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 I 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 Florida, 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 for Slate, the online magazine and wanted to give us (“no conditions 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 places to go back. Then a poet at the University of Florida offered to rent his house to me while he went to England on his one-year-paid leave. The rent was rather reasonable. I mentioned 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 has done much to bring back my faith in humanity. It’s almost worth losing your worldly possessions to be reminded that people are really nice when given half a chance. The garage employee’s attitude toward the author was that of ________.
| A．unconcern | B．sympathy |
| C．doubt | D．tolerance |
What do we know about James Kennedy?
| A．He was a writer of an online magazine. |
| B．He was a poet at the University of Florida. |
| C．He learned about the author’s sufferings via e-mail. |
| D．He offered the author a new house free of charge. |
It can be inferred from the text that ________.
| A．the author’s family was in financial difficulty |
| B．rents were comparatively reasonable despite the disaster |
| C．houses were difficult to find in the hurricane-stricken area |
| D．the mortgage on the ruined house was paid off by the bank |
From Paragraph 4, we can know that the author’s new house ________.
| A．was located in the University of Florida |
| B．was offered by a poet and the rent was expensive |
| C．was sponsored by James Kennedy with its 8-month rent |
| D．was well-equipped but the rent was low |
The author learned from his experience that ________.
| A．worldly possessions can be given up when necessary |
| B．generosity should be encouraged in some cases |
| C．people benefit from their sad stories |
| D．human beings are kind after all |
It seems that Great Wall is the place to rock. There will be two parties held on the Great Wall this month.
Great Wall Ⅰ
The latest Great Wall party is sponsored(主办)by the Club and electrobeat and held at Jinshanling. Local DJ Mark ,as well as guest Slab from Australia ,Usami and Bobby from Hong Kong will spin the sounds. All drinks are priced at 20 yuan(＄2.4).
Tickets:200 yuan(＄24), including bus ride there and back plus entrance fee to the Great Wall.
T/D: 8 p.m. to 2 a. m., Sept.20.
Pre-sale tickets are available at: Public Space: 6416-0759 Neo Lounge: 6416-1077
Location: Buses leave at 5 p.m. on Saturday ,Sep. 20 from Neo Lounge, 99 Xinfuncun Zhonglu, Sanlitun, Chaoyan District.
For more info: www. elektrobeat.com
Great Wall Ⅱ
The other party at the end of this month at Jinshanling will be kick-started with live performances by Askar, Brain Failure, Longkuan, Supermarket, Mr.Zhou, Beijing Talking and the Yi band.
Dance till dawn to the groovy(绝妙的)sounds of DJs Ben ,Mickey Zhang ,Will, Cheese, Gao Hu and Huang Weiwei.
T/D: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. ,Sept. 27.
Tickets: 350 yuan(＄42)or 300 yuan(＄36) for groups of 10 or more, 500 yuan (＄60) at the door and VIP tickets 800 yuan(＄72), transportation included..
Location: Buses depart from the north gate of Workers, Stadium at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., Sept. 27.
For more info: contact Li Zhenhua at lzh@msgp.org or call 133-2119-1731. Which is true according to the text?
| A．You have to pay extra money for entering the Great Wall with a ticket. |
| B．You have to use a computer to get the details about Great Wall Rock. |
| C．You have to pay extra money for bus ride with a ticket. |
| D．It is at least 4 hours, ride from Neo Lounge to Jinshanling. |
What day of the week is September 27?
| A．Saturday . | B．Sunday. | C．Weekday. | D．It can’t be known. |
A dozen people want to attend Great Wall Ⅱ.They should pay at least _________ for the tickets.
| A．＄504 | B．＄432 | C．＄720 | D．＄864 |
If you want to go Great Wall Rock , _______________________.
| A．you’ll have to get up early to catch the bus |
| B．you’ll have to spend a whole day on the bus |
| C．you can take a bus at any time from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. |
| D．you can’t take a morning bus to get there |
The public commonly associates steroid use with big-time athletics. But the drugs may be even more of a menace to teenagers. The synthetic hormones can stunt a young person’s growth by prematurely closing the ends of the long bones in the skeleton. That means a 1.7 metre, 15-year-old high school student who uses steroids “might get bigger but won’t get any taller”, according to a US doctor.
Nearly seven percent of boys in the US try steroids before the end of high school, according to a 1988 study by professors Charles Yesalis and William Buckley, of Penn State University. The estimate comes from a poll of 3,400 seniors in 46 public and private schools across the US.
“Abusers of Steroids did it to improve their appearance and to excel at sports,” Professor Yesalis said. “Parents, teachers and coaches make boys believe that to be an ideal male you need to have these. Then they say: ‘you can’t play games to have fun; you play games to win.’”
“Such attitudes put many high school athletes at high risk of becoming abusers of steroids,” said Mike Gimbel, director of Baltimore County Office of substance Abuse. “For these athletes, the pressure to perform is incredible,” he said. “It was inevitable that it would seep down to high school level.”The word “big-time” in Paragraph 1 most nearly means “________”.
| A．long time | B．good time | C．top rank | D．modern |
Why are steroids even more of a threat to teenagers?
| A．Because they make teenagers grow too tall. |
| B．Because they make teenagers get too big. |
| C．Because they prevent teenagers from getting taller and taller. |
| D．Because they give teenagers too much pressure. |
Which of the following statements is implied but not mentioned?
| A．School athletes have too much pressure. |
| B．Steroids can help people have lots of muscles. |
| C．The pressure chiefly comes from parents, teachers and coaches. |
| D．Girls are not interested in steroids. |
Which of the following is a good title for this passage?
| A．Drugs and Sports |
| B．The Pressure to School Boys are Too Much |
| C．School Boys are Interested in Drugs |
| D．School Athletes Risk Damage from Drugs |
After a fortnight of extraordinary type, the much-feared computer virus that was supposed to strike the globe’s hard drives last Friday simply fizzled. So many warnings were sounded that most computer owners either fed anti-virus programs into their systems or refused to turn the power on during the dreaded M-day. They dodged one disease, but more strains are on the way. The eponymous Friday-the-13th virus is due to strike this week, and the Maltese Amoeba may detonate on March 15.
Who creates these things? A disproportionate number seems to originate in Bulgaria or Russia, where writing the smallest, most elegant virus programs has become a matter of quirky pride. Viruses are transmitted either by shared disks (as was Michelangelo) or over telephone lines. The virus program hides in a computer until, activated by a date, time, or some other trigger, it springs to life. The most common virus, Stoned, makes your screen announce: “Your computer is now stoned. Legalize marijuana. ” (Regardless of your politics, you don’t want this one around; it can damage your files inadvertently.) Solution: either keep your computer isolated—no trading disks, no on-line communication—or else install one of a dozen or so commercially available anti-virus programs that detect and delete the little time bombs. If they can come up with a virus that is hidden, will they next try to extort a business?—as in, pay me $1 million or my virus will destroy your system.
In the meantime, money is being made by firms selling anti-virus programs. Egghead software stores logged a 3,000 percent jump in anti-virus sales. Was the threat overblown by the companies that make millions selling anti-virus software? Thanks to the media blitz, no one will ever know what might have happened—an unallied number of computer owners discovered and deleted Michelangelo before it was supposed to strike—on the artist’s birthday.The much-feared M-day was ________.
| A．Friday-the-13th when the eponymous virus was due to strike |
| B．Friday-the-15th when the Maltese Amoeba would be activated |
| C．the previous Friday when Michelangelo virus was due to strike |
| D．the previous Friday which coincided with the artist's birthday |
Computer viruses are ________.
| A．diseases spread from one computer to another by shared disks |
| B．viruses hidden in a computer’s instructions by the designers |
| C．little time bombs hidden in a computer waiting to be triggered |
| D．just those computer programs created by malevolent designers |
Which of the following sayings fits the Michelangelo virus?
| A．A burnt child dreads the fire. | B．The bug’s bark was worse than its bite. |
| C．A barking dog seldom bites. | D．Once bitten, twice shy. |
The author implies that in days to come the viruses might be used ________.
| A．to destroy data | B．to commit crimes |
| C．to commit mischief | D．to create confusion |
Between ten and midnight the United States is politically leaderless—there is no center of information anywhere in the nation except in the New York headquarters of the great broadcasting companies and two wire services. No candidate and no party can afford the investment on election night to match the news-gathering resources of the mass media; and so as every citizen sits in his home watching his TV set or listening to his radio, he is the equal of any other in knowledge. There is nothing that can be done in these hours, for no one can longer direct the great strike for America’s power; the polls have closed. Good or bad, whatever the decision, America will accept the decision—and cut down any man who goes against it, even though for millions the decision runs contrary to their own votes. The general vote is an expression of national will, the only substitute for violence and blood. Its decision is to be defended as one defends civilization itself.
There is nothing like this American expression of will in England or France, India or Russia. Only one other major nation in modern history has tried to elect its leader directly by mass, free, popular vote. This was the Weiman Republic of Germany, which modeled its unitary vote for national leaders on the American practice. Out of its experiment with the system it got Hitler. Americans have had Lincoln, Wilson and two Roosevelts. Nothing can be done when the voting returns are flooding in; the White House and its power will move to one or another of the two candidates, and all will know about it in the morning. But for these hours history stops.Between ten P.M. and midnight the United States is politically leaderless because ________.
| A．the president has been murdered |
| B．the general strike for power has ended |
| C．the government has resigned |
| D．the general vote is being held |
“The great strike for America’s power” in Paragraph 1 refers to ________.
| A．the strike of the government members |
| B．the great vote |
| C．the election campaign |
| D．the strike of the government employees |
The author believes that the decision at the polls will ________.
| A．lead to a civil war | B．result in a general strike |
| C．cause violence and blood | D．be defended by all Americans |
Without the general vote, the author implies ________.
| A．there would be a civil war | B．there would be a general strike |
| C．there would be an election campaign | D．there would be a fierce debate |
What happens to mother-daughter relationships when girls become teenagers. It seems that girls go from playing “dress up”, to arguing with their mothers about how they should dress.
When a girl is 3-4 years old they love to “dress up” in their mothers’ clothes, put on their mothers’ makeup, cook, and do whatever else their mother does. This is the time when she can be classified as being a mama’s girl.
How come girls change so much from childhood to the teenage years? Many parents seek the answer when their daughter becomes a teen. Often when a girl enters high school her behavior changes as well as her physical appearance.
When I was young I always liked playing “dress up”. It made me feel older and more like my mother. Even when I entered middle school, I still depended a lot on my mother to choose and buy my clothes. Once I entered high school there was a big change. To me, my mother’s clothes were no longer “in fashion”, and neither was her opinion. I started becoming interested in boys and tried to improve the way I looked. It was not that I wanted to look cool, I just wanted to look my age.
This is the time that the mother-daughter relationship can take a turn. It’s difficult for a mother to know that her daughter is no longer totally dependent on her.
When the daughter starts wearing revealing clothing, dating, and just wanting to be more independent, a mother starts to feel left out, or not needed. The number of arguments increases, and the number of times when the mother and daughter get along happily decreases.
When these things start to happen, it is a sign that the daughter wants her independence and the freedom to grow up.
When you notice how much your relationship had changed, try to believe positive things come out of the change. Put all the negatives aside and concentrate on what your mother is feeling instead of just on what you’re feeling.
When it seems too hard to handle, take some quiet time and write out your feelings. Maybe at another time, you can share them with your mother and try to find a way to better your relationship as mother and daughter. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing your feelings, at least write them down so you can get them out. It’s better than keeping them bottled up inside.The girls would argue with their mothers because ________.
| A．they need more independence |
| B．mothers want daughters to be mama’s girls again |
| C．they think their mothers’ clothes are no longer in fashion |
| D．all of the above |
From the passage, we know that ________.
| A．the teenage period is a sensitive part in human life |
| B．the parents can’t get the answer why their daughters change a lot |
| C．they can get on well only in talking, no matter what mothers or daughters do |
| D．mothers should concentrate on their own feelings |
A “mama’s girl” will Not________.
| A．dress up in her mother’s clothes |
| B．depend a lot on her mother to choose and buy her clothes |
| C．like wearing revealing clothing |
| D．think her mother’s clothes are in fashion |
When the daughter starts wanting to be more independent, ________.
| A．a mother starts to feel left out |
| B．it is the time when mother and daughter get on joyfully increases |
| C．she wants to look cool |
| D．All of the above |