Pete Rose, the famous baseball player, whom I have never met, taught me something so valuable that changed my life. Pete was being interviewed in spring training the year he was about to break Ty Cobb's all- time hits record. One reporter asked，"Pete, you only need 78 hits to break the record. How many at-bats(轮到击球）do you think you'll need to get the 78 hits? " Without hesitation, Pete said，" 78. " The reporter yelled back，"Ah, come on, Pete. You don't expect to get 78 hits in 78 at-bats, do you? "
Mr. Rose calmly shared his rule in life with all the reporters who were anxiously awaiting his reply. "Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit! If I don't expect to get a hit, I have no right to step in the batter's box in the first place ！ If I go up hoping to get a hit, then I probably don't have a prayer of getting a hit. It is the positive (积极的）expectation that has got-ten me all of the hits in the first place. "
When I thought about Pete Rose's rule and how it was applied to everyday life, I felt a little embarrassed. As a business person, I was hoping to make my sales meet the quotas(定额）. As a father, I was hoping to be a good dad. As a married man, I was hoping to be a good husband.
The truth was that I was an adequate (合格的） salesperson, I was not so bad as a father, and I was an okay husband. I immediately decided that being okay was not enough ！ I wanted to be a great salesperson, a great father and a great husband. I changed my attitude to one of positive expectation, and the results were amazing. I was fortunate enough to win a few sales trips, I won Coach of the Year in my son's baseball league, and I share a loving relationship with my wife ！ Thanks, Mr. Rose ！ Which of the following sayings can most appropriately be used to describe Mr. Rose's rule?
| A．He who doesn't want to be a general can't be a good soldier. |
| B．Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success. |
| C．If you work hard enough, your dreams will come true. |
| D．Rome was not built in one day. |
What can be inferred about Pete Rose from the passage?
| A．He was generous to share all his rules with every-one. |
| B．He got all the hits he wanted because of good luck. |
| C．He set himself a goal of being the best. |
| D．He liked to dream of something impossible. |
Bysaying “I was an adequate salesperson” (Para. 4)the writer probably means“__________”.
| A．he could make adequate money as a salesperson |
| B．he didn't do an excellent job as a salesperson |
| C．he was good enough to be a salesperson |
| D．he knew how to sell goods in a proper way |
Which of the following is NOT a role of the writer?
| A．A teammate of Rose. |
| B．A salesman. |
| C．A father. |
| D．A baseball coach. |
Why does the writer thank Mr. Rose at the end ofthe passage?
| A．Because Mr. Rose showed him how to be a successful salesperson. |
| B．Because Mr. Rose taught him to face life with positive expectation. |
| C．Because Mr. Rose trained him to win Coach of the Year for his son. |
| D．Because Mr. Rose gave him advice on managing a happy family. |
When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well,it’s so-and-so’s fault.”or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down.”It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However,you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with h
is irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stop on for success.According to the passage, winners .
A．deal with problems rather than blame others |
| B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues |
| D．blame themselves rather that others |
The underlined word remedy in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to .
| A．avoid | B．accept | C．improve | D．consider |
When your colleague brings about a problem, you should.
| A．find a better way to handle the problem |
| B．blame him for his lack of responsibility |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem |
| D．ask a more able colleague for help |
When problems occur, winners take them as
| A．excuses for their failures |
| B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues |
| D．chances for self-development |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Winner’s Secret. | B．A Winner’s Problem. |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity. | D．A Winner’s Achievement. |
Motherhood may make women smarter and may help prevent dementia(痴呆) in old age by bathing the brain in protective hormones, U.S. reseachers reported on Thursday.
Tests on rats show that those who raise two or more litters of pups do considerably better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies, and their brains show changes that suggest they may be protected against diseases such as Alzheimer’s(早老痴呆症). University of Richmond psychology professor Craig Kinsley believes his findings will translate into humans.
“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen(雌激素), which we know has many neuroprotective effects,” Kinsley said.
“It’s rat data but human
s are mammals just like these animals are mammals,” he added in a telephone interview. “They go through pregnancy and hormonal changes.”
Kinsley said he hoped public health officials and researchers will look to see if having had children protects a woman from Alzheimer’s and other forms of age-related brain decline.
“When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to babies and the mother from the neck down,” said Kinsley, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Orlando, Florida.
“They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain. If you look at female animals who have never gone through pregnancy, they act differently toward young. But if she goes through pregnancy, she will sacrifice her life for her infant—that is a great change in her behavior that showed in genetic alterations(改变) to the brain.” How do scientists know “Motherhood may make women smarter”?
| A．Some researchers have told them. |
| B．Many women say so. |
| C．They know it by experimenting on rats. |
| D．They know it through their own experience. |
What does the phrase “litters of pups” mean in the second paragraph?
| A．Baby rats. | B．Animals. | C．Old rats. | D．Grown-up rats. |
What can protect the brain of a woman according to the passage?
| A．Estrogen. | B．The hormones of pregnancy. |
C．More  exercise. |
D．Taking care of children. |
“It’s rat data but humans are mammals just like these animals are mammals.” What does the sentence suggest?
| A．The experiments on the rats have nothing to do with humans. |
| B．The experiments on the rats are very important for animals. |
| C．The experiments on the rats are much the same on humans. |
| D．The experiments on the rats are much the same on other animals. |
Which title is the best for this passage?
| A．Do You Want to Be Smarter? |
| B．Motherhood Makes Women Smarter |
| C．Mysterious Hormones |
| D．An Important Study |
Beijing, June 10 (Xinhua) --- Torrential (倾泻的) rains that troubled southern China for days have killed 66 people and resulted in 12 missing by 6:00 p.m. (Beijing time) on Sunday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. “Floods caused by heavy rains have affected about 294,800 hectares of crops, completely destroying 53,000 hectares of them,” said an official with the ministry. The floods have torn down 48,000 and damaged 94,000 houses in southern China, and forced about 591,000 people to move from their homes, the official said.
From Wednesday to Saturday, continuous torrential rains, mudslides and floods hit Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Fujian, affecting more than 8.97 million people. The disasters have caused an overall economic loss of more than 2.9 billion yuan, according to the ministry. The ministry has sent rescue teams to the disaster areas to assist relief work. In Guangdong, heavy rains have killed 18 people and left four missing by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to local authorities. A total of 1.72 million people were affected in the province.
Floods have damaged 49 roads in the seriously affected Meizhou City, of which 29 remained closed to traffic by 7:00 p.m. The number of people who died in floods in Guangxi has reached 13 and one remained missing by Sunday, according to local civil affairs authority. More than 1.97 million people have bee
n affected after the floods caused by continuous heavy rains hit some 40 counties since Wednesday.
According to the local civil affairs bureau, 9,200 houses were knocked down and 75,181 hectares of crops were affected, resulting in 529 million yuan in direct economic losses. There are fewer rainstorms and the rain belt is moving out of Guangxi, but the water levels in major rivers will keep rising in next few days, according to the latest forecast of the region’s meteorological bureau on Sunday afternoon. The underlined phrase “torn down” (para. 1) is closest in meaning to _______.
| A．knocked down | B．placed down | C．set down | D．torn open |
In Meizhou city, 49 roads were damaged and by 7:00 p.m. only _______ roads can be used again after the repair work.
| A．66 | B．29 | C．20 | D．19 |
Which of the following statements is true according to the news?
| A．Hubei is one of the provinces struck by the torrential rains. |
| B．The floods have caused a total loss of nearly 3 billion yuan. |
| C．13 people died in Guangdong province as a result of the floods. |
D．The rain belt will remain in Guangxi in the next fe w days. |
What’s the best title for this n
ews story?
| A．A Disaster. | B．Heavy rains. | C．A Flood. | D．Heavy rains in Southern China. |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．The rainstorms are becoming stronger. |
| B．The water levels in major rivers are to go down soon. |
| C．The rainstorms are becoming less powerful. |
| D．In the next few days, rainstorms will stay in Guangxi. |
Findings from a new study were presented at a recent meeting of the American Psychosomatic(身心的) Society. Researchers in the United States studied 100,000 women during an eight-year period, beginning in 1994. All of the women were fifty or older. The study was part of the Women’s Health Initiative organized by the Nation
al Institutes of Health.
The women were asked questions measuring their beliefs or ideas about the future. The res
earchers attempted to identify each woman’s personality eight years after gathering the information.
The study found that hopeful individuals were 14% less likely than other women to have died from any cause. The hopeful women were also 30% less likely to have died from hear
t disease after the eight years.
Hilary Tindle from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania was the lead author of the report. She said the study confirmed earlier research that linked optimistic feelings to longer life.
The researchers also gathered information about people’s education, financial earnings, physical activity and use of alcohol or cigarettes. Independent of those things, the findings still showed that optimists had less of a chance of dying during the eight-year period.
Some women who answered the questions were found to be hostile (怀敌意的), or highly untrusting of others. These women were 16% more likely to die than the others. They also were 23% more likely to die of cancer.
The study also found women who were not optimistic were more likely to smoke and have high blood pressure or diabetes. They were also more likely not to exercise.
Tindle says the study did not confirm whether optimism leads to healthier choices, or if it actually affects a person’s physical health. She also says the study does not prove that negative (消极的) emotions or distrust lead to bad health effects and shorter life. Yet there does appear to be a link that calls for more research. In which part of a newspaper can you read the above passage?
| A．Nation | B．Opinion | C．Science | D．Business |
Researchers carry out the study to ________.
| A．decide who is more likely to enjoy a happier life |
| B．find out the link between personality and health |
| C．gather information for the National Institutes of Health |
| D．compare each woman’s personality changes |
What can be inferred from the text?
| A．Negative emotions cause a shorter life indeed. |
| B．There may be some link between personality and health. |
| C．It’s uncertain whether optimism affects one’s health. |
| D．The more optimistic you are, the longer life you may enjoy. |
Who is more likely to die of cancer according to the text?
| A．A woman who always doubts what others say. | B．A woman who doesn’t exercise. |
| C．A woman with high blood pressure. | D．A woman with poor physical health. |
What’s Hilary Tindle’s opinion of the study?
| A．Unfair. | B．Useless. | C．Necessary. | D．Reliable. |
All schoolchildren should have "happiness" lessons up to the age of 18 to combat(fight) growing levels of depression, according to a senior Government adviser.
Pupils should study subjects such as how to manage feelings, attitudes to work and money, channeling (引导) negative emotions and even how to take a critical view of the media, said Lord Layard, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics.
The proposal comes only days after the Government said that lessons in manners—including respect for the elderly and how to say "please" and "thank you" should be taught in secondary schools to combat bad behavior.
Lord Layard said, "Learning hard things takes an enormous amount of practice. To play the violin well takes10,000 hours of practice. How can we expect people to learn to be happy without massive amounts of practice and repetition?"
It is believed that at least two percent of British children under 12 now struggle with significant depression. Among teenagers, the figure rises to five percent. AUNICEF study involving 21 developed countries showed that British children were the least satisfied with their lives, while the World Health Organization predicts that childhood psychiatric (精神)disorders will rise by 50 percent by 2020.
In a speech at Cambridge University, Lord Layard said the Government's lessons in manners did not go far enough. "We need a commitment to producing a major specialism in this area, with a serious teacher training program," he said.
However, happiness lessons have been criticized by academics. Frank Furedi, a sociolog
y professor at Kent University and author of Therapy Culture, said, "In pushing emotional literacy, what some teachers are really doing is abandoning teaching. They are giving up and talking about emotions instead, so that children value all this non-discipline-led activity more than math, English or science. What is amazing about this is that time and time again, research says that it does not work. " Frank Furedi believes that ______.
| A．happiness lessons should be taught to children |
| B．happiness lessons are just a waste of time |
| C．formal teaching can go side by side with happiness lessons |
| D．formal teaching should not give way to happiness lessons |
We can conclude from the passage that _______.
| A．the British Government hasn't fully realized the problems with British students |
| B．Lord Layard thinks little of the Government's lessons in manners |
| C．British students are not well-behaved enough |
| D．lessons in manners have brought about positive changes in British students |
Which of the following methods does Lord Layard use to show learning to be happy takes practice?
| A．Comparison. | B．Description. | C．Argument. | D．Analysis. |
What does Lord Layard think of the Government's lessons in manners?
| A．They are quite enough to solve the present problem. |
| B．They can hardly meet the special demands of education. |
| C．They are only focused on a major specialism. |
| D．They will probably end up in failure. |
What do we know about British children from the passage?
| A．They are the least happy among 21 developed countries. |
| B．They suffer depression at an earlier age. |
| C．They are the easiest to suffer childhood psychiatric disorders. |
| D．Their standard of living is the lowest among 21 developed countries. |