“I’d be better off dead.” he said, without any hesitation（犹豫）. Hearing those words come out of my best friend’s mouth tore my heart apart. He has repeated that phrase more than once, and my mind continually plays it over like a voice recording.
I met him about three years ago. After knowing me for six months, he told me about his struggles with depression（压抑）. Sadness was not the only feeling that came over me; I was shocked. He seemed so outgoing and happy all the time. I soon learned that he was hurt physically and mentally as a young child, causing him to have the thought of killing himself.
He refuses to talk to others about his depression because he now distrusts adults, especially those in his family. However, he feels as if I understand him and that I know the right words to speak. Therefore, when it comes to helping him, convenience is not in my vocabulary. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing, for he always comes first.
Many students at his school laugh at him when they notice scars on his arms from cutting. As he sees it, other kids have every right to make fun of him. But no one holds such a right, so I encourage him to ignore the heartless kids who treat him badly. When he feels the weight of judging eyes or hateful voices, I always remind him that I care about him unconditionally. Just hearing me say I will always be his best friend seems to give him the safety he needs to keep on going.
My best friend once told me that if he had not had me, he would not be alive. He said that my encouraging words helped him not to take his life. Our friendship has taught me that a single kind word can influence someones life. Life is not easy for every one, which makes me strongly believe in the necessity of encouragement.According to the first paragraph, hearing his friends words, the author felt______.
| A．puzzled | B．painful |
| C．frightened | D．hopeless |
By saying convenience is not in my vocabulary, the author means ______.
| A．he is always ready to help his friend |
| B．he hardly spares time to help his friend |
| C．he has no good excuse for refusing his friend |
| D．he is not good at communicating with his friend |
The authors friend got into depression mainly because __________.
| A．he lived without his parents |
| B．he had poor health |
| C．he received little care at school |
| D．he had a terrible childhood |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．I enjoy friendship |
| B．My friend and I |
| C．I believe in encouragement |
| D．The story of my friend |
Booking opens for Beckett Shorts on September .
BY TELEPHONE
For credit card booking. Calls are answered .
BOX OFFICE 01789 295623 9 a.m.～ 8 p.m. (Mon.～ Sat)
0541 541051 (24 hours , 7 days , no booking charge )
BY FAX
For credit card booking . Please allow at least 48 hours for reply , if required.
BOX OFFICE 01789 261974 or 01862 387765
BY POST
Please enclose (附上) a cheque or credit card details together with an SAE or add 50 p to the total amount (总额) to cover postage. Please send to the Box Office , RST, Stratford-upon-Avon , CV37 6BB. In which of the following ways of booking does one probably have to pay extra money ?
| A．In person. | B．By telephone. |
| C．By fax. | D．By post . |
One has to wait for 2 days or longer for a reply if he / she pays _______ .
| A．in person | B．by telephone |
| C．by fax | D．by post |
. What is a useful number to call at 11 a.m. Sunday ?
| A．01789 295623. | B．0541 541051. |
| C．01789 261174. | D．01862 387665. |
When other nine-year-old kids were playing games, she was working at a petrol station . When other teens were studying or going out , she struggled to find a place to sleep on the street. But she overcame these terrible setbacks to win a highly competitive scholarship and gain entry to Harvard University . And her amazing story has inspired a movie , “ Homeless to Harvard : The Liz Murray Story” , shown in late April .
Liz Murray , a 22-year-old American girl, has been writing a real-life story of willpower and determination . Liz grew up in the shadow of two drug-addicted parents. There was never enough food or warm clothes in the house . Liz was the only member who had a job . Her mother had AIDS and died when Liz was just 15 years old. The effect of that loss became a turning point in her life. Connecting the environment in which she had grown up with how her mother had died , she decided to do something about it.
Liz went back to school. She threw herself into her studies, never telling her teachers that she was homeless . At night , she lived on the streets. “ What drove me to live on had something to do with understanding , by understanding that there was a whole other way of being . I had only experienced a small part of the society,” she wrote in her book Breaking Night .
She admitted that she used envy to drive herself on . She used the benefits that come easily to others , such as a safe living environment , to encourage herself that “ next to nothing could hold me down”. She finished high school in just two years and won a full scholarship to study at Harvard University . But Liz decided to leave her top university a couple of months earlier this year in order to take care of her father, who has also developed AIDS. “ I love my parents so much . They are drug addicts. But I never forget that they loved me all the time.”
Liz wants moviegoers to come away with the idea that changing your life is “ as simple as making a decision”. The main idea of the passage is __________ .
| A．how Liz managed to enter Harvard University |
| B．What a hard time Liz had in her childhood |
| C．why Liz loved her parents so much |
| D．how Liz struggled to change her life |
In which order did the following things happen to Liz ?
a. Her mother died of AIDS.
b. She worked at a petrol station.
c. She got admission into Harvard University.
d. The movie about her life was put on.
e. She had trouble about finding a place to sleep .
| A．b, a , e , c, d | B．a , b , c , e , d |
| C．e , d, b , a , c | D．b , e , a , d , c |
What actually made her go towards her goal ?
| A．Envy and encouragement. |
| B．Willpower and determination . |
| C．Decisions and understanding. |
| D．Love and respect for her parents. |
When she wrote “ What drove me to live on … I had only experienced a small part of the society，she meant that __________ .
| A．she had little experience of social life. |
| B．she could hardly understand the society. |
| C．she would do something for her own life. |
| D．she needed to travel more around the world. |
Late that afternoon I took the train back to Sydney . There I found another surprise waiting for me . My room at the hotel had been given to somebody else and they had no room for me. Harkin had known my travel plans and had planned everything . How could he have booked the room only for three days ? There was nothing to be done but to find another hotel. The waiters were happy to find me a new hotel , and when I said that I was happy to stay at the airport , thinking it might be cheaper than staying in the city , they suggested the Holiday Inn at the airport . There was one small matter : the room rate was $ 300 per night . The best hotel in Katoomba had wanted only $ 145 . I asked if there was anything cheaper they might suggest but they warned that most hotels would already be full by this time.
The hotel was far from the train station , so I had to take a taxi , at $ 25 . On the way to the Holiday Inn , we passed a hotel just two blocks from the Holiday Inn that advertised a room rate of $ 104 . At the desk I asked if their room rate could go down a lot . “ No , this is a 4-star hotel,” the waiter told me . “ In that case ,” I replied , “ I’ll just walk the two blocks to the cheap hotel.” But she warned me that they were probably full and that if I didn’t take the room , it might not be available when I came back . Finally , I decided to take the room.
The room itself was big , but the air conditioning couldn’t keep up with the Australian heat . I couldn’t sleep until about 1:00 am. Why did the writer have to look for another hotel ?
| A．He didn’t book early. | B．Harkin made a mistake. |
| C．He was short of money. | D．He wasn’t well received. |
How did the writer feel when hearing the room rate at the Holiday Inn ?
| A．Nervous. | B．Happy. |
| C．Surprised. | D．Relaxed. |
Why did the writer take the room finally ?
| A．It’s a 4-star hotel . | B．It’s around the station. |
| C．It was mid-night then. | D．The room was in great demand. |
What does the text mainly talk about ?
| A．A hotel hunting experience. | B．An unforgettable day. |
| C．A warm-hearted waiter. | D．An introduction to hotels. |
Look, this is the first plane in the world to be created using the new technology of “3D printing”. The airplane was built using only a computer-but it can fly at a speed of 100mph and has a two-meter wingspan.
It was produced using a special nylon laser printer that builds up something layer-by-layer. The parts were made separately and attached using a “snap fit”（搭扣） technique so the aircraft could be put together without tools in minutes.
No fasteners(扣件) at all were used in the manufacture of the plane. Unmanned and electrically powered, the plane can travel in near silence and is also equipped with a small autopilot system. The special production process used is known as “laser sintering(激光烧结) “and allows the designers to create shapes and structures that would normally include costly manufacturing techniques. This technology allows a highly-tailored aircraft to be developed from your own design to first flight in days, while using traditional materials and techniques would take months. And because no tooling is required for manufacture, major changes to the shape and scale of the aircraft can be made with no extra cost.
Professor Jim Scanlon, who led the team, said, “The process allows the design team to revisit historical techniques and ideas that would have been too expensive using traditional manufacturing.” He added, “This form of structure is very firm and lightweight, but very complex. If it was manufactured traditionally it would require a large number of individually tailored parts that would have to be connected or fastened at great expense.”
The new printed plane is known as the Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft-or SULSA for short-and is part of a wider project using cutting-edge manufacturing techniques. The University of Southampton has been at the leading position of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle development since the early 1990s. What does the passage maily talk about?
A. New Designed Airplane with New Techniques.
B. Scientists Create Aircraft with High Speed.
C. Revolut ionary Breakthrough of 3D Printer.
D. The World’s first 3-D printed Airplane, SULSA. How does the 3-D printed plane fly?
| A．A pilot controls it using a remote control. |
| B．It should be controlled by “laser sintering”. |
| C．It should be controlled by an autopilot system. |
| D．A pilot with high techniques controlled it. |
Which of the following is NOT advantage of the plane?
| A．It only requires simple and cheap tools. |
| B．It is manufactured in quite a short time. |
| C．It produces little noise while flying. |
| D．It needn’t extra cost if changes are made. |
Accoding to Professor Jim Scanlon, plane manufacturers can
with their techniques.
| A．copy earlier planes to study their techniques |
| B．connect and fasten tailor parts for real planes |
| C．produce firmer and lighter real planes |
| D．find differences by studying the traditional ones |
Does a 600-year-old Chinese map prove that Christopher Columbus was not the first international explorer to navigate(航行) the New World?
In his book “Who Discovered America?”, published on Tuesday, author Gavin Menzies says the settling of North America by nonnative peoples is more complex than previously thought.
“The traditional story of Columbus discovering the New World is absolute fantasy. It’s fairy tales,” Menzies, 76, said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
However, not everyone is sold on the theory. It has been described as “Unreal” by critics, who say Menzies’ claims are impractical and not based in historical fact.
Menzies has primarily focused his studies on when and how North America was first explored. He also has enthusiastic supporters—his previous books have been best-sellers, and supporters of his theories have donated millions to his efforts, allowing him to hire a number of experts to join in his investigatons.
Menzies says that the Chinese map, found in a bookstore, was drew by Chinese navigator Zheng He and shows a detailed map of America dating back to 1418. That would place Zheng He’s efforts some 70 years ahead of Columbus. In fact, Menzies says Columbus used a copy of Zheng He’s map to plot his own voyage.
The map itself has been authenticated(鉴定), but there is currently no way of proving the map was based on images drafted in the 1400s. However, Menzies says that certain observations on the map, including descriptions of communities and other cultural landmarks in Peru, coincide with known data from that period. In addition, Menzies makes an even broader claim in his book, saying that Chinese sailors were the first to cross the Pacific Ocean 40,000 years ago. Menzies says there is DNA evidence to support his claim.
So how does Menzies believe the Chinese pulled off such a giant historical accomplishment thousands of years before anyone else?
“If you just go out in a plastic bathtub, the currents will just carry you there,” Menzies told the Mail. “They just came with the current; it’s as simple as that.”
Critics of Menzies point out that he holds no degrees or professional training as a historian. But the Daily Mail says he “can no longer be called an amateur” after his most recent efforts.
The first paragraph serves as a(n) .
| A．comment | B．introduction |
| C．summary | D．example |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 mean?
| A．All people are not enthusiastic about the theory. |
| B．Not all people are surprised at the theory. |
| C．Not everyone wants to sell the theory. |
| D．Everybody believes the theory. |
Critics of Menzies hold that Menzies .
| A．is just playing a joke | B．creates the map himself |
| C．is no longer an amateur | D．has no academic background |
According to Menzies,.
| A．Zheng He once reached South America |
| B．Columbus discovered America in about 1490 |
| C．Zheng He helped Columbus discover the New World |
| D．it was quite hard for Chinese to cross the Pacific Ocean |