How often do you let other people like a bad driver, a rude waiter, or an angry boss, change your mood (情绪)?
Sixteen years ago I learned a lesson. I got in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane (车道) when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver used his brakes (车闸), the tires made a loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just 3cm from the back of the other car.
I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head around and he started shouting at us. I couldn’t believe it!
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. So, I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck”. He said, “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger and disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump (倾倒) it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.
So I started thinking how often I let Garbage Trucks run right over me and how often I take their garbage and spread it to other people.
I began to see Garbage Trucks. I see the load people are carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally. I just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.What happened to the author on his way to Grand Central Station?
| A．He was caught in a traffic jam. |
| B．He had a fight with his taxi driver. |
| C．His taxi suddenly got a flat tire. |
| D．His taxi almost ran into another car. |
When the author saw his taxi driver smile and wave at the driver of the black car, he ______.
| A．got very angry |
| B．was deeply impressed |
| C．felt quite disappointed |
| D．praised him for his manners |
The underlined part “the load” in the last paragraph probably refers to _______.
| A．waste materials | B．poor habits |
| C．the bad mood | D．great pressure |
How did the author learn to deal with Garbage Trucks?
| A．Fight back immediately. |
| B．Call the police for help. |
| C．Smile and move on. |
| D．Dump it on someone else. |
C
Dear David，
I’m glad you would like to share your feelings with me．It’s hardly surprising that yourfeelings of not being “grown up” have come on strongly at this point in your life，just before you’re about to become a father．You are asking：will I make a good father？How will I cope?
Should I have brought anotherlittle person into the world? Can l provide for it?Help!I thinknearly every sensitive about-to-be-parent must have these occasional feelings of self-doubt and inadequacy(不适)before the birth and it would be most unusual if you didn't share them．It's difficult，honestly，to feel grown-up unless you have something less grown-up to relate to．
The boss with a hen-pecking wife may feel like a seven-year-old when he’s at home．But as he walks through the office door，and knows he’s going to be surrounded by staff looking to him forAdvice，he grows into a fully mature man．And I think it’s a mistake to imagine that we all feel，aswe age，a kind of progression of states，from the baby to the adult．Most people feel，on Tuesday，about three years old，and on a Wednesday，around 80．
There's a common remark that “all men are little boys”，but it's not true．It's more true that men often behave like little boys．But nearly all people，at some moments in their lives，arecapable of groat maturity．
Once your baby arrives，you’ll soon feel less childlike，or rather，less often．When your childtries to put its fingers into the electric plug，the adult in you will rise up to prevent it．You’ll see
you have very little in common with a needy child，particularly if it's looking to you for comfort and support．
Comfort yourself，David，with two truths．One is that your friends laugh when they talk about this subject because they，like you，feel frightened．And remember that people who haven't grown
up don’t go around talking about the fact that they don’t feel grown-up．
Hope my advice will be helpful and good luck to you and your little one．
Yours sincerely，
Miss AdviceAccording to the passage，Miss Advice thinks David's self-doubt is ．
| A．valuable | B．natural |
| C．unusual | D．bearable |
From Paragraph 2，we can learn that people's sense of maturity ．
| A．will increase with age |
| B．is obviously seen at home |
| C．changes with different situations |
| D．becomes stronger with familiar people |
Miss Advice holds that ．
| A．all men behave like little boys |
| B．people tend to laugh at the subject |
| C．men with a baby feel more grown-up |
| D．people enjoy talking about their immaturity |
Miss Advice wrote the letter to -
| A．offer suggestions to a future father |
| B．teach people how to grow up |
| C．encourage people to be responsible |
| D．solve problems of the less grown-up |
B
Owning a smartphone may not be as smart as you think．They may let you surf the Internet，listen to music and snap photos wherever you are...but they also turn you into a workaholic，it seems．A study suggests that，by giving you access to emails at all times．the all-singing．all-dancing mobile phone adds as much as two hours to your working day．
Researchers found that Britons work an additional 460hours a year on average as they are able to respond to emails on their mobiles．The study by technology retailer Pixmania，reveals the average UK working day is between nine and ten hours，but a further two hours is spent responding to or sending work emails，or making work calls．Almost one in ten admits spending up to three hours outside their normal working day checking work emails．Some workers confess they are on call almost 24 hours a day，with nine out
of ten saying they take work emails and calls outside their normal working hours．Nearly two-thirds say they often check work emails just before they go to bed and as soon as they wake up，while over a third have replied to one in the middle of the night．
Ghadi Hobeika，marketing director of Pixmania，said：“The ability to access literally millions of apps，keep in contact via social networks and take photos and video as well as text and call has
made smartphones valuable for many people．However，there are drawbacks．Many companies expect their employees to be on call 24 hours a day，seven days a week，and smartphones mean that people literally cannot get away from work．The more constantly in contact we become。The more is expected of us in a work capacity．”The text is probably taken from ．
| A．a scientific report |
| B．a financial report |
| C．a newspaper |
| D．a literary journal |
The underlined word “drawbacks” in the last paragraph probably means ．
| A．advantages | B．faults |
| C．mistakes | D．features |
Ghadi may agree that ．
| A．employees are supposed to be on call 24 hours a day |
| B．the ability to access many apps made smartphones worthless |
| C．smartphones might turn a person into a workaholic |
| D．people literally cannot get away from work without smartphones |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Smartphones are lengthening working hours． |
| B．Smartphones are becoming valuable for many people． |
| C．Britons work art additional 460 hours a year on average． |
| D．Smartphones are more beneficial to our life than we think． |
A
A month after Hurricane Katrina，I returned home in New Orleans．There lay my house，reduced to waist-high rains，smelly and dirty．Before the trip，I’d had my car fixed．When the office employee of the garage was writing up the bill．she noticed my Louisiana license plate．“You from New Orleans?”she asked．I said l was，
“No charge．”She said，and firmly shook her head when I reached for my wallet．The next day I went for a haircut，and the same thing happened．
As my wife was studying in Florid，we decided to move there and tried to find a rental house that we could afford while also paying off a mortgage(抵押贷款)on our ruined house．We looked at many places，but none was satisfactory．We’d begun to accept that we’d have to live in extremely reduced circumstances for a while，when I got a very curious e-mail from a James Kennedy in California．He’d read some pieces I’d written about our sufferings forState，an online
magazine and wanted to give us(“noconditions attached”)a new house across the lake from New Orleans．It sounded too good to be true，but I replied，thanking him for his exceptional generosity，that we had no plans to go back．Then a poet of the University of Florida offered to let his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave．The rent was rather reasonable．Imentioned the poet’s offer to James Kennedy，and the next day he sent a check covering our entire rent for eight months．
Throughout this painful experience，the kindness of strangers backs my faith in humanity．It’s almostworthlosing you worldly possessions to be reminded that people really want to be kind when given a channel．Which one shows the right time order?
①James Kennedy sent us a check．
②A poet offered his house to us．
③Our home was reduced to ruins．
④The garage employee charged us nothing．
⑤We came back to New Orleans．
| A．④③⑤①② | B．③④⑤②① |
| C．④③⑤②① | D．③④⑤①② |
What do you know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a friend of the writer． |
| B．He offered the writer a house in California． |
| C．He worked for an online magazine． |
| D．He was concerned about the writer’s sufferings． |
It can be inferred from the passage that ．
| A．The mortgage on the ruined house didn’t needto be paid off |
| B．The house rents in New Orleans were reasonable after the hurricane |
| C．The writer rebuilt his faith in humanity by losing his worldly possessions |
| D．The writer made it through the painful period with people's kindness |
How is the passage developed?
| A．By showing contrasting facts． |
| B．By making classification |
| C．By giving examples． |
| D．By analyzing causes and effects． |
The moral view of violence, labeling it as bad and wrong, has done little to end it. The alternative view is to release our judgments and see violence for what it is: a form of suffering. This is a difficult change for many people. Not only are they in the habit of making knee-jerk(下意识的) judgments, but violent people cause harm, and therefore their suffering seems to deserve less sympathy.
You hurt me, so why should I have sympathy for you? It should be the other way around. Does it take a saint(圣人) to make the change from strong anger to sympathy?
Turning points arrive when we can make a choice not to suffer in silence. We then strike a soul bargain that is fearful but necessary. The bargain is that redemption(解救) is possible through love. The absence of love is absolutely the problem, and love is absolutely the solution. We don’t have to reach into another area to locate the magic power of love that is available to us here and now.
The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being. The rule is constant work on the spiritual path to clear away the obstacles that prevent love from coming through us. The work is much more like working on blocked pipe system than it is like copying a saint.
Hope is the emotion that keeps this dogged work even when results seem to be slow or impossible. Can I love the terrorist who harms my country? Can I love the criminal who wants to harm me? At the level of the soul I already do, and the spiritual path is a means to arrive at that level.
No one is required to leap into sudden sympathy for terrorists, or even to announce publicly that our enemies deserve love. But in our souls each of us harbors the knowledge that only love is going to bring violence to an end. No matter how you and I live our outward lives, our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision.Which one is NOT true for moral view of violence?
| A．It thinks violence is bad and wrong. |
| B．It plays an important role in ending violence. |
| C．It is a knee-jerk judgment of people. |
| D．It thinks violent people deserve less sympathy. |
Why should violent people deserve sympathy?
| A．Because we should perform like a saint. |
| B．Because love is absolutely the solution. |
| C．Because our spiritual lives must remain devoted to that vision. |
| D．Because they are first in suffering then choose violence, so they need love. |
What's the meaning "The problem is that love comes through a fallible human being"?
| A．Human being is full of love. |
| B．It is difficult and long way. |
| C．Human being is easy to make friends. |
| D．It's a problem to get love from an imperfect huan being. |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Violence Is Harmful to Us |
| B．Love Can End Violence |
| C．Change Our View of Violence |
| D．Our Soul Needs Purifying |
When travelers think of an Adriatic cruise, scenes of Venice, Italy—its canals, bridges, piazzas, and stunning architecture—come to mind. It's one of the most popular cruise destinations in Europe. And for many, the sail-away from Venice, through its Giudecca Canal, is an awe-inspiring experience.
Venice may be known as La Serenissima, or "the most peaceful," which, however, isn't entirely accurate these days. Venetians have been increasingly concerned about the impact of tourism and the potential for an environmental disaster off its shoreline due to the number of cruise ships that enter and exit its lagoon(泻湖).
That's why earlier last month, Venice announced a new policy to forbid the transit(穿越) of cruise ships to the city via the Giudecca Canal. It's not that the city wants to shun the cruise industry altogether: It simply wants to force traffic further away from the landmarks along the shoreline. City officials say that most ships will now transit the Contorta Sant'Angelo Canal.
Additionally, the city is clamping down on the size of ships that can visit Venice, as well as the total number of ships that call on it on a daily basis. As of January 2014, Venice plans to reduce the visitations of larger ships (those that are 40,000 tons or heavier) by 20 percent. This effectively caps the number of ships that can enter per day to five. In November, ships heavier than 96,000 tons will not be allowed to enter Guidecca Canal at all.
How the city plans to carry out the new five-ships-per-day rule remains to be seen and have yet to be announced. Which ships will be allowed passage? Will it be first-come, first-served? However they proceed, cruise line executives want their passengers to know that Venice will remain a regular port of call—even if the transit to and from the city must evolve.Before last month, toursits left Venice by ship through ______.
| A．the Giudecca Canal |
| B．La Serenissima |
| C．the Contorta Sant'Angelo Canal |
| D．the Adriatic Sea |
The new policy was issued in order to_____________.
| A．stress the accuracy of Venice's fame for peace |
| B．reduce the damage to Venice's environment |
| C．depend less on the crusie industry |
| D．limit the number of tourists |
It can be learned from the passage that _____________.
| A．People in Venice are complaining about the toursits' behaviors. |
| B．Venetians are often bothered by noise and pollution. |
| C．The city government has announced the concrete ways to carry out the new five-ships-per-day rule. |
| D．The new policy will not discourage the tourism from developing. |
What does the underlined phrase "clapming down on" mean?
| A．limiting | B．abandoning |
| C．banning | D．punishing |