The breaking news of Mo Yan's Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday evening soon aroused public curiosity of the 57yearold Chinese writer: Why was it him that was favored by the Swedish Academy?
Born in 1955 into a rural family，Mo dropped out of school and became a farmer when he was a teenager．He joined the military and devoted himself to writing after the Cultural Revolution （1966－1976）．
Less than half an hour after the announcement，Mo's works turned to soldout status at China's major online book sellers．One lucky buyer wrote in an online comment: “Rushed to purchase，but to my shame，I have not read any of his novels．”
Although Mo was entitled one of the top domestic literature awards before the Nobel Prize，he is not the most popular novelist in China，in either the book market or in reputation．
Mo's novel “Big Breasts & Wide Hips，” translated by Howard Goldblatt，tells a story of a mother who struggled and suffered hardship and intertwined fates with Chinese people in the 20th century．His more recent work “Frog” more directly criticized China's onechild family policy，which helped control the country's population explosion but also brought tragedies to rural residents in the past 60 years．
“I think the reason why I could win the prize is because my works present lives with unique Chinese characteristics，and they also tell stories from a viewpoint of common human beings，which is above differences of nations and races，” Mo said on Thursday evening to Chinese journalists．Mo also said many folk arts originated from his hometown，such as clay sculpture，paper cuts，traditional new yearpaintings，have inspired and influenced his novels．
With more Chinese writers like Mo，the world could learn a more real China．Perhaps，this is another reason for the Swedish Academy's choice．What can we conclude from the second paragraph?
| A．Mo's life experiences． |
| B．Mo's family life． |
| C．Mo devoted himself to writing． |
| D．Mo had a gift for writing． |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Mo didn't got any national awards before he won the Nobel Prize． |
| B．Mo was the top novelist in China before he won the Nobel Prize． |
| C．Mo's novels have attracted many people to read． |
| D．Mo's novels are all based on his daily life． |
Which of the following have no effect on Mo's novels according to the passage?
| A．Clay sculpture． | B．Paper cuts． |
| C．Folk arts． | D．Beijing opera． |
According to the passage，we know that________．
| A．Big Breasts & Wide Hips' leading role is one happy mother |
| B．Big Breasts & Wide Hips criticized China's onechild family policy |
| C．Frog came out earlier than Big Breasts & Wide Hips |
| D．Frog shows benefit as well as shortcoming of one China's policy |
One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap(包装).
On September 11th. 1958. Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital, she put him in my lap, saying. "I promised you a gift, and here it is. " What an honor! I turned four a month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night. I sang to it. I told it stories. 1 told it over and over how much I loved it!
One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it. Mum wept and told me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I heard Mum and Dad whispering such words as "hopeless", "pitiful", and "dying", which sounded ominous.
Christmas was coming. "Don’t expect any presents this year." Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the living room. "If your baby brother lives, that'll be Christmas enough.” As he spoke, his eyes filled with tears. I'd never seen him cry before.
The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom I heard him say. "What? He's all right?" He hung up and shouted upstairs. " The hospital said we can bring Richard home!"
"Thank God.'" I heard Mum cry.
From the upstairs window, I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I downstairs. My sacks still hung there flat. But I knew they were not empty; they were filled with love!What happened to the author on September 11 1958 ?
| A．He received a doll | B．He got a Christmas gift. |
| C．He became four years old. | D．He got a baby brother. |
What does the underlined word “ominous” in Paragraph 3 probably mean？
| A．Fearful. | B．Boring. | C．Difficult. | D．Impossible. |
Which word can best describe the feeling of the father when Christmas was coming?
| A．Excitement. | B．Happiness. | C．Disappointment. | D．Sadness. |
What is the passage mainly about ?
| A．A sad Christmas day. | B．A special Christmas gift. |
| C．Life with a lovely baby. | D．Memories of a happy family. |
Most people know precious gemstones (宝石) by their appearances. An emerald flashes deep green, a ruby seems to hold a red fire inside, and a diamond shines like a star. It’s more difficult to tell where the gem was mined, since a diamond from Australia or Arkansas may appear the same to one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, recently, a team of scientists has found a way to identify a gemstone’s origin.
Beneath the surface of a gemstone, on the tiny level of atoms and molecules, lie clues to its origin. At this year’s meeting of the Geological Society of America in Minneapolis, Catherine McManus reported on a technique that uses lasers to clarify these clues and identify a stone’s homeland. McManus directs scientific research at Materialytics, in Killeen, Texas. The company is developing the technique. “With enough data, we could identify which country, which mining place, even the individual mine a gemstone comes from,” McManus told Science News.
Some gemstones, including many diamonds, come from war-torn countries. Sales of those “blood minerals” may encourage violent civil wars where innocent people are injured or killed. In an effort to reduce the trade in blood minerals, the U.S. government passed law in July 2010 that requires companies that sell gemstones to determine the origins of their stones.
To figure out where gemstones come from, McManus and her team focus a powerful laser on a small sample of the gemstone. The technique is called laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Just as heat can turn ice into water or water into steam, energy from the laser changes the state of matter of the stone. The laser changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma, a gas state of matter in which tiny particles called electrons separate from atoms.
The plasma, which is superhot, produces a light pattern. (The science of analyzing this kind of light pattern is called spectroscopy.) Different elements produce different patterns, but McManus and her team say that gemstones from the same area produce similar patterns. Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones, including more than 200 from diamonds. They can compare the light pattern from an unknown gemstone to patterns they do know and look for a match. The light pattern acts like a signature, telling the researchers the origin of the gemstone.
In a small test, the laser technique correctly identified the origins of 95 out of every 100 diamonds. For gemstones like emeralds and rubies, the technique proved successful for 98 out of every 100 stones. The scientists need to collect and analyze more samples, including those from war-torn countries, before the tool is ready for commercial use.
Scientists like Barbara Dutrow, a mineralogist from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, find the technique exciting. “This is a basic new tool that could provide a better fingerprint of a material from a particular locality,” she told Science News. We learn from Paragraph 1 that __________________.
| A．an emerald and a ruby are names of diamonds. |
| B．it’s not difficult to tell where the gem was mined. |
| C．appearances help to identify the origin of gemstones. |
| D．diamonds from different places may appear the same. |
Why did the U.S. government pass law that requires companies selling gemstones to determine the origins of their stones?
| A．To look for more gemstones. |
| B．To encourage violent civil wars. |
| C．To reduce the trade in blood minerals. |
| D．To develop the economy. |
Which of the following facts most probably helps McManus and her team in identifying the origin of stones?
| A．Heat can turn ice into water or water into steam. |
| B．Gemstones from the same area produce similar light patterns. |
| C．Laser can changes a miniscule part of the gemstone into plasma. |
| D．Materialytics has already collected patterns from thousands of gemstones. |
From the last two paragraphs, what can be inferred about the laser technique?
| A．It is ready for commercial use. |
| B．People can use the new tool to find more gemstones. |
| C．It can significantly reduce the gemstones trade in blood minerals. |
| D．It will bring about a revolutionary change in identifying the origin of minerals. |
The author wrote this passage mainly to ________.
| A．tell us how to identify the origin of diamonds. |
| B．introduce a laser technique in identifying a stone’s origin |
| C．prove identifying the origin of gemstones are difficult |
| D．attract our attention to reducing trade in blood minerals |
Being honest are fundamental requirements if you want to grow spiritually and follow your true destination of personal development. It's not simply about being honest with people. While that will make you a better person and a more accepted one it's more importantly about being honest with yourself.
Living your life honestly means that you've decided to live openly and to show your true self to others and that you can be relied upon to be trustworthy. On the other hand, dishonesty is all about shade and concealment and living your life in 'dark corners'. When you're dishonest, it means that you remain living in the dark and cannot grow spiritually.
Honesty produces trust-trust in ourselves and in all those around us. Trust in turn produces confidence which we all need to overcome life's problems and which also encourages us to take risks in order to achieve our goals.
You'll have no doubt you have heard expressions such as "what goes around, comes around" and "you get back, what you give out in life" and that's very true. If you don't live your lives honestly, you can be assured that the people you'll attract will turn out to be very similar to you and it's therefore unavoidable that one day you'11 be on the receiving end of someone's dishonest actions or words.
There may be situations where telling the whole truth causes you to bring a lot of pain on somebody else. For example, John may have told Paul that he can't go on a weekend fishing trip with him because he has a family commitment arranged that weekend. You know differently and that the real reason John isn't going is because he hates Paul. When Paul asks you if you know whether the reason is true, what do you say? Well, in situations like this, it's often better to be economical with the truth. You might say that you don't know why John can't go or that you think he has something on that weekend." Of course, this isn't telling the complete truth but you are sparing Paul's feelings on something that won't, after all, have strong influence on Paul's future.If you want to grow spiritually, it is best for you to______.
| A．follow your destination |
| B．be true to yourself |
| C．plan your personal development |
| D．accept honest people as ends |
The passage tells us that if you choose to live a dishonest life, you will_____.
| A．suffer from dishonesty |
| B．become very attractive |
| C．influence honest people |
| D．have attractive friends |
The example in the last paragraph is used to prove that______.
| A．we should always tell the truth |
| B．John is not a trustworthy person |
| C．telling lies causes pain on someone else |
| D．sometimes we can't be completely honest |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．We should be economical with the truth. |
| B．People can gain from dishonesty. |
| C．Honesty helps you develop. |
| D．Trust produces confidence. |
Kids undergo a large amount of pressure and stress during their school exams, which can often become quite overwhelming (to much) for them. It may be the first experience of stress, at this level, they have ever experienced and therefore quite frightening. Yes, you may say that it's all a part of growing up and therefore good lessons for them to learn, and to an extent I agree with you. However, it’s important to learn how to prepare for life’s challenges so that they aren’t overwhelming or scary and so that we are able to manage them the best we can.
Here are some tips you can use during your kids exam time.
Break their revision plan down into small parts. Doing this will help transform what once seemed like a huge impossible task into a more manageable one.
Help them arrange properly so that the subjects they like the least (perhaps ones that require more time and effort) are worked on first; once they are out of the way, it will help reduce the worry.
Plan week on week to make sure they are on track. Ticking items of a list each week will help them to feel good about themselves and their progress.
Create rewards for all the ticks - a favourite TV programme, a delicious snack, an hour’s surfing the Internet, computer games or whatever it was that they enjoy the most. This will encourage them to carry on and make them feel good.
Think of strategies on how to deal with exams calmly so their anxieties don't get the better of them.
Talk about times in their lives when they had been successful at something and look at the qualities they used to get them there - determination, persistence, hard work, patience, positivity, dedication - discuss how they can apply these skills to their exams.
Acknowledge that if they do their best that is good enough.
Ensure they realize that this period in their lives will pass and that exams are only a temporary time in their lives; nothing can and does last forever.
Ensure they keep their eye on the prize: enjoying their long summer holiday when the exams are finished; giving them something to look forward to will help to motivate them and provide a positive end in sight.According to paragraph 1, it’s important to learn how to prepare for exams because___.
| A．it is a part of growing up. |
| B．It is the first experience of stress |
| C．it helps kid release stress and do better. |
| D．it is important to get a good mark in exams. |
Which subjects should be worked on first?
| A．Their best ones. | B．Their favourite ones. |
| C．the easiest ones | D．the most difficult ones |
According to the passage, which of the following is true?
| A．Kid should become aware of the importance of exams. |
| B．Kids should learn to deal with exam pressure independently. |
| C．Parents should keep their kids away from entertainment. |
| D．Parents should care about the psychological development of children. |
A smart phone is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing abilities than a common phone. The first smart phones enabled the users to send and receive emails. Later models added the function of portable media players, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units to form one multi-use device. Many modem smart phones also include touchscreens and web browsers that display web pages.
A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smart phone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but playing phone games and browsing the Web.
Nowadays we always find people checking emails in a restaurant, taking a picture of the food when it arrives, or checking a message during a conversation instead of traditional communication. It’s no secret that our lives are being affected by our smart phones obsession.
However, this phenomenon has never been presented so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10.5 million times. Whether it will be screened in the cinema remains to be seen.
Ironically, YouTube’s data show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phones.
The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene Deguzman, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of whom are absorbed in their phones instead of the world around them. To a certain extent, we all do it.People prefer a smart phone to a common one, because the latter only can help us ______.
| A．check emails | B．send messages | C．find the destination | D．watch a video |
The underlined word “obsession” in the third paragraph most probably means “______”.
| A．devotion | B．contribution | C．addiction | D．emotion |
Which of the following is right?
| A．People spend as average of two hours and 40 minutes each day using smart phones. |
| B．The film hasn’t been put on in the cinema. |
| C．The film is written by an actor named Charlene Deguzman. |
| D．The film has already been viewed more than 105 million times in the first few days. |
When the writer mentions the number of people watching the film from mobile devices in the fifth paragraph, he mainly feels ______.
| A．encouraged | B．depressed | C．proud | D．satisfied |