FunDayTocelebratetheYearofthes-优题课

I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows (誓约) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here's what I wanted to tell you today: get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion (提升), the bigger paycheck, the larger house.
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love，and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure(休闲) but work. Pick up the phone. Send an email. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives，our days，our hours，and our minutes. It is so easy to exist instead of living. I learned to live many years ago. Something really，really bad happened to me，something that changed my life. If I had my choice，it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what，today，seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey，not the destination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and tried to give some of it back because I believed in it，completely and totally. And I tried to do that，in part，by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this：read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness，because if you do，you will live with joy and passion(激情) as it ought to be lived.
How did the author form her view of life?

A．Through social experience.

B．By learning from her friends.

C．Through an unfortunate experience.

D． From her children and husband.

By the underlined sentence “It is so easy to exist instead of living.” in the fifth paragraph，the author really means that people tend to________.

A．make a living rather than live a real life

B．work rather than enjoy life

C．waste a lot in life

D．forget the most important lesson in life

What’s the author’s attitude toward work?

A．Do it well to serve others.

B．Earn enough money to make life better.

C．Try your best to get higher position and pay.

D．Don’t let it affect your real life.

It can be inferred from the passage that________.

A．the author is a success in personal life

B．the author doesn’t try her best to work well

C．the author spends all her time caring for her children

D．the author likes traveling very much

A few days ago，I went to school with lots of books，hoping to get a locker (锁柜)．Suddenly，it started raining heavily. I hurried to pay for my locker，but I was disappointed when they informed me they only accepted cash. I was $7.00 short，which meant I had to carry the books back home. It would be an exhausting (令人筋疲力尽的) twohour journey back home with all those books.
An elderly gentleman nearby noticed my problem. He asked how much cash I needed. When I told him I was $7 short，he quickly took out the money from his wallet. “You don’t have to pay me back，”he said. I was speechless；I didn’t know whether to take the money or come back with the books the next day. A young student who was working there noticed my hesitation. “He’s really nice，” said the student. “I was starving this morning and he bought breakfast for me. He always helps people in different ways.”
The next day，I went to him and thanked him for trusting me and lending me the money. He said he forgot about it and didn’t expect I would give it back. “I’m very happy，”he said，“not because I’m getting my money back，but because this is the right way to go—whatever you get from this world，give it back as much as you possibly can. Spread kindness around the world with the smallest things you can do.”
Later，I found out he wasn’t involved with any charity organizations. He has been performing these types of acts for years. Earlier，someone had done something incredibly kind for him and he has been spreading the kindness ever since. He taught me a very important lesson in life—we come to this world with nothing and we will leave with nothing. Whatever we own，it will become somebody else’s and whatever we leave，it will become somebody else’s.
When the old gentleman offered the money，the writer was________.

A．touched

B．hesitant

C．amazed

D．embarrassed

From Paragraph 3 we learn that________.

A．the gentleman worked in the school

B．the gentleman was kind but forgetful

C．the gentleman refused to take back the money

D．the gentleman thought it right to give back to society

Why had the gentleman been doing acts of kindness?

A．He wanted to join the charity organizations.

B．He managed a lot of other people’s money.

C．He had received help from others before.

D．He thought money was of little importance.

Can noncombustion (非燃烧) technology create a no-pollution way to drive？Imagine pulling into a service station to fuel up your car. But not at the gas pump or electric battery charger —at the air pump! That’s not hot air, either! The next generation of cars may run on thin air. Wouldn’t that be an incredible way to cut both pollution and dependence on foreign oil?
If you’ve ever inflated a balloon and then let it go, you’ve got the basics to test-drive the amazing MiniCAT, currently being developed by Noteur Development International (MDI), headquartered in Luxembourg. Invented by Formula One racing car designer Guy Negre, this experimental vehicle is unlike any car you’ve ever seen. While your family’s traditional car or SUV draws its horsepower using combustion, the only fuel that MiniCAT needs (CAT stands for Compressed Air Technology) is the air we breathe.
Start with about 25,000 gallons of air. Now, press it all into a space smaller than your school locker—because that’s the size of two super-strong, high-pressure air tanks, made from fiber and fixed beneath the air car.
Confining that much air inside those small tanks generates an internal pressure of over 4,000 pounds per square inch. That’s over 300 times normal air pressure.
When this cold, high-pressure air enters MiniCAT’s unique engine, it interacts(交互作用) with warmer air to create pressure waves that pump the engine’s engineered pistons (活塞) to move the car. MiniCAT’s projected top speed is 60 miles per hour, with a range of 120 miles on a full air supply.
What is the passage mainly about?

A．Ways to cut down air pollution.

B．Cars that run on thin air.

C．Formula One racing car designer.

D．Dependence on foreign oil.

What is MiniCAT according to the passage?

A．The name of a car.

B．The name of a balloon.

C．The name of a car company.

D．The name of a car designer.

The underlined world “Confining” in Paragraph 4 can be replaced by ___________.

A．Keeping

B．Preventing

C．Pushing

D．Running

What does the last paragraph tell us?

A．How much pressure the air creates.

B．How the car works.

C．What the normal air pressure is.

D．How the air gets into the engine.

Schooling Matters
March 25, 2014 Chengdu Michelle Obama
You see, the truth is that I grew up like many of you. My mom, my dad, my brother and I, we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago, which is one of the largest cities in America. My father worked at the local water plant…
While we certainly weren’t rich, my parents had big dreams for me and my brother. They had only a high school education themselves, but they were determined to send us both to universities.
So they poured all of their love and all of their hope into us, and they worked hard. They saved every penny. And I know that wasn’t easy for them, especially for my father. You see, my father had serious illness called multiple sclerosis(多发性硬化症). And as he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, and it took him longer to get dressed in the morning.
But no matter how tired he felt, no matter how much pain he was in, my father hardly ever missed a day of work, because he was determined to give me and my brother a better life. And every day, like so many of you, I felt the weight of my parents’ sacrifices on my shoulders. Every day, I wanted to make them proud.
So, while most American kids attend public schools near their homes, when it was time for me to attend high school, I took an exam and got into a special public high school where I could get a better education. But the school was very far from my home, so I had to get up early every morning and ride a bus for an hour, sometimes an hour and a half if the weather was bad. And every afternoon, I’d ride that same bus back home and then immediately start my homework, often studying late into the night – and sometimes I would wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to study even more.
And it wasn’t easy. But whenever I got tired or discouraged, I would just think about how hard my parents were working for me. And I would remember something my mother always told me – she said, “A good education is something that no one can take away from you.”
The passage can be sorted as a．

A．self-introduction

B．short story

C．news report

D．speech draft (草稿)

Which of the following is TRUE about Michelle Obama and her family?

A．Her parents were poor but had good educational backgrounds.

B．She attended a public high school near her home.

C．Her father suffered a serious disease and became disabled.

D．She was aware of her parents’ sacrifices and expectations.

Which of the following words best describes Michelle’s father?

A．Optimistic.

B．Humorous.

C．Strong-minded

D．Generous

What does Michelle mainly want to tell readers in this excerpt?

A．We should work hard and get good educations.

B．Our parents always have high expectations for us.

C．She is an ordinary person from an ordinary family.

D．The road to the US First Lady is not easy.

Henry Ford grew up on an un-electrified farm, and as a young man he followed Edison's career as the inventor became a national role model. Ford took a job at the Edison Illuminating Company working his way up to chief engineer．
In 1896 Ford was thirty-three and, though still working for Edison Co., he had created his first experimental automobile the Ford Quadricycle2 during his off-time. At an Edison company party in New York, Ford had his first chance to meet his hero Edison and was able to explain his new automobile to the great inventor. Edison was impressed. Edison is said to have slammed his fist down_and shouted, “Young man, that's the thing! You have it! Your car is self-contained and carries its own power plant.” Edison himself had been working on the idea, but had only been considering electricity as the power source, so the idea of a gas engine was a somewhat new one．
The words comforted Ford greatly, who immediately set out building a second car which was to become the Model-T.6. The two men became fast friends and would go on camping trips together．When Edison later became limited to a wheelchair, Ford brought an extra one to his house so they could race．At the 50th anniversary of the invention of light-bulb, Ford honored Edison．When Edison spoke, he ended his speech directed at Ford, “ As to Henry Ford, words fail to express my feelings．I can only say that he is my friend.” Therefore it is no surprise that Ford wanted something to remember Edison by after he passed away in 1931.
Once, Ford asked Thomas Edison's son Charles to sit by the dying inventor's bedside and hold a test tube next to his father's mouth to catch his final breath. Ford was a man with many strange behaviors (as was Edison) including some interest in reanimation and spiritualism（夏活通灵术）and some say that he was attempting to catch Edison's soul as it escaped his body in hopes of later bringing the inventor back to life.
The test tube itself didn't turn up until 1950 when it was listed in the Ford possessions after Clara Ford's passing away, and then lost again until 1978 when it was discovered in an exhibit Entitled “Henry Ford-A Personal History” in the Henry Ford Museum. It would then be discovered that the tube was labeled “Edison's Last Breath”.
There is a further mystery of this “last breath” test tube．It would seem as if Edison had quite a last breath indeed, as the Edison Estate holds a collection of 42 test tubes all supposedly containing Edison's last breath．
Regardless of the excitement over the last breath, the test tube is quite touching in its meaning．Although both men were known for all sorts of poor behavior towards their loved ones and mistreatment of employees, between them at least, there was clearly a deep respect and admiration．
The purpose of the author writing this passage is to .

A．remind the readers of the importance of the two inventors

B．stress the importance of friendship

C．tell the readers some stories about the two inventors

D．show that love can lead to some poor behaviors

From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, we can learn that.

A．Edison envied what Ford had achieved

B．Edison was annoyed that Ford did better than him

C．Edison was angry because Ford stole his idea

D．Edison was extremely amazed at Ford's new idea

“The 1ast breath test tube” can probably be regarded as.

A．a symbol of a friendship and memory

B．a witness to a scientific breakthrough

C．a failure to bring Edison back to life

D．a sign of the two inventors' poor behavior

It can be learned from the last paragraph that“”.

A．Great minds think alike

B．Nobody is perfect

C．Two heads are better than one

D．A friend in need is a friend indeed