One dark and stormy night, an elderly man and his wife entered the hall of a small hotel in Philadelphia, hoping to get shelter for the night.
The clerk, a friendly man with a beautiful smile, explained that there were three conferences in town. "All of our rooms are taken," the clerk said, "but I can't send a nice couple like you into the rain at one o'clock in the morning. Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It's not a suite, but it will be good enough to make you comfortable for the night." The couple agreed.
As the elderly man paid the bill the next morning, he told the clerk, "You are the kind of person who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States. Maybe someday I’ll build one for you." The clerk looked at them and smiled. The three of them had a good laugh.
Two years passed. The clerk had almost forgotten the incident when he received a letter from the elderly man, asking the clerk to pay him a visit. The elderly man met him in New York, and led him to the corner of the Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. He then pointed to a great new building there, a reddish stone one with watchtowers thrusting (插入) up to the sky, and told the clerk that it was the hotel he had just built for him to manage.
That wonderful building was the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. And this young clerk whose name was George C. Boldt never foresaw the return of events that would lead him into the manager of one of the world's most attractive hotels.Why did the elderly man build a hotel for the clerk?
| A．He was grateful to the clerk. |
| B．They had a bet at first. |
| C．He wanted to please the clerk. |
| D．He wanted to sell the hotel. |
Which of the statements about the story is NOT true?
| A．The story took place at about one a.m. |
| B．The old couple were too poor to afford a luxurious room. |
| C．The clerk was willing to help those in need. |
| D．The clerk received an unexpected invitation from the old man. |
According to the text, the clerk .
| A．helped the couple because he thought they were poor. |
| B．hoped that the old couple could give him a large amount of money. |
| C．didn't expect to receive things in return from the old couple. |
| D．became rich, thanks to his own efforts. |
Which of the following proverbs suits the story the best?
| A．Every little thing helps. |
| B．Make hay (干草) while the sun shines. |
| C．Accidents will happen. |
| D．One good turn deserves another. |
The influence of America is increasing in my country. Spanish people drink Coca Cola, wear blue jeans, watch Hollywood movies, listen to American music, and eat fast food, and they do these things every day.
I think that American movies are a good way to spread American culture because people are often influenced by what they see in the movies. Most of the programs and documentaries (纪录片) we watch on TV are from America, and most of the movies we go to see are made in Hollywood.
In the last few years, the government has tried to protect the Spanish movies. Now, in our cinemas, at least twenty percent of the movies which are shown must be from Spain or from other countries in Europe.
American culture is a part of Spanish life now. It’s certain that many things from America are as much a part of people’s lives as Spanish things. For example, Coca Cola is as familiar to everybody as any typical Spanish product. I’ve known about Coca Cola for my whole life.
However, it’s different with Western fast food. For example, I don’t think McDonald’s is as successful in Spain as it is in other countries. In my opinion, one of the reasons may be the lifestyle of the Spanish people. The Spanish people normally eat at home.
On the other hand, maybe McDonald’s hamburgers will eventually replace the famous Spanish tapas. It’s true that in every city in Spain you can find a McDonald’s, and it is more popular among the Spanish children than among the adults. In any case, it’s obvious that American culture is becoming more and more a part of our lives every day.From the first paragraph we can know that ____.
| A．the influence of America on Spain can be found everywhere |
| B．most Spanish people don’t like to listen to their own music |
| C．fast food spreads from Spain to the United States |
| D．some Spanish actors go to America to improve their acting skills |
What plays an important part in the spreading of American culture in Spain?
| A．American novels. | B．Hollywood movies. |
| C．McDonald’s. | D．American music. |
Why did the government set some rules for the films shown in Spain?
| A．To protect foreign culture in Spain. |
| B．To earn more money from Spanish films. |
| C．To limit the number of foreign movies. |
| D．To unite the European Community. |
What do you think Spanish tapas might be?
| A．The name of a drink. | B．The name of a restaurant. |
| C．A clothing brand. | D．A certain kind of food. |
Sooner or later, most students are to take some form of English examinations. Often the more successful students are better prepared. However, sometimes students who do well have better test taking skills. These abilities really have nothing to do with understanding English better. They are skills that make taking the test easier, and therefore provide better results.
Here are some very important—and often ignored—guidelines to taking a test successfully.
Do not insist on completing each question before going to the next. This is extremely important. Remember one question may only be worth one point! You will become nervous when you fail to find out its answer, making you lose your concentration and leading to worse results. However, answering the questions you are sure you know results in your being more relaxed and feeling more confident.
Go through the test a second time working out the answers to more difficult questions. Sometimes questions asked are answered in later questions asking for different things.
Usually(but not always) a strong first impulse(冲动) means we know the answer and we don’t really have to think about it too much. Going back to think about it usually makes you unsure and often causes a mistake. This is very common, so be very careful!
If you don’t know the answer, write something. If you are answering a 4 possibility multiple choice question you will still have a 25% chance of being correct!
Taking a test is as much for you as is for your teacher, so never cheat. If you cheat, you don’t help yourself in the long run.In the first paragraph, the writer stresses the importance of ______.
| A．better preparations for exams. |
| B．better understanding of English. |
| C．better skills at taking exams. |
| D．better results of taking exams. |
When taking an exam, you are advised ______.
| A．to first answer the questions which are easier to you. |
| B．to depend on your first impulse to answer the questions. |
| C．to search the test paper for all the answers to the questions. |
| D．to give up the questions whose answers you don’t know. |
It is common that many students______.
| A．pay much attention to their testing skills. |
| B．often give up a difficult test halfway. |
| C．often get higher results by cheating. |
| D．don’t believe in their first impulse. |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Effective Studying Methods. |
| B．Effective Test Taking Skills. |
| C．Getting Better Exam Results. |
| D．Being Successful Students. |
A lot of people are afraid of spiders(蜘蛛). One would even avoid walking in grass . And if he thought the spider was in the room or house, he would have to leave the house for days. In fact, fear of spiders is a type of disorder called specific phobia(恐惧症), one of the most common anxiety disorders, which annoys about 7% of the population, a study says. Common specific phobias also include fear of blood, needles, snakes, flying and enclosed spaces.
The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine tried the “exposure Therapy(暴露疗法)”, which was small, done on 12 adults, but all of them held or petted the spider afterward. One participant celebrated by getting a spider tattoo(纹身) after having been unable to even look at photos of spiders.
This is the first study to document the immediate and long-term brain changes after treatment and to illustrate how the brain recognizes long-term to reduce fear as a result of the therapy. Every one would come in thinking: I am going to be the one who can’t do this . There is no way ,”Haunter ,author of the study ,says “They were impressed by the end.”
In therapy lasting two or three hours, which is different for each person, the participants were taught that troublesome thoughts about spiders were untrue.” “They thought the spiders might be capable of jumping out of the cage and on to them,” Hauner says.
Exposure therapy gets its name from exposing a patient to what he fears, says Todd, research assistant professor: “A lot of it about dispelling people’s beliefs. You can get significant changes in a short period of time”.Which of the following is true about the people with “specific phobia?”
| A．They don’t dare to walk in grass |
| B．They are afraid of spiders by nature |
| C．7% of them need medical treatment. |
| D．They have a sense of scare about something. |
What can we learn about “exposure therapy”
| A．It turned out to be quite effective |
| B．The participants had to take some medicine. |
| C．It had a better effect on adults than on children. |
| D．The participants had photos taken with spiders in the end? |
According to Hauner ,_______.
| A．the therapy was completed ahead of time. |
| B．the therapy removed the participant’ fear. |
| C．each participant doubted the therapy at first. |
| D．spiders sometimes attacked the participants. |
Some people view a bad situation as a disaster. It’s not. It’s an opportunity. Once your old world collapses(倒塌), you can recover and rebuild. Now you have the chance to start fresh and do things more intelligently. I built my business on an unstable structure. I kept it going for years, but the business collapsed last year. I had to leave my office, selling off all the furniture and equipment. I got kicked out of my apartment because I couldn’t pay the rent. I couldn’t pay my bills or debt. I declared bankruptcy.(破产)
For years there was the worry that this might happen if I didn’t keep straining（尽力） to keep the business going. And my worries were right. What I worried about would happen did happen .But you know what? Going through that experience wasn’t really so bad. It was interesting. Some of it was actually pretty easy. Throughout most of it, I felt increasing relief and a renewed sense of freedom and possibility. All the old baggage was gone. No more office. Fewer possessions. Fewer obligations. No more debt. Most of all , no more straining. Life became a lot easier.
I got a cheaper and smaller apartment. I became debt-free. I learned to live within my means. Those were actually good things. The others were just feelings. The reality wasn’t actually painful. After that, I kept going with the same business but completely changed the business model. I avoided the earlier mistakes, and that business recovered just fine and worked great. It was profitable every year from then on. But I had to go through the collapse first to reach that point.
If you’ve been feeling out of control with your current work or lifestyle, and you’re currently straining to keep it going ,consider letting it go. Try allowing the old world to collapse, many or all of your fears and worries might actually come to pass, but that’s ok. You don’t have to keep the old world alive. If it keeps falling apart on you ,let it collapse. Experiencing the collapse isn’t as bad as fearing the collapseThe author regards the collapse of the old world as an opportunity to_____
| A．get a new world started in better ways |
| B．turn to others for help to save ourselves |
| C．sum up the failure and make up for the mistakes |
| D．bury ourselves in the disasters and then recover ourselves |
In the author’s opinion, the old baggage in Paragraph 2 included______
| A．the freedom and possibility of refreshing himself |
| B．the experience he learned from his former failure |
| C．the old possessions and the invisible pressure |
| D．the business knowledge and skills he got from various media |
What did the author do after his business failed last year?
| A．He cleverly transformed his business model. |
| B．He started another completely different business. |
| C．He received further training about doing business at college |
| D．He borrowed some money from his friends and relatives to pay off his debts. |
According to the author, when our work or life is out of our control we can_____.
| A．prevent it from falling apart on us. |
| B．set it free or just let it completely break down |
| C．keep straining and go on with determination |
| D．keep it alive with the courage to change it again |
After a terrible electrical accident, which caused him to become both blind and deaf, the whole world became completely dark and quiet for Robert Edwards for almost ten years. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him and finally he regained the will to live.
One hot summer afternoon, he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all at once. He stood under a large tree to avoid getting wet, but he was struck by the lightning. Witnesses thought he was dead but he woke up some 20 minutes later lying face down in muddy water at the base of the tree. He was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw: a plough and a wall. When Mrs. Edwards came running up to him, shouting to their neighbors to call for help, he could see her and hear her voice for the first time in nearly ten years.
The news of Robert regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread, and many doctors came to examine him. Most of them said that he regained his sight and hearing from the shock he got from the lightning. However, none of them could give a convincing answer as to why this should have happened. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since Robert lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock, perhaps, the only way for him to regain them was by another sudden shock.The reason for Robert’s attempts to kill himself was that _________.
| A．a terrible traffic accident happened to him |
| B．he had to live in a dark and silent world |
| C．he was struck by the lightning once more |
| D．nobody in the world cared about him |
What was Robert doing when he was struck by the lightning?
| A．Taking a walk with a stick. |
| B．Sheltering from the rain under a tree. |
| C．Driving a car. |
| D．Lying on the ground. |
We can infer from the text that ________.
| A．Robert’s wife sent for doctors immediately after the shock |
| B．many doctors came because Robert was badly injured |
| C．there was no exact explanation for Robert’s recovery |
| D．a sudden injury in the head led to Robert’s recovery |
What’s the best title of the whole passage?
| A．A Terrible Electrical Accident |
| B．Robert Edwards and His Wife |
| C．What a Sudden Shock |
| D．An Unforgettable Experience |