Ladybirds (瓢虫) didn't have black spots on their backs at first. Then a storm broke out, and their famous guide, Caius Insectus, disappeared into the flood (洪水), and the few ladybirds who survived had to choose a new leader to guide them out of trouble. They decided that their new leader would be the first ladybird to successfully travel south to the Great Lake and return to describe it.
Many young ladybirds moved off immediately into this adventure. One by one they returned and told of how beautiful the southern lake was at that time of year, with its clear waters and flowers. However, the last of the ladybirds was late in getting back. He hadn't managed to reach the lake. Everyone criticized (批评) him, and they prepared to continue their journey the next day.
Following their new guide, they spent a morning walking northwards until they reached some tall thick grassland, where they stopped. There were no clear waters or flowers in front of them. The heavy rain had turned the place into a huge green puddle (水坑). Everyone understood what had happened. When the ladybirds had gone out looking for the lake, they had gone in the wrong direction. Now they could see that, except that one late ladybird, they had lied in order to get what they wanted.
And so, the late little ladybird was made the Great Guide. They also decided that every time one of them was discovered lying they would paint a black spot on that ladybird's back. From then on, when a ladybird looks at another's back, it can tell whether that ladybird can be trusted.Why did the ladybirds decide to choose a new guide?
| A．They lost their way in the storm. |
| B．They weren't satisfied with Caius Insectus. |
| C．They needed someone to lead them out of danger. |
| D．They needed someone to help prepare for the storm. |
Many young ladybirds lied because they ________.
| A．didn't want to be in danger |
| B．wanted to be the new guide |
| C．wanted to make others happy |
| D．didn't want to get spots on their backs |
How did the ladybirds probably feel when they stopped at the tall thick grassland?
| A．Nervous. | B．Afraid. |
| C．Excited. | D．Angry. |
What's the main idea of the text?
| A．Why ladybirds have black spots on their backs. |
| B．How ladybirds choose their leaders and guides. |
| C．What the black spots on ladybirds' backs mean. |
| D．Why ladybirds lie to each other. |
I live in Hollywood. You may think people in such an attractive, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more long-lasting emotion. Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to exciting parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir(回忆录) after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children, and long-time loneliness.
The way people hold on to the belief that a fun-filled, pain-free life equates happiness actually decreases their chances of ever attaining real happiness. If fun and pleasure are equated with happiness, then pain must be equated with unhappiness. But, in fact, the opposite is true: More times than not, things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
As a result, many people avoid the very efforts that are the source of true happiness. They fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment, charitable work and self-improvement.According to the passage, “fun activities” ____________.
| A．are the things we do before we find happiness |
| B．may help us relax and forget our problems sometimes |
| C．will lead us to the true happiness |
| D．could provide long-last positive effects |
In the author’s opinion, those Hollywood stars ____________.
| A．possess happiness because they are rich and famous |
| B．experience almost all kinds of happy things |
| C．tell us happiness isn’t equal to fun using their own stories |
| D．have to suffer a lot before they become successful |
It is difficult for people to find real happiness because ____________.
| A．they believe happiness is the fun life without pain |
| B．they find pain equals unhappiness |
| C．they fear to lose what they already have in life |
| D．They are afraid all their efforts were in vain |
The main purpose of the text is to ____________.
| A．describe the difference between happiness and fun |
| B．show the true meaning of happiness |
| C．encourage people to pursue fun activities |
| D．advise people to find their real life |
“I THIRST”
Each day water-related diseases kill 3,900 of the world’s children.
Across the world, 1.1 billion people have no access to clean drinking water. More than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation (卫生设备).
The combination proves deadly. Each year, diseases related to inadequate water and sanitation kill between 2 and 5 million people and cause an estimated 80 percent of all sicknesses in the developing world. Safe drinking water is a precondition for health and the fight against child death rate, inequality between men and women, and poverty.
Consider these facts:
* The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometres.
* Only 58 percent of children in sub-Sharan Africa are drinking safe water, and only 37 percent of children in South Asia have access to even a basic toilet.
* Each year in India alone, 73 million working days are lost to water-borne diseases.
Here are three ways you can help:
1) Write Congress
Current U.S. foreign aid for drinking water and sanitation budgets only one dollar per year per American citizen. Few members of Congress have ever received a letter from voters about clean drinking water abroad.
2) Sponsor a project with a faith-based organization
Many U.S. religious groups already sponsor water and sanitation projects, working with partner organizations can make safe water a reality for thousands of people.
3) Support nonprofit water organizations
Numerous U.S. based nonprofits work skillfully abroad in community led projects related to drinking water and sanitation. Like the sample of non-profits noted as follows, some organizations are large, others small-scale, some operate world-wide, others are devoted to certain areas in Africa, Asia, Latin America. Support them generously.The three facts presented in the passage are used to illustrate that ______.
| A．poverty can result in water-borne diseases |
| B．people have no access to clean drinking water |
| C．women’s rights are denied in some developing countries |
| D．safe drinking water should be a primary concern |
The intended readers of the passage are _______.
| A．Americans | B．overseas sponsors |
| C．Congressmen | D．U.S. based water organizations |
The main purpose of the passage is to call on people to ______.
| A．get rid of water-related diseases in developing countries |
| B．donate money to people short of water through religious groups |
| C．fight against the worldwide water shortage and sanitation problem |
| D．take joint action in support of some nonprofit water organizations |
No matter how long your life is, you will, at best, be able to read only a few books of all that have been written, and the few you do read should include the best. It is to be expected that the selections will change with the times. Yet there is a surprising uniformity (一致) in the lists which represent the best choices of any period.
What are the signs by which we may recognize a great book? The four I will mention may not be all there are, but they are the ones I’ve found most useful in explaining my choices over the years.
Great books are probably the most widely read. They are not best sellers for a year or two. They are enduring best sellers. GONE WITH THE WIND has had relatively few readers compared to the plays of Shakespeare or DONQUIXOTE. It would be reasonable to estimate that Homer Iliad has been read by at least 25,000,000 people in the last 3000 years.
Great books are popular, not pedantic(卖弄学问的). They are not written by specialists about specialties for specialists. Whether they are philosophy or science, or history or poetry, they treat of human, not academic problems. They are written for men, not professors. To read a textbook for advanced students, you have to read an elementary textbook first. But the great books can be considered elementary in the sense that they treat the elements of any subject matter. They are not related to one another as a series of textbooks, graded in difficulty or in the technicality of the problems with which they deal.
Great books are always contemporary, the most readable and instructive.
Great books deal with the persistently unsolved problems of human life. There are genuine mysteries in the world that mark the limits of human knowing and thinking. Great minds acknowledge mysteries honestly. Wisdom is fortified (加强), not destroyed, by understanding its limitations.Which is NOT the standard in the following when evaluating a great book?
| A．Although not a best seller for a year or two, it must be the most widely read. |
| B．A great book can be read without any effort. |
| C．Great books are never out of date. |
| D．Great books will not disappoint you if you try to read them well. |
According to the author, GONE WITH THE WIND is ______.
| A．a best seller |
| B．disgusted by readers who like Shakespeare |
| C．read more often than Don Quixote |
| D．a great book |
After reading the passage, we can infer that ______.
| A．different periods have different lists of best books because there are many books for people to choose from |
| B．if you don’t read an elementary textbook, you may have difficulty in understanding an advanced one |
| C．Homer Iliad must be a best seller when it came out |
| D．great books often deal with unsolved problems of human life for the writers have confidence in settling them |
The best title for this passage is ______.
| A．Great Books in Your Life | B．Great Books in Your Specialty |
| C．How to Find a Great Book? | D．What Is a Great Book? |
Ever since he got into the Hong Kong film industry in 1994 with He’s a Woman, She’s a Man, Hong Kong director, Peter Chan has been one of the industry’s most powerful voices. Later in 1996, another milestone Comrades: Almost a Love Story came into being. Chan’s latest film, American Dreams in China is a carefully-calculated film with an eye toward opening the mainland cinema market.
American Dreams in China is a film purely for Chinese audiences, but how it plays there remains to be seen. It sends the right messages, but whether that’s enough to make it a hit is everyone’s guess. Mainland audiences aren’t quite that easy to “speak” to.
The film began during the period of economic reforms in China in the 1980s. The bookish farm boy Cheng Dongqing (Huang Xiaoming), the ambitious and confident boy Meng Xiaojun (Deng Chao) and the poetic Wang Yang(Tong Dawei), were three friends at university in Beijing and preparing for American visa interviews. Wang was the first to be granted the visa but he gave it up for his western girlfriend, and Cheng was repeatedly denied. Only Meng actually got a study visa. As he was leaving, he told his friends that he wouldn’t come back.
Several years later, Cheng and Wang built a successful school, New Dream, from the ashes of Cheng’s misfortune(his girlfriend got a visa too, and Cheng lost his university teaching job) and Wang’s ability to connect with students often through Hollywood movies. In America, Meng suffered a lot. Disappointed, he went home and joined his friends at New Dream. Later, the three friends’ relationship became worsened, but finally was improved under the weight of their common goals. Which of the following films made Peter Chan a most influential director in Hong Kong?
| A．American Dreams in China |
| B．Comrades: Almost a Love Story |
| C．New Dream |
| D．He’s a Woman, She’s a Man |
The underlined word “granted” (in paragraph 3) probably means “_________”.
| A．prepared | B．given | C．involved | D．permitted |
When the three men made preparations for American visa interviews, how many was/were offered a visa?
| A．None | B．One. | C．Three. | D．Two |
What led Cheng and Wang to start a business?
| A．The connection with Hollywood movies. |
| B．The weight of their common goals. |
| C．Cheng’s misfortune and Wang’s ability. |
| D．Meng’s disappointment and sufferings. |
On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting. Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat w ere being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football. Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water. The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore. But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）. “I’m trying to fi gure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water. Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress. “At one point, I considered turning back,” he says. “I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella!”
Christian made much effort to take down the umbrella. Then Tim was able to catch up and climb aboard the boat. He took over rowing, but the waves were almost too strong for him.
“Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said. Tim turned the boat toward it. Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink. “Can you guys swim?” he cried. “A little bit,” the boys said.Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier. Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs. Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again. “Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing. |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water. |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air. |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys. |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |