To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment. In spite of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are—always!
Without question, many of us have mastered the sensitive art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things—all at once. We allow past problems and future concerns to control our present moments, so much that we end up anxious, discouraged, depressed, and hopeless. On the other hand, we also put off our satisfaction, and put off what we should think of first, and our happiness, often convincing ourselves that "someday" will be better than today. Unfortunately, the same mental power that tells us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that "someday" never actually arrives. John Lennon once said, "Life is what's happening while we're busy making other plans." When we are busy making other plans, our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away. In short, we miss our life.
Many people live as if life were dress rehearsal (彩排) for someday in the future. It isn't. In fact, no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow. Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over. When our attention is in the present moment, we push fear from our minds. Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future—we won't have enough money, our children will get into trouble, we will get old and die, whatever.
To fight against fear, the best method is to learn to bring your attention back to the present. Mark Twain said, "I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened. I don't think I can say it any better. Practice keeping yourattention on here, and now. Your efforts will pay off sooner or later."If a person is able to enjoy the present moment, then he __________.
| A．is out of mind |
| B．is in peace of mind |
| C．has forgotten his past |
| D．will ignore his future |
In the writer's eyes, "fear" is the __________.
| A．concern over past problems |
| B．attention on the present. |
| C．worry about what might happen in the future |
| D．anxiety about dress rehearsal |
By using what John Lennon said, the writer intends to __________.
| A．advise people to fix their attention on the present life |
| B．remind people to make good plans for their future |
| C．warn people that their children are growing up |
| D．remind people that their bodies are out of shape |
According to the writer, now is __________.
| A．the only time for us to get rid of what happened yesterday |
| B．the first time for us to look forward to our future |
| C．the only time we have and can control |
| D．the busy time we can make good preparations for the future |
Many people have tried to simplify the spelling of English words. Unlike other languages , English sometimes spells the same sounds in very different ways . For example , there is “light “but” white”, ”loan ”but “phone” ,and there are at least seven different ways of pronouncing “ough”: ”though”, ”through “,”bough”. “cough” ”enough “, “ought” and “thorough “.
The American President Theodore Roosevelt almost succeeded in simplifying English spelling .In 1906, Andrew Carnegie started the Simplified Spelling Board .He was one of the richest men in the United States of America .The board’s plan was to make the spelling of words nearer to the way they sound .For example , the word “though” would be spelt “tho” and “through “would become “thru”. Other people on the board were Melvil Dewey , the head of the New York libraries , and Professor Brander Matthews of Columbia University 。They explained their idea to President Roosevelt , who thought that it was indeed logical .He immediately asked the government printer to sue simplified spelling in all government letters .
But people didn’t like the change, even if it made life easier. So the new simpler spelling was not popular. More importantly, when the American politicians (政客) discussed the plan, they did not like it either.
Because Roosevelt did not want to have any problems with the politicians, he changed his mind and told the printer to go back to the old way of spelling.
Since then no one in any government has dared to simplify English spelling. However,people do simplify some words, mainly in advertisements. For example, we often see “tonite” instead of “tonight” and “thru” instead of “through”．Many people have tried to simplify English spelling because________.
| A．English words are too long to remember |
| B．there are many mistakes in English words |
| C．lots of words are spelt in many different ways |
| D．sometimes the same sounds have different spellings. |
Who is NOT a member of the Simplified Spelling Board?
| A．Andrew Carnegie. |
| B．Melvil Dewey. |
| C．Theodore Roosevelt. |
| D．Brander Matthews. |
What was Theodore Roosevelt’s attitude towards simplified spelling?
| A．Worried. |
| B．Supportive. |
| C．Uncertain. |
| D．Doubtful. |
According to the passage, simplified spelling________.
| A．was welcomed by the US politicians |
| B．changed the way the words sound |
| C．has been used widely for over a century |
| D．was first used in US government letters. |
An English traveler found himself in Norway with only enough money to buy the ticket for him to go back home. As he knew that it would take him only two days to get to England, he decided that he could easily spend the time without food. So he bought a ticket and got on the ship. The man closed his ears to the sound of the lunch bell. When dinnertime came, he didn't go to dinning room, saying that he was not feeling very well.
The next morning he still didn't have breakfast and at lunchtime he again stayed in his room. But at dinnertime he was so hungry that he went to the dinning room and ate everything the waiter put in front of him. He got ready for the quarrel (争执).
“Bring me the bill,” he said. “The bill, sir?” said the waiter in surprise. “There isn't any bill. On our ship meals are included (包括) in the money for the ticket,” said the waiter. The story happened _____.
| A．in England |
| B．on a ship from Norway to England |
| C．in Norway |
| D．on a ship from England to Norway |
The traveler didn’t go to the dinning room first because _____.
| A．he had no money |
| B．he didn’t feel very well |
| C．he didn’t want to eat anything |
| D．he didn’t hear the sound of the bell |
The traveler went to the dinning room to eat something because _____。
| A．his friend had given him some money |
| B．the waiter had asked him to change his mind |
| C．he learned that there was no bill on the ship |
| D．he was too hungry. |
After the traveler finished eating, _____.
| A．he had a quarrel with waiter over the bill |
| B．he drank a lot |
| C．he asked the waiter to bring him the change (零钱) |
| D．he came to know that travelers on the ship had free meals |
Not all bodies of water are so evidently alive as the Atlantic Ocean, an S-shaped body of water covering 33 million square miles. The Atlantic has, in a sense, replaced the Mediterranean as the inland sea of Western civilization. Unlike real inland seas, which seem strangely still, the Atlantic is rich in oceanic liveliness. It is perhaps not surprising that its vitality has been much written about by ancient poets.
“Storm at Sea”, a short poem written around 700, is generally regarded as one of mankind’s earliest artistic representations of the Atlantic.
When the wind is from the west
All the waves that cannot rest
To the east must thunder on
Where the bright tree of the sun
Is rooted in the ocean’s breast.
As the poem suggests, the Atlantic is never dead and dull. It is an ocean that moves, impressively and endlessly. It makes all kinds of noise—it is forever thundering, boiling, crashing, and whistling.
It is easy to imagine the Atlantic trying to draw breath—perhaps not so noticeably out in mid-ocean, but where it meets land, its waters bathing up and down a sandy beach. It mimics(模仿) nearly perfectly the steady breathing of a living creature. It is filled with symbiotic existences, too; unimaginable quantities of creatures, little and large alike, mix within its depths in a kind of oceanic harmony, giving to the waters a feeling of heartbeat, a kind of sub-ocean vitality. And it has a psychology. It has personalities: sometimes peaceful and pleasant, on rare occasions rough and wild; always it is strong and striking.Unlike real inland seas, the Atlantic Ocean is______.
| A．always energetic | B．lacking in liveliness |
| C．shaped like a square | D．favored by ancient poets |
What is the purpose of using the poem “Storm at Sea” in the passage?
| A．To describe the movement of the waves. |
| B．To show the strength of the storm. |
| C．To represent the power of the ocean. |
| D．To prove the vastness of the sea. |
What does the underlined word “symbiotic” mean?
| A．Living together. | B．Growing fast. |
| C．Moving harmoniously. | D．Breathing peacefully. |
In the last paragraph, the Atlantic is compared to______.
| A．a beautiful and poetic place | B．a flesh and blood person |
| C．a wonderful world | D．a lovely animal |
EDGEWOOD-EVERY morning at Dixie Heights High School, customers pour into a special experiment; the district’s first coffee run mostly by students with special learning needs.
Well before classes start, students and teachers order Lattes Cappuccinos and Hot Chocolates. Then, durning the first period teachers call in orders on their room phones, and students make deliveries.
By closing tome at 9.20 a.m., the shop usually sells 90 drinks.
“Whoever made the chi tea, Ms. Schatzman says it was good,” Christy McKinley, a second year student, announced recently, after hanging up with the teacher.
The shop is called the Dixie PIT, which stands for Power in Transition. Although some of the students are not disabled, many are, and the PIT helps them prepare for life after high school.
They learn not only how to run acoffee shop but also how to deal with their affairs. They keep a timecard and receive paychecks, which they keep in check registers.
Special-education teachers Kim Chevalier and Sue Casey introduced the Dixie PIT from a similar program at Kennesaw Mountain High School in Georgia.
Not that it was easy. Chevalier’s first problem to overcome was product-related. Should school be selling coffee? What about sugar content?
Kenton County Food Service Director Ginger Gray helped. She made sure all the drinks, which use non fat milk, fell within nutrition(营养) guidelines.
The whole school has joined in to help.
Teachers agreed to give up their lounge(休息室) in the mornings. Art students painted the name of the shop on the wall. Business students designed the paychecks. The basketball team helped pay for cups.What is the text mainly about?
| A．A best selling coffee. |
| B．A special educational program. |
| C．Government support for schools. |
| D．A new type of teacher- student relationship. |
The Dixie PIT program was introduced in order to _______.
| A．raise money for school affairs |
| B．do some research on nutrition |
| C．develop students’ practical skills |
| D．supply teachers with drinks |
We know from the text that Ginger Gray _______.
| A．manages the Dixie PIT program in Kenton Country |
| B．sees that the drinks meet health standards |
| C．teaches at Dixie Heights High School |
| D．owns the school’s coffee shop |
The displays of bad temper are nothing new in kindergarten and first grade, but the behavior of a 6-year-old girl this fall at a school in Fort Worth, Texas, had even the most experienced staff members wanting to run for cover. Asked to put a toy away, the youngster began to scream. Told to calm down, she knocked over her desk and crawled（爬行） under the teacher’s desk, kicking it and throwing out the contents of the drawers. Then things really began to worsen. Still screaming, the child stood up and began casting books at her terrified classmates, who had to be accompanied to safety.
Just a bad day at school? More like a bad season. The desk-throwing incident followed scores of other crazy acts by some of the youngest Fort Worth students at schools across the district, and even the country. There have been an increasing number of kindergartners and first-graders with violent behavior and it has become an alarming trend.
The youngest school kids are acting out in really ridiculous ways and violence is getting younger and younger. Why? Educators and psychologist argue that they are witnessing the result of a number of social trends that have come together in a most unfortunate way. Many mention economic stress, which has parents working longer hours than ever before, kids spending more time in day care and everyone coming home too tired to engage in the kind of relationships that build social skills. In addition, many educators worry about rising academic pressure in kindergarten and first grade as the students have to take the yearly tests demanded by the No Child Left Behind Act. They believe that even more important than early reading is the learning of play skills. Other experts also point out that violent behavior in children has been closely linked to exposure to violence on TV and in movies, video games and other media. They insist schools try to teach kids what they have failed to learn at home, for example, having varieties of anti-violence and character-education programs, instructing children to interact with people who love them and teaching them how to behave.The author leads in the topic of the passage with.
| A．detailed examples | B．scientific analysis |
| C．satisfactory evidence | D．rich imagination |
The second paragraph tells us that.
| A．autumn is considered as a bad season for the youngest school kids |
| B．Fort Worth students set good example to their peers in the district |
| C．the problem of kids’ violent behaviors is too serious to be ignored |
| D．kindergartners are urged to be equipped with alarming systems |
As for the children, which of the following results in their violent behavior?
a. economic stress
b. academic pressure
c. lack of interaction with parents
d. ill personality
e. exposure to media violence
| A．a, b, d | B．a, c, d |
| C．b, c, e | D．b, d, e |
The passage mainly discusses about.
| A．causes and solutions of school violent behaviors |
| B．student behavior management in the digital age |
| C．kids’ exposure to violence on TV and in movies |
| D．functions of character-education programs |