John was waiting for the girl whose heart he knew,but whose face he didn’t,the girl with the rose.Thirteen months ago,in a Florida library he took a book off the shell and found himself interested in the notes in the margin(页边).The soft handwriting showed a thoughtful soul and insightful(有洞察力的)mind.
In front of the book,he discovered the name,Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he got her address.He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to keep in touch.
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail.A romance started.John requested a photograph,but she refused.She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like.Later they agreed on their first meeting—7:00 pm at Grand Central Station in New York.
“You’ll recognize me,” she wrote,“by the red rose I’ll be wearing my coat.” So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for the girl with the red rose.
A girl in a green suit was coming toward him,her figure long and slim and her eyes were blue as flowers.Almost uncontrollably he came to her,and just at this moment he saw Hollis Maynell—a woman well past 40.The girl was walking quickly away.
He did not hesitate(犹豫),saying,“I’m John,and you must be Miss Maynell.I am so glad you could meet me. May I take you to dinner?”
The woman smiled, “I don’t know what this is about,son,” she answered,“but the young lady in the green suit begged me to wear this rose on my coat.And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner,I should tell you that she is waiting for you in the restaurant across the street.She said it was some kind of test!”
It’s not difficult to admire Miss Maynell’s wisdom. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.John was attracted by Miss Hollis Maynell because ________.
A.John believed her one of her old friends |
B.she took good notes with a soft handwriting |
C.John thought her a considerate and thinking lady |
D.she was beautiful with a slim figure and blue eyes |
Why did John uncontrollably go up to the young girl in the green suit?
A.Because he knew it was Miss Hollis Maynell. |
B.Because she was the very lady he was waiting for. |
C.Because he was drawn to her beautiful appearance. |
D.Because John didn’t want to meet Miss Hollis Maynell |
We can find John was a person who ________.
A.was easy to change his mind |
B.was casual and independent |
C.judged a person by his looks |
D.valued a person’s inner spirit |
What’s the theme of the story?
A.The wisdom is shown in one’s action. |
B.Love can be met by chance if you like. |
C.You should never judge a book by its cover. |
D.A noble heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. |
I was a dance teacher when I first began working with people who have disabilities. I had thirty students. These were teens and adults up to the age of 40. We learned new steps together. We laughed together and we shared a love of music and fellowship.
I had one pupil, Dan, who didn’t appear to get much out of the class. I never had eye contact with him. When I left the class to travel down the stairs to reach the main floor of the building, he moved worriedly as a blind person might do in unfamiliar condition.
One day his parents met me shopping downtown and told me that they were so grateful that I was teaching the class. They said that my class was the high point of their son’s week. Were they just being polite?
A week later, a snowstorm held me up and I was later than usual pulling into the school parking lot. Ahead of me by one row of cars, and over to one side, was my student, Dan and his worker. I could see his face as he moved toward the building. He was excited. I watched Dan run toward the building in anticipation of(期待着)his weekly treat, my class. I cried as it hit me that though I could not see in class all that Dan got from the class, it surely meant a lot to him. Dan did indeed love the class. He was getting enjoyment out of it.
Today when I teach courses at the College to students, I remind them that children can stand on the sidelines and seem to be uninterested and yet they can be learning at the same pace as those who are in the middle of the activity. When I teach this, I think, yes and this is true for those with disabilities too!
Teach with the wonderful enthusiasm and you are bound to reach your students. Do your job with a love for others and you will be successful no matter what your job involves.The writer found her working with disabilities _______.
A.boring | B.confusing |
C.satisfying | D.challenging |
The writer has learned from Dan that ______.
A.a teacher is sure to reach his students |
B.kids with disabilities need more love |
C.students learn in different ways |
D.a students make achievements out of a class |
What can we learn from the passage?
A.The writer was doubtful when hearing what Dan’s parents said. |
B.Dan didn’t get much out of the dancing class. |
C.Dan received more attention in the writer’s class. |
D.The writer was impatient with Dan at first. |
What may be the best title for the passage?
A.A student with disability |
B.Learning with Dan |
C.Enjoying a lesson with children |
D.Sharing love with students |
While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon is commonly known as “Empty Nest Syndrome”.
In order to find better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon(现象)”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”(空巢综合症). According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by ________.
A.their earlier experience of living alone |
B.the poor living conditions in their native countries |
C.the common worry that they have not saved much money |
D.the distance between where parents live and where their children live |
Many young people have gone abroad, leaving their aged parents behind, to ________.
A.realize their dreams in foreign countries |
B.seek a better place for their aged parents |
C.live in the countries with more money |
D.continue their studies abroad |
If young people go abroad, ________.
A.they do not hold to the value of duty at all |
B.they can give some help to their parents back home |
C.they cannot do what they should for their parents |
D.they believe what they actually do is right |
From the last paragraph, we can infer that ________.
A.the situations in the developed and developing countries are different |
B.“Empty Nest Syndrome” has arrived unexpectedly in our society |
C.children will become independent as soon as they go abroad |
D.the aged parents are not fully prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome” |
The society discussed in the passage is most probably ________.
A.France | B.America |
C.China | D.Britain |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter((中枢神经系统的)灰白质). This is the area of the brain which processes(加工,处理) information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the effect is greater when the younger people learn a second language.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University of London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals(双语者)” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度) in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible,” he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of 2 and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ________.
A.science on learning a second language |
B.language learning and the increase in one’s brain power. |
C.man’s ability of learning a second language |
D.language learning and the study of maths |
In the second paragraph, the writer mentions exercise in order to _____.
A.say language is also a kind of physical labour |
B.prove that one needs more practice when he or she is learning a language |
C.make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
D.to show the importance of using the language when you learn it. |
What change can we get during the experience of learning a second language?
A.The increase of the ability to learn. |
B.The development of muscles. |
C.The improvement of strange pronunciation. |
D.A worse understanding of different ideas. |
We may know from the scientific findings that _______.
A.there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn’t know a second language |
B.the experience of learning a second language has a bad effect on people’s brain |
C.the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
D.the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that ______.
A.learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
B.Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
C.early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
D.you’d better start to learn a second language between 2 and 34 |
Compassion is a desire within us to help others. With effort, we can translate compassion into action. An experience last weekend showed me this is true. I work part-time in a supermarket across from a building for the elderly. These old people are our main customers, and it’s not hard to lose patience over their slowness. But last Sunday, one aged gentleman appeared to teach me a valuable lesson. This untidy man walked up to my register(收款机)with a box of biscuits. He said he was out of cash, had just moved into his room, and had nothing in his cupboards. He asked if we could let him have the food on trust. He promised to repay me the next day.
I couldn’t help staring at him, I wondered what kind of person he had been ten or twenty years before, and what he would be like if luck had gone his way. I had a hurt in my heart for this kind of human soul, all alone in the world, I told him that I was sorry, but store rules didn’t allow me to do so. I felt stupid and unkind saying this, but I valued my job.
Just then, another man, standing behind the first, spoke up. If anything, he looked more pitiable(可怜的). “Charge it to me” was all he said.
What I had been feeling was pity. Pity is soft and safe and easy. Compassion, on the other hand, is caring in action. I thanked the second man but told him that was not allowed either, then I reached into my pocket and paid for the biscuits myself. I reached into my pocket because these two men had reached into my heart and taught me compassion.The aged gentleman who wanted to buy the biscuits ________.
A.promised to obey the store rules |
B.forgot to take any money with him |
C.hoped to have the food first and pay later |
D.could not afford anything more expensive |
Which of the following best describes the old gentleman?
A.Kind and lucky. |
B.Poor and lonely. |
C.Friendly and helpful. |
D.Hurt and disappointed. |
The writer acted upon the store rules because ________.
A.he wanted to keep his present job |
B.he felt no pity for the old gentleman |
C.he considered the old man dishonest |
D.he expected someone else to pay for the old man |
What does the writer learn from his experience?
A.wealth is more important than anything else. |
B.Helping others is easier said than done. |
C.experience is better gained through practice. |
D.Obeying the rules means more than compassion. |
How would the old men feel at the end of the story?
A.Sad and disappointed. | B.Happy and lucky. |
C.Depressed and unlucky. | D.Surprised and grateful. |
In the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen’s apple and falls victim to a curse; in Shakespeare’s novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pills that contained mercury, believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.
Poison has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?
An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison. The exhibition will continue until August, reported The New York Times.
The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars, frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren’t much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered in a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.
The exhibition also features interactive activities. In an iPad-based game, visitors are presented with three puzzling illnesses and asked to identify the poisons based on symptoms. In one case, for example, a pet dog is found sick in a backyard and visitors have to figure out whether it was the toad (蟾蜍), the leaky batteries in the trash or the dirty pond water that did it.
''Poisons can be bad for some things,'' Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. ''Yet they can also be good for others.''
This is what visitors learn from the last part of the exhibition, which displays how poisons can be used favorably by humans, including for medical treatment.
The blood toxins of vampire bats, for example, can prevent blood from clotting (凝结), which may protect against strokes. A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol. One chemical in the venom of Gila monsters can lower the blood sugar of its victims, so it has been used to treat diabetes.
The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances that we regularly take in – chili, coffee and chocolate, etc. – owe their special flavors or stimulating effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects. By mentioning Snow White and Romeo at the beginning of the story, the author intends to________.
A.draw readers’ attention to the topic of the article |
B.show that poison is always linked with evil and death |
C.show that poison has long been involved in literature |
D.get readers to think of more examples of the use of poison in stories |
What is the main purpose of the exhibition The Power of Poison?
A.To inform people about which animals are the most poisonous. |
B.To teach people how to handle poisonous animals. |
C.To give people more in-depth knowledge about poison. |
D.To show how poison has been used for medical treatment. |
Which of the following statements about the exhibition is TRUE according to the article?
A.The exhibition will lead visitors to a real rainforest. |
B.Those who visit the exhibition can join in some iPad-based interactive games. |
C.Golden poison frogs are the most poisonous animals on display. |
D.Visitors can listen to lectures on recent studies of poisonous animals. |