An 18-year-old student was struggling to pay his fees. Not knowing where to get the money, he and a friend decided to host a musical concert to raise money for their education.
They went to the great pianist Paderewski. His manager demanded $2,000 for the piano recital(独奏会). A deal was made and the boys began to work to make the concert a success.
The big day arrived. But unfortunately, they hadn’t managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1,600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and gave him the entire $1,600, and promised to pay him the rest $400 back as soon as possible. “No,” said Paderewski. “Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left.” The boys were surprised, and very thankful.
Paderewski later became the Prime Minister of Poland, and he was a great leader. When the World War broke out, more than l.5 million people went hungry, but there was no food to feed them. Paderewski turned to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.
The head there was a man called Herbert Hoover — who later became the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food to Poland.
Paderewski decided to go across to thank Hoover himself. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his kindness, Hoover quickly stopped him and said, “You shouldn’t be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college. I was one of them.”Why did the two students decide to raise money?
A.To help people in Poland. |
B.To buy the concert tickets. |
C.To pay for their education. |
D.To hold a musical concert. |
How much money did the two students raise?
A.$400. | B.$1,200. | C.$1,600. | D.$2,000. |
What did the two students think of the pianist?
A.Greedy. | B.Humorous. | C.Shy. | D.Helpful. |
What can we learn about Herbert Hoover?
A.He was one of the American presidents. |
B.He didn’t finish his college education. |
C.He was very rich when he was young. |
D.He was one of Paderewski’s students. |
What can we learn from the text?
A.Great minds think alike. |
B.Kindness brings its own rewards. |
C.Honesty is the best policy. |
D.Where there’s a will, there’s a way. |
Tilly Smith, the 11-year-old British girl, who was called as “Angle of the Beach”, saved 100 tourists from a Thai beach hit by the tsunami① in 2004 and has been named Child of the Year by readers of a French children’s newspaper.
She came ahead of a South African Aids orphan, a six-year-old girl who survived a kidnapping②and a young Parisian pop singer to win the Mon Quotidien award. Tilly had studied tsunamis with her geography teacher, Andrew Kearney, shortly before flying to Thailand for a holiday with her parents and younger sister last year. As she watched the waves suddenly begin to move back, and the sea was bubbling③, she warned her mother, Penny, that the beach was about to be struck by a tsunami. Mrs Smith and her husband, Colin, warned other holidaymakers and hotel staff and scores of people were cleared from Maikhao beach at Phuket.
Tilly, now 11, and back in Thailand for anniversary commemorations④of the disaster, said: “It’s really good, just to know about tsunamis or any natural disaster in case you are in one. I’m very glad that I was able to say on the beach that a tsunami was coming. And I’m glad that they listened to me.”
Tilly is unaware of her great popularity among French children. Her picture appears on the front page of Mon Quotidien, which is read by 10 to 14-year-olds.
“Our readers chose Tilly because they could identify with her,” said Francois Dufour. “To be a pop star at 11 seems impossible, and the idea of having Aids or being kidnapped is far from their lives.”
1. The passage mainly wants to tell readers that ______.
A. a little girl saved 100 tourists out of a tsunami
B. British “Angle of the Beach” was named Child of the Year
C. many people came for anniversary commemorations
D. the tsunami was able to be avoided
2. The underlined words “Mon Quotidien” (in Paragraph 4) should be the name of ______.
A. a magazine B. a book C. a novel D. a newspaper
3. Which of the following about Tilly Smith is TRUE?
A. She could make full use of her knowledge from books.
B. She was ever kidnapped by a pop singer.
C. She visited Thailand by boat with her parents.
D. She had expected to attract the French children.
4. According to the Tilly Smith’s knowledge, when there is a tsunami, ______.
A. the sea water will not be clear B. the sea will be bubbling when moving back
C. the sea water will make great noise D. the sea will be bubbling when moving forward
The weight-loss world is full of assertions①, rarely proved, that some pill can help you “burn calories while you sleep.” But a recent Dutch study reports that it can be done – simply by eating more lean protein②.
Researchers report for the first time that consuming nearly a third of daily calories as lean protein – for example, lean meats without the skin – speeds up a person’s metabolism③ during sleep and that higher protein intake increases the burning of calories and fat during the day. Plus, when the study’s participants, who were all women of healthy weight, ate more protein, they felt fuller, more satisfied and less hungry than when they consumed a diet with the amount of protein, about 10 percent of calories.
The findings suggest that adding lean protein to your daily food “enables you to reach the same level of satiety④that you are used to with about 80 percent of your normal energy intake,” notes Margriet Westerterp-Plantenga. “That means you can eat about 20 percent less and still have the same satiety.”
What gives protein its caloric edge? It’s more difficult for the body to metabolize protein than either fat or carbohydrates⑤. The body also doesn’t store protein as efficiently as it does carbohydrates or fat. So protein is more likely to be burned and that in turn requires more oxygen and helps you feel satisfied in the hours after eating.
But the latest findings don’t mean it’s time to dust off those high-protein diet books. The current study limited fat to about 30 percent of daily calories, and included 40 percent of calories as healthy carbohydrates, including fruit and vegetables. For example, lunch included bread, soy milk, fruit yogurt, tuna in water, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese and salad dressing.
1. According the first paragraph, we know that ______.
A. there’re few studies on weight-loss in the world
B. many studies on weight-loss only cheat customers
C. only few studies are useful for weight-loss
D. there’re few studies about lean protein
2. According to the passage, lean protein can help burn calories while you sleep because ______.
A. it can slow down a person’s metabolism B. it’s difficult for the body to metabolize
C. it will not make you feel full D. it’s easy to be stored in the body
3. The underlined phrase “dust off” in the last paragraph means ______.
A. get rid of B. put away C. get ready to rewrite D. get ready to reuse
4. The passage is mainly to tell readers ______.
A. there is a good diet for weight-losers
B. you can burn your calories in your sleep
C. high-protein diet books will be popular
D. choosing right food is of great use
Looking for a low-cost path to self-knowledge? A way to mine your subconscious①for clues to your motivations, desires and fears? No need to have years of treatment or analysis. Just look to your dreams.
“You can ignore your dreams, but you are really doing harm to yourself,” says Lauri Quinn Loewenberg. “If so, you’re letting red flags pass you by, letting great ideas pass you by.”
Some sleep researchers believe dreams are more directly related to our moods and emotions and can serve as tools to self-understanding. Dreams occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) cycles of sleep each night. For adults, that means about every 90 minutes. The first period of REM sleep may be short, 5 to 10 minutes, followed by longer periods, finally reaching an hour or more in the fourth or fifth period.
When people are dreaming, brain scans show a lot of activities. The brain is online during dreams. The experiences you have during the day are connected during dream sleep. People we know or experiences we’ve had at different times in our lives may be different in the same dream.
AmyBeth Gilstrap has had the same recurring② dream that annoyed her since Hurricane Katrina drove her and her daughter and friends out of New Orleans. Ms. Gilstrap says, “It is always spies. My job is to get people to some place.” She’s certain the dream is related to her effort in the hurricane to help several families leave. Sometimes her cats also are part of that dream. That’s because she went back into New Orleans, before it was allowed, to rescue her cats.
Today, through brain scans scientists have known that the parts of the brain that control emotion and long-term memory are active during REM sleep.
1. The passage is mainly to tell readers ______.
A. dreams are mainly caused by hard work B. dreams can offer us key to self-knowledge
C. dreams are only activities of our brains D. how dreams help us solve our problems
2. According to the words from Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, ______.
A. dreams can make you feel badly ill B. you often have red flags in your dreams
C. dreams will make your life colorful D. you may get great help from your dreams
3. According to the passage, the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 5 refers to ______.
A. Ms. Gilstrap’s dream B. Ms. Gilstrap’s job C. Hurricane Katrina D. New Orleans
4. According to the passage, when you are dreaming at night, ______.
A. your dream is connected with your work that day
B. the dream will generally last about 5 to 10 minutes
C. the longer dream should be in the later part of the sleep
D. your eyes will still move slowly during the time
A typical① Chinese Internet user is a young male who prefers instant messaging to e-mail, seldom makes online purchases② and favors news, music and games sites. According to a study, about two-thirds of survey participants③ use the Internet for news — often entertainment-related — or for online games. About half download music and movies.
They also tend to prefer instant messaging to e-mail, and they are depending on the Internet more frequently than before to communicate with others who have the same professions, hobbies and political interests. Online purchases still remain unpopular in China. Three-quarters of users surveyed have never bought anything over the Internet, and only 10 percent make purchases even once a month. Among those who do buy online, most pay for entertainment while others buy phone cards, or computer hardware or software.
“Many people don’t trust the quality of goods bought online,” Guo said Wednesday. “If they buy it in a store and don’t like it, they can easily bring it back.”
The survey was done in five major cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Changsha. Results do not necessarily project countrywide because Internet use in rural areas is lower than in cities. Guo describes the typical netizen in the five cities surveyed as young, male, richer and more highly educated. Males make up two-thirds of the Internet community, and more than 80 percent of users are under 24. Among people ages 25 to 29, 60 percent to 80 percent go online.
China has more than 100 million people online, second in the world to the United States.
1. A typical Chinese Internet user will be the one who ______.
A. likes to send e-mails B. likes to buy goods online
C. likes to pay for entertainmentD. likes the games sites
2. Online purchases still remain unpopular in China mainly because ______.
A. it is more difficult for sales returns B. people haven’t computers
C. people can’t have a look at the goods D. goods bought online are of low quality
3. Which of the following words fails to describe the typical netizens in the five cities?
A. well educated B. richer C. female D. young
4. According to the text, which of the following shows the right relation between online people and their ages?
A. B.
C. D.
When you turn on the radio, you hear an advertisement. When you watch television, you hear and see an advertisement. If you turn the pages of a newspaper or magazine, again you find an advertisement. If you walk down the street, you see one advertising board after another. All day, every day, people who want to sell you something compete to catch your attention. As a result, advertisements are almost everywhere.
In the West, advertisements are the fuel that makes mass media work. Many TV stations, newspapers, magazines, radio stations are privately owned. The government does not give them money. So where does the money come from? From advertisements. Without advertisements, there would not be these private businesses.
Have you ever asked yourself what advertising is? Through the years, people have given different answers to the question. For some time it was felt that advertising was a means of keeping your name before the public? and some people thought that advertising was “truth well told.” Now more and more people describe it in this way: Advertising is the paid, non-personal, and usually persuasive(有说服力的) description of goods, services and ideas by identified sponsors(明确的出资者) through various media.
First, advertising is usually paid for. Various sponsors pay for the advertisements we see, read, and hear over the various media. Second, advertising is non-personal. It is not face to face communication. Although you may feel that a message in a certain advertisement is aimed directly at you, in reality, it is directed at large groups of people. Third, advertising is usually persuasive. Directly or indirectly it tells people to do something. All advertisements try to make people believe that the product, idea, or service advertised can do good to them. Fourth, the sponsor of the advertisement must be identified. From the advertisement, we can see if the sponsor is a company, or an organization, or an individual. Fifth, advertising reaches us through traditional and nontraditional mass media. Included in the traditional media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and films. Nontraditional media include the mail, matchbox covers, and billboards.The existence(存在) of the privately owned mass media depends financially(经济上地) on _________.
A.the government | B.their owners?families | C.advertisements | D.the audience |
according to the passage, who are most probably paying for the advertisements?
A.Companies. | B.Organizations. | C.Individuals. | D.All of the above. |
Which of the following is considered nontraditional mass media?
A.Newspapers. | B.The mail. | C.Magazines. | D.Films. |
according to the passage, which of the following statements about the features of advertisements is NOT true?
A.Advertising must be honest and amusing. |
B.Advertising is meant for large groups of people. |
C.Advertising tells people to do something directly or indirectly. |
D.The sponsors are always mentioned in the advertisements. |