One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap(包装).
On September 11th, 1958, Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital, she put him in my lap, saying. “I promised you a gift, and here it is.” What an honour! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night. I sang to it. I told it stories. I told it over and over how much I loved it!
One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it. Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as “hopeless”, “pitiful”, and “dying”, which sounded ominous.
Christmas was coming. “Don’t expect any presents this year,” Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room. “If your baby brother lives, that’ll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke, his eyes filled with tears. I’d never seen him cry before.
The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom I heard him say, “What? He’s all right?” he hung up and shouted upstairs. “The hospital said we can bring Richard home!”
“Thank God.” I heard Mum cry.
From the upstairs window, I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My socks still hung there flat. But I knew they were not empty; they were filled with love!What happened to the author on September 11th, 1958?
A.He got a baby brother. |
B.He got a Christmas gift. |
C.He became four years old. |
D.He received a doll. |
What does the underlined word “ominous” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A.Impossible. | B.Boring. |
C.Difficult. | D.Fearful. |
Which word can best describe the feeling of the father when Christmas was coming?
A.Excitement. | B.Happiness. |
C.Sadness. | D.Disappointment. |
What is the passage mainly about?
A.A sad Christmas day. |
B.Life with a lovely baby. |
C.A special Christmas gift. |
D.Memories of a happy family. |
Can you become a creative person? Can you learn to come up with great ideas or learn to create new things? The answer is yes.
The first step to becoming creative is to remove the words “I am not creative” from your vocabulary. Seriously, do not say them or do not say them even inside your head.
Now you need to start looking what other people are doing. The more you see what they are doing, the more you can get a feel for how they think, and how they come up with creative ideas.
Find a way or a place where you feel totally relaxed. This is important so you can let your mind come up with ideas. Write them down as you get them. For me a relaxing place is outside in nature where it is quiet and sunny, or when I take a long drive in my car by myself.
The last step is to write down a few ideas every day.
Repeat the process of reading and observing what similar people are doing and how they are being creative, finding a relaxing place to write down your thoughts, and writing down a few ideas every day until you start seeing this kind of results you are happy with. It may take a few weeks to a few months, but this is the training process you need to put your mind through to become creative.
Remember, looking at things from different angle(角度) can also make a big difference to creativity. Question the way that everyone else is doing something using the same method and see if being different and doing it another way will produce something cool.The first step to be creative is to _____.
A.have confidence in yourself |
B.look up “creativity” in the dictionary |
C.understand the meaning of being creative |
D.learn many new words by heart |
The writer develops the fourth paragraph by ______.
A.the order of time | B.the order of space |
C.giving examples | D.explaining reasons |
It can be inferred that ______.
A.creativity is a gift people are born with |
B.not everyone can be creative |
C.it is a piece of cake to be creative |
D.creativity can be gained through practice |
The purpose of writing this text is to tell us how to _____.
A.learn to be creative |
B.solve problems easily |
C.come up with good ideas |
D.improve the ability of thinking |
信息匹配
A
Sales Manager Requirements:
Minimum of 2-year sales experience;
University / College degree;
Good command of English;
Excellent communication skills;
Responsible, patient, energetic , enthusiastic;
Customer service, teaching experience is preferred;
Basic office computer skills (Excel, Word, E-mail).
B
Project Management Assistant Requirements:
Good English and computer skills;
Related working experience is a must;
Patient, careful, supportive ;
Strong team spirit.
C
English Teacher Requirements:
University degree or above in English major;
Eager to learn and open-minded with creativity ;
With deep understanding and respect for different cultures.
D
Marketing Assistant Requirements:
College degree or above with good English (speaking and writing) skills;
With basic ideas of sales and marketing;
Working experience is not necessary;
Good communication and presentation skills.
E
Accountant Requirements:
College degree or above in finance area;
Good English and computer skills;
Good sense of finance management;
At least two years of experience as an accountant in an international organization is a must;
Self-management, hard-working, independent and able to deal with pressure.
F
Nurse Requirements:
College degree or above in medicine area;
Good communication and nursing skills;
Good sense of responsibility;
At least two years of experience as a nurse in a big hospital;
Patient, careful, polite, hard-working.
请阅读以下职位申请者的信息,然后匹配申请者和所提供的工作岗位。
【题文1】Harry Evans graduated from the University of Oxford. At the university, he majored in English Literature, and got a Bachelor’s degree .
【题文2】Jack Blunkett has been an accountant in an international company for four years after graduating from the Finance University, and he is good at English and computer.
【题文3】Peter Hessler is a manager of an international company, and his duty is to sell the products of the company.
【题文4】Thomas Wright got a master’s degree. His spoken English is excellent, but he has no working experience. He is good at writing and communication.
【题文5】Alice Elizebeth has worked in a Building Material Company for ten years, and she is expert in management. She can communicate in English very well.
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier,have better marriages and have more respectable occupations. Personal consultants give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants(被告).But in the executive(主管领导) circle,beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder,it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were thought as having more integrity(正直) than plainer men;effort and ability were thought to account for their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less integrity than unattractive ones;their success was attributed(归功于) not to ability but to factors such as luck.
All unattractive women executives were thought to have more integrity and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly,though,the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was attributed more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of attractive overnight successes.
Why are attractive women not thought to be able?An attractive woman is thought to be more feminine and an attractive man more masculine(有男子气概的)than the less attractive ones. Thus,an attractive woman has an advantage in traditionally female jobs,but an attractive woman in a traditionally masculine position appears to lack the “masculine” qualities required.
This is true even in politics. “When the only clue is how he or she looks,people treat men and women differently,”says Anne Bowman,who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates(候选人). She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs,one of men and one of women,in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again,in the order they would vote for them.
The results showed that attractive males utterly defeated unattractive men,but the women who had been ranked most attractive invariably(始终如一地) received the fewest votes.The underlined word “liability”(in Para.1)most probably means “________”.
A.misfortune | B.instability | C.disadvantage | D.burden |
In traditionally female jobs,attractiveness________.
A.reinforces(加强)the feminine qualities required |
B.makes women look more honest and capable |
C.is of primary importance to women |
D.often enables women to succeed quickly |
Bowman's experiment reveals that when it comes to politics,attractiveness________.
A.turns out to be an obstacle to men |
B.affects men and women alike |
C.has as little effect on men as on women |
D.is more of an obstacle than a benefit to women |
It can be inferred from the passage that people's views on beauty are often________.
A.practical | B.prejudiced | C.oldfashioned | D.pessimistic |
The author writes this passage to________.
A.demand equal rights for women |
B.emphasize the importance of appearance |
C.discuss the negative aspects of being attractive |
D.give advice to jobseekers who are attractive |
It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plan for the future. “I'm going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” Deluca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘you should open a sandwich shop.’”
That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn't cover their startup costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
But business didn't go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn't know how badly, because we didn't have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.
Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They'd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful; we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.
But the partners' learnasyougo approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca would drive around and handdeliver the checks to pay their supplies. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn't necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” Deluca says.
And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” Deluca adds.
Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimilliondollar restaurant chain. Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ________.
A.support his family |
B.do some research |
C.help his partner expand business |
D.pay for his college education |
Which of the following is true of Buck?
A.He put money into the sandwich business. |
B.He was a professor of business administration. |
C.He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. |
D.He rented a storefront for Deluca. |
What can we learn about their first shop?
A.It stood at an unfavorable place. |
B.It lowered the prices to poor management. |
C.It made no profits due to poor management. |
D.It lacked control over the quality of sandwich. |
They decided to open a second store because they ________.
A.had enough money to do it |
B.had succeeded in their business |
C.wished to meet the increasing demand of customers |
D.wanted to make believe that they were successful |
What contributes most to their success according to the author?
A.Learning by trial and error. |
B.Making friends with supplies. |
C.Finding a good partner. |
D.Opening chain stores. |
Boys need friends, suffer when they don't believe they have any, and worry over the ups and downs of relationships. Many adults believe that somehow boys need friends less than girls do, in truth, though, no boy is an island; boys value their friends throughout childhood and adolescence and are happier and healthier when they have solid relationships with peers(同龄人).
Despite the common belief that girls are better at relationships, most boys consider their friends a very important part of their lives, and boys may actually be better at keeping friendships than girls are. A recent study of 10 to 15yearold boys and girls found that girls' friendships are actually more fragile. Girls tend to say and do hurtful things to each other more frequently than boys, and girls are more hurt by the end of a friendship.
Boys are the living definition of the phrase “peer group”; they love games with rules, competition, and doing things together. Boys seem to enjoy, even need the opportunity to test themselves against others, and many lasting friendships begin in karate(空手道) class or on the basketball court. Competence and skill are widely respected; being picked last for a team or left out altogether is an experience that can haunt(萦绕心头) a boy for years.
As boys mature(成熟), the friendship becomes even more important, and it frequently widens to include girls. During the teen years, friends can become the most important part of a boy's life—and a part in which his parents are not included. The confusion of being a teenager leads boys to form close bonds(关系) with friends. There is the sense for many boys that a friend is someone who is “always there for me”, someone he can trust. They may be partners in crime or partners in study, but the friendship of adolescent boys can run surprisingly deep.The common belief of adults is that boys________.
A.don't care about others as much as girls |
B.don't value friendship as much as girls |
C.have the same friendship as girls |
D.have healthier friendship than girls |
According to the text, boys' friendship________.
A.is usually built around active play |
B.tends to be in small groups |
C.can bear mutual hurt between friends |
D.doesn't suffer from failure |
The author mentions the study in the second paragraph to prove ________.
A.many people believe girls are better at relationships |
B.most boys consider their friends very important |
C.boys may be better at keeping friendships than girls |
D.boys may be more active in a friendship |
As a boy gets older, he tends to________.
A.widen his circle of friends to include different kinds of people |
B.shift his focus from his friends to himself |
C.leave his parents out of his friendship |
D.be confused about what a friendship is |
What's the best title for the text?
A.Friendships between Boys and Girls |
B.Boys and Their Friendship |
C.Childhood and Adolescent Friendship |
D.Tips on Making Friends with Boys |