We have met the enemy and he is ours We bought him at a pet shop. When monkey-pox, a disease usually found in the African rain forest suddenly turns up in children in the American .Midwest it’s hard not to wonder of the disease that comes from foreign animals is homing in on human beings. “Most of the infections （感染）we think of as human infections started in other animals “ says Stephen Morse director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Columbia University.
It’s not just that we’re going to where the animals are; we’re also bringing them closer to us Popular foreign pets have brought a whole new disease to this country A strange illness killed Isaksen’s pets and she now thinks that keeping foreign pets is a bad idea “I don’t think it’s fair to have them as pets when we have such a limited knowledge of them “says Isaksen
“Laws allowing these animals to be brought in from deep forest areas without stricter control need changing “says Peter Schantz Monkey-pox may be the wake-up call. Researchers believe infected animals may infect their owners. We know very little about these new diseases A new bug（病毒）may be kind at first. But it may develop into something harmful（有害的）Monkey-pox doesn’t look a major infectious disease But is not impossible to pass the disease from person to personWe learn from Paragraph I that the pet sold at the shop may_______.
| A．come from Columbia |
| B．prevent us from being infected |
| C．enjoy being with children |
| D．suffer from monkey-pox |
Why did Isaksen advise people not to have foreign pets?
| A．They attack human beings |
| B．We need to study native animals |
| C．They can’t live out of the rain forest |
| D．We do not know much about them yet |
What does she phrase “the wake-up call” in paragraph 3 most probably mean?
| A．a new disease |
| B．a clear warning |
| C．a dangerous animal |
| D．a morning call |
The text suggests that in the future we .
| A．may have to fight against more new diseases |
| B．may easily get infected by diseases from dogs |
| C．should not be allowed to have pets |
| D．should stop buying pests from Africa |
Last year, CCTV journalists approached pedestrians with their cameras, held a microphone to their mouth and asked a simple question, “Are you happy?”
The question has caught many interviewees off guard. Even Mo Yan, who just won a Nobel Prize, responded by saying, “I don’t know”.
While the question has become a buzz phrase and the Internet plays host to heated discussions, we ask: What exactly is happiness? And how do you measure it?
In the 1776 US Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set in writing the people’s unalienable right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. 235 years on, Wen Jiabao told the nation, “Everything we do is aimed at letting people live more happily.” At National People’s Congress, officials agreed that increasing happiness would be a top target for the 12th five-year plan.
US psychologist Ed Diener, author of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth, describes happiness as “ a combination of life satisfaction and having more positive than negative emotions”, according to US broadcasting network PBS. This may sound straightforward enough, but it still doesn’t explain what determines people’s happiness.
Many argue that happiness is elusive and that there is no single source. It also means different things to different people. For some, happiness can be as simple as having enough cash.
Researchers believe happiness can be separated into two types: daily experiences of hedonic (享乐的) well-being; and evaluative well-being, the way people think about their lives as a whole. The former refers to the quality of living, whereas the latter is about overall happiness, including life goals and achievements. Happiness can cross both dimensions.
Li Jun, a psychologist and mental therapy practitioner at a Beijing clinic, says, “Happiness can mean both the most basic human satisfaction or the highest level of spiritual pursuit. It’s a simple yet profound topic.”
Chen Shangyuan, 21, a junior English major at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said his idea of happiness always evolves. “At present it relates to how productive I am in a day,” he said. “It might be linked to job security or leisure time after I graduate.”
Then there is the question of measuring happiness. Does it depend on how many friends we have, or whether we own the latest smart phone? Is it even quantifiable?
Economists are trying to measure happiness in people’s lives. Since 1972, Bhutan’s GDP measurement has been replaced by a Gross National Happiness index. It is calculated according to the peoples’ sense of being well-governed, their relationship with the environment, their satisfaction with economic development, and their sense of national belonging.
In 2009, US economist Joseph Stiglitz proposed “to shift emphasis from measuring economic production to measuring people’s well-being”. But is well-being more easily measured? In the second paragraph, the writer gave an example to ________.
| A．support his idea that being famous is the reason to be happy |
| B．introduce his topic to be discussed |
| C．tell people winning a Nobel Prize is a great honor |
| D．show that the question was quite difficult |
From what Thomas Jefferson and Wen Jiabao mentioned in the passage, we know ________.
| A．people’s happiness is determined by great people |
| B．people’s happiness is an important target for the development of a country |
| C．people in all countries have the right to ask the government for a happy life |
| D．people both in China and America are living a happy life |
According to the passage, the writer may most likely agree that ________.
| A．CCTV journalists are concerned about people’s happiness out of sympathy |
| B．the question has led to heated discussions about who are the happiest people in China |
| C．Bhutan’s new index shows that people there are the happiest in the world |
| D．it is not easy for us to decide what determines people’s happiness |
What does the underlined word “elusive” in the sixth paragraph mean?
| A．available. | B．easy to get. | C．hard to describe. | D．unimaginable. |
The best title of the passage is ________.
| A．Are you happy? | B．The Measurement of Happiness |
| C．GDP and Happiness | D．The Secret of Happiness |
Don't you just love ice skating every winter? I am sure, that since winter is approaching, your skates are set to come out, just waiting to be used. Impress your friends with your new trick on how to ice-skate backwards with the help of these tips. Skating backwards on ice is a bit difficult but once you master the basic, there' s nothing like it. Follow the steps given below and you will be able to skate backwards in no time.
Stand Straight
The first thing that you need to do is, stand straight. If you feel that you are falling backwards, then just put your chin up and slightly bend your knees. Don't worry; this happens to all.
Confidence is What You Need
The most important step while learning how to skate backwards, is having enough confidence in yourself and in what you are doing. How can you achieve this? By practice. Just practice rolling backwards down a gentle slope every single day or just by pushing off from a wall or something of that sort. But before you do that, make sure that the place where you are practicing is free from any kind of debris（碎片）because otherwise, you could end up in the hospital due to some accident. While going backwards, just get used to the feeling of moving backwards. One of the important ice skating tips and techniques is that if you feel that you are losing your balance, then scissor (做剪式运动) your skates. Keep practicing this till you are confident about it.
Maintain Speed
Confident now? Great! Now the next step is to maintain your speed. While rolling in a straight line with one skate, with the other try sculling (滑浆), that is, keep pushing yourself backwards with an outwards stroke (滑动). Now bring the skate which you were using to scull, and then again, repeat the same process. Make sure that you put most of your weight on the skate which is moving straight and not the one with which you are sculling. Now, try the same thing using the other foot. Again keep doing this till you are confident enough.
Increase Your Speed Now
Once you are confident that you can scull with either foot, the next thing that you have to do is increase your speed. Try some of your own tricks now. Scull with either foot or with both at the same time.
Scull and Be Aware
While you keep one foot straight, keep sculling with the other. You can do that simultaneously with both feet. Concentrate on what you are doing but don't get so involved that you don't see where you are going. If you are not watching your back, you might just bang against something or someone. According to the text, confidence comes from ________ .
| A．constant exercise | B．strict coaches | C．high speed | D．good techniques |
Which is the right order of ice-skating backwards?
a. Increasing your speed. b .Being able to scull with one foot.
c. Being about to stand straight. d. Trying some different tricks.
| A．c→a→d→b | B．c→b→d→a | C．c→b→a→d | D．a→c→b→d |
In the last paragraph the author mainly wants to express _________.
| A．one must be brave to learn to ice-skate backwards |
| B．skating and keeping cautious are both important |
| C．it’s difficult to concentrate when ice-skating backwards |
| D．it' s a common thing to hit someone when ice skating backwards |
The purpose of the text is _______ .
| A．to offer some advice on ice-skating backwards |
| B．to introduce the culture of ice-skating backwards |
| C．to explain advantages of ice-skating backwards |
| D．to compare different ways of ice-skating backwards |
Dear Guys,
I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.
One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly agreed.
Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request.However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, and threw it as hard as I could.
It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.
Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, Oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.
The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.
This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.
Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.
“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.
“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.
And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”
I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.
Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.
It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.
I surprised myself --- and I’m sure you as well --- by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery. Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”
Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period was just enough blow for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”
And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.
Sincerely, Jen Cordery The writer agreed to throw the ball because _______.
| A．she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries |
| B．she wanted to refresh her childhood memories |
| C．she could not refuse the polite request from the young man |
| D．she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “game”?
| A．anxious | B．brave | C．afraid | D．curious |
Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?
| A．To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back. |
| B．To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills. |
| C．To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were. |
| D．To express her dislike towards softball. |
What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer ________.
| A．inspired | B．encouraged | C．embarrassed | D．depressed |
What’s the writer’s purpose in writing this open letter?
| A．To express her regret over what she did the day before. |
| B．To announce that she would never play ball games again. |
| C．To explain her own inability to throw the ball over the fence. |
| D．To criticize the young men for their cruelty to her dignity. |
Still seeking a destination for your long summer holidays? There is a good place which may be your favorite option.
Arts of Hope is an overnight performing arts summer camp in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the USA for kids aged 10 and older from around the world. More than just a performing arts camp, Arts of Hope offers participants a unique opportunity to live with kids from other cultures while learning and performing music from many countries.
Each summer, up to 75 children venture to Minnesota from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the US. They arrive as strangers but soon become friends as they learn popular songs and dances from each other’s cultures. The lessons learned during these six weeks are profound. The friendships are enduring. And the stories are inspirational. Taking part in the Arts of Hope camp is a life-changing experience.
DATES
The Arts of Hope 2013 session will run from June 17 to July 30. Because Arts of Hope is a global camp, it is impossible for us to schedule the program to fit all the school schedules of all the schools in the world. Therefore, we understand that some participants may need to arrive late or leave early. Don’t let that stop you from applying! We are happy to make special arrangements as needed. Just send us an email to explain your scheduling challenges. We are happy to arrange a special study room for late arrivals to make up for the missed lessons.
PARTICIPANT FEE
For the 2013 summer, the fee for new, first-time participants is $2,950, subject to the special discounts offered below.
SPECIAL DISCOUNTS
If you apply before February 28, you can get a special fee reduction of $100. Also, there is a 20% fee discount for additional participants from your family if you have a brother or sister who is a Arts of Hope participant. The discount applies to the second, third, and any other additional siblings attending in the same year from the same family.
Apply early to assure your place! Please sign up now! Which of the following statement is not true?
| A．The camp will last more than one month. |
| B．The discount applies to the third sibling from the same family. |
| C．Kids can learn more about different cultures. |
| D．You’d better sign up for the camp early. |
If you leave early or arrive late, what will happen ?
| A．They will make up for the missed lessons. |
| B．You will have to attend the next year’s camp. |
| C．They will give you a special discount. |
| D．You will have to miss some lessons. |
If you and your sister apply for the first time on May 16, how much will both of you pay in total？
| A．$4，720 | B．$5，310 | C．$5，900 | D．$5，700 |
Recently the busiest person on the Internet is absolutely Yuanfang, a fictional figure from the Chinese TV series “Detective Di Renjie”. In the TV series, Li was often asked by Di, “How do you see it, Yuanfang?” Then, the dialogues between them help advance the plot. Now, the casual pet phrase is used as many as 2.5 million times by netizens in a single day, according to statistics.
In fact, it is not the first popular sentence pattern on the Internet. Many other types of popular network words include those evolved from “the slogans of Vancl(凡客网)” and actor’s lines of “The Legend of Concubine Zhen Huan”.
The explosive spread of the sentence “How do you see it, Yuanfang?” again proved the vast power of the network spread. The appearance of a buzzword(流行词) on the Internet may be coincidental, but the spread of numerous buzzwords has started a social and cultural phenomenon. It is more noticeable that the spread is not a deliberate choice but by chance. Usually, everyone has known about it, except the one concerned.
The appearance of buzzwords is resulting from the agreement of netizens. If something is new and interesting enough, it will cause public attention.
The rise of these buzzwords also benefits from their strong “adhesive(粘着的) force”. After analyzing these buzzwords, we find that they have a common character, namely “novel in structure but empty in content”. Therefore, any concrete contents can be added in these buzzwords, creating fantastic results.
Taking the “Yuanfang-style” as an example, its popularity displayed a social mentality of questioning. Although it seems a little funny to ask “Yuanfang”, a fictional character, and some people even find it boring. This way of asking a question reveals a valuable quality-listening. The Internet provides a space for everyone to express their views, but it also causes controversies. What’s your opinion, Yuanfang?We can learn from the passage that Yuanfang.
| A．is the busiest person in modern industrial societies |
| B．plays an important role in a Chinese TV series |
| C．is a fictional figure currently popular with netizens |
| D．starts a social and cultural phenomenon by himself |
What does the underlined words “a deliberate choice” in Paragraph3 mean?
| A．a choice made on purpose | B．a choice made by accident |
| C．a choice done in person | D．a choice done at ease |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The dialogues between Di Renjie and Yuanfang help understand the network buzzwords. |
| B．The “Yuanfang-style” suggests once again that the power of the network spread is quite vast. |
| C．The spread of numerous buzzwords has started a social development of structure and content. |
| D．The result of the netizens’ agreement directly leads to the rise of some socially strong problems. |
What can we infer from the last passage?
| A．People benefited from the Internet on which they can learn a lot about real society. |
| B．People learned about some controversies from the Internet and decided to deal with them. |
| C．People provided a space through which they can display their own criminal mentality. |
| D．People found out a place where they can question and express their different views. |