Say (suppose) you are a 17th century construction worker who’s worked long and hard to build a splendid tower for the dead wife of your emperor.
Now say that the emperor orders your fingertips cut off so you can never build another one. Yes, that is the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous buildings in the world. And the tale behind the construction is just as impressive as the building itself.
First, there’s the emperor of northern India, Shah Jehan, also called the King of the World. In 1612, Shah Jehan married Mumtaz Mahal. Madly in love, they had 14 children over the next 20 years. But then sadness came. As Mumtaz was about to give birth to child number 14, she said she had heard her unborn baby cry out. It was a sign of death. And as Mumtaz lay dying, she asked Jehan to build a lasting memorial (纪念物) to celebrate their love.
When the heartbroken Jehan appeared eight days after his wife’s death, his people were shocked to see that his coal-black hair had turned snow-white.
Putting away his sadness, Jehan ordered his wife’s dying wish carried out. More than 20,000 workers labored nearly 22 years to complete the construction. In 1653, Jehan placed Mumtaz’s remains (遗体) in the center under the building.
And then, son number five, Aurangzeb, murdered his brothers and took over the power from his aging father. Jehan lived the rest of his days － eight years, to be exact － imprisoned not far from the Taj Mahal. Jehan was only allowed to climb onto the top of his prison to see the timeless treasure from a distance. But never again would he be allowed to visit it－until he was buried next to his wife.
Today 25,000 people visit the Taj Mahal each day. Though the reason for building the tower was a strange, sad story, those who see its breath-taking beauty are reminded of the happiness that inspired (激发……的灵感) its construction.The first two paragraphs were written to show that ________.
| A．the Taj Mahal is an unusual historic building |
| B．ancient Indian emperors were cruel |
| C．construction workers led a hard life in ancient India |
| D．India has some of the most famous buildings in the world |
The Taj Mahal was first built as ________.
| A．a prison | B．a gift to Mumtaz |
| C．a memorial building | D．a tourist attraction |
We learn from the text that Mumtaz probably died in ________.
| A．1626 | B．1632 | C．1634 | D．1653 |
The underlined word “happiness” in the last sentence refers to ________.
| A．the married happiness of the emperor and his wife |
| B．the great pleasure Jehan once found in exercising his power |
| C．the happiness Jehan felt on completing the Taj Mahal |
| D．the pleasure tourists experience when visiting the Taj Mahal. |
We know the westerners like to plan for their time carefully in order to do all the things that are important to them. So if your American or English friend asks you to dinner, he usually invites you a week ahead. But if you really have no time and can’t go to the dinner, you can ring him to say sorry. The dinner is usually served at home, sometimes at a restaurant. You should get there on time, and don’t forget to put on your fine clothes. It is also a good idea to take some little presents to your friend, such as flowers, chocolates and so on. When you are at dinner, you should also observe (遵守) some other customs. Here I’ll give you some dos and don’ts about them in the following:
●Don’t leave bones on the table or the floor. (You should put them on your plate with fingers.)
●Don’t use your bowl to drink soup, but use your spoon to help you instead.
●Don’t talk with much food in your mouth.
●Don’t ask others to have more wine. (This is quite different from that in China.)
●After dinner, use your napkin(餐巾) to clean your mouth and hands.
●Make sure small pieces of food are not left on your face.
Then after dinner, you can stay there a little time. And your friend will be pleased if you leave in half an hour or so. Next day, you had better ring him up to thank him for the good dinner.If your American or English friend wants to invite you to dinner, he will invite you _____.
| A．on the night before the dinner | B．on the day before the dinner |
| C．at the last moment | D．a week before the dinner |
It would be impolite to______.
| A．put bones on your plates with fingers | B．drink soup with your spoon |
| C．persuade others to drink more | |
| D．make sure that there is nothing left on your face after dinner |
Which of the following is not true?
| A．You'd better ring your friend the next day to show your thanks。 |
| B．After dinner, you'd better stay and talk with your friends for a long time to show your thanks. |
| C．After dinner, you'd better leave in half an hour. |
| D．After dinner, use napkin to clean your mouth. |
Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school — walking on my own!
When the Great Depression (大萧条) hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel (汽车旅馆) for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world — Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1, 759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $ 1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situation. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was ______.
| A．encouraging | B．caring | C．moving | D．interesting |
According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?
| A．Doctors. | B．Mom. | C．Nurses. | D．Friends. |
What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
| A． His mom’s support. | B．His previous business success of various levels. |
| C．His terrible experience in the hotel. | D．His wife’s suggestion. |
Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?
| A．Modest, helpful, and hard-working. | B．Careful, helpful and beautiful. |
| C．Loving, supportive and strong-willed. | D．Strict, sensitive and supportive. |
At the age of12, I had an enemy, a girl who liked to point out my shortcomings(缺点). Week by week her list grew: I was very thin, I wasn’t a good student, I talked too much, I was too proud, and so on. I tried to hear all this as long as I could. At last, I became very angry. I ran to my father with tears in my eyes.
He listened to me quietly, then he asked. “Are the things she says true or not? Janet, didn’t you ever wonder what you’re really like ? Well, you now have that girl’s opinion. Go and make a list of everything she said and mark the points that are true. Pay no attention to the other things she said.”
I did as he told me. To my great surprise, I discovered that about half the things were true. Some of them I couldn’t change (like being very thin), but a good number I could—and suddenly I wanted to change. For the first time I go to fairly clear picture of myself.
I brought the list back to Daddy. He refused to take it.“ That’s just for you,” he said.“ You know better than anyone else the truth about yourself. But you have to learn to listen, not just close your ears in anger and feeling hurt. When something said about you is true, you’ll find it will be of help to you. Our world is full of people who think they know your duty. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to them all, but hear the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”
Daddy’s advice has returned to me at many important moments. In my life, I’ve never had a better piece of advice. What did the father do after he had heard his daughter’s complaint?
| A．He told her to write down all that her“ enemy” had said about her and pay attention only to the things that were true. |
| B．He told her not to pay any attention to what her “enemy” had said. |
| C．He criticized (批评) her and told her to overcome her shortcomings. |
| D．He refused to take the list and have a look at it. |
What does “Week by week her list grew” mean?
| A．I was having more and more shortcomings as time went on. | |
| B．She had made a list of my shortcomings and she kept on adding new ones to it so that it was growing longer and longer. | |
| C．Week by week she discovered more shortcomings of mine and pointed them out to me. | D．Week by week, my shortcomings grew more serious. |
Why did her father listen to her quietly?
| A．Because he wasn’t quite sure which girl was telling the truth. |
| B．Because he had been so angry with his daughter’s shortcomings that he wanted to show this by keeping silent for a while. |
| C．Because he knew that his daughter would not listen to him at that moment. |
| D．Because he believed that what her daughter’s “enemy” said was mostly true. |
Which do you think would be the best title for this passage?
| A．The Best Advice I’ve Ever Had |
| B． No an Enemy, but the Best Friend |
| C． My Father |
| D． My Childhood |
EBay will launch an online group gift-buying service today designed to make it easier for several people to chip in, buy and pay for gifts using their social-network and e-mail contacts．
EBay North America Vice President Christopher Payne says it is going to be a major step forward in social commerce, which is the still-small practice of selling products through social networks．Online retail experts aren't as certain, but eBay says the new tool makes it easier for friends and relatives to chip in （凑钱） for gifts because it eliminates the headache of collecting contributions．It can also be used for family members to pitch in to buy, say, an expensive child seat for a mother．
Anything on eBay that's available immediately, rather than up for bid, can be purchased this way starting today at groupgifts．eBay．com．If members of an extended family wanted to buy a gift for one member, one person would choose a gift — or have one recommended by eBay — and invite family members to chip in using Facebook or e-mail．Those who wanted to join in would choose an amount to contribute （or agree to pay a requested amount） and pay using either PayPal or a credit card．They could also add a personal note．
If enough people don't chip in, the organizer can ask people to contribute more or choose a less expensive gift．
"I see myself using this most in cases when I typically might not buy someone what they want because of price," says Nitzan Shaer of Boston, who was part of an online test of the site．
EBay, with its 200 million products, millions of sellers and mobile commerce proficiency, is a logical place to pull together the products, groups of buyers and payment tools, Payne says．
At least 12 sites, such as FrumUs．com and eDivvy．com, facilitate （便于,利于） group purchases but don't sell products．Although a handful of retailers, including Victoria's Secret and 1-800-Flowers, sell products through Facebook, Payne says he expects social commerce will take off as rapidly as shopping using mobile devices．EBay did more than $600 million in sales on mobile devices last year and expects mobile sales to increase to $1．5 billion this year．
Although one in five consumers surveyed said they'd used Facebook for shopping in the past year, 88% said they would not be buying holiday gifts through a social network, mobile phone or smartphone．Of these, 26% were reluctant because of security or privacy concerns, and 20% were unclear about the benefits of using phones or Facebook to shop．What procedure should be followed if your extended family intends to buy your grandpa an 80th birthday gift?
①Asking family members to contribute more money if enough members don’t chip in
②Choosing a gift at groupgifts．eBay．com
③Paying using PayPal or a credit card
④Contributing or agreeing to pay a requested amount of money via Facebook or e-mail
| A．②-①-③-④ | B．①-③-②-④ |
| C．②-④-①-③ | D．②-③-④-① |
Where can we most probably read this text?
| A．In a research paper | B．In a travel magazine |
| C．In a microblog | D．On a website |
What does “it” mean in the 2nd paragraph?
| A．The online group gift-buying service |
| B．People’s social-network and e-mail contacts |
| C．A major step forward in social commerce |
| D．The still-small practice of selling products through social networks |
It can be inferred from the text that ______．
| A．through eBay’s new tool, 200 million products on eBay are available to online shoppers |
| B．social commerce can eliminate the headache of collecting contributions |
| C．eBay’s new tool will gain mass adoption by online shoppers |
| D．with the help of eBay’s new tool, FrumUs．com and eDivvy．com will also sell products |
Why do 33% of the households in the USA have cats? And how do you explain why there are 16 million more pet cats than dogs? Yes, kittens are adorable （讨人喜欢的）．Yes, they can grow up to be good mousers and are very entertaining to watch．And yes, cats are independent and don't require as much care as dogs．But research shows cats can also be caretakers for us and our families, improve our health and teach us and our children to be kinder, gentler souls．
Theodora Wesselman is 94 and has lived the past two years with her elderly cat, Cleo, at TigerPlace, a retirement community in Columbia, Mo．Their enduring friendship is a classic example of how humans and animals can become family and look out for each other．
Wesselman visits other residents, and her children stop by, but Cleo is her best friend, she says．They've been together nearly 21 years．
"She sleeps on her own pillow right beside mine," Wesselman says．"In the morning, she pecks on my cheek to wake me up．It's really sweet．I pet her, tell her I love her and take her to the kitchen to prepare her food．"
Research shows that being able to care for a pet improves our morale （士气;精神状态）, helps validate us and encourages us to take care of ourselves, says Rebecca Johnson, director of the University of Missouri's Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction．The body of research is leading more retirement communities and universities to roll out the welcome mat for pets．According to the context, where do you think the sentence “They start and end the day together” should appear in the passage?
| A．Between para．1 and para．2 | B．Between para．2 and para．3 |
| C．Between para．3 and para．4 | D．Between para．4 and para．5 |
Which of the following words best describe the author’s attitude towards keeping pet cats?
| A．Favorable | B．Critical | C．Reserved | D．Doubtful |
Why does the author take 94-year-old Theodora Wesselman as an example in the passage?
| A．To show that the elderly like Theodora Wesselman in the USA have pet cats． |
| B．To suggest to what degree humans and pet cats can be caretakers for each other． |
| C．Because Theodora Wesselman has been living with a pet cat for the past two years． |
| D．Because Theodora Wesselman pets her cat Cleo and tells her she loves her． |
What does “to roll out the welcome mat for pets” in the last paragraph imply?
| A．To give a special welcome to pets． |
| B．To make the welcome mat flat on the ground for pets． |
| C．To open out the welcome mat for pets to sleep． |
| D．To wrap the welcome mat to make room for pets． |