Vincent Van Gogh，for whom color was the main symbol of expression，was born in Groot-Zundert，Holland in 1853.He was brought up in a cultured family. Vincent was highly emotional and wasn’t self-confident. Between 1860 and 1880，when he finally decided to become an artist，Van Gogh had two unhappy love stories and worked unsuccessfully in Belgium. He remained there to study art，and decided to give happiness by creating beauty. Of the works of his early Dutch period，the most famous is “The Potato Eaters”.
In 1886 he went to Paris to join his brother Théo ，the manager of Goupil’s gallery. In Paris，Van Gogh studied with Cormon ，later met Pissarro，Monet，and Gauguin，and began to lighten his very dark palette(调色板).His nervousness made him a difficult person to get along with and night-long discussions and painting all day undermined his health. He decided to go south to Arles where he hoped his friends would join him and help set up a school of art. Gauguin did join him but with bad results. Near the end of 1888,Van Gogh ran after Gauguin with an open razor(剃须刀),was stopped by him，but ended up cutting a part of his own ear off. It led Gauguin to finally leave Arles.
In the May of 1890，Van Gogh seemed much better and went to live in Auvers-sur-Oise under the eye Dr Gachet. Two months later he was dead，having shot himself “for the good of all”. During his life he had sold one painting. Van Gogh’s finest works were produced in less than three years. Vincent Van Gogh expressed himself in his works mainly _______.
| A．by shape |
| B．by color |
| C．with brush lines |
| D．with words |
Before Vincent Van Gogh started to learn art_______.
| A．he did a good job |
| B．he was popular with the other artists |
| C．he lived a frustrating life |
| D．he had no interest in art |
The underlined word “undermined” in the second paragraph could be replaced by “_______”.
| A．affected |
| B．protected |
| C．tested |
| D．changed |
Why didn’t Gauguin want to work with Van Gogh any longer?
| A．Gauguin hated to be a teacher. |
| B．Van Gogh didn’t like him at all. |
| C．Gauguin cut off a part of Van Gogh’s ear. |
| D．Something was wrong with Van Gogh’s mind. |
Which of the following about Van Gogh is TRUE?
| A．He was a confident boy when he was young. |
| B．He was born in Belgium and once worked in Holland. |
| C．He lost a part of his ear at the age of 35. |
| D．He had never sold any paintings during his life. |
Ashok Gadgil has spent the past three decades helping people in need—and he has no plans to stop .On May 2, Gadgil won the$100．000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Global Innovation. Each year，the honor is given to an inventor who has improved the lives of people in developing countries. Gadgil‘s inventions have helped more than 100 million people around the world.
Gadgil is a professor and physicist at the University of California. When he’s not teaching，he works to find solutions to global problems such as energy efficiency and water safety. “I chose to focus on problems where my knowledge of science could help，”he said
In the 1980s he came up with a program to make energy-efficient light bulbs more affordable for people in developing countries. Then in the 1990s，Gadgil designed his first life—saving invention，UV Waterworks .The device kills deadly disease —carrying germs(病菌)from drinking water. It costs just one cent to clean five liters of water .Gadgil was inspired to find an inexpensive solution to the clean water crisis after more than 10，000 people in his home country of India died from an outbreak of Bengal cholera，in 1993 The disease is spread through contaminated food and drinking water .So far，the invention has provided safe drinking water to more than five million people in poor areas.
As a professor，Gadgil encourages his students to stay positive about finding solutions to hard problems.“Be optimistic when you try a hard problem．”he says. “It’s when you solve a large problem that you can have a big impact on the world”Gadgil was given Lemelson-MIT Award for___________.
| A．his teaching experience | B．his new physical research |
| C．his vast knowledge | D．his helpful inventions |
What call we learn about UV Waterworks?
| A．It's Gadgil’s first invention |
| B．It’s used to clean water． |
| C．it was designed for his home country |
| D．It saved 10，000 people in total |
The underlined word “contamninated”in Paragraph 3 means__________.
| A．wasted | B．consumed | C．polluted | D．canned |
According to the last paragraph，Gadgil encourages his students__________.
| A．to learn lessons from failures |
| B．to find problems in peaceful life |
| C．to make inventions to help poor people |
| D．to be confident when facing difficulties |
Which of the following can best describe Gadgil?
| A．Caring and optimistic. | B．Independent and positive. |
| C．Powerful and strict. | D．Responsible and sensitive. |
If you're like a lot of married guys, you don't need to be reminded about men being from Mars or women from Venus. Chances are that you're all too familiar with the feeling that you and your wife are from different worlds. When married people start noticing their fundamental differences, it can lead to a breakdown in communication. The way to have a successful marriage is through communication, common ground and understanding. Here are some pointers to guide you in the right direction.
Rather than ending up in an endless back and forth, forget about the issue for a minute. Instead, think about how you feel she's acting toward you and ask her if that's how she feels about you. If you think she's being unfair, ask her if she thinks you're being unfair. Switching the focus to that shared feeling can help your wife see things from your point of view.
It's important to accept the fact that there's a two-way street between you and your wife. If you think she doesn't make enough of an effort to see things from your point of view, you have to ask yourself if you're making an effort to see it her way.
Realize nobody can wave a magic wand to make you and your wife completely understand each other all the time. Many couples have an extremely close friendship and do almost everything together before they're married. Once you've tied the knot, you may begin to notice that you're not as alike as you once thought.
It seems obvious, but some guys get fooled into thinking their wife will be as excited about all of their interests and hobbies as they are. Don't be surprised when you find out that she's not just like "one of the guys." Sooner or later you'll realize that she might be going along with some of your interests just to make you happy.
Rather than feel offended if you find out she's not as into your favorite hobby as you thought, appreciate the effort she put into making you happy. Swallow your pride and try to take part in some of her hobbies, too, even if you might be a little put off at first. While you're not going to be trying on makeup with her, you could try baking a recipe together.
If either of you is always giving everything and getting nothing in return, there's going to be bitterness. The best marriages are built on compromise. You knew you were going to have to give and take for your marriage to work; now it's time to make it happen.What is the best title of the text?
| A．How to manage your marriage. |
| B．How to make a good husband |
| C．How to make a good wife. |
| D．How to get her to speak your language. |
The best subtitle of the 6th paragraph is ________.
| A．Swallow your pride (at least sometimes) |
| B．Find out her hobbies |
| C．Don’t get offended |
| D．Try to make up |
Which of the following is not good for keeping a successful marriage?
| A．Focus on the feeling to get past the disagreement. |
| B．Don't play the blame game. |
| C．She won't always understand you (but that's OK). |
| D．Try to understand each other all the way. |
According to the last paragraph, it’s important for the husband and wife to__________.
| A．forgive and forget |
| B．give and take |
| C．live and let live |
| D．get everything and return nothing |
The underlined phrase in the 6th paragraph probably mean________.
| A．delay sth | B．arrange sth | C．dislike sth | D．worsen sth |
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they were when they were eighteen years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in two thousand eight. At that time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.
The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five.
The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.What is the best title of the passage?
| A．The older a person is, the happier he grows. |
| B．The more lighthearted a person is, the happier he is. |
| C．The older a person is, the more clever he grows. |
| D．The older a person is, the more stressed he feels. |
We can learn from the research that _________.
| A．only when people get older, will they feel happier |
| B．older people usually have no worries in their life |
| C．older people are more likely to be thankful in life |
| D．stress levels among the youngest are the highest of all |
According to the researchers, what is probably the reason why people grow happier when they get older?
| A．When people get older, they can’t remember bad experiences. |
| B．When people get older, they have no young children to care about. |
| C．When people get older, they don’t care about their feelings. |
| D．When people get older, they learn to adjust their feelings. |
What would the writer probably deal with in next paragraph?
| A．Advice to the young people on how to keep happy. |
| B．Why women at all ages are more sad, stressed and worried. |
| C．Advice to the old people on how to live longer. |
| D．Why people will grow happier with their ages. |
What do you think the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is?
| A．A Gallup organization. | B．A university in New York. |
| C．A popular science magazine. | D．A research institution |
A heartless thief is believed to have crashed a fund-raiser and made off with a bag of cash meant to help a New York City firefighter pay for life-changing surgery for his 9-year-old son. But little Aidan Sullivan -- who was born with a facial defect and no right ear -- yesterday put up a brave front, with a message for the crook(thief): "I'm going to kick your butt!"
"I want to look normal," said Aidan, whose father, Tim, is a firefighter in the Bronx. The third-grader has hemi facial micro soma, in which one half of the face doesn't develop correctly.
Last weekend, family friend Peter Drake, a Ridgefield, Conn., firefighter, hosted a fund-raiser, collecting between $8,000 and $9,000. But when the party at a Danbury, Conn., Irish cultural center was over, the money had disappeared.
"At the end of the night, all the money that was donated was put in a zippered bag," said Tim Sullivan. "A bartender gave the bag to Pete... He had it in his hands. He put it down to go do something, and when he came back, he saw that it was missing."
Sullivan said his longtime friend -- who has had fund-raisers to pay for Aidan's 10 previous surgeries -- is "devastated."
"Pete was so upset. He kept saying, 'I let Aidan down, I let Aidan down,” Colleen Sullivan, 40, recalled.
"We even went Dumpster diving, in case it was thrown out."
The Sullivans plan to go ahead with the March 1 surgery led by specialists at NYU's Langone Medical Center in Manhattan. The money would have offset the $10,000 to $15,000 that insurance doesn't cover. Yesterday, Aidan said he's not a fan of hospitals and doesn't like to be away from his sister, Kaylee, 4. But he's willing to do it. "I'm excited," he said. "Finally, an ear."Where do you probably read this text from?
| A．A magazine. | B．A newspaper. |
| C．A book. | D．An advertisement. |
How did little Aidan Sullivan feel when he knew the money was missing.
| A．He felt excited. | B．He felt surprised. |
| C．He felt upset. | D．He felt annoyed. |
What is the money used for according to this text?
| A．To help Aidan Sullivan to have another operation. |
| B．To help pay for Aidan Sullivan’s life insurance. |
| C．To return the money the Sullivans owed to the hospital. |
| D．To help a firefighter who got hurt in the ear. |
What is true of little Aidan Sullivan?
| A．He hates going to hospital. |
| B．He will go to New York for the surgery. |
| C．He didn’t care too much about the lost money. |
| D．He has received 10 surgeries before. |
What can we infer about Pete from the text?
| A．He was heartless. | B．He was kind. |
| C．He was caress. | D．He was a firefighter. |
Lynn is the publisher of Indiana Living Green magazine, a local Indiana-based publication focusing on all issues related to leading a sustainable lifestyle. Her knowledge, passion and unwavering dedication to this cause are both inspiring and admirable and are the reasons I nominate her for the Heart of Green Local Hero.
Lynn's interest in sustainable living has expanded over the years from simple recycling and wildlife gardening to encouraging others to appreciate nature and do what each can to protect the environment. The creation of Indiana Living Green comes from her belief that most individuals have an inner desire to do what is best for our environment and that each individual act truly does make a difference.
Lynn has been instrumental in bringing her green consciousness to Indiana by way of Indiana Living Green magazine over the past two years. Indiana Living Green is the only local publication solely focused on green living and sustainability. In addition, Lynn’s pioneering efforts also provide public educational forums via "Green Scenes" — a series of three hour events, each focusing on specific topics teaching Hoosiers how to lead greener lifestyles. She is a sought-after speaker, delivering topics such as "Greening Your Outdoor Space," "Updating Your Home to Green" and "Greening Your Lifestyle" to various businesses and organizations throughout Central Indiana. In addition, Lynn has appeared regularly on Indianapolis Fox 59 morning show’s "Living Green" segment, discussing various topics of interest ranging from grilling green and green baby buys to composting and recycling.
In addition to her role as publisher of Indiana Living Green magazine, Lynn is also a Habitat Steward Host for National Wildlife Federation, editor of Hoosier Organic Gardener, the newsletter of the Indiana Organic Gardeners Association, and a member of Garden Writers Association.
Lynn Jenkins deserves to be publicly recognized for all that she is and all that she has done and continues to do to educate and empower each of us to improve our individual lives, communities and our Earth. Which of the following is NOT true of Lynn Jenkins?
| A．She is the publisher of the magazine Indiana Living Green. |
| B．She is a member of Garden Writers Association. |
| C．She won the award the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| D．She encourages people to love and protect nature. |
Indiana Living Green was probably _________.
| A．a book on modern life style | B．a magazine on fashion |
| C．a journal on travel | D．a magazine on green living |
What can we learn about “Green Scenes”?
| A．It is a scene set in a three-hour film. |
| B．It is a series of events focusing on green life. |
| C．It is a film set in Central Indiana. |
| D．It is a forum focusing on green lifestyle. |
The underlined word in the third paragraph probably means ________.
| A．simply | B．mainly | C．earnestly | D．seriously |
What is the purpose of the writing?
| A．To call on readers to protect the environment and live green. |
| B．To nominate Lynn Jenkins for the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| C．To introduce the readers to the Heart of Green Local Hero. |
| D．To advertise for Indiana Living Green and its publisher. |