Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate from the bottom of your heart, for he was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When asked how he was able to do so, he would reply,“ If I were any better, I would be twins!”
There was no doubt that Jerry was unique because he had several followers who were in his shadow from restaurant to restaurant. Obviously, these colleagues were greatly touched by Jerry’s attitude so as to follow him here and there. Being a natural motivator, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation whenever he or she was having a bad day.
Curious about his style, I went up to Jerry and asked him, “ I can’t believe it! You can’t be a positive person all the time. How do you do it? ” Jerry replied, “ Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or to point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”
“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “ Yes, it is,” Jerry said. “ Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live life.”
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon after I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination(密码组合). The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments(碎片) of the bullets still in his body.
I bumped into Jerry about six months after the terrifying accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “ If I were any better, I’d be twins. Want to see my scars(伤疤)？” I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “ Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.” “Weren’t you scared?” I asked.
Jerry continued, “The paramedics(护理人员)were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read,‘ He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.” “What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets(子弹)！’. Over their laughter I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’ ”
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his experienced doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.By saying “If I were any better, I would be twins！”(Paragraphs 1&7), Jerry means that_________.
| A．he felt depressed in life |
| B．he was content with his life |
| C．he regretted not having a twin brother |
| D．he attempted to live as good a life as his twin brother |
According to Paragraph 3, what did the writer think of Jerry’s positive thinking style at first?
| A．He accepted it and tried to copy it. |
| B．He was jealous of and even hated it. |
| C．He was in favor of and reflected on it. |
| D．He failed to understand it and tended to confirm it. |
Why did Jerry think he needed to take action in hospital?
| A．He couldn’t bear the rudeness of a big nurse. |
| B．The medical staff were not skilled enough to save him. |
| C．He was in danger and had to follow the nurses’ instructions. |
| D．He had to encourage the doctors and nurses for the operation. |
The underlined part” declined to”(Paragraph 7) can best be replaced by__________.
| A．refused to | B．promised to |
| C．agreed to | D．intended to |
Which of the following would best describe Jerry according to the passage?
| A．Humorous and optimistic. |
| B．Unique(独特) and unselfish. |
| C．Positive and cautious. |
| D．Outstanding and ambitious. |
Which of the following is conveyed in this article?
| A．Jerry’s survival is a miracle (奇迹). |
| B．Unique people may achieve success. |
| C．Attitude is everything. |
| D．Choices mean success. |
EVENTS
Long March exhibit
The Shanghai History Museum is putting on an exhibition to mark the 60th anniversary of the Long March. On show are more than 220 photos and 40 items that explain with pictures how the communist Red Army drew back from its besieged(被围困的) bases in Jiangxi Province and fought its way to northern Shanxi Province in the mid-1930s. Explanations are all in Chinese. The show will end on November 20.
Time: 10:00 am-4:00 pm
Address: 1286 Hongqiao Road
Admission: 8 yuan for Chinese /15 yuan for foreigners
Thai elephants
Eight elephants from Thailand are entertaining visitors at Changfeng Park by riding bikes, playing basketball, balancing on a beam, dancing and blowing a mouthorgan. People are encouraged to have a tug-of-war(拔河比赛)with the animals or lie on the ground and have the elephants walk over them. The elephants give three shows a day at 9:30 am, 3:30 pm and 8:00 pm and there is an additional show at l:30 pm at weekends. The show will end on November 15.
Address: 189 Daduhe Road
Admission: 30-40 yuan
Dancing dolphins
Dolphins jumping from the water to touch a ball, swaying their bodies to music, kissing people and doing math by tapping their tails have made the dolphinarium in Peace Park an attraction for children. Seals and sealions also perform.
Hours: 10:30 am, 4:00 pm, and 7:30 pm
Admission: 20 yuan for adults and 10 yuan for children.
51. The passage is from_____________.
A. newspaper B. story book C. history book D. geography magazine
52. If you go to visit the Long March exhibit with an Australian, how much will you payaltogether for the admission?
A. 16 yuan. B. 23 yuan. C. 30 yuan.D. 20 yuan.
53. At the exhibition, you will see ______.
A. many articles written by famous writers
B. many things left by the Red Army
C. books on the Long March
D. many photos and pictures about the Long March
54. Which of the following is NOT done by the Thai elephants?
A. Riding bicycles. B. Blowing a mouth-organ.
C. Doing math. D. Having a tug-of-war with people.
55. The dolphinarium in Peace Park is a hall where you can see ______.
A. not only dolphins but also seals and sea lions perform B. only dolphins perform
C. only seals and sea lions perform D. only seals perform
If you dream of going someplace warm to escape the cold winter weather, a trip to a recently discovered planet would certainly warm you right up. The planet, named OCLE-TR-56b, has temperatures of more than 3,000 °F. “This is the hottest planet we know about,” says Dr. Dimitar Sasselov, a scientist who led the discovery team. “It is hot enough to have an iron fog and to rain hot iron droplets(细沫).”
The new planet is 30 times farther away than any planet discovered by scientists before. It is in the Milky Way but it is not in our solar system. The new planet moves around a star much like our sun, however. Scientists discovered the planet by using a new planet-searching method, called “transit technique”. They were able to catch sight of the planet when it moved in front of its star, causing the star’s light to dim. Scientists compare the method to discovering the shadow of a bee flying in front of a searchlight 200 miles away. “We believe the door has been opened wide to go and discover planets like Earth,” says Sasselov.
48. We can infer from the passage that____.
A. there is iron on the new planet
B. we could go to the new planet in winter
C. the star could block our view of the new planet
D. scientists are studying the weather on the new planet
49. The “transit technique” can_____.
A.help dim the light of a star B. help scientists with a searchlight
C .help discover a bee on a planetD .help find a planet moving before its star
50. Which is the best title for the passage?
A. New Planet-searching Technique B. New Distant Discovery
C. Space Searching D.Dream Planet
If you fly non-stop across Canada from Newfoundland in the east to British Columbia in the west, you can arrive before you set out, that is, by the time shown on clocks in British Columbia. Canada is such a big country that people in British Columbia may be having their breakfast while those in Newfoundland are perhaps already beginning their lunch. So the country is divided into five time zones, each an hour behind in time from the west zones to the east. For example, when it is 12 noon Atlantic Time in Newfoundland and the Madritime Provinces, it is 11a.m. Eastern time in most of Quebec and Ontario. Winnipeg, Manitoba, lies in the middle of the Central Time Zone, here it is 10 a.m. In most of the Prairies and the eastern half the mountains it is 9 a.m. Mountain Time while the west coast region has Pacific Time and it is 8 a.m.
45. The underlined word “non-stop” in the first sentence may mean ____.
A.to stop everywhere B.no stopping in Canada
C.without stopping before the final stopD.to stop in Newfoundland
46. Which of the following is not the name of a place in Canada?
A. British Columbia. B. Newfoundland.C. Quebec. D. Atlantic Time.
47. According to the passage, the place named Quebec is to the ___ of the place named Winnipeg.
A. east B. west C. south D. north
三、阅读理解
On New Year’s Eve
At midnight on New Year’s Eve, people in Rome, Italy, throw out all the things they no longer want. The streets are filled with old chairs, beds, clothes and dishes. In Madrid, Spain, the new year comes in more quietly. People flock to the main square. Each holds a bag of grapes. As the clock strikes twelve, the people eat the grapes— one for each stroke.
In Tokyo people eat noodles on New Year’s Eve. This food is said to bring long life. Early the next morning, some Japanese families climb Mount Fuji. There they watch the first sunrise of the new year.
41. This story is about New Year’s Eve in ____.
A. Italy and Spain B. China and Japan C. Japan D. both A and C
42. In Rome, Italy, the streets are filled with old things on New Year’s Eve because __ .
A.people throw out all the things they no longer want
B.the city has never been clean
C.people want to change back what they want
D.they want to see the sun come up
43. People in both Spain and Japan bring in the new year by____.
A.throwing things away B.eating a special food
C.climbing a mountain D.watching the first sunrise
44. In Tokyo, people eat noodles on New Year’s Eve _____.
A.because they like eating noodles very much
B.so that the daytime could be longer
C.in order that they could live longer
D.though they don’t eat them
Kiribati covers a massive 3.5 million square kilometers stretch of the Pacific Ocean, but in population terms it is one of the smallest countries in the world, with only 100,000 people. More than half of them live in the capital Tarawa—strip of coral which measures just 450 meters at its widest point. As well as being narrow, Kiribati is extremely low lying, which makes it one of the most easily influenced countries in the world when it comes to climate change.
“We are counting the days rather than the decades…We don't have the time that we thought we had previously,” Kiribati President Anote Tong said.
Pelenise Alofa returned to Kiribati six years ago. The changes she saw led to her becoming one of the islands principal climate change campaigners. "Things began to change when I came here. I realized the king tides were big, and I told them 'have you heard of climate change, have you heard of global wanning, this is part of it, you're in it,'" Ms Alofa told SBS.
Linda Uan and her New Zealand born husband John have been documenting the changing climate in Kiribati for nearly 20 years. They didn't have to travel far to film the effects of a storm three years ago when for the first time it washed through their home. "There's been a lot of changes," Linda said, “When we were little there was a definite dry season and a definite wet season, now you can't feel the difference anymore.”
Kiribati is not just facing one knock-out punch but a whole round of killer blows. Because of its sensibility to the El Nino and La Nina weather patterns, climate scientists say droughts and floods will be more severe than in the past. Warmer seas could affect the migration patterns of fish, taking away vast taxes it gains from selling fishing licenses to foreign trawlers, while increased storms are expected to destroy crops and make the limited supply of water in the shallow water pools undrinkable.
It’s a claim the country will take to Copenhagen as it seeks to get the world's big emitters （排放者） to face up to the consequences of their actions. “It's a whole world issue,” President Tong said. “It’s a moral issue…it's almost criminal.”
57．According to the passage, we can infer that________.
A．Kiribati covers a land area of 3,500,000 km2
B．the country's average altitude is 450 meters in Kiribati
C．Kiribati is one of the countries facing the climate change calmly
D．Over fifty thousand people live in Tarawa
58．President Anote’s words are quoted in order to show________ .
A．the high pressure from time B．the importance of measuring time
C．the different timing units D．the personal attitude towards time
59．Which of the following statements does Ms Alofa probably agree with?
A．The tides hitting Kiribati used to be bigger than they are now.
B．Most people in the world have never heard of global warming.
C．Nobody can keep away from the effects caused by climate changes.
D．Changes in this country will make you a climate change campaigner.
60．Climate changes have brought about the consequences EXCEPT________ .
A．Severe droughts and floods B．abundant fresh water
C．fiercer storm and tide D．changed living patterns of fish