking, they will follow them easily. Thus the number of teen smokers will increase. Also asthma(哮喘)and other problems are often seen in children living around smokers. So if it is banned, these places will become safe for children and teenagers.
Looking from the economic point of view, smoking should be banned to increase work productivity(生产率).Employees(雇员)who smoke usually take breaks to smoke while working. So the number of hours they put in their work is smaller.
If you see from the environment point of view, smoking should be banned. Smoking causes air pollution. If it is banned, it will help keep the environment from getting worse.
________doesn’t belong to a non-smoking place.
| A．A field | B．A hospital |
| C．A library | D．A restaurant |
The second paragraph mainly wants to tell us ______.
| A．banning smoking is good for restaurants |
| B．banning smoking is good for non-smokers |
| C．banning smoking is good for spread of diseases |
| D．banning smoking is good for active smokers and passive smokers |
How many advantages of banning smoking are mentioned in this passage?
| A．Two. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
According to the text, the underlined word “adolescents” means ______.
| A．men | B．women |
| C．adults | D．teenagers |
Which of the following statements in NOT true?
| A．If smoking is banned, work productivity will increase. |
| B．If smoking is banned, the number of teen smokers will be larger. |
| C．If smoking is banned, it will make the environment become better. |
| D．If smoking is banned, smokers will learn how to live without smoking. |
阅读理解
A
Welcome to this short tour of London. In this square we are standing in the middle of London. Opposite 对面) is the National Gallery, a museum with lots of famous paintings. Go along the red street to Buckingham Palace. The queen (后) lives here.
Turn left and go to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Opposite you can see the London Eye. It takes you 135 meters above the River Thames. You can see most of London on a clear day.
When you are tired, the best way to see London is by boat. You can get the boat near Big Ben. As you go along the river, the London Eye is on your right, near the Railway Bridge.
Get off the boat at Tower Bridge. Then you can see the Tower of London next to the bridge. The Tower of London is the city’s oldest palace. It is nine hundred years old.
Take the boat back along the river. Get off the boat and go past the station and walk along the street. Opposite is the old fruit and vegetable market. They don’t sell fruit and vegetables now. There are stores and restaurants, and lots of street musicians. Turn left into King’s Street, and go past the church. You’re now back where you started, at the square. Now you finish your tour.If you go to visit the National Gallery, what will you find?
| A．lots of lovely animals | B．lots of valuable plants |
| C．lots of famous paintings | D．lots of interesting books |
Where can you get the boat?
| A．Near Buckingham Palace. | B．Near Big Ben. |
| C．Near Tower Bridge. | D．Near King’s Street. |
______ is London’s oldest palace.
| A．The Tower of London | B．The National Gallery |
| C．Buckingham Palace | D．The Houses of Parliament |
______ is the London Eye.
You will not go past ______ on your way back.
| A．the station | B．the square |
| C．the park | D．the church |
Look at the center circles of Diagram（图）A and Diagram B. Which of the centre circles looks larger?
Take a first look and you probably think that the centre circle in Diagram A is smaller than that in Diagram B. In fact, they are exactly the same size.
Then look at the picture on the left. What do you see? A vase? Or two faces？Does the picture change quickly from one to the other again and again? Maybe or maybe not, but you can never see them at the same time.
“What’s happening? Is something wrong with my eyes?” You may wonder at what you see. Don’t worry. Here is how it goes：
When we look at things, our eyes send messages to our brains and then our brains interpret（解读）the information. However, sometimes our brains interpret the received information in a wrong way. It seems that our eyes are playing a joke on us. This often happens and we call it “Visual illusion（视觉错误）.
Movie makers often make use of illusions. They make the objects around actors much smaller or bigger than usual. This makes us believe that the actors are much larger or smaller than they usually are. The movies Jurassic Park and Honey I shrunk the kids just make use of illusions. Why does the centre circle in Diagram A look smaller than that in Diagram B?
| A．something is wrong with our eyes |
| B．the two circles are not the same size |
| C．our brains interpret the information in a wrong way |
| D．the two pictures change quickly from one to the other |
What’s the right order according to the passage?
a. We look at things with our eyes.
b. Our brains interpret the messages.
c. Our brains tell us what we have seen.
d. Our eyes send messages to our brains.
| A．a-c-d-b | B．c-a-b-d | C．a-d-b-c | D．b-c-a-d |
What do movie makers make use of visual illusions for ?
| A．To help the actors look better. |
| B．To make the actors much braver. |
| C．To help the actors become stronger. |
| D．To make the actors seem different in size. |
In the picture on the right, it seems that Line AB is shorter than Line CD, but in fact Line AB is as long as Line CD. Which paragraph can explain what has happened to our eyes?
A. The second one. B. The third one.
C. The fifth one. D. The sixth one.Which magazine is the text probably taken from?
| A．Art world | B．Amazing Science |
| C．Health and Medicine | D．Daily news |
The BBC was founded in 1922, including radio and television services. It is based at Broadcasting House in London.
The BBC is controlled by some governors chosen by the government, but these people have complete freedom and the government can’t interfere. That is to say, the BBC is not the voice of the government. It has to be as fair as possible in giving radio and television time to, for example, political parties and religious groups.
There is a kind of interesting services in Britain--- rental services. Many people prefer to rent their television sets instead of buying them.
The rent for a black-white set is about 80 pence a week (in 1980). The rent of a color set is more than twice that of a black-white set. If the sets go wrong, people can have them mended free of charge or replaced at once.
Everyone who owns or rents a television set has to pay a yearly license. There is no advertising on BBC radio or television. It is from the sale of license that the BBC gets most of its money. A license for a black-white set cost 8 pounds, and for a color set 18 pounds a year.
There are four specialized radio channels, which broadcast different kinds of programs. Radio 1 is mainly pop music. Radio 2 is about light music, sports and other programs. Radio 3 broadcasts serious music, talks on serious subjects, etc. news broadcasts are mainly given by radio 4.
There are special programs for Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and certain parts of England. It also broadcasts programs about Britain--- in many different languages as well as in English to all parts of the world. The officials in charge of the BBC _________________.
| A．must stay what the government wants to say |
| B．should give more time to political parties than to religious groups |
| C．are elected by the citizens from all over the country |
| D．can decide things without the permission for the government |
How does the BBC get most of its money?
| A．It gets money from all kinds of advertisements |
| B．The BBC depends on the rent of TV sets |
| C．The BBC gets money by mending TV sets that have gone wrong |
| D．It gets its money mainly by selling license |
If he wants to watch TV at home, everyone____________.
| A．has to buy a television set of his own |
| B．must rent a TV set |
| C．has to buy a license once a year |
| D．can change his broken TV set for a new one without pay |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The BBC radio services includes 4 radio channels. |
| B．The BBC broadcasts to foreign countries only in English. |
| C．The programs of the four radio channels are not the same. |
| D．The BBC special programs are not only for foreign countries but also for different areas in its own country. |