It does not matter who wins. We are told that from day one. Usually, that statement is followed by some remark about being a loser. If we do not care who wins, then why do we compete? Fun, experience, the chance to meet new people --- these are the reasons we try to outdo each other.
People will compete over anything. Every Christmas, my neighbors and I have a little Christmas light competition. It is heaven for the electric company, but I think we give Will Rogers Airport a scare. It is bright enough to land a plane in our front yards. I admit that last year my neighbors won, but only because they bought every strand of lights Wal-Mart had before I could get there.
Personal competitions are great, but we get a little carried away. I cannot stand to see coaches shout at kids playing sports. Who cares if someone messes up and the other team advances?
I’m tired of people competing just to win. It happens not only in sports, but in music competitions, too. People auditioning（试音）for chair placement in certain bands can get really unfriendly. This year I did not audition for a certain band, but I went to auditions anyway. This was the first time I actually had the opportunity to comprehend the whole picture.
Other times I’ve been the person who was nervous and anxious. This time, I sat back and observed everyone else. I came to the realization that the people who aren’t so good are terrified of the good people, and the good people are scared stiff that the bad people have taken lessons and can now show them up. Unless a person is on the outside looking in, I don’t think anyone realizes this.
Maybe competing is human nature, but we shouldn’t let it influence our judgment. Being disrespectful to opponents（对手）, letting competition become our life, and becoming so involved that we close ourselves off from friends and family is not the meaning of competition.
A little competition is healthy, so it shouldn’t hurt anyone. If it does, someone somewhere needs to back off, find the good thing hidden inside, and try it again. Winning isn’t everything, and losing isn’t the end of the world.The author mentions his competition with his neighbors to __________.
| A．make excuses for his failure |
| B．express his concern about the airport |
| C．imply his neighbor cheated in the competition |
| D．show people really care about the result of competition |
The underlined word “this” in Paragraph 5 refers to ________.
| A．the rules of competition |
| B．competitors’ effort to win |
| C．the influence of competition on life |
| D．the negative attitude to competition |
From the passage, we can learn that _______.
| A．the author failed the audition |
| B．competitors may be unfriendly to each other |
| C．it is coaches who always mess up the match |
| D．those who observe opponents calmly always win |
Which of the following opinions does the author probably accept?
| A．Competition for the job is fierce. |
| B．Winning or losing is none of people’s concern. |
| C．Competition is healthy, but it can get out of hand. |
| D．The disadvantages of competition outweigh the benefits. |
The protest movement called Occupy Wall Street has struck a nerve．The demonstrators' （示威者） goals may not be obvious but their complaints are very real．
The truth is that millions of Americans lost their jobs, their homes and their life savings because of the greed（贪欲） and illegal behavior of Wall Street．Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bemanke also said the protesters hold the view that the financial institutions are responsible for "getting the US into this mess", and added, "I can't blame those protesters．"
Where do we go from this movement? How do we calm the protesters' anger?
For starters, we should break up the super financial institutions．Left to their own selfish will．Wall Street bankers will continue to gamble（赌博） with other people's money．There also is a sound economic argument against too few owning far too much．The idea that six super financial institutions （Bank of America, CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs） can take control over the economy frightens anyone who believes in a competitive free-market system．Good Republican presidents like William Howard Taft and Teddy Roosevelt broke up Standard Oil, the Railroad Trusts ．and other huge companies a century ago．
Real unemployment is more than 16%．Average family income has declined by $3,600 over the last decade．A record 46 million Americans live in poverty．The gap between the very rich and everyone else, the widest of any major country, is growing wider．Now is the time for us to end the financial oligarchy（寡头） that has been so harmful to our economy．If a bank is too big, it is too big to exist．Millions of Americans lost their jobs as a result of _____．
| A．the decline of average family income |
| B．illegal behavior of Wall Street |
| C．wider gap between the very rich and everyone else |
| D．the protest movement called Occupy Wall Street |
Which of the following belongs to the super financial institutions?
| A．Standard Oil | B．Federal Reserve |
| C．JP Morgan Chase | D．Teddy Roosevelt |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The protest movement has very clear aims． |
| B．Wall Street bankers manage people's money well． |
| C．Super financial institutions should be broken up． |
| D．Average family income is always in decline． |
What is the attitude of the writer towards the financial institutions?
| A．critical | B．supportive |
| C．indifferent | D．enthusiastic |
She was born to wealth and power in a time when money and politics were left to the men． Later, as The Washington Post's publisher, Katharine Graham became one of America's most powerful women．
Despite a privileged（有特权的） background, Katharine had to deal, while growing up, with the high demands her mother placed on her children．Katharine's love of journalism, which she shared with her father, led to her career after college at The Washington Post, the newspaper her father bought in 1933．At the Post, Katharine met Phil Graham, a young, charming lawyer who became her husband．When, in 1945, Katharine's father chose Phil over her to take over his struggling paper, Katharine didn't object and stayed at home as a wife and mother of four．
While Phil's successful efforts to restore the Post to fame made the Grahams popular members of the Washington social scene, Katharine privately suffered great pain from her husband's increasingly harmful behavior caused by severe depression．When Phil committed suicide（自杀）, the 46-year-old Katharine found herself thrown into a new job, that of newspaper publisher．But determined to save the family paper for her children, Katharine rose to the challenge of running the Post, attending meetings in every department, working endlessly to prove herself to her critics, and becoming the toast of Washington．
In 1971, Katharine ordered the Post to print a copy of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret documents telling the truth about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War．What's more, her courageous decision and support for her journalists prepared the Post to break the most important political story in modem history: Watergate （水门事件） , one of the greatest scandals （丑闻） in American political history．Katharine managed to keep control over the most disorganized situation when it was reported, all the time insisting the news stories be accurate and fair．Watergate made the Washington Post an internationally known paper and Katharine was considered as the most powerful woman in America．．Katharine Graham was born in a time when ______．
| A．women were not given the chance to receive education |
| B．women were not considered as intelligent as men |
| C．women were not permitted to achieve their goals |
| D．women were not allowed to enter every field |
When her husband was chosen to take charge of the newspaper, Katharine Graham ___．
| A．was strongly against the idea |
| B．was not happy to be refused |
| C．was willing to take her share of responsibility |
| D．didn't believe her husband would do a good job |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．It was Katharine Graham's husband who made the greatest contributions to the Post． |
| B．When Katharine Graham first took over the Post, her critics doubted her ability． |
| C．Katharine Graham was successful in her career but suffered severe depression． |
| D．Katharine Graham was free to do whatever she liked in her early life． |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Ups and Downs of The Washington Post |
| B．Katharine Graham and Her Husband |
| C．Katharine Graham: From Housewife to Successful Publisher |
| D．Katharine Graham: A Woman Who Shaped American Journalism |
Christopher Thomas, 27, was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes(糖尿病), Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin(胰岛素) three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness, and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance.
After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar , and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones—a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.
Jason Swencki’s son, Kody, was diagnosed with type diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums(论坛) together most evenings. "Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. "They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone."
Kody is anything but alone: Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.
These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity（慈善机构）, Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people—225 to date—who can't afford a diabetic's huge expenses. Fight-it.org has raised about $23,000—in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.
Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. "Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure," says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. "But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now."Which of the following is true of Christopher Thomas?
| A． He needs to go to the doctor every day. |
| B． He studies the leading cause of diabetes |
| C． He has a positive attitude to this disease. |
| D． He encourages diabetics by writing articles. |
Diabeitcrockstar.com was created for _________.
| A．diabetics to communicate | B．volunteers to find jobs |
| C．children to amuse themselves | D．rock stars to share resources. |
The last paragraph suggests that Thomas ______.
| A．works full-time in a diabetes charity |
| B．employs 22 people for his website |
| C．helps diabetics in his own way |
| D．ties to find a cure for diabetes |
It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers （生产商）follow certain uniform standards for various features（特征）of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men’s clothes tend to button from the right, and women’s from the left. Considering most of the world’s population-men and women-are right-handed, the men’s standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do women’s clothes button from the left?
History really seems to matter here. Button first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women’s shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men’s shirts button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.
Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all women’s shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacture to offer women’s shirts that buttoned the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men’s shirts.What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry?
| A．It has been followed by the industry for over 400 years. |
| B．It is different for men’s clothing and women’s. |
| C．It woks better with men than with women. |
| D．It fails to consider right-handed people. |
What do we know about the rich men in the 17th century?
| A．They tended to wear clothes without buttons. |
| B．They were interested in the historical matters. |
| C．They were mostly dressed by servants. |
| D．They drew their swords from the left. |
Women’s clothes still button from the left today because.
| A．adopting men’s style is improper for women |
| B．manufacturers should follow standards |
| C．modern women dress themselves |
| D．customs are hard to change |
The passage is mainly developed by .
| A．analyzing cause |
| B．making comparisons |
| C．examining differences |
| D．following the time order |
Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite" sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".
So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures（文化）．
Some of these differences may be only on the surface-dress, food and hours of work-while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate（气候），while getting on with business.
Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）．If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the American Midwest, an hour early in Japan, 15 minutes afterwards in the UK, up to an hour afterwards in Italy and some time in the evening in Greece. I prefer not to use the word "late" because there is nothing wrong with the times people arrive. It is simply the accepted thing to do in their own country.The author was unhappy as mentioned in Paragraph 1 because he thought______．
| A．the American bank didn't think much of him |
| B．the American bank might hire another person |
| C．it's difficult to get used to American culture |
| D．it's easy to misunderstand Americans |
The word "highlights" in Paragraph 2 probably means_____.
| A．encourages | B．helps to narrow |
| C．increases | D．draws attention to |
According to the author, what should we do with most cultural differences?
| A．Ask the native people for help. |
| B．Understand and accept them. |
| C．Do things in our own way. |
| D．Do in-depth research. |
When invited to a party the people who are usually punctual are______.
| A．Italians | B．Germans | C．Greeks | D．the British |