Do you have a hobby—something you really enjoy doing in your spare time? Have you ever wondered what it would be like if you could spend more time on your hobby and less time at work? Maybe it’s not an either/or situation. Perhaps you can do both at the same time.
When choosing a career, one of the things you must consider is your interests. Why then do so many people not even think about their hobbies when a hobby is, in fact, an interest? Perhaps it’s because even Webster’s Dictionary defines a hobby as “a pursuit (消遣，嗜好) outside one’s regular occupation (职业)”. Maybe this is a rule you should break. After all, no one ever said your hobby had to stay separate from your occupation. In addition people are usually very skilled at their hobbies. The combination of interest and skill is a very compelling (令人信服的) reason to choose a particular career.
“Who’s going to hire someone who loves making beaded (串珠状的) jewelry?” you may ask yourself. Good question. Don’t wait for someone to hire you. Start your own business. That may be the best way to combine your hobby with your career. Those with hobbies that involve creating things, i.e. jewelry, clothing, or pottery, may do well to sell those items on their own. Before you go forward with your plans, though, you should find out whether being an entrepreneur (企业家) is for you.
When you attempt to turn your hobby into a career, don’t forget to do your homework. Even though you may have enjoyed training your pet birds to sing the national song, that doesn’t mean you’re suitable to be an animal trainer. Be sure to research your career choice completely. There may be aspects（方面）of it that just aren’t for you. In that case, stick to your day job, as they say, and save your hobby for your free time. Why does the writer ask two questions in the first paragraph?
| A．To lead in the topic of hobby and career. |
| B．To describe what can be a hobby. |
| C．To compare hobbies with work. |
| D．To explain what a hobby is. |
We can infer（推断）from paragraph 2 that many people ___________.
| A．always mix their interest with their hobbies |
| B．often separate their hobbies from their jobs |
| C．daren’t break a rule of choosing their jobs |
| D．don’t know the true meaning of a hobby |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Doing one’s homework may be a hobby. |
| B．A day job can’t be a hobby in your spare time. |
| C．Not every hobby is suitable to become a career. |
| D．An animal trainer has a hobby of singing songs. |
By writing this passage, the writer wants to introduce ___________.
| A．how to choose a hobby for your free time |
| B．how to develop your own hobby |
| C．how to treat your job as a hobby |
| D．how to turn a hobby into a career |
A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another, like a disease.
Researchers used information from the Framingham Study, which began in 1948. The Framingham Study gathers information about physical and mental health, personal behavior and diet. At first, the study involved about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now, more than 12,000 individuals are taking part.
Information from the Framingham Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behaviors like littering and the ability to stop smoking.
University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo led the recent study. He and other researchers attempted to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.
Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact, a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25% more likely. The researchers say this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.
The effect was strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.
The New York Times newspaper reports that, on average, people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent, or two and a half fewer lonely days.
Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help in reducing it.
The study suggests that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.From the passage, we can learn that .
| A．the habit of littering doesn’t spread |
| B．a lonely person won’t have friends |
| C．everyone may be affected by others’ loneliness |
D．lonely people don’t know the cause of their lone liness |
Which statement about the spread of loneliness is true?
| A．The spreading effect was the second strongest among friends. |
| B．No spreading effect was found on husbands and wives. |
| C．Women are more likely to be affected than men. |
| D．Brothers are more easily affected than neighbors. |
If you make 10 more friends in a year, the days of your feeling loneliness will be reduced by.
| A．48 days | B．25 days | C．20 days | D．15 days |
What is the main idea of the passage?
A．Actions should be taken t o help lonely people. |
B．People feel lonely for many reasons. |
| C．Ways to fight against loneliness. | D．Lonely people can affect others. |
To all of you at Chinese love links.
I am 44 years old and never married. I have always wanted to find that perfect someone that I dream about. For about the last five years I have almost given up the hope of ever finding the one I truly wish to spend the rest of my life with.
I have always tried to be a nice guy. I had found your website some four or five months before. I did not know what to expect. I don’t know how to speak Chinese and never thought truly of how I was to an Asian woman.
Well, I had a lot of replies from some very nice and pretty women. I had a hard time finding only a couple to write to. But one stood out from the rest. She was cute, nice and seemed to hold a lot of the same values as I do. In a short time I had decided to write only to her. We communicate via e-mails 2-3 times a day and phone calls once or twice a week.
I went and met her and her family only a week ago. Her name is 
Yun and she lives in Nanning. I found Nanning to be one of the most beautiful cities I had ever been to. We had even decided to marry and bring her to the USA under the finance visa. Not only did she meet everything I had ever hoped to find in someone else but turned out to be what every woman should be like, at least the ones I have met. We plan to marry as soon
as she is here and start a family together as neither of us has children but we both want them.
So to anyone out there reading this, I can only say this: You may not find what you are looking for if you’re not honest with your partner and yourself. This site worked for me mostly because I was honest with something that I wanted in someone else. When I did find her, love can work even across the other side of the world, between language differences and cultural differences. I wish you all luck in finding your perfect match. I have finally found mine and wish to give all my thanks to those at Chinese love links to help make it happen.
Sincerely yours,
ArthurWe can infer from the letter that Chinese love
links is
a website to ____________.
| A．help foreigners to travel in China |
| B．help both Chinese and foreigners to find one they want to marry |
| C．help Chinese and foreigners make friends |
| D．receive letters from the USA |
Which of the following is true about Arthur’s story?
| A．He was sure of finding a Chinese woman as his wife at first. |
| B．He was determined to find a Chinese woman as his wife. |
| C．He almost lost hope in finding a perfect wife until he found Yun. |
| D．No women wrote to him before Yun. |
Yun stood out from the rest because ________.
| A．she was a Chinese. |
| B．she had much in common with Arthur |
| C．other women stopped writing to Arthur |
| D．she was cute and nice and often phoned to Arthur |
Arthur thinks _________ is the most important in finding someone one wants to ma
rry .
| A．being honest with the partner and oneself | B．help from the website |
| C．difference in languages and places | D．difference in cultures |
What is language for? Some people seem to think it’s for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words — the longer the lists, the better. That’s wrong. Language is for the exchange (交流) of ideas and information. It’s meaningless knowing all about a language if you can’t use it freely. Many students I have met know hundreds of grammar rules, but they can ’t speak correctly or fluently(流利地). They are afraid of making mistakes. One shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes when speaking a foreign language. Native speakers make mistakes and break rules, too. Bernard Shaw once wrote, “Foreigners often speak English too correctly.” But the mistakes that native speakers make are differ
ent from those that Chinese students make. They are English mistakes in the English language. And if enough native speakers break a rule, it is no longer a rule. What used to be wrong becomes right. People not only make history, but they make language. But people can only make its own language. It can’t make another people’s language. So Chinese students of English should pay attention to grammar, but they shouldn’t overdo it. They should put communication first.Language is used to ________.
| A．express oneself | B．practice grammar rules |
| C．talk with foreigners only | D．learn lists of words |
Generally, when an American or an Englishman speaks English, he ______.
| A．never makes mistakes | B．often makes mistakes |
| C．can’t avoid（避免）making mistakes | D．always makes mistakes |
“Foreigners often speak English too correctly.” The sentence means that ______.
| A．foreigners speak correct English. |
| B．foreigners speak incorrect English. |
| C．foreigners speak English according to the grammar rules. |
| D．foreigners never make mistakes when they speak English. |
If too many native speakers break a rule, ______.
| A．what they will become right | B．they are against the law |
| C．they should say sorry to others | D．they will become heroes |
When we speak a foreign language, we should _____.
| A．speak in Chinese way | B．speak by the rules |
| C．speak to native speakers | D．not be afraid of making mistakes |
Ｊａｓｏｎ
What I like best is seeing Arsenal win and playing football. If I am feeling sad I will play a football game on my Play Station 2. The best day I have ever had was when I finished first in the 800-metre race at my secondary school. It was a school record, although I didn’t know that at the time. My family makes me happy, too.
Ａｎｔｏｎｉｏ
My little sister makes me sad because she always tells tales on me to my mum. If I am having a bad day, food cheers me up. I like chili con carne and sweet chili crisps. It makes me happy because I want to be big and have lots of energy.
Ｕｓｍａｎ
I haven’t done anything very exciting in my life but one of my best achievements is that I got a good report from my school this year, because last year I got a bad one. People on TV make me laugh, particularly Eddie Murphy. If I am having a bad day I watch Ｂａｓｉｌ Ｂｒｕｓｈ. I am good at making other people happy. I just talk and my friends start laughing — they think I am silly.
Ａｓｈｌｅｉｇｈ
If I’m having a bad day, knowing that someone is there for me can make me happy. I wouldn’t say I’m the best at making other people happy, but I know that just being a good friend to other people is important. The things I like doing are singing, dancing, hanging out with my friends and just being lively and funny.
Ｋｉｎｚｅｙ
The most exciting thing I have ever done in my life was when I went abseiling in Wales. But that was a one-off. The things I do all the time are playing football, watching movies and going places with my friends. I know it sounds bad, but what I find funny is when people hurt themselves. If I am having a bad day and I see someone having a worse day than me, that makes me feel better. Food is very important for _________ when he has a bad day.
| A．Kinzey | B．Ashleigh | C．Antonio | D．Usman |
________ like playing football.
| A．Jason and Ashleigh | B．Jason and Usman |
| C．Kinzey and Usman | D．Kinzey and Jason |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Kinzey finds it bad when people hurt themselves. |
| B．Jason knew he had set a new school record when he finished first in the 800-metre race. |
| C．When Usman talks, his friends start laughing because they think he is humorous. |
| D．Antonio likes food because he wants to be big and have lots of energy. |
Ashleigh mentions all the following things EXCEPT（除外）_________.
| A．to make other people happy |
| B．to play football with friends |
| C．to hang out with friends |
| D．to be lively and funny |
The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．what makes different people happy |
| B．what makes different people feel moved |
| C．relationships between different people |
| D．what different people think success is |
I went to the Chinatown market in London last Sunday. The first thing I did was to go to one of the Chinese green grocers’ shops. As soon as I entered the shop, I smelt mixtures of Chinese spices and saw the new season’s fruits. My son wanted a bag of sweets, so we popped into the shop next door which sells many kinds of candy.
There’s a lot of noise in the Chinatown market and you will see many tourists too. There are a lot of cars and trucks that never stop beeping. While people are loading and unloading their goods, most of them have their cars and trucks parked in the middle of the road. This causes great inconvenience for other drivers. Can you imagine that?
After we had done all our shopping, my son and I went to a restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed our meal very much. But the shopping made us both very tired at the end. We headed down the road to catch our bus home. My son and I enjoyed riding in the bus. We also enjoyed looking at different buildings and people walking by dressed in fancy outfits. Although Chinatown can be a busy place to shop, I do enjoy going there now and then. I can buy some of my necessities, and I can also look and browse around the other shops and department stores where I can indulge (使沉迷) myself with some nice things. Chinatown is located in the heart of central London where you can find tons of shops and other places to amuse you. And for me, I certainly don’t mind going back there again soon.The underlined words “popped into” most probably could be replaced by “_____”.
| A．broke into | B．rushed into | C．pushed into | D．walked into |
The author probably didn’t go to a ______.
| A．restaurant | B．grocery |
| C．clothing store | D．sweets shop |
What can we learn from the passage?
From the passage, we can infer that the author most probably went to Chinatown by_____
What does the last sentence of the passage imply?
