I work in a nursing home and my job is to take care of the elderly.
This year, a very sweet old lady that I cared for，Alice, had gone through a difficult time .She got dementia and so she had been in the hospital twice .In November I was finally able to get her back to her “home”.
Alice had thought her daughter was coming to visit her on Christmas day and that they were going to have the whole family together like the old days. When she finally realized that that happy moment was not going to happen, she was very sad. Knowing that her daughter was coming after Christmas was not enough to make her feel happy, I hated the idea of her being alone on the holiday!
On Christmas Eve, I gave her a surprise by asking if she could like to go to a candlelight service at church that night.
Instead of taking her to my church, I took her to her old neighborhood church where all her friends were. We got there early and I got her a seat where her friends could see her as they came in. Then soon some of her friends came to the church and they rushed over to greet her and sit with her.
The candlelight service was beautiful and Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. The truth of the story is that I am the one who got the best gift: the smile on Alice’s face. The underlined word “dementia” in Paragraph 2 probably is_______.
| A．a house | B．a letter |
| C．an illness | D．a plan |
Where did Alice spend her Christmas Eve according to the story?
| A．In her old neighborhood church. | B．In her old house. |
| C．In the nursing home. | D．In the hospital. |
What was the best gift that the author got on Christmas Eve?
| A．The candlelight service. |
| B．Alice’s happiness. |
| C．Praise from Alice’s friends. |
| D．Thanks from Alice’s daughter. |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．My special job. |
| B．The dream of all old lonely lady. |
| C．A special candlelight Christmas Eve. |
| D．The true love. |
The teacher was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry. The miller at Cresscombe lent him the small cart and horse to carry his goods to Christminster, the city of his destination, such a vehicle proving of quite enough size for the teacher’s belongings. For his only article, in addition to the packing-case of books, was a piano that he had bought when he thought of learning instrumental music. But the eagerness having faded, he had never acquired any skill in playing, and the purchased article had been a permanent trouble to him.
The headmaster had gone away for the day, being a man who disliked the sight of changes. He did not mean to return till the evening, when the new teacher would have arrived, and everything would be smooth again.
The blacksmith, the farm bailiff and the teacher were standing in confused attitudes in the sitting room before the instrument. The teacher had remarked that even if he got it into the cart he should not know what to do with it on his arrival at Christminster, since he was only going into a temporary place just at first.
A little boy of eleven, who had been assisting in the packing, joined the group of men, and said, “Aunt has got a fuel-house, and it could be put there, perhaps, till you’ve found a place to settle in, sir.”
“Good idea,” said the blacksmith.
The smith and the bailiff started to see about the possibility of the suggested shelter, and the boy and the teacher were left standing alone.
“Sorry I am going, Jude.” said the latter gently.
Tears rose into the boy’s eyes. He admitted that he was sorry.
“So am I,” said Mr. Phillotson.
“Why do you go, sir?” asked the boy.
“Well ----- don’t speak of this everywhere. You know what a university is, and a university degree? It is the necessary hallmark of a man who wants to do anything in teaching. My scheme, or dream, is to be a university graduate. By going to live at Christminster, I shall be at headquarters, so to speak, and if my scheme is practicable at all, I consider that being on the spot will afford me a better chance.”
The smith and his companion returned. Old Miss Fawley’s fuel-house was practicable; and she seemed willing to give the instrument standing-room there. So it was left in the school till the evening, when more hands would be available for removing it; and the teacher gave a final glance round.
At nine o’clock Mr. Phillotson mounted beside his box of books, and waved his friends good-bye.It can be inferred that the teacher _______.
| A．was not getting on well with the headmaster |
| B．had lived a rather simple life in the village |
| C．was likely to continue to practice playing the piano |
| D．would get a rise in the city on arriving there |
The motivation of the teacher’s moving lay in his _________.
| A．ambition | B．devotion | C．admiration | D．inspiration |
The boy named Jude may be described as _________.
| A．polite, generous and cheerful | B．active, modest and friendly |
| C．kind, bright and helpful | D．calm, confident and humorous |
From the passage, we could get a general idea of the teacher’s ______.
| A．love for music and his dislike for musical instruments |
| B．hard work in the village and his strong interest in city life |
| C．friendship with some villagers and also conflicts with others |
| D．eagerness to go to the city and his love for the village |
Which person does the underlined “his companion” refer to?
| A．Mr. Phillotson | B．Miss Fawley | C．The bailiff | D．The headmaster |
Susan Sontag (1933 ------ 2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything----- to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American culture life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.
Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords (格言), but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poorly-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In Notes Camp, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. Notes on Camp, she wrote, represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.
By conviction she was a sensualist (感觉论者), but by nature she was a moralist, and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the latter side of her that came forward. In Illness as Metaphor ------published in 1978, after she suffered cancer ------ she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed (被压抑的) personalities, a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.
In America, her story of a 19th century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless, all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame.
“Sometimes,” she once said, “I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending… is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.It is implied but not stated in the first paragraph that Sontag _________.
| A．was a symbol of American cultural life |
| B．developed world literature, film and art |
| C．published many essays about world culture |
| D．kept pace with the newest development of world culture |
She first won her name through _________.
| A．publishing essays in magazines like Partisan Review |
| B．her story of a Polish actress |
| C．her explanation of a set of difficult understandings |
| D．her book Illness as Metaphor |
From the works Susan published in the 1970s and 1980s, we can learn that ________.
| A．she was more of a moralist than a sensualist |
| B．she was more of a sensualist than a moralist |
| C．she believed repressed personalities mainly led to illness |
| D．she would like to re-examine old positions |
According to the passage, Susan Sontag would agree to the ideas except _________.
| A．We should try hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. |
| B．Cancer can be defeated because it is a special problem of repressed personalities. |
| C．‘Form’ should be over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ should be over ‘morals. |
| D．We should defend the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A lifelong watchword: seriousness |
| B．Susan Sontag is the symbol of American culture |
| C．How Susan Sontag became famous |
| D．An introduction to Susan Sontag and her watchword |
At a meeting, a well-known speaker lifted up a bill of 20 dollars before starting his speech.
Facing 200 people, he asked, “Who wants this 20-dollar bill?” A great many hands were put up. Then he continued to say, “I intended to give it to any one of you, but allow me to do a thing before giving it to you.” Suddenly he crumpled （揉）it into a round mass. Then he asked, “Who wants it? ” Still some hands were lifted up.
He asked again, “Well, how could it be if I do it like this?” he threw the bill onto the ground, stepped on it and twisted it. As he picked it up, the bill had become not only dirty but wrinkled.
“Who still wants it?” Still a few people put up their hands.
“My dear friends, you have had a meaningful class. No matter how I treated this bill, you still want it, because it is worth 20 dollars. On your life road, you may be knocked down（击垮） or even broken into pieces by your determination(决心) or unfavorable（不利的） situations. We may feel ourselves worth nothing, but, my darling, remember that whatever happens in the future, you should never lose your value（价值） in the God’s heart. You’re particular ---- never forget it.”The underlined word “wrinkled” in the third paragraph probably means ________.
| A．broken | B．having small lines or folds in it |
| C．flat | D．having holes on it |
The speaker did this test in order to _____________.
| A．tell the audience that one should never lose one’s own value |
| B．tell the audience that God values money most |
| C．test if some of the audience were extremely interested in money |
| D．play a trick on the audience |
What would the speaker probably talk about next?
| A．How money can make people crazy. |
| B．How to avoid being knocked down in one’s life. |
| C．How to keep one’s value of life. |
| D．How to give a meaningful class |
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part，this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrel on unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong，for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress. Why does the author compare the parent teen war to a border conflict?
| A．Both can continue for generations. |
| B．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens accuse their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
Parents and teens want to be right because they want to__________.
| A．give orders to the other | B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other | D．get the other to behave properly |
What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war |
| C．Solutions for the parent-teen problems |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship |
A man once said how useless it was to put advertisements in the newspapers．“last week, ” said he, “my umbrella was stolen from a London church．As it was a present, I spent twice its worth in advertising, but didn't get it back．”
“How did you write your advertisement?”asked one of the listeners, a merchant．
“Here it is, said the man, taking out of his pocket a slip cut from a newspaper．The other man took it and read, “Lost from the City Church last Sunday evening, a black silk umbrella．The gentleman who finds it will receive ten shillings on leaving it at No．10 Broad Street．”
“Now, ”Said the merchant, “I often advertise, and find that it pays me well．But the way in which an advertisement is expressed is of extreme importance．Let us try for your umbrella again, and if it </PGN0332.TXT/PGN>fails, I'll buy you a new one．”
The merchant then took a slip of paper out of his pocket and wrote：“If the man who was seen to take an umbrella from the City Church last Sunday evening doesn't wish to get into trouble, he will return the umbrella to No．10 Broad Street．He is well known．”
This appeared in the paper, and on the following morning, the man was astonished when he opened the front door．In the doorway lay at least twelve umbrellas of all sizes and colours that had been thrown, and his own was among them．Many of them had notes fastened to them saying that they had been taken by mistake, and begging the loser not to say anything about the matter．The result of the first advertisement was that ______________.
| A．the umbrella was found somewhere near the church |
| B．the man got his umbrella back |
| C．the man wasted some money advertising |
| D．nobody found the missing umbrella |
The merchant suggested that the man should _______________.
| A．buy a new umbrella |
| B．write another and better advertisement |
| C．go on looking for his umbrella |
| D．report the police |
“If it fails, I’ll buy you a new one,” suggested that the merchant
_______________.
| A．wanted to buy him a new umbrella |
| B．didn’t know what to do |
| C．was rich enough to buy one |
| D．was quite sure of success |
The story is mainly about _________________.
| A．a useless advertisement |
| B．how to make an effective advertisement |
| C．what the merchant did for the umbrella owner |
| D．how the man lost and found his umbrella |