One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are．
When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different. We cry out for something better. That may be human nature，or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture. The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different．However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place. We’ve judged it as bad，rather than saying, “It's not bad or good, and it just is it．”
In one of my books, I said, “You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”. Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong．However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad. Instead，you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is．
This can be applied to whatever you do：how other people act at work，how politics works and how depressing the news media can be．Accept these things as they are，and try to understand why they’re that way. _It_ will save you a lot of sadness，because you’ll no longer say, “Oh, I wish bad things didn’t happen!’’
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of changing, learning and growing．
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world. That’s the correct path you choose to take，because you enjoy that path. Therefore, when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference, try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results．The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ___________.
| A．it is our natural emotion in the life |
| B．culture asks us to be different from others |
| C．everyone has their own opinions on things |
| D．we dislike something in the beginning |
In Paragraph 4，the underlined word "it" refers to ____________．
| A．acting well at work and in politics |
| B．feeling depressed for the news media |
| C．accepting and understanding what has happened |
| D．saying something negative when bad things come |
In the last paragraph，you are advised _____________．
| A．to help others and make a difference |
| B．to enjoy what you have to do in the work |
| C．to judge yourself and make a wish for you |
| D．to try a new way when making the world better |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Expecting things to be different gives us hope． |
| B．Accepting can make our life happier and better． |
| C．Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness． |
| D．Judging good or bad is important for our world． |
A
In a new picture book, a 66-year-old Beijinger recaptures the capital’s Lunar New Year traditions for children.
In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, which falls on Feb 11 this year, is the “Little Chinese New Year”. Traditionally, people will set off firecrackers to bid farewell to the Kitchen God who returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor.
However, such customs have lessened with time in the city and might seem unfamiliar to children nowadays.
In order to preserve traditions for the next generation, Yu Dawu, a 66-year-old painter, recently published a picture book, Spring Festival in Beijing, for children to see how people used to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Based on an essay by Lao She (1899-1966), one of the most significant writers in modern Chinese literature, the picture book starts from the first holiday, La Ba, the eighth day of the 12th lunar month of the past year, when tradition says people should eat congee made of eight ingredients to bring good fortune in the coming year. It concludes with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month of the new year, which marks the end of the Spring Festival.
In the book, Yu creates a local family of four who live in an ordinary quadrangle courtyard, and readers follow the family as it celebrates the festival traditions.
“I am an old Beijinger, so when I was drawing and painting for this book, the memories of childhood rushed into my mind,” recalls Yu at a book-sharing party earlier this week.What’s the name of the new picture book that recaptures the capital’s Lunar New Year traditions for children?
| A．Celebrating the Lantern Festival |
| B．Spring Festival in Beijing |
| C．the Chinese New Year |
| D．Little Chinese New Year |
What made the painter create such a picture book for children?
| A．Reporting the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor. |
| B．Following the family as it celebrates the festival traditions. |
| C．Drawing and painting for the book. |
| D．Preserving traditions for the next generation. |
Which day means the end of the Spring Festival?
| A．La Ba. | B．the Lantern Festival |
| C．Little Chinese New Year | D．The first lunar day. |
What does the underlined word “congee” mean in the fifth paragraph?
| A．a gift presented by the author. |
| B．something given by Kitchen God. |
| C．a kind of porridge. |
| D．a red envelope |
D
May 28 (Reuters Life!) - A Japanese university is giving away Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) trendy iPhone to students for free, but with a catch: the device will be used to check their attendance.
The project, which is being tested ahead of its formal launch in June, involves 550 first and second year students and some staff of a department at Aoyama Gakuin University, which is located just outside Tokyo in Sagamihara city.
The school's iPhones are meant to create a mobile information network between students and professors, but they are also a convenient way for the teachers to take attendance in class. As students enter the room, instead of writing their name on a sheet, they simply type in their ID number and a specific class number into an iPhone application. To prevent students from logging in from home or outside class, the application uses GPS location data and checks which router the students have logged in to.
"We don't want to use this to simply take attendance. Our hope is to use this to develop a classroom where students and teachers can discuss various topics," professor Yasuhiro Iijima told Reuters as he demonstrated the application.
University officials insist the project is not intended to infringe on students' privacy or track them down.
"With Japanese cellphones it's possible that the location data is automatically sent. However, with the iPhone, you must always confirm before the GPS data can be sent," Iijima said.
Many of the students testing the system said they were happy with it.
"Up until now, we've been using little slips of paper to take attendance. But with a cell phone, you don't have to spend time collecting all of those and so I think it's quite nice," 20-year-old student Yuki Maruya.
When the system goes fully online next month, the university also hopes to provide video podcasts of lectures to help students who missed classes, or just can't remember their lessons.The news report mainly tells us that ______
| A．Iphone has got well developed in Japan |
| B．Iphone is to take attendance at Japanese universities |
| C．Iphone has been accepted by many students |
| D．Iphone is free of charge at Japanese universities |
The iphone being tested at Aoyama Gakuin University is mainly to _____
| A．help students to study hard |
| B．check students’ attendance |
| C．help learn the information network |
| D．develop a special classroom |
Teachers at Aoyama Gakuin University can finish taking attendance by asking students to_____
| A．write their names on the paper |
| B．Type in their ID and class numbers into iphone |
| C．log in from home or outside class ahead |
| D．put in right GPS location data and their router |
what about the future of Apple Inc’s iphone
| A．It still has many disadvantages |
| B．It goes against many students’ interest |
| C．It will receive some other uses. |
| D．It will avoid students’ being late for class |
C
Bob Butler lost his legs in a 1965 landmine explosion in Vietnam. He returned home as a war hero. Twenty years later，he proved once again that heroism comes from the heart.
Butler was working in his garage in a small town in Arizona on a hot summer day when he heard a woman’s screams coming from a nearby house. He rolled his wheelchair toward the house，but the dense bush wouldn’t allow him to approach the back door. So he got out of his chair and crawled through the dirt and bushes.
“I had to get there，”he says. “It didn’t matter how much it hurt.”
When Butler arrived at the house，he traced the screams to the pool，where a three year old girl，Stephanie，was lying at the bottom. She had been born without arms and had fallen in the water and couldn’t swim. Her mother stood over her baby screaming loudly. Butler dove to the bottom of the pool and brought little Stephanie up to the deck. Her face was blue，she had no pulse and she was not breathing.
Butler immediately went to work performing CPR(心肺复苏) to revive her while Stephanie’s mother telephoned the fire department. She was told the rescue team was already out on a call .Helplessly，she sobbed and hugged Butler’s shoulders.
As Butler continued with his CPR，he calmly reassured Stephanie’s mother. “Don’t worry，”he said. “I was her arms to get out of the pool. It’ll be okay. I’m now her lungs. Together we can make it.”
Seconds later the little girl coughed，regained consciousness and began to cry. As they hugged and rejoiced together，the mother asked Butler how he knew it would be okay.
“When my legs were blown off in the war，I was all alone in a field，”he told her.“ No one was there to help except a little Vietnamese girl. As she struggled to drag me into her village，she whispered in broken English，‘It okay. You can live. I be your legs. Together we make it.’”
“This was my chance，”he told Stephanie’s mom，“to return the favor.”When Butler heard the woman’s scream, he ________.
| A．was swimming in a nearby pool after work |
| B．dialed the fire department immediately |
| C．tried his best to the house without second thought |
| D．believed that everything will be OK and he would make it. |
What made Stephanie’s mother feel more helpless?_______.
| A．her daughter was lying at the bottom of the pool. |
| B．Little Stephanie was born without arms. |
| C．Little Stephanie had no pulse and was not breathing. |
| D．The doctors couldn’t come to help. |
Why was Butler so confident that the little girl would revive?________.
| A．Because he had once experienced the same scene in Vietnam. |
| B．Because he had saved many children in dangerous situation |
| C．Because he remembered the Vietnamese girl’s words all time long. |
| D．Because he knew some knowledge of first aid and medical care. |
Which of the followings would probably be the best title of the passage?________.
| A．Together We Can Make It |
| B．An Unforgettable Experience |
| C．How a Veteran Saved a Girl |
| D．Everything Will be OK |
B
For several years now, the dollar has fallen lower and lower against other major currencies. Lately, though, the dollar has risen, especially against the Japanese yen and the euro. Some traders think the dollar will continue to rise, but that is not clear.
The dollar moved up this week after comments by American officials in support of a strong dollar policy.
On Monday, before he left for his last trip as president to Europe, George Bush said: "A strong dollar is in our nation's interests. It is in the interests of the global economy." Also Monday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on CNBC television that he would consider intervention to keep the dollar from sliding further.
The United States has not intervened in currency markets since two thousand. That year the administration of president Bill Clinton bought euros to support the European currency.
But on Tuesday, President Bush said in Slovenia that the "relative value of economies will end up setting the proper valuation of the dollar."
A weaker dollar helps American exporters. But it means Americans have to pay more for imports and for travel to other countries.
Some experts say dollar weakness is the main reason why oil prices have risen so high. Oil is priced in dollars on the world market.
But Treasury Secretary Paulson dismissed any link. He noted that since two thousand two, the dollar has fallen about twenty-four percent. But the price of oil has gone up well over five hundred percent.
Adding to pressure on the dollar, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested that the E.C.B will raise interest rates next month. European officials are increasingly concerned with inflation. But investors can already get higher rates of return on investments in euros than in dollars.
High prices for oil, food and other products have raised inflation concerns worldwide. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the latest increases in energy prices have added to inflation risks.
His comments in recent days have suggested that the central bank could stop cutting rates as it has since September. Its rate for overnight loans between banks is currently at two percent. Some market watchers think the Fed could raise rates as early as this month.
Finance ministers from nations in the Group of Eight will discuss the dollar and other issues at their meeting this weekend in Osaka, Japan.The passage is mainly concerned about ___
| A．the history of American currency |
| B．the inflation in America |
| C．the political cases in America |
| D．the price of the oil in the world |
Why did the dollar move up a little this week according to the passage?
| A．Because of George Bush’s visit to the Europe |
| B．Because of the official’s support of the policy. |
| C．Because of the increasing of the oil price. |
| D．Because of the meeting of the Group of Eight. |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The dollar will continuously rise, especially against the Japanese yen and the euro. |
| B．Some government officials’ comments made the dollars rising a lot.. |
| C．Many measures have taken to stop dollars from falling further.. |
| D．Few countries in the world are all concerned about the inflation |
We can infer from the passage that____
| A．the dollar is sure to continue to rise |
| B．the dollar is sure to slide further |
| C．investors will get more benefit from dollars |
| D．there is a chance of inflation in the world |
A
Some good news for online holiday shoppers: bargain-hunting binges (狂热行动) will drive prices down as web-based retailers compete to offer bigger discounts, marketing researchers predict.
A recent survey by Shopzilla found that nearly 84 percent of online retailers would offer Cyber Monday discounts, up 12 percent from last year. Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is the online response to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores are traditionally flooded with customers, some of whom camp at the entrances overnight to take advantage of discounts.
However, in the current economic climate, online retailers have felt pressure to offer sales and discounts even before Black Friday. But how online retailers decide to offer those big savings isn’t a simple matter of trying to attract the consumers who are watching their wallets, Bohlmann of Sabanci University in Istanbul says. Online stores will also pay attention to the deals their competitors are offering, potentially leading to price wars between certain retailers to attract all those potential bargain-hunting customers.
Online shoppers can be divided into two types, Bohlmann said, ―switchers and ―loyals. Switchers compare prices between retailers and go for the cheapest one, while loyals stick to one brand or store. It almost doesn’t matter what price you charge.
Online retailers will look at the percentage of switchers and loyals they have in order to decide whether to offer discounts. The more switchers they have, the more likely they will offer discounts. But retailers don’t just look at the percentage of their own customers; they also look at the competition.
If one online store has a higher percentage of loyals than the competitor, it can afford to keep prices higher. On the contrary, if it has a higher percentage of switchers than the competitor, it might want to lower prices.According to the text, on Cyber Monday, customers often______
| A．feel tired because of Thanksgiving |
| B．prepare for the coming Black Friday |
| C．spend their holidays in the stores |
| D．wait for online retailers’ discounts |
According to the text, “loyals” should refer to online shoppers who____
| A．care about prices than anything else |
| B．focus on the quality of products |
| C．matter little what price you charge |
| D．hope a higher price of products |
It can be inferred from the text that ____
| A．retailers should know more about customers’ interest |
| B．There will be no shoppers who go out in crowds |
| C．Barnes&Noble’s prices are lower than other companies’ |
| D．Retailers like the switchers more than the loyals |