Arthur Miller （1915-2005）is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century. Miller’s father had moved to the USA from Austria Hungary, attracted like so many others by the “Great American Dream”. However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the early l930s.
Miller’s most famous play, Death of a Salesman, is a powerful attack on the American system, with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social status as symbol of worth. In Willy Loman, the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into trouble with this system. Willy is “burnt out” and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sympathy: if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at a loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.
When it was first staged in 1949, the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews, and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, on the evening of February 10, 2005, the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.Why did Arthur Miller’s father move to the USA?
| A．He suffered from severe hunger in his home country. |
| B．He was attracted by the “Great American Dream”. |
| C．He hoped to make his son a dramatist. |
| D．His family business failed. |
The play Death of a Salesman _______________.
| A．exposes the cruelty of the American business world |
| B．discusses the ways to get promoted in a company |
| C．talks about the business career of Arthur Miller |
| D．focuses on the skills in doing business |
What can we learn about Willy Loman?
| A．He treats his employer badly. |
| B．He runs the Wagner Company. |
| C．He is a victim of the American system. |
| D．He is regarded as a hero by his colleagues. |
After it was first staged, Death of a Salesman __________.
| A．achieved huge success |
| B．won the first Tony Award |
| C．was warmly welcomed by salesmen |
| D．was severely attacked by dramatists |
You're not doomed to toss and turn every night. Although you might not be able to control all of the factors that relate to your sleep, you can adopt habits that encourage better sleep. Start with these simple sleep tips.
No. 1: Stick to a sleep schedule
Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, even on weekends, holidays and days off. Being consistent reinforces （加强） your body's sleep-wake cycle and helps promote better sleep at night. If you don't fall asleep within about 15 minutes, get up and do something relaxing. Go back to bed when you're tired.
No. 2: Pay attention to what you eat and drink
Don't go to bed either hungry or stuffed. Your discomfort might keep you up. Also limit how much you drink before bed, to prevent disruptive middle-of-the-night trips to the toilet. Nicotine, caffeine and alcohol deserve caution, too. The stimulating effects of nicotine and caffeine — which take hours to wear off — can ruin quality sleep.
No. 3: Create a bedtime ritual
Do the same things each night to tell your body it's time to wind down. This might include taking a warm bath or shower, reading a book, or listening to light music. Be careful of using the TV or other electronic devices as part of your bedtime ritual. Some research suggests that screen time or other media use before bedtime has impact on sleep.
No. 4: Get comfortable
Create a room that's ideal for sleeping. Often, this means cool, dark and quiet. Consider using room-darkening shades, earplugs, a fan or other devices to create an environment that suits your needs.
Your mattress and pillow can contribute to better sleep, too. Since the features of good bedding are subjective, choose what feels most comfortable to you. If you have children or pets, set limits on how often they sleep with you — or insist on separate sleeping quarters.
No. 5: Limit daytime naps
Long daytime naps can affect nighttime sleep — especially if you're struggling with poor sleep quality at night. If you choose to nap during the day, limit yourself to about 10 to 30 minutes and make it during the mid-afternoon.
If you work nights, you'll need to make an exception to the rules about daytime sleeping. In this case, keep your window coverings closed so that sunlight — which adjusts your internal clock — doesn't interrupt your daytime sleep.
No. 6: Include physical activity in your daily routine
Regular physical activity can promote better sleep, helping you to fall asleep faster and to enjoy deeper sleep. Timing is important, though. If you exercise too close to bedtime, you might be too energized to fall asleep. If this seems to be an issue for you, exercise earlier in the day.
No. 7: Manage stress
When you have too much to do — and too much to think about — your sleep is likely to suffer. To help restore peace to your life, consider healthy ways to manage stress. Start with the basics, such as getting organized, setting priorities and dividing tasks. Give yourself permission to take a break when you need one. Share a good laugh with an old friend.
Nearly everyone has an occasional sleepless night — but if you often have trouble sleeping, contact your doctor. Identifying and treating any underlying causes can help you get the better sleep you deserve.Which of the following is helpful to have quality sleep at night?
| A．listening to light music before bed |
| B．working out in the gym only in the day time |
| C．using expensive pillows that sell well |
| D．drinking lots of water instead of coffee before bed |
Which of the following sleep tips is not mentioned in the passage?
| A．Control your daytime sleep time. |
| B．Adopt healthy ways to handle stress. |
| C．Follow a flexible sleep timetable. |
| D．Schedule your daily physical activities. |
According to the passage, in what situation do you need to contact your doctor?
| A．You can not nap in the day time. |
| B．You frequently have trouble sleeping. |
| C．You do not fall asleep within 15 minutes. |
| D．You have too much to think about before bed. |
What’s the purpose of this passage?
| A．To provide advice on promoting better sleep at night. |
| B．To inform readers of different sleep habits before bed. |
| C．To offer tips on various relaxing activities before bed. |
| D．To convince readers of the importance of quality sleep at night. |
The day I became a mom was not the day my daughter was born, but seven years later. Up until that day, I had been too busy trying to survive my abusive marriage. I had spent all my energy trying to run a “perfect” home that would pass inspection each evening, and I didn’t see that my baby girl had become a child. I’d tried endlessly to please someone who could never be pleased and suddenly realized that the years had slipped by and could never be recaptured（重现）.
Oh, I had done the normal “motherly” things, like making sure my daughter got to ballet and tap and gym lessons. I went to all of her recitals and school concerts, parent-teacher conferences and open houses — alone. I ran interference during my husband’s anger when something was spilled at the dinner table, telling her, “It will be okay, Honey. Daddy’s not really mad at you.” I did all I could to protect her from hearing the awful shouting after he returned from a night of drinking. Finally I did the best thing I could do for my daughter and myself: I removed us from the home that wasn’t really a home at all.
That day I became a mom was the day my daughter and I were sitting in our new home having a calm, quiet dinner just as I had always wanted for her. We were talking about what she had done in school and suddenly her little hand knocked over the full glass of chocolate milk by her plate. As I watched the white tablecloth and freshly painted white wall become dark brown, I looked at her small face. It was filled with fear, knowing what the outcome of the event would have meant only a week before in her father’s presence. When I saw that look on her face and looked at the chocolate milk running down the wall, I simply started laughing. I am sure she thought I was crazy, but then she must have realized that I was thinking, “It’s a good thing your father isn’t here!” She started laughing with me, and we laughed until we cried. They were tears of joy and peace and were the first of many tears that we cried together. That was the day we knew that we were going to be okay.
Whenever either of us spills something, even now, seventeen years later, she says, “Remember the day I spilled the chocolate milk? I knew that day that you had done the right thing for us, and I will never forget it.”
That was the day I really became a mom. I discovered that being a mom isn’t only going to ballet, and tap and gym recitals, and attending every school concert and open house. It isn’t keeping a spotless house and preparing perfect meals. It certainly isn’t pretending things are normal when they are not. For me, being a mom started when I could laugh over spilled milk.What was the writer mostly engaged in seventeen years ago?
| A．Passing inspection from the community. |
| B．Trying very hard to please the baby girl. |
| C．Nurturing the baby girl to become a child. |
| D．Running a perfect home to satisfy her husband. |
According to the writer, ______ is not the normal “motherly” things.
| A．signing up kids for ballet and gym lessons |
| B．attending parent-teacher conferences |
| C．protecting kids when they are scolded by the father |
| D．going to kids’ school concerts and open houses |
The underlined phrase “ran interference” can best be replaced by______.
| A．informed her | B．covered her |
| C．pleased her | D．pardoned her |
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
| A．mum and daughter had led a miserable life before moving out |
| B．being a mum is not pretending things are normal when they are not |
| C．the daughter spilled the chocolate milk deliberately in the new home |
| D．mum and daughter laughed together at the funny paints on the wall |
According to the passage, when did the writer become a real mom?
| A．The day she gave birth to her daughter |
| B．The day she lost contact with her husband |
| C．The day she created a relaxing family atmosphere |
| D．The day she laughed at the spilled chocolate milk |
Why does most of the world travel on the right side today? Theories differ, but there's no doubt Napoleon was a major influence. The French have used the right since at least the late 18th century. Some say that before the French Revolution, noblemen drove their carriages on the left, forcing the peasants to the right. Regardless of the origin, Napoleon brought right-hand traffic to the nations he conquered, including Russia, Switzerland and Germany. Hitler, in turn, ordered right-hand traffic in Czechoslovakia and Austria in the 1930s. Nations that escaped right-hand control, like Great Britain, followed their left-hand tradition.
The U.S. has not always been a nation of right-hand drivers; earlier in its history, carriage and horse traffic travelled on the left, as it did in England. But by the late 1700s, people driving large wagons pulled by several pairs of horses began promoting a shift (改变) to the right. A driver would sit on the rear (后面的) left horse in order to wave his whip (鞭子) with his right hand; to see opposite traffic clearly, they travelled on the right.
One of the final moves to firmly standardize traffic directions in the U.S. occurred in the 20th century, when Henry Ford decided to mass-produce his cars with controls on the left ( the reason was stated in a 1908 catalog: the convenience for passengers exiting directly onto the edge, especially if there is a lady to be considered).Once these rules were set, many countries eventually adjusted to the right-hand standard, including Canada in the 1920s, Sweden in 1967 and Burma in 1970.The U.K. and former colonies such as Australia and India are among the Western world's few remaining holdouts(坚持不变者).Several Asian nations, including Japan, use the left as well—though many places use both right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive cars.Why did people in Switzerland travel on the right?
| A．They had used the right-hand traffic since the 18th century. |
| B．Rich people enjoyed driving their carriages on the right. |
| C．Napoleon introduced the right-hand traffic to this country. |
| D．Hitler ordered them to go against their left-hand tradition. |
Of all the countries below, the one that travels on the right is ______.
| A．Austria | B．England | C．Japan | D．Australia |
Henry Ford produced cars with controls on the left ______.
| A．in order to change traffic directions in the U.S. |
| B．so that passengers could get off conveniently |
| C．because rules at that time weren't perfect |
| D．though many countries were strongly against that |
According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Before the French Revolution, all the French people used the right. |
| B．People in Britain and the U.S. travel on the same side nowadays. |
| C．The Burmese began to travel on the right in 1970. |
| D．All the Asian nations use the left at present. |
I love charity shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won't find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity's appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful that it had been flooded with donations. They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favorite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children's books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don't encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs, and all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than ￡110 million a year, funding medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better places to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and step lightly on the environment.The author loves the charity shop mainly because of ______.
| A．its convenient location |
| B．its great variety of goods |
| C．its spirit of goodwill |
| D．its nice shopping environment |
The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ______ .
| A．sell cheap products |
| B．deal with unwanted things |
| C．raise money for patients |
| D．help a foreign country |
Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
| A．The operating costs are very low. |
| B．The staff are usually well paid. |
| C．90% of the donations are second-hand. |
| D．They are open twenty-four hours a day. |
The health and welfare of every person in America will be affected by global warming, especially children, the elderly and the poor, according to a new White House science report.
The report said every region (地区) of the country will suffer worse health from heat waves and drought. All but a handful of states would have worse air quality and flooding. It predicts an increase in diseases spread by tainted (腐烂的) food, bad water and bugs (臭虫).
The report concludes that climate change causes real risk to human health and human system that supports the way of life in the United States.
Man-made global warming is caused by greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels. At current emission (放射) levels, global temperatures are likely to rise by about 2 degrees by midcentury and about 7.5 degrees by the end of the century.
The most vulnerable (脆弱的) Americans — the poor, elderly, sick, very young and immigrants — will suffer more. That’s at least 10 percent of the country’s population, probably more. It will be tougher for these people to get enough health care for climate-related illnesses, to cool down in heat waves, to escape extreme events such as Hurricane Katrina, and even to get enough food.
While every region of America is vulnerable to global warming’s health and welfare effects, more people are moving to coastal regions, which are most vulnerable to climate change because of drought and hurricanes.According to the report, we learn all of the following will risk human’s health EXCEPT ______.
| A．heat waves and drought |
| B．increase in the number of bugs |
| C．reduction in carbon dioxide emissions |
| D．global warming and climate change |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．All of states would suffer flooding. |
| B．Air quality in few states is not high. |
| C．About half of all states would have clear air. |
| D．Flooding would occur in almost all the states. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Global warming is caused by human beings. |
| B．It is wise for the Americans to move into coastal regions. |
| C．Global temperatures are increasing year by year because of carbon dioxide. |
| D．At least one tenth of Americans are more likely to suffer climate-related illnesses. |
The writer wrote this passage to ______.
| A．explain how the phenomenon of global warming forms |
| B．protect the vulnerable Americans from suffering from diseases |
| C．provide evidence that global warming and climate change risk human’s health |
| D．warn every American of the danger of global warming to their health |