Whatmakesagiftspecial?Isitthep-优题课

One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son’s school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching（干呕）into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later, I heard about other children with stomachache or difficult sleeping the night before.
What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competitive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day cause no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is nightmare（噩梦）. Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disease.
Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it’s taking part, not winning, that’s important; or that’s a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.
Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting — and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone’s eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.
I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.
Sports day is still an annul event in this school probably because __________.

A．this is an independent school

B．it is a tradition of the school

C．it helps children lose weight

D．children enjoy watching sports

What does the author think about team games?

A．They should include more stressful races.

B．They are acceptable to different children.

C．They should be abandoned at primary school.

D．They are less fun for those who love running.

What is the author’s attitude towards sports day?

A．Critical.	B．Neutral.
C．Positive.	D．Ambiguous.

It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth (收费站). “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”
It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.
Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.
Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.
“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”
The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours!
Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?

A．She knew the car drivers well.

B．She wanted to show kindness.

C．She hoped to please others.

D．She had seven tickets.

Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she_________.

A．thought it was beautifully written

B．wanted to know what it really meant

C．decided to write it on a warehouse wall

D．wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom

Which of the following statements is closest in the meaning to the underlinedsentence above?

A．Kindness and violence can change the world.

B．Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior.

C．Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves.

D．Kindness and violence can shape one’s character.

What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．People should practice random kindness to those in need.

B．People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others.

C．People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet.

D．People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver.

Science Fiction
The science fiction type of entertainment is considered by most to be fathered by Jules Verne (A Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) and H. G. Wells (The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds). Sci-Fi, as it is commonly shortened, is a fictional story in which science and technology have a significant influence on the characters and plot. Many such works are guesswork about what the future holds and how scientific findings and technological advances will shape humankind.
Writing in the late 1800s, Jules Verne was remarkably successful in his 10 guesses about future technologies of air conditioning, automobiles, the Internet, television, and underwater, air, and space travel. Unbelievably, of all places from which to choose, Jules Verne guessed Tampa, Florida, USA as the launching site of the first project to the Moon, which was only 200 kilometers away from the actual 1969 location at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
One of the best-known science fiction books is Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Published in 1949, it was not meant as a prediction, but as a warning: Orwell was describing what he saw as the outcome of the ideas, trends, and emerging technologies of his time. Many invented terms from this novel have become common in everyday use, such as “big brother” and “doublethink”. Even the author’s name has been made into an adjective—Orwellian—and has become a warning descriptor for situations where privacy is lost and the individual becomes sacrifice under a totalitarian(极权主义) government. Nineteen Eighty-Four was translated into sixty-five languages within five years of its publication, setting a record that still stands.
What helps bring science fiction into being is usually a new discovery or innovation. The author creates an analysis of the potential influence and consequences and then wraps it in a pleasant story. For example, the beginning of space exploration was followed a few years later by the Star Trek television program and movie series. Advances in genetics(遗传学) cause fantasies of the end of disease, horrors of eugenics(优生学), and thrillers where creatures disappearing long ago are brought back to life. The science fiction author’s self-determined role is that of field glasses for humanity—searching the world of future possibilities upon the road which we are traveling.
What can science fiction offer to people?

A．A forecast of how a new discovery could influence mankind.

B．A thoughtful look at the present drawbacks of technology.

C．An analysis of why a new technology could be used to harm human.

D．A thoughtful look at the past and what brought us to this point in history.

Which of the following best summarizes the description of Nineteen Eighty-Four?

A．A prediction of future technologies.

B．A warning of cruel and unfair ruling.

C．The consequence of scientific findings.

D．An imaginary perfect world of freedom.

From the passage we can learn that _____.

A．Nineteen Eighty-Four adopted some popular terms

B．H.G. Wells predicted the Internet in the late 1800s

C．Cape Canaveral was mentioned in Jules Verne’s fiction

D．Star Trek movie series were based on space exploration

According to the author, what is the role of science fiction in society?

A．A moral compass.

B．A reference of technology.

C．A record of science development.

D．A consideration of possibilities.

Does money buy happiness? Not! Ah, but would a little more money make us a little happier? Many of us smirk(傻笑，假笑) and nod. There is, we believe, some connection between financial fitness and emotional fulfillment. Three in four American college students—nearly double the 1970 proportion— now consider it “very important” or “essential” that they become “very well off financially”. Money matters.
But a surprising fact of life is that in countries where nearly everyone can afford life’s necessities, increasing wealth matters surprisingly little. The connection between income and happiness is “surprisingly weak,” observed University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart in one 16-nation study of 170,000 people. Once comfortable, more money provides diminishing returns(报酬递减). The second piece of pie, or the second $100,000, never tastes as good as the first. Even lottery winners and the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans surveyed by University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener have expressed only slightly greater happiness than the average American. Making it big brings temporary joy. But in the long run wealth is like health: its complete absence can create suffering, but having it doesn’t guarantee happiness. Happiness seems less a matter of getting what we want than of wanting what we have.
Has our happiness, however, floated upward with the rising economic tide? Are we happier today than in 1940s, when two out of five homes lacked a shower or tub? Actually, we are not. Since 1957, the number of Americans who say they are “very happy” has declined from 35 to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide(自杀) rate has increased nearly three times, the violent crime rate has gone up nearly four times, and depression has mushroomed. Economic growth has provided no boost to human morale. When it comes to psychological well being, it is not the economy.
I call this soaring wealth and shrinking spirit “the American paradox.” More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low confidence, secured rights and reduced civility. We are good at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity(繁荣) but long for a purpose. We treasure our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.
Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s view?

A．The more money we earn, the less returns we have.

B．The more money we earn, the happier we would be.

C．In the long run, money cannot guarantee happiness.

D．In the long run, happiness grows with economy.

“The second $100,000 never tastes as good as the first” because _____.

A．it is not so fresh as the first $100,000

B．it is not so important as the first $100,000

C．profit brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000

D．happiness brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000

According to the passage, people do well in making a living but don’t _____.

A．have any primary aim	B．know how to spend money
C．know how to enjoy life	D．keep in touch with other people

The things that happened after 1957 are given to show that _____.

A．people’s spiritual needs cannot be fulfilled by wealth

B．family problems become more and more serious

C．young people are not happy about their life

D．social crimes have increased significantly

My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six week period, to be written in every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.
The passage mainly discusses _____.

A．teaching	B．literature
C．humor	D．knowledge

The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.

A．funny	B．tiring
C．inspiring	D．brilliant

With his favorite English teacher, the writer found it most amazing that _____.

A．his teacher was very learned

B．his teacher was very humorous

C．the works by Johnson and Addison were very humorous

D．few were able to find humor in works by Johnson and others

The English teacher the writer disliked most _____.

A．was not able to make students laugh

B．hurt his students’ feelings

C．didn’t let his students do the grading

D．had no sense of humor