B
If you are reading this article in class, you are probably trying to read it quickly. You have been taught to skim a scan, to look for key words so as to understand the main idea of the article and the important points in the article .Skimming and scanning is a good strategy when you are pressed for time, such as when you are taking an exam, but today, many people skim and scan everything and they have lost the ability to enjoy reading.
In response to this, something called the" slow reading movement" has become popular. The idea is that people should shut off their computers and mobile phones for half an hour or forty-five minutes each day and enjoy the pleasure reading a good book – slowly! In many cities there are even slow reading clubs where members go to a cafe, not discuss books, but to sit quietly with each other, drink coffee and just read.
Researchers have found that reading slowly, especially books of fiction, helps people concentrate, relax and think about what they are reading. It also helps people empathize. This last point is important. When you read a novel slowly ,you get to understand the characters' emotions and to see the world through their eyes.
Reading, of course, isn't easy. You have to sit still, for one thing. And it can seem boring when compared to the excitement of playing video games. But, for me, reading has been an enduring pleasure in my life. From the age of ten, when I got my first library card, I've enjoyed the company of pirates and heroes, of evil criminals and clever detectives, of thousands of interesting people I would have never met in real life. Reading provided me with escape, but it also enabled me to understand the world around me. It was an education in a classroom that had no walls.
In your classroom, you have learned to read " fast". Outside of the classroom, you should try to learn to read " slowly . You may be surprised at how much you enjoy it.
When you are having an exam, it's acknowledged that ___________.
| A．reading slowly is the best way |
| B．reading word for word is a good method |
| C．reading fast is a good strategy |
| D．reading casually is a wonderful choice |
Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristics of " slow reading movement" ?
| A．Enjoying the pleasure of reading a good book slowly. |
| B．Helping people refresh and relax. |
| C．Understanding the characters' emotions more accurately. |
| D．Getting the main idea of the article quickly. |
It can be inferred from the passage that the writer is a person who___________.
| A．doesn't like reading fast |
| B．can't tell the difference between reading fast and reading slowly |
| C．likes to seek comfort from reading slowly |
| D．benefits a lot from reading |
Why does the writer call reading “an education in a classroom that had no walls ”?
| A．Because there is no need to build walls for the books. |
| B．Because reading enables people to better understand the world them. |
| C．Because a library card is what you need to enjoy reading in the library. |
| D．Because there are thousands of interesting people in the books who can help you escape. |
ASK any group of teenagers in the UK what they most like to eat, and foods like pizzas, curries, pasta, burgers and chips are bound to get a mention – and many young people would probably also list hanging out at the local fast-food restaurant as one of their favorite pastimes.
But what teenagers like to eat is not necessarily what they should be eating. According to the National Diet and Nutrition Survey, far too many young people in the UK between the ages of four and 18 consume too much fat, sugar and salt in their diet and take in too many calories. Meanwhile their intake of starchy carbohydrates (淀粉类碳水化合物), fibre, iron, vitamins and calcium is too low.
For a growing body, eating foods containing plenty of calcium, such as milk, yoghurt and cheese, is particularly important as calcium is essential for the development of healthy, strong bones. Similarly, foods that are rich in iron are good for young, rapidly developing bodies, so red meat, bread, green vegetables, dried fruit and fortified (强化的) breakfast cereals (谷类食物) are also recommended.
It is during our teenage years that lifestyle habits can become entrenched (根深蒂固的), so it is important that young people are educated about what foods are good for them. In 2005, in an attempt to change eating habits and open teenagers’ minds to new flavors and new tastes, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver launched a ‘Feed Me Better’ campaign. As part of a television series, ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’, he worked with teachers and cooks in a number of schools across the UK to provide more healthy, nutritious school meal options. Although the campaign was rather resisted at the beginning, it was generally regarded as a huge success and helped to influence governmental policy on nutritional standards for school meals.
No one expects to end the teenage love affair with fast and junk food but, hopefully, if projects like ‘Feed Me Better’ and the Government's own ‘Change4Life’ campaign continue to give out the right messages, more young people will understand the importance of balancing occasional treats with healthier food options. What can we conclude from the first two paragraphs?
| A．British teenagers eat too much junk food. |
| B．British teenagers need to take in more calcium. |
| C．What British teenagers like to eat is probably what their bodies need |
| D．British teenagers should reduce their intake of starchy carbohydrates. |
Young people need calcium and iron ______.
| A．to improve their brainpower |
| B．to build healthy strong bodies |
| C．to provide energy for their body |
| D．to help change their eating habits |
According to the article, Jamie Oliver launched a campaign at schools to ______.
| A．show off his excellent cooking skills |
| B．teach students how to cook nutritious meals |
| C．make the public keep an eye on school food |
| D．improve the children’s diet at school |
Which is a point that the article supports?
| A．Teenagers should never eat any junk food at all. |
| B．It’s easy for children to give up unhealthy eating. |
| C．It’s okay for a healthy eater to have a little junk food. |
| D．Once developed, our eating habit will never change. |
Kiss crisis, hug horrors and the UK's handshake headaches
Greeting someone, saying goodbye – these situations fill me with unease. You have a second to make a dangerous decision. One peck (轻吻)? Two pecks? Three? No kisses at all? Why, I think, as I crash into the other person’s face, why can’t it be as simple as a handshake?
A survey by the soap company Radox in May showed one in five Brits now feels a handshake is “too formal”, according to the Daily Mail. Some 42 percent said they never shook hands when greeting friends. For one third of people the alternative was a hug, for 16 percent a kiss on the cheek.
British people are known to be reserved (保守的) – unfriendly, some would say. Handshakes used to work for us because we didn’t have to get too close. But the super-British handshake is no longer fashionable. We want to be more like our easygoing Mediterranean neighbors who greet each other with kisses and hugs.
The trouble is, we still find it a bit awkward. What does a married man do when greeting a married female friend, for example? How should someone younger greet someone older?
Guys don’t tend to kiss one another; my male friends in Britain go for the “manly hug”, taking each other stiffly (不自然地) in one arm and giving a few thumps on the back with words like “Take it easy, yeah?”.
The biggest questions, if you do decide to kiss, are how many times and which cheek first. Unlike the French, who comfortably deliver three, our cheek-pecks usually end in embarrassed giggling (咯咯笑): “Oh, gosh, sorry, I didn’t mean to kiss you on the lips, I never know where to aim for first!”
But then it’s never been easy for us poor, uncomfortable Brits. Even the handshake had its problems: don’t shake too hard, but don’t hold the other person’s hand too limply (无力地) either, and definitely don’t go in with sweaty hands.
Maybe it’s better to leave it at a smile and a nod.What is the article mainly about?
| A．Origin of the traditional British way of greeting someone. |
| B．New trends and problems that Brits have with the way they greet people. |
| C．Why the author feels uneasy when greeting someone or saying goodbye. |
| D．Differences in greetings between Britain and other Western countries. |
What did the survey by the soap company Radox show?
| A．It is now considered unfriendly to greet friends with a handshake in Britain. |
| B．A kiss on the cheek is becoming the most popular form of greeting in Britain. |
| C．Most Brits no longer offer to shake hands with those they meet. |
| D．More and more Brits prefer to be greeted with a hug or kiss. |
The underlined word “awkward” in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．not helpful | B．too informal | C．quite embarrassed | D．very interesting |
Which does the author think might be the safest form of greeting for a British person?
| A．A hug. | B．A smile and a nod. | C．A handshake. | D．A kiss on the cheek. |
Who wrote the article?
| A．A British writer. | B．An American writer. | C．A French writer. | D．A Chinese writer. |
When two Bangs meet
SHELDON Cooper is a scientific genius on the popular American TV show, The Big Bang Theory (《生活大爆炸》). He finally met his match last year: Stephen Hawking.
This is not the first time that the scientist has appeared on TV. He has also been on Star Trek (in 1987) and The Simpsons (in 1989). Each time, he played himself.
Hawking, 71, is perhaps the world’s most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He has spent his whole life studying the beginning and the end of the universe, including the Big Bang (宇宙大爆炸) theory.
The Big Bang theory explains the early development of the universe. According to the theory, about 13.7 billion years ago everything was all squeezed together in a tiny, tight little ball, and then the ball exploded. The results of that explosion are what we call the universe.
Hawking has always tried to make science more popular with people. His book: A Brief History of Time was published in 1988. In the book he shares his understanding of the universe in simple language. The book tries to explain many subjects about the universe to common readers, including the Big Bang, black holes and light cones (光锥).
Hawking’s achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. Now he sits on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moves two fingers to control the computer’s mouse. He chooses his words from the screen, which are then spoken by a voice synthesizer (合成器).
Hawking also believes that there might be aliens in space. However, he believes they are probably very dangerous, so we should not look for them. “I imagine they might exist in very big ships ... having used up all the resources from their home planet,” Hawking said in a British documentary named Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking.What does the “two Bangs” in the title refer to?
| A．The director of “The Big Bang Theory” and the founder of it. |
| B．The director and the actor of “The Big Bang Theory”. |
| C．The founder of the “Big Bang” theory and its spreader. |
| D．The scientific genius on TV show and the one alive in real life. |
Acting in The Big Bang Theory is Hawking’s _____ time on TV.
| A．first | B．second | C．third | D．fourth |
According to Paragraph 5, Hawking wrote the book A Brief History of Time especially for _____.
| A．scientists who study the universe |
| B．people who know a lot about the universe |
| C．people who know little about the universe |
| D．people who only know simple language |
The Big Bang theory mainly explains _____.
| A．how the universe started | B．what the universe is like |
| C．how old the universe is | D．how the universe exploded |
According to the passage, which of the following about Hawking is TRUE?
| A．He was born with a disability. |
| B．He uses a computer to communicate. |
| C．He believes aliens are our friends. |
| D．He encourages people to look for aliens. |
WHEN there are some strangers in front of us, which of them will we trust?
According to a new study in the online PloS One (《公共科学图书馆·综合》), people make their decisions to trust others largely based on their faces. Your appearance can do a lot for you, especially if you are in the financial industry. The more trustworthy you look, the more likely people will buy what you’re selling.
Researchers from Britain’s University of Warwick Business School, University College London, and Dartmouth College, US, did a number of experiments.
The research team used computer software to make 40 faces, from the least to the most trustworthy-looking.
The study said that the difference between a trustworthy face and one that isn’t as trustworthy comes from features that look slightly angry or slightly happy, even when the face is at rest. However, a slightly happy face is more likely to be trusted.
Researchers gave participants some money and asked them which face they trusted to invest the money for them. Then researchers gave some good and bad information about the people with these faces, and asked the participants again whom they trusted.
The results showed that even if they got different information, the participants didn’t change their choices. They were still more likely to invest their money with the more trustworthy-looking faces.
Chris Olivola, one of the study’s authors, said in the University of Warwick’s press release: “It seems we are still willing to go with our own instincts (本能) about whether we think someone looks like we can trust them. The temptation (诱惑) to judge strangers by their faces is hard to resist.”Which of the following can be a proper title for this passage?
| A．What kind of face do you trust? |
| B．Who did the experiments? |
| C．Why do you trust him or her? |
| D．Why did they do the experiments? |
According to the study, which of the following faces is most likely to be trusted?
| A．A sad face. | B．A smiling face. | C．A crying face. | D．An angry face. |
Which of the following about the experiment is TRUE?
| A．The trustworthy faces were given good information. |
| B．Researchers took photos of the 40 people’s faces in college. |
| C．Most participants gave their money to the trustworthy-looking faces. |
| D．Participants liked to choose the faces with good information. |
What did the researchers learn from their experiment?
| A．People can’t refuse temptations. |
| B．People always do things with their instincts. |
| C．People often judge strangers by their faces. |
| D．People don’t trust strangers with sad faces. |
[1]Although known as an extraordinarily successful businessman, Warren Buffet comes off as a pretty ordinary person.
[2]Looking back on his childhood, one can see how serious he was about making money. Buffet used to go door-to-door and sell soda pop. Later, he also worked at his grandfather’s grocery store. At the ripe age of 11, Buffet bought his first stock(股票). When his family moved to Washington D.C., Buffet became a paperboy for The Washington Post. While still in school, he was making $175 a month, a full-time wage for many young men.
[3]From the beginning, Buffet made his fortune from investing. He started with all the money that he had made from selling pop, delivering papers and so on. Between 1950 and l956, he grew his $9, 800 to $14, 000．From there, he organized investment partnerships with his family and friends, and then gradually drew in more people through very attractive terms.
[4]Buffet applied to Harvard Business School but , making it to be one of the worst admission decisions in Harvard history. The outcome ended up affecting Buffet’s life deeply, for he ended up attending Columbia Business School, where he studied under Benjamin Graham, the father of securities analysis who provided the foundation for Buffet’s grand success.
[5]Buffet is a person of habit—same house, same office, same city. He doesn’t collect houses or cars or works of art, and he hates companies that waste money on such goods. Instead, he has established the Buffet Foundation, with a detailed plan on how to invest his money more wisely to society. What kind of person is Buffet according to Paragraph 1? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________What does the writer intend to tell us in Paragraph 2? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________According to Paragraph 3, how did Buffet start his investment? (no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. (no more than 3 words)
_____________________________________________________________________Explain the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5.(no more than 10 words)
_____________________________________________________________________