In the mid-1950s, I was a somewhat bored early-adolescent male student who believed that doing any more than necessary was wasted effort．One day, this approach threw me into embarrassment
In Mrs. Totten’s eighth-grade math class at Central Avenue School in Anderson, Indiana, we were learning to add and subtract decimals （小数）．
Our teacher typically assigned daily homework, which would be recited in class the following day．On most days, our grades were based on our oral answer to homework questions．
Mrs. Totten usually walked up and down the rows of desks requesting answers from student after student in the order the questions had appeared on our homework sheets．She would start either at the front or the back of the classroom and work toward the other end．
Since I was seated near the middle of about 35 students, it was easy to figure out which questions I might have to answer．This particular time, I had completed my usual two or three problems according to my calculations．
What I failed to expect was that several students were absent, which threw off my estimate．As Mrs. Totten made her way from the beginning of the class，I desperately tried to determine which math problem I would get．I tried to work it out before she got to me, but I had brain freeze and couldn’t function．
When Mrs. Totten reached my desk，she asked what answer I’d got for problem No．14．“I…I didn’t get anything,” I answered，and my face felt warm．
“Correct,” she said．
It turned out that the correct answer was zero．
What did I learn that day? First, always do all your homework．Second, in real life it isn’t always what you say but how you say it that matters．Third，I would never make it as a mathematician．
If I could choose one school day that taught me the most, it would be that one．What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 indicate?
| A．It is wise to value one’s time． |
| B．It is important to make an effort |
| C．It is right to stick to one’s belief． |
| D．It is enough to do the necessary． |
Usually, Mrs. Totten asked her students to _______．
| A．recite their homework together |
| B．grade their homework themselves |
| C．answer their homework questions orally |
| D．check the answers to their homework questions |
The author could work out which questions to answer since the teacher always _______．
| A．asked questions in a regular way |
| B．walked up and down when asking questions |
| C．chose two or three questions for the students |
| D．requested her students to finish their usual questions |
The author failed to get the questions he had expected because _______．
| A．the class didn’t begin as usual |
| B．several students didn’t come to school |
| C．he didn’t try hard to make his estimate |
| D．Mrs. Totten didn’t start from the back of the class |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．An Unforgettable Teacher | B．A Future Mathematician |
| C．An Effective Approach | D．A Valuable Lesson |
Like lots of small-business owners, Lola Gonzalez had to decide to cut down her company’s nine-person staff (员工) when the economic recovery began to fail last spring. Unlike other companies, she picked an unlikely employee to lay off (解雇): herself.
Her business began to have problems in 2008 after going through her books (账簿)
One day, her husband, Marcos, told her she had to reduce her payroll（薪金总额）by one person. Gonzalez said at a meeting, “I want you all to know that I have to lay somebody off and it’s been a very difficult decision. And that person is me.” Employees first froze in amazement and then burst into laughter until they realized she was serious. Gonzalez ’s employees said they were grateful for her kindness.
Her reason was simple. Although she ran the business and her employees did the legwork (跑腿), she thought she could find work more easily than her staff. Sure enough, she soon got a job as a social worker for a non-profit organization called Devereux Kids. She enjoys her social-worker job now, but the salary (薪水) cut has required some lifestyle changes. She and Marcos no longer eat out daily; they no longer pay for their son’s car and mobile phone, and they changed their car to a smaller one to save $300 a month.
Her business has picked up a bit recently and Marcos has begun to work part-time at Gonzalez’s company. Gonzalez says she has no plan to return to work at her company until the economic situation becomes better, perhaps in a year. Her employees, however, will get Christmas bonuses (奖金) this year.How many workers are there in Gonzalez’s company at present?
| A．8. | B．9. | C．10. | D．11. |
How did her employees feel at first when they heard Gonzalez’s decision?
| A．Happy. | B．Grateful. | C．Surprised. | D．Unbelievable. |
After leaving her company, _____________.
| A．Gonzalez sold her car and went to work by bus |
| B．Gonzalez always had meals in a restaurant |
| C．Gonzalez’s son helped her a lot |
| D．Gonzalez changed her lifestyle a lot |
From the text, we can learn that ___________.
| A．Gonzalez will not return to her company in future |
| B．Gonzalez’s business has improved a little lately |
| C．Gonzalez got her social-worker job with great difficulty |
| D．Marcos lost his job and had to work at Gonzalez’s company |
Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English ruler tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English, Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two "Irelands". Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people will work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were "the greatest talkers since the Creeks". Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
We learn from the text that in Ireland________.
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about________.
| A．the Irish character | B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A very difficult history |
| C．Ireland, past and present | D．the independence of Ireland |
My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn't know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn't have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.
We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.
For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.
We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.
Over dinner, we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. “I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.” The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.
| A．poor | B．warm -hearted | C．silent | D．cold |
The underlined word “establish” in the 3th paragraph has the same meaning as_________.
| A．keep | B．discover | C．set up | D．accept |
The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.
| A．they both disabled people |
| B．they both had some difficulty in expressing |
| C．they both liked bus travel |
| D．they both brought interest to the passengers |
Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?
| A．Friends of the Road | B．The Silent Woman on the Bus |
| C．Going to Work by Bus | D．Different Kinds of Friendship |
Most people agree that it’s important to have a sense of humor. Having the ability to laugh can help one overcome anxiety, and make better decisions in difficult situations. People with a well-developed sense of humor appear to be happier, and some are healthier as well. This suggests that having a sense of humor is good for you. Humorless people may find themselves being treated as a fool, and become anxious and upset.
A sense of humor also plays an important role in human relationships. However, not everyone has a sense of humor. People with developmental disabilities (发展性能力丧失) can sometimes have no sense of humor, or have a very strange one.
A number of factors affect a person’s sense of humor, with the age probably being the main one. Young children are often highly amused by simple jokes or shows, while teenagers prefer to enjoy the ironic (讽刺的) events. Educational level, culture, and religious faith also affect one’s sense of humor. While Christians, for example, may have a deep appreciation of jokes about the Bible, others may find them disrespectful.
Many people believe that a sense of humor is something that develops on its own, and that you cannot teach someone to understand why jokes, certain comments, situations or events are funny. However, things can be done to enhance one’s sense of humor. Children, for example, benefit from being told jokes and encouraged to laugh, although some children’s jokes might seem rather strange to adults. If you have children, try to encourage them to tell jokes and think about what makes things funny. And it will help them develop a sense of humor.The purpose of the passage is to _______.
| A．explain what influences a person’s sense of humor |
| B．tell readers the importance of being healthy |
| C．explain how to make better decisions |
| D．tell readers how to understand jokes |
What does the underlined word in Paragraph 4 “enhance” probably mean?
| A．Enjoy. | B．Reduce. | C．Improve. | D．Prevent. |
According to the passage, which of the following isn’t talked about in our passenger?
| A．Culture. | B．Age |
| C．Educational level. | D．Family backgrounds. |
“The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato. Self-control is at the root of all the advantages. Let a man give in to his impulses (冲动) and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom.
A single angry word has lost many friends. When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself. If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger. Many a person has dropped dead in great anger. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. “Whoever the gods would destroy, they first make them mad.” “Keep cool,” says Webster, “anger is not argument.” “Be calm in arguing,” says George Herbert, “for fierceness (狂怒) makes error a fault.”
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself. “Anger,” says Pythagoras, “begins with foolishness and ends with regret.” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him. Self-control is man’s last and greatest victory.
If a man lacks(缺乏) self-control he seems to lack everything. Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence(自信心), for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling. If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking too. What’s the main idea of the passage?_____
| A．Self- control is important for a man. |
| B．We should learn to be strong. |
| C．A man who keeps cool won’t lose any game. |
| D．The great heroes in history knew how to control themselves. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?______
| A．If you are mad, the gods will kill you. |
| B．If you lose your temper first, gods will kill you first. |
| C．If you can’t control yourself, you will be crazy. |
| D．If the gods want to kill you, they will make you mad first. |
Which of the following is NOT true, according to passage?_______
| A．The first and best of victories for a man is to conquer himself. |
| B．You will make a small mistake serious if you don’t keep cool. |
| C．You must measure a man’s strength by the power of the feelings which conquer him. |
| D．Anger begins with foolishness and ends with regret. |
Which of the following can’t help you avoid anger, according to the passage?_____
| A．Being calm in arguing. |
| B．Checking your temper or anger by speaking low. |
| C．Keeping your mouth shut. |
| D．Trying to make the other angry first. |