It was a bitter cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. The old man’s beard was glazed by winter’s frost while he waited for a ride across the river. The wait seemed endless. His body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind.
It was long before he heard the faint, steady rhythm of hooves (马蹄) along the frozen path. Anxiously watching several horsemen coming up, he let the first one pass by without any effort to get his attention, then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider drew near where the old man sat like a snow statue when old man caught his eyes and said, “Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side?”
Stopping his horse, the rider replied, “Sure! Jump aboard.” Seeing the old man unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground, the horseman got down to help him. The horseman took him not just across the river, but to his destination just a few miles away.
As they approached the tiny but cozy cottage, the horseman’s curiosity caused him to inquire, “Sir, I noticed you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came up and you immediately asked me for a ride. I am curious why, on such a bitter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you here?”
The old man looked the rider straight in the eyes and replied, “I reckon I know people pretty good. I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately found no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, your gentle spirit would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need.”
Those heart-warming comments touched the horseman deeply. “I’m so grateful for what you have said,” he told the old man. “May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion.”
With that, Thomas Jefferson turned his horse around and made his way back to the White House.Why didn’t the old man ask the previous riders for a ride?
| A．Because he was waiting for the last rider. |
| B．Because his efforts failed to get their attention. |
| C．Because he assumed they had no concern for him. |
| D．Because he was too numb to lift his half-frozen body. |
What caused the last rider to stop and help the old man?
| A．the old man’s poor situation |
| B．kindness and sympathy |
| C．his own affairs |
| D．The old man’s warm comments |
What do you know about the old man?
| A．He gave the last rider an opportunity to help. |
| B．He lived in a cozy cottage a few miles away. |
| C．He judged people by looking into their eyes. |
| D．He recognized the president at first sight. |
Which can be the best title of this text?
| A．look into your eyes | B．compassion of a great man |
| C．the last rider to help | D．return to the White House |
Strange things happen when you travel, because the earth is divided into twenty-four zones. The time difference between two zones is one hour. You can have days with more than twenty-four hours and days with fewer than twenty- four hours. You can have weeks with more than seven days and weeks with fewer than seven days.
If you make a five-trip across the Atlantic Ocean , your ship come into a different time zone every day. As you come into each zone, the time changes one hour. If you travel west, you set your watch back. If you travel east, you set it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours.
If you make a trip by ship across the Pacific Ocean , you cross the International Date Line. This is the point where a new day begins when you cross the line, you change one full day. If you travel east, today becomes yesterday, if you travel west it is tomorrow.Something interesting will happen to the time if you travel because ______.
| A．a day has always fewer than twenty-four hours |
| B．a day has always more than twenty- four hours |
| C．a day has more or fewer than twenty-four hours, |
| D．some time zones are large and some time zones are small |
The time difference between two time zones is ______.
| A．twenty-four hours | B．one hour |
| C．two hours | D．twenty-three hours |
If we travel east across the International Date Line on July 5th, the date becomes July ____.
| A．3rd | B．4th | C．5th | D．6th |
Homelessness is a huge problem all over the world. It’s said that each day there are about 1 million people living on the streets in the US. It is a serious problem which should be dealt with effectively.
There are two main reasons for people leaving their homes: poverty and less affordable houses due to bad economic conditions. Other reasons include: domestic violence, divorce, and mental illness. Living without a home makes people main targets of violence activities and besides, these homeless people have to face the following difficulties on a daily basis.
They have to move about, carrying their belongings, which makes it difficult for the charity and the government to help them. They have limited access to bathrooms and restrooms and are forced to live in dirty conditions, making them easy to be attacked by diseases. They have limited access to health-care facilities in case of emergency, and almost no access to education as they have no money. They are often ill-treated by society, which makes them unfriendly, often ending up being involved in activities connected with crime like selling drugs or guns.
Homelessness is not something that happened overnight --- it has been in the country for decades. The society usually believes those living on the street to be mentally unstable. This belief is partially true. Most of them are normal people just like you and me.
The federal government is doing all it can to help but it is not enough, so the ordinary citizens have to stand up and try to help whenever it’s possible. There are various organizations, such as charity organizations that are working constantly to make sure that homeless people find a shelter to live in. the united efforts have helped millions of people return to their normal lifestyle. However, there is still a long way to go before a better situation is created for all the homeless.Homeless people suffer from all the following except __________.
| A．violent activities | B．disease attack | C．moving a lot | D．heavy work |
The homeless are usually treated as __________.
| A．having mental problems | B．a danger to society |
| C．physically disabled people | D．being too lazy to do anything |
Which of the following are mentioned to help solve the problem of the homeless?
① the government② homeless people ③ charity organizations ④ the ordinary citizens
| A．①②③ | B．①③④ | C．①②④ | D．②③④ |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Most homeless people died of hunger and cold. |
| B．The homeless should work hard to change their own situation. |
| C．The homeless problem is a serious problem that need solving effectively. |
| D．The homeless people have nothing to take when they move about. |
Are you an optimist? Do you look at your glass and see it as half full? Do you believe that every cloud has a silver lining and that generally things turn out for the best? Do you believe that if something is meant to be, it will be? If you reply “yes” to all of these questions, then you are an optimist. You probably are enthusiastic, cheerful and outgoing. You may well be successful atwork and in love.
But you may be misguided because things don’t turn out for the best. You may believe that when one door closes another one opens (for example，you may fail to obtain a new job，another chance will come around soon), Wrong. When one door closes, another door slams in your face. That's bitter reality.
Now a book has been published which confirms what we pessimists(悲观者）have suspected all along. It's called The Positive Power of Defensive Pessimism. Its author argues that defensive pessimism can lead to positive results. Defensive pessimism is a strategy used to manage fear, anxiety and worry. Defensive pessimists prepare for things by setting low outcomes for themselves. They carefully consider everything that may go wrong and plan for ways to handle these problems. And this gives them a sense of control. Lawrence Sanno, a psychology professor, says, “What’s interesting about defensive pessimists is that they tend to be very successful people, so their low opinion of the situation’s outcomes is not realistic. They use it to motivate themselves to perform better. ”
So far, so good. This is not rocket science. Defensive pessimists prepare carefully and consider what might go wrong, whether at work, on a date or even in a sports game. It makes sense to have a back-up plan. There are many sayings in English urging caution. For example, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” and “ Don’t count your chickens until they hatch. “ To have a confident and optimistic approach to life’s problems is good. But listen to what Woody Alien，the American comedian says, ”Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem.”
There are pros and cons to being an optimist and a pessimist. Don’t feel bad if you see the glass half empty. You are a realist. But lighten up and hook up with someone who sees the same glass half full.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A book that has recently been published. |
| B．The dangers of being too optimistic. |
| C．The benefits of defensive pessimism. |
| D．How to become successful in life. |
The underlined sentence “This is not rocket science” in paragraph 4 means.
| A．he cost is not so high | B．there is no real proof |
| C．it’s not a dangerous thing to do | D．it is quite simple to understand |
The writer would probably describe himself as.
| A．an optimist | B．a realist | C．a defeatist | D．a scientist |
Which of the following English expressions would a defensive pessimist believe?
| A．“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” |
| B．“Every cloud has a silver lining.” |
| C．“Whatever will be, will be.” |
| D．“The glass is half full not half empty.” |
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.
James Harrison has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr. Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations. When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special that his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the “man with the golden arm” or the “man in two million”. He said: “I've never thought about stopping. Never.” He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood. “I was in hospital for three months,” he said. “The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.”
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood. At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition. The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D. After his blood type was discovered, Mr. Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine. “They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,” he said. “I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.”
Mr. Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood. It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women. It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.
It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far. Mr. Harrison is still donating every few weeks now.How old is James Harrison？
| A．56 | B．70 | C．74 | D．78 |
What does the underlined phrase “two million” refer to?
| A．dollars | B．babies | C．mothers | D．all of the above |
Why did James decide to donate his blood? Because _____.
| A．someone else’s blood saved his life |
| B．he has a golden arm worth a million dollars |
| C．a vaccine called Anti-D is to be developed |
| D．his daughter asked him to help her son |
The sentence “The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood” (underlined in Paragraph 5) suggests that _____.
| A．all the patients have a rare antibody in their blood |
| B．babies suffer permanent brain damage before born |
| C．Rhesus disease contributes to permanent brain damage |
| D．. the mother and the baby have different types of blood |
What can we infer from the sixth paragraph?
| A．His wife Barbara needed to be taken care of badly then. |
| B．Some of the tests to develop the vaccine are dangerous. |
| C．Mr. Harrison was glad to help develop a new vaccine. |
| D．His blood type was accidentally discovered after tests. |
Win a week in England!
You still don’t know what to do this summer? Well, here’s your chance to win a one-week language course in Kent, England! Free4Fun and ETC (English Travel Connections) are giving away two trips to Rochester. This historic city is less than an hour’s drive from London and close to the sea resort of Herne Bay. It is also the home of one of England’s most famous writers, Charles Dickens. The town of Rochester is in Southeast England. Charles Dickens often wrote about it in his books. His home, Gad’s Hill, is there, too. A popular attraction is Rochester Castle, a large Norman fortress（堡垒）. It was built in the 11th century and rebuilt during the 14th century. Other attractions are Rochester Cathedral, which was built during the 13th century, and Dickens Centre. It has got its name in honour of Dickens himself.
The trip to England includes:
* travel by train (via the Eurotunnel) to and from any railway station in Germany
* room and full board with a guest family for one week
* language course in small groups
* two trips to London
* large choice of sports and entertainment
* German-speaking advisors available 24 hours a day
Interested? All you have to do is to answer the following question:
When was Charles Dickens born?
So, take the chance and send your answer by 1 May to:
Free4Fun "Rochester"
Free4Fun, 24 Elphinstone Road, Hastings, 2FQ6VJ
fax: 089 / 85 763-103
e-mail: free4fun@netlight.com
The two winners will be contacted directly before 5 May. They will also be announced in the June issue of Free4Fun. Good luck!
For further information contact:
phone: (03212) 144 43
fax: (03212) 144 42
e-mail: info@etc. comRochester Cathedral was built in the.
| A．1400s | B．1300s | C．1200s | D．1100s |
What activities can you participate in during the trip?
| A．Enjoying sports and entertainment. |
| B．Learning the German language. |
| C．Traveling by train with a guest family. |
| D．Working as a language advisor. |
If you want to win a prize you have to send your answer to.
| A．the June issue of Free4fun | B．ETC |
| C．info@etc. com | D．free4fun@netlight. com |
This ad was designed to target.
| A．Italians | B．Germans | C．Europeans | D．Americans |