The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, “Hi, girl! My name is Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may! “and she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age ?”I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel!”
“No seriously “I said. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” “she told me.
Over the course of the year, Rose because a campus icon（偶像）and she easily made friends wherever she went .She loved to dress up and she reveled（陶醉）in the attention bestowed（赠给）upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us.
“We do not stop playing because we are old“; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success/You have to laugh and find humor everyday. Your’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.
“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.” Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Song of Rose”. She challenged each of us study the lyrics(歌词)and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.Rose made herself known to the author in a _______ manner.
| A．serious | B．cold | C．crazy | D．humorous |
From the information provided in the passage, we know________.
| A．Rose finished the college degree within a year |
| B．Rose did realize her dream of meeting a rich husband and getting married through college education |
| C．Rose enjoyed her campus life very much |
| D．Rose grew so old that she stopped playing |
Rose delivered the speech________.
| A．at the graduation |
| B．which she prepared carefully |
| C．ended with ”The Song of Rose” |
| D．to challenge all the other speakers |
According to her speech,________.
| A．whenever you have a dream, you succeed |
| B．All people don’t grow up while growing older |
| C．Rose usually regretted having done something |
| D．a nine-year-old is as old as a 87-year-old if he doesn’t do anything |
The best title for the passage can be________.
| A．Growing Older or Growing Up | B．It’s Never too Old to learn |
| C．Humour Does Count | D．Challenge Yourself |
NEW YORK— The band Atomic Tom has scored an Internet hit with its self-created video to the song Take Me Out. In the video, the band members ride a New York City subway while performing entirely on iPhones, with applications linked with mini-battery powered broadcasters for each instrument.
Singer Luck White says the production was a top-secret operation.
"We didn't tell anyone about this. It was completely top-secret from our family, from our friends, from management, from everybody. So the first time that people saw this video was last Friday when we put it on YouTube,"explained White.
It has been watched by more than 2 million on YouTube since debuting(首次露面) last week. "All I've wanted to do for the past few days is just stare at the YouTube page and keep refreshing it to see how far it will go, " said Espiritu, the lead guitarist of the band.
"The Internet changed everything,"Espiritu said. "It's kind of an exciting time because it forces everyone to adjust and be creative and find new ways to get your name out there."
The idea for the video came from Espiritu's 24-year-old brother Benjamin, who's hoping to go to film school. " I've seen a lot of these music applications, and they're kind of fascinating to me,"Benjamin Espiritu said. " I thought: 'What would happen if iPhones kind of took over the world? If there could actually be a band that played straight through with iPhones, what would that look like?'" So they shot(拍摄) the video —with iPhones also serving as video cameras. The band also tried Union Square but were stopped during playing because they didn't have a permit.
"The YouTube views are translating into album sales,"Espiritu said. "We've seen the jump." Their album has been in the top 10albums on iTunes.
Will their fans start cheering for iPhone-only performances? "We've gotten the most exposure(曝光)and teh most fans that we've ever gotten through this, so I wouldn't be surprised if fans are going to want to see that.: Espritu said.Who first saw the ban's video to the song Take Me Out?
| A．Their friends | B．Their family |
| C．The people online | D．Their management. |
What did Espiritu mean by saying "The YouTube views are translating into album sales"?
| A．The You Tube views make the album sales increase. |
| B．The band has changed the video on the YouTube into an album. |
| C．People need to pay for the video if they view it on the YouTube. |
| D．People who have viewed the video on the YouTube should buy an album. |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．It was Espiritu who came up with teh idea of the video. |
| B．Benjamin thought iPhones would take over the world. |
| C．The band also managed to shoot the video in the Union Square. |
| D．Espiritu thought it was possible fro their fans to prefer iPhone-only performances. |
What would be the best title for this text?
| A．Atomic Tom's iPhone Subway Performance |
| B．Take Me Out—Atomic Tom's New Song |
| C．A band's performance through YouTube |
| D．A Band's iPhone single Take Me Out Hits Big |
Since the beginning of the year, smog(雾霾) has covered parts of North China. In January, Beijing saw only five days without smog. The rising PM2.5 readings terrified many people, and some health experts said that whenever the smog gets serious, hospitals receive more patients suffering acute respiratory (呼吸系统) and heart diseases.
Later, news of polluted underground water in some provinces scared people who wondered whether the water they drink is safe.
So the need to emphasize environmental protection while developing the economy is heard everywhere.
Smog is especially a common concern. As a popular online post said, air may be the only thing that is equal for everyone, despite your income or profession. People with higher incomes are able to drink only bottled spring water and eat only organic food by paying higher prices, but they breathe the same air as everyone else.
At a meeting on Monday, many representatives have expressed their concerns about the air quality, too. One talked about his experience in Beijing. “After taking a taxi from the capital airport to my hotel, which took about an hour, I washed my nose and found the inside of my nose was black. We should ask ourselves this question: Why do we want to develop? It's for living a better life. Dirty air is definitely not a better life,” he said.
China needs to develop its economy and invest (投资) in hightech. Every Chinese has a dream to make China stronger. But without blue sky, clean water and safe food, the achievements in the economy will become meaningless. Space technologies are not to be developed for building a base on Mars so that one day all human beings can move to the red planet because they have destroyed Earth.
What the public wants is a strong and beautiful China. The great efforts must be made to promote ecological progress and build a beautiful China. The words have shown the central government's determination to address the environment issue.The effect of smog doesn't include ________.
| A．the increase of people's income |
| B．more people suffering diseases |
| C．the rising of PM2. 5 readings |
| D．patients increased in hospital |
Why has smog become a common concern ________?
| A．Because people have to pay higher prices. |
| B．Because a popular onlinepost discussed it. |
| C．Because we have to develop industry. |
| D．Because nobody can avoid it. |
To make China stronger we have to develop economy, but ________.
| A．we have to sacrifice air as the price |
| B．the smog is the only by product |
| C．ecological progress can be ignored |
| D．the dirty air is not what we want |
The underlined word “they” in Paragraph 6 refers to ______.
| A．space technologies | B．other planets |
| C．human beings | D．industrial development |
From the last two paragraphs we can infer that ________.
| A．hightech can completely solve the problem of pollution |
| B．we must protect the environment while developing economy |
| C．we can move to Mars after the earth has been destroyed |
| D．space technologies should be developed in a large scale |
After graduating from college, I worked in Denver. On 22nd December, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站) about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery(电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership-a shop selling cars-was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Thank you”--two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City _______.
| A．to visit a friend |
| B．to see his parents |
| C．to pay or the cash register |
| D．to have more gas for his car |
The words “took off ” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “________”.
| A．turned off | B．moved off |
| C．put up | D．set up |
What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?
| A．He had it pulled back to the gas station. |
| B．The couple sent him a business card. |
| C．The couple offered to help him. |
| D．He called his friend for help. |
The battery of the author’s car was dead because _______.
| A．something went wrong with the lights |
| B．the meeting lasted a whole day |
| C．he forgot to turn off the lights |
| D．he drove too long a distance |
By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show _______.
| A．how to write a thank-you letter |
| B．how to deal with car problems |
| C．the kind-heartedness of older people |
| D．the importance of expressing thanks |
Different countries have different customs. When you travel to another countries, please follow their customs, just as the saying goes, “.”
Very often people who travel to the United States forget to tip. It is usual to tip porters who help carry your bags, taxi drivers and waiters. Waiters expect to get a 15% tip on the cost of your meal. Taxi drivers expect about the same amount.
In England, make sure to stand in line even if there are only two of you. It’s important to respect lines there. It’s a good idea to talk about the weather. It’s a favorite subject of conversation with the British.
In Spain, it’s a good idea to have a light meal in the afternoon if someone invites you for dinner. People have dinner very late, and restaurants do not generally open until after 9 pm.
In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek. Your host may welcome you with a kiss on both cheeks. It is polite for you to do the same.
In Japan, people usually give personal or business cards to each other when they meet for the first time. When a person gives you a card, don’t put it into your pocket right away. The person expects you to read it.
Don’t forget to be careful of your body language to express something in conversation. A kind of body language that is acceptable in one culture may be impolite in another.When you travel to the USA, you don’t need to tip.
| A．porters | B．waiters |
| C．teachers | D．taxi drivers |
The missing sentence in the first paragraph should be“.”
| A．Love me, love my dog |
| B．He who laughs last laughs best |
| C．When in Rome, do as the Romans do |
| D．Where there is a will, there is a way |
The underline word “porters” in the passage means.
| A．搬运工 | B．清洁工 |
| C．接线员 | D．售票员 |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．In Spain, People usually have dinner very early. |
| B．In England, It’s a not polite to talk about the weather. |
| C．In Arab countries, men kiss one another on the cheek. |
| D．In Japan you should not read the business card as soon as you get it. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．How to Tip |
| B．Body Language |
| C．When to Have Dinne |
| D．Advice to International Travelers |
My teenage son Karl became withdrawn(孤僻) after his father died. As a single parent, I tried to do my best to talk to him. But the more I tried, the more he pulled away. When his report card arrived during his junior year, it said that he had been absent 95 times from classes and had six falling grades for the year. In this way he would never graduate. I sent him to the school adviser, and I even begged him. Nothing worked. One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and asked God for help. "Please God, I can't do anything more for my son. I'm at the end of my rope. I'm giving the whole thing up to you." I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. "I want to talk to you about Karl's absences." Before he could say another word, I choked up (哽咽) and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. "I love my son, but I just don't know what to do. I've tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It's out of my hands." For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, "Thank you for your time", and hung up. Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he was even on the list of the best students at school. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, "Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?" I nodded. "That was me. I thought I'd play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That's when I knew I had to make you proud."According to the first report card, Karl __________.
| A．often went to school late |
| B．failed in all the exams |
| C．did a good job at school |
| D．didn't do well at school |
When the mother said "It's out of my hands." to the headmaster, she meant that she________.
| A．didn't know what to do about her son |
| B．would drive her son away from the house |
| C．had no money to support the family |
| D．she would have to hang up |
Who was it that telephoned Karl's mother that day?
| A．The headmaster. | B．The school adviser. |
| C．Karl himself. | D．The passage doesn't tell us. |
From the passage we can learn that _________.
| A．children in single-parent families always have mental problems |
| B．mother's love plays an important role in teenagers' life |
| C．parents should give their children as much help as possible |
| D．school education still works well without support from parents |