I passed all the other courses that I took at my university, but I could have never passed botany. This was because all botany students had to spend several hours a week in a laboratory looking through a microscope at plant cells, and I could never once see a cell through a microscope. This used to make my professor angry. He would wander around the laboratory pleased with the progress all the students were making in drawing the structure of flower cells, until he came to me. I would just be standing there. “I can’t see anything,” I would say. He would begin patiently enough, explaining how anybody can see through a microscope, but he would always end up angrily, claiming that I could too see through a microscope but just pretended that I couldn’t. “It takes away from the beauty of flowers anyway.” I used to tell him. “We are not concerned with beauty in this course,” he would say. “We are concerned with the structure of flowers.” “Well,” I’d say. “I can’t see anything.” “Try it just once again,” he’d say, and I would put my eye to the microscope and see nothing at all, except now and again something unclear and milky. “You were supposed to see a clear, moving plant cells shaped like clocks.” “I see what looks like a lot of milk.” I would tell him. This, he claimed, was the result of my not having adjusted the microscope properly, so he would readjust it for me, or rather, for himself. And I would look again and see milk.
I failed to pass botany that year, and had to wait a year and try again, or I couldn’t graduate. The next term the same professor was eager to explain cell-structure again to his classes. “Well,” he said to me, happily, “we’re going to see cells this time, aren’t we?” “Yes, sir,” I said. Students to the right of me and to the left of me and in front of me were seeing cells; what’s more, they were . Of course, I didn’t see anything.
So the professor and I tried with every adjustment of the microscope known to man. With only once did I see anything but blackness or the familiar milk, and that time I saw, to my pleasure and amazement, something like stars. These I hurriedly drew. The professor, noting my activity, came to me, a smile on his lips and his eyebrows high in hope. He looked at my cell drawing. “What’s that?” he asked. “That’s what I saw,” I said. “You didn’t, you didn’t, you didn’t!” he screamed, losing control of himself immediately, and he bent over and looked into the microscope. He raised his head suddenly. “That’s your eye!” he shouted. “You’ve adjusted the microscope so that it reflects! You’ve drawn your eye!”Why couldn’t the writer see the flower cells through the microscope?
| A.Because he had poor eyesight. |
| B.Because the microscope didn’t work properly. |
| C.Because he was not able to adjust the microscope properly. |
| D.Because he was just playing jokes on his professor by pretending not to have seen it. |
What does the writer mean by “his eyebrows high in hope” in the last paragraph?
| A.His professor expected him to have seen the cells and drawn the picture of them. |
| B.His professor hoped he could perform his task with attention. |
| C.His professor wished him to learn how to draw pictures. |
| D.His professor looked forward to seeing all his students finish their drawings. |
What is the thing like stars that the writer saw in the last paragraph?
| A.Real stars | B.His own eye |
| C.Something unknown | D.Milk |
In what writing style did the writer write the passage?
| A.Realistic | B.Romantic |
| C.Serious | D.Humorous |
The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of 2 September 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. One hundred thousand people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.
The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King's baker in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into Thames Street. That was the beginning.
By eight o'clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul's and the Guildhall among them.
Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire. People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat.
The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.
After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect, wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow; but he did build more than fifty churches, among them was new St Paul's.
The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ______.
| A.many famous buildings were destroyed |
| B.the birds in the sky were killed by the fire |
| C.some people lost their lives |
| D.the King's bakery was burned down |
Why did the writer cite (引用)Samuel Pepys’ words?
| A.Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire. |
| B.Because Pepys also wrote about the fire. |
| C.To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire. |
| D.To show that poor people suffered most. |
How was the fire put out according to the text?
| A.Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down. |
| B.All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed. |
| C.People managed to get enough water from the river. |
| D.The king and his soldiers came to help. |
Which of the following were reasons for the rapid spread (扩散)of the big fire?
(a) There was a strong wind.
(b) The streets were very narrow.
(c) Many houses were made of wood.
(d) There was not enough water in the city.
(e) People did not discover the fire earlier.
| A.(a) and (b) |
| B.(a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) |
| C.(a), (b), (c) and (d) |
| D.(a), (b) and (c) |
Two students started quarreling at school. One student shouted dirty words at the other, and a fight began. What can be done to stop fights like this at school? In some schools, the disputants sit down with peer mediators(同龄调解者). Peer mediators are students with special training in this kind of problems.
Peer mediators help the disputants to talk in a friendly way. Here are some of the ways they use:
1) Put what you think clearly but don’t say anything to hurt the other. Begin with “I feel…” instead of “You always…”
2) Listen carefully to what the other person is saying. Don’t stop the other person’s words.
3) Keep looking at the other person’s eyes when he or she talks.
4) Try to see the other person’s side of the problem.
5) Never put anyone down. Saying things like “You are foolish” makes the talk difficult. 6) Try to find a result that makes both people happy.
Peer mediators never decide the result or the winner. They don’t decide who is right and who is wrong. Instead, they help the two students to find their own “win-win” result.The underlined word “disputants” refers to the students ________.
| A.who make peace | B.who give in |
| C.who are lazy | D.who quarrel |
When there is a fight at school ________.
| A.the peer mediators decide who the winner is |
| B.the peer mediators and the disputants talk together |
| C.the students who quarrel decide who the winner is |
| D.the two students sit down and listen to the peer mediators |
Peer mediators’ work is ________.
| A.to give lessons to disputants |
| B.to find out who starts a quarrel |
| C.to give students some special training |
| D.to help find a way to make both sides happy |
Which of the following ways is not used by Peer mediators in finding a “win-win” result?
| A.Listen carefully to what the other person is saying. |
| B.Try to see the other person’s side of the problem. |
| C.Never say things like “You are foolish” |
| D.Never keep looking at the other person’s eyes when he or she talks. |
In the past ten years, many scientists have studied the differences between men and women. And they all got the same answer: The sexes(性别) are different, because their brains are different. And this, the scientists say, makes men and women see the world in different ways.
Boys, for example, generally are better than girls at mathematical ideas. Boys also generally are better than girls at the kind of hand and eye movements necessary for ball sports. Girls, on the other hand generally start speaking earlier than boys. And they generally(通常) see better in the dark than boys and are better at learning foreign languages.
What makes men and women better at one thing or another? The answer is the brain. The brain has two sides connected by nerve(神经) tracks. The left side generally is used for mathematics, speech and writing. The right side is used for artistic creation(创造) and the expression for emotions(情感). In men and women, different areas in each side of the brain develop differently. In boys, for example, it’s the area used for mathematics. In girls, it is the area used for language skills. Another interesting difference is that the two sides of a man’s brain are connected by a smaller nerves than the two sides of a woman’s brain are.Which of the following is best to outline(概括) the article?
| A.Research on the brain. |
| B.Differences between men and women |
| C.People’s different brains. |
| D.Who Are Better, Boys or Girls |
________men and women think differently.
| A.Sex makes. |
| B.The different brains make |
| C.The different experiences make. |
| D.The influences of society make. |
According to the article, girls are generally better than boys at __ in your school.
| A.mathematics | B.physics | C.English | D.Chemistry |
Which of the following is true?
| A.The right side of brain in boys generally develops better than that in girls. |
| B.The left side of brain in girls generally develops better than that in boys. |
| C.Men are better than women in all things. |
| D.The area in girls’ brain used for language skills develops better. |
China’s new buzzword, tuhao, may be in next year’s Oxford English Dictionary.
“If its influence continues, it is very likely to appear on our updated list of words, ” said Julie Kleeman, project manager with the editing team.
In Chinese, tu means uncouth(粗野的) and hao means rich. It has traditionally been referred to rich people who throw their weight around in China’s rural areas. In recent years, people borrowed the term to describe those who spend money in an unreasonable manner. The word gained acceptance in September with the launch(上市) of Apple’s new gold-colored iPhone, an item loved by China’s rich people. The color became known as “tuhao gold”. The word is now often used by the online community to refer to people who have the cash but lack the class to go with it.
Kleeman also mentioned two other Chinese words—dama and hukou—which may also be taken in the dictionary. Hukou means household registration(登记) in Chinese and has been widely used.
Dama, meaning middle-aged women, was first used in the Western media by the Wall Street Journal in May when thousands of Chinese women were buying up record number of gold. They were the driving force in the global gold market between April and June when the gold prices had gone down.
“We have nearly 120 Chinese-linked words now in Oxford English Dictionary, ” she said. Some of them are: Guanxi, literally meaning “connection”, is the system of social networks and influential relationships which promote business and other dealings. Taikonaut is a mix of taikong, meaning outer space, and astronaut.
The new words will be first uploaded on the official website before the dictionaries arrive. The online version is also renewed every three months. “It at least broke our old rules. It used to take 10 years to include a new word but now we keep the pace with the era, ” according to John Simpson.What does “Tuhao” mean now?
| A.The rich who like iPhone made of gold. |
| B.The people who have power in the countryside. |
| C.The people who spend money reasonably. |
| D.The rich who find no class to belong to. |
Why is the word “Dama” popular now?
| A.They bought gold in the global market. |
| B.They are wealthy middle-aged women. |
| C.They brought the gold prices down. |
| D.They worked on the Wall Street. |
According to John, the Oxford English Dictionary__________.
| A.updates its new version every three months |
| B.takes 10 years to include a new word now |
| C.speeds up its acceptance of new words |
| D.has its online version to collect new words |
A Guide to the University
Food
The TWU Cafeteria is open 7a.m. to 8p.m.. It serves snacks, drinks, ice cream bars and meals. You can pay with cash or your ID cards. You can add meal money to your ID cards at the Front Desk. Even if you do not buy your food in the cafeteria, you can use the tables to eat your lunch, to have meetings and to study.
If you are on campus in the evening or late at night, you can buy snacks, fast food, and drinks in the Lower Café located in the bottom level of the Douglas Centre. This area is often used for entertainment such as concerts, games or TV watching.
Relaxation
The Globe, located in the bottom level of McMillan Hall, is available for relaxing, studying, cooking, and eating. Monthly activities are held here for all international students. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., closed on Sundays.
Health
Located on the top floor of Douglas Hall, the Wellness Centre is committed to(致力于) physical, emotional and social health. A doctor and nurse is available if you have health questions or need immediate medical help or personal advice. The cost of this is included in your medical insurance. Hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 4:30 p.m..
Academic Support
All students have access to the Writing Centre on the upper floor of Douglas Hall. Here, qualified volunteers will work with you on written work, grammar, vocabulary, and other academic skills. You can sign up for an appointment on the sign-up sheet outside the door: two 30 –minute appointments per week maximum. This service is free.What can you do in the TWU Cafeteria?
| A.Do homework and watch TV. |
| B.Buy drinks and enjoy concerts. |
| C.Have meals and meet with friends. |
| D.Add money to your ID and play chess. |
Where and when can you cook your own food?
| A.The Globe, Friday. | B.The Lower Café, Sunday. |
| C.The TWU Cafeteria, Friday. | D.The McMillan Hall, Sunday. |
The Guide tells us that the Wellness Centre _________.
| A.is open six days a week |
| B.offers services free of charge |
| C.trains students in medical care |
| D.gives advice on mental health |
How can you seek help from the Writing Centre?
| A.By applying online. |
| B.By calling the centre. |
| C.By filling in a sign-up form. |
| D.By going to the centre directly. |