A young man wanted to learn the art of sword fighting.He went to the greatest instructor(教练)and said,“Please teach me sword fighting”,the instructor gladly accepted him.
In the days that followed the instructor gave him many chores(杂务)to perform. But there was no mention of the sword. The young man got disappointed, saying, “Great teacher, kindly begin my lessons.”The instructor agreed.
The next day when the young man was cooking, the instructor came from behind and hit him with a wooden sword and disappeared. The young man was taken by surprise. The next day, the same thing happened. The young man now started preparing himself mentally to counter(反击)any such surprise attack.
Next time when the instructor came to attack him, the young man was able to dodge(躲闪)the sword.He was very happy and asked the instructor, “Now have I learnt the art of defending myself?”The instructor did not respond to his question.
Such surprise attacks became common and the young man got more and more skillful in counting the attacks well. One day the young man saw the instructor engaged seriously in a task. He thought, “Now let me catch the instructor unawares and attack him.”He took the wooden sword and attacked the instructor without making a sound from behind.But the instructor was fully prepareed for it. He turned around and defended himself most skillfully.
Realization struck the young man that moment. He thought, “How great this instructor is! Today I have learnt the real secret of sword fighting. He has taught me that waving the sword and learning the opponent′s(对手的) moves are not the essentials of sword fighting.What is important is to read what goes on in the opponent′s mind and to counter his movement and his thoughts too.”
The young man continued to work hard and became a great sword fighter.When the young man asked the instructor to accept him, the instructor_____.
| A．asked him if he did house work at home |
| B．told him the art of fighting at once |
| C．met his requirement without hestitation |
| D．quickly hit him with a sword |
When he attacked the instructor, the young man_______.
| A．was seriously engaged in a task |
| B．wanted to give him a lesson |
| C．didn't want to learn more from him |
| D．didn't do it successfully |
According to the passage, what is the most important thing in being a good sword fighter?
| A．To be able to counter any surprise attact. |
| B．To attack the instructor successfully. |
| C．To know what your opponent is thinking. |
| D．To have a great instructor with good methods. |
Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?
| A．Good students come from famous teachers. |
| B．There is no end to learn something well. |
| C．A good beginning is half done. |
| D．Nothing is difficult to a willing heart. |
The old saying that practice makes perfect seems to make no sense when it comes to schoolwork. Many educators today are looking for evidence to support the case for homework, but are coming up empty-handed.
Mary Jane Cera is the academic administrator for the Kino School, and she maintains a no-homework policy across all grades. The purpose of the policy is to make sure learning remains a joy, not a thing that discourages social time and creative activity.
At the Kino school, Cera says children often choose to take their favorite parts of school home. “A lot of what we see kids doing is practicing music with their friends, and taking experiments home to show their parents,” she says. Surveys of Kino graduates suggest that the early control they are given over their education continues to serve them well into college.
“One of the reasons that we continue to assign much homework is our obsession (着迷) with tests, although we can agree on the importance of kids doing better on tests through proper homework to some degree,”says author Alfie Kohn. In his book The Homework Myth, Kohn points out that no study has ever found a relation between homework and academic achievement and that if kids have no choice in the matter of homework, they’re not really exercising judgment, and are instead losing their sense of self-control.
However, many supporters of homework argue that life is filled with things we don’t like to do, and that homework teaches self-discipline, time management and other non-academic life skills.
Wherever the homework debate goes next, it’s worth taking a moment to examine if we’re doing the right thing about our children’s education. The good news is — it’s never too late to start.Mary Jane Cera believes that ______.
| A．learning should develop creativity |
| B．homework should be done at home |
| C．learning remains to be a difficult task |
| D．homework serves as a ticket to success |
According to the surveys, what influences students further study most?
| A．Professors’ instructions. |
| B．Time management skills. |
| C．Early education at home. |
| D．Freedom in choosing homework. |
What would Kohn probably agree with?
| A．Homework is linked to academic achievement. |
| B．Homework can equip students with life skills. |
| C．Homework leads to the loss of kids’ creativity. |
| D．Homework might improve kids’ grades in exams. |
What is the author’s attitude towards homework?
| A．Disapproved. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Objective. | D．Uninterested. |
Three key facts about rising sea levels need to be pointed out to the world's politicians and planners: sea-level rise is now unavoidable, it will happen faster than most of us thought, and it will go on for a very long time.
Even greenhouse gas emissions (排放) stopped tomorrow, the oceans will continue to become larger as they get warm. The climate scientists estimate that sea-level rise may be in the range of 1 to 2 meters by 2100, with a small risk of an even greater rise.
For many islands and low-lying regions, even small rises will cause disasters. But for most countries, the problem is what has been built on that land: New York, Sydney and Tokyo, to mention just a few cities. Unless something can be done, great areas of urban network will disappear under the waves. It will take a great engineering effort to protect these cities---an effort that may be beyond economies that have been brought to their knees.
None of this means we should fear, and stop trying to forbid emissions. But together with these efforts, we need to start acting now and we must stop building in danger zones.
Billions of dollars are being spent on constructing homes, offices and roads in vulnerable coastal areas. For instance, the skyscrapers of Shanghai are being built on land that is merely 4 meters above sea level on average, and they are sinking under the weight of the buildings. Therefore, planning for new coastal developments is to go against reality. If we want to build a lasting heritage for our children, we should do so on the plentiful land that is in no danger from the sea. It is one of the effective ways to slow down climate change, and we should be acting on it now.Which of the following about sea-level rise is true?
| A．It will be brought under control by 2100. |
| B．It will cause few problems to many islands. |
| C．It may become worse than we expected. |
| D．It may be caused by fast urban development. |
New York, Sydney, and Tokyo are mentioned in this passage to show _______.
| A．modern cities are usually built along the coastline |
| B．the coastline is very important for modern countries |
| C．climate changes have endangered many big cities on land |
| D．climate changes have been completely out of control |
What does the underlined word “vulnerable” in the last paragraph means?
| A．difficult to build |
| B．easy to damage |
| C．likely to be protected |
| D．impossible to make sure of |
What’s the main purpose of this passage?
| A．To explain why sea-level is rising. |
| B．To tell us the danger of sea-level rise. |
| C．To warn us of greenhouse gas emission. |
| D．To discuss the disadvantage of building coastal cities. |
With the passing of Steve Jobs, the tech industry has lost one of its most respected heroes. So where will the industry turn for inspiration, now that Jobs is gone?
New Apple CEO, Tim Cook, will keep the business going, but he is unlikely to inspire the same kind of devotion as Jobs. Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg, has star power, but he and his company are still too young and untested. At Google, Larry Page is too awkward, and Eric Schmidt too clever, and a lot of the company’s recent products are unfinished. But there’s one tech leader who just might fill the gap: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Bezos runs his business the same way as Steve Jobs ran his, with a focus on long-term value over short-term profits and a willingness to invest in seemingly unrelated new areas. Steve Jobs converted Apple from personal computers into music with the iPod, and then into cellphones with the iPhone. It worked, and made Apple into the biggest and richest tech company in the world. Jeff Bezos is doing the same thing at Amazon.
In 2006, Amazon noticed it had a lot of spare capacity (容量) in its data centers. So it started renting out some of that capacity to some companies. Now, hundreds of newly-established Internet companies, including big names like Foursquare and Yelp, run their businesses on Amazon Web Services. Somehow, an outline bookseller became the most important provider of “cloud computing”.
In 2007, Amazon introduced its e-reader, the Kindle. The product developed slowly for a couple of years, and then started to take off in 2010 with the third generation. It sells for US$199, which is hundreds of dollars less than Apple’s iPad, but it has similar functions to the iPad. No wonder Amazon has to build millions more than it expected to meet demand.What do Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs have in common?
| A．They seek after short-term profits. |
| B．They tend to invest in unrelated areas. |
| C．They run their business creatively. |
| D．They show interest in personal computers |
The second paragraph is mainly developed by ______.
| A．giving examples |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．following the order of time |
| D．analyzing causes and effects |
Why does Amazon have to produce more Kindles?
| A．The product Kindle once developed slowly. |
| B．Amazon noticed it had a lot of spare capacity. |
| C．Kindle has powerful functions and lower price. |
| D．Amazon took off with Kindle’s third generation. |
What might be the best title for the passage?
| A．Amazon’s Jeff Bezo and his talents |
| B．The Unknown Truth about Amazon |
| C．Apple and Amazon---Which Is the Legend? |
| D．Amazon’s Jeff Bezos---the Next Steve Jobs |
Dining in a completely dark room, unaware what’s on your plate while sitting next to a complete stranger may not sound like a perfect restaurant experience, but it’s certainly an intriguing way to spend a rainy night in London.
Dans le Noir, close to London’s financial district, is a restaurant full of blind waiters and waitress who become your eyes around the restaurant, whose original Paris branch opened in 2004.
In the bar with the light, you choose whether you want the fish, meat or vegetables, but the dishes themselves remain a secret. Bags, coats and devices that light up, including watches and mobile phones, are kept in the bar. Placing your hand on the shoulder of your guide, you are led to a table in a black dining room that seats up to 60 people. And it is dark.
The waiters tell you when the food is being placed down in front of you, then the fun begins, trying to get food into your mouth, then indentifying just what it is that’s on your plate, and finally whether you have missed any of it.
It’s also a great chance to break social tradition and eat using your fingers. Those same fingers are also the only way you can tell how much wine you’re pouring into your glass.
The happy atmosphere in the dinning room also makes the night memorable. You can’t really avoid talking to the person next to you at the long tables and guessing what the dishes are certainly provides adequate fuel for the conversations.
All will be revealed at the end of the meal when you are led back out into the lit bar. Not only do you finally get to see what you’ve just been eating but also who you’ve been talking to for the last 90 minutes.What does the underlined word “intriguing” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．Challenging. | B．Interesting. |
| C．Strange. | D．Fashionable. |
Which of the following is true about “Dans le Noir”?
| A．It has its first branch opened in Paris. |
| B．It is far from London’s financial district. |
| C．It receives up to 60 customers every day. |
| D．It becomes popular among blind customers. |
While at table, what contributes to the customers’ lively conversations?
| A．Talking about wine. |
| B．Recommending dishes. |
| C．Guessing what they’re eating. |
| D．Introducing themselves. |
What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To tell how to run a unique restaurant. |
| B．To attract customers to the restaurant. |
| C．To help people find a job in the restaurant. |
| D．To show how to enjoy yourself in the restaurant. |
A mother had two daughters. She loved them very much, but two girls would fight with each other from their earliest years. As they grew older, they became total strangers. They had no contact with each other when they were adults.
This caused the mother great pain. Then, later, she had an idea. She decided to write a letter to them. In this letter, she told them how much she loved them, and how she wanted them to love each other in this way. She also gave them news of herself and some guidance on how to live happier lives.
When the letter was ready, she wrote out one copy for each daughter, but these copies were special. Each copy contained only every second sentence of the original letter: the copy for one daughter had only the even (双数的) sentences, and the other daughter’s copy contained only the odd sentences. Neither contained the fullness of the mother’s message.
When the two daughters received their letters, they were puzzled. To understand the half-letter, they would have to put the two letters together and read them as one, which meant they must approach one another again in love and respect. But they each blamed the other for not helping them when trying to read the half-letter.
For a long time, the mother waited in vain. Then one day, when the mother had almost given up hope, there was a knock at the door. There they stood, together. “We’ve come home,” they said at the same time. “We’ve finally put our letters together, and we’ve come to say how much we love you, Mum.” Then she hugged them both, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks, and welcomed them back home.The mother gave her daughters incomplete letters mainly to ______.
| A．win their hearts | B．offer them advice |
| C．tell them her news | D．mend their relations |
Upon receiving their letters, the two daughters ______.
| A．complained about each other as usual |
| B．blamed her mother for the half-letter |
| C．put the letters together and read them |
| D．understood the mother’s purpose at once |
Why did the two daughters visit their mother at last?
| A．They wanted to apologize. |
| B．They missed home very much. |
| C．They had put the letters together. |
| D．They felt grateful for the mother. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．An Unusual Letter | B．A Mother’s Endless Love |
| C．Two Special Daughters | D．A Sincere Apology to Mother |