You are given many opportunities in life to choose to be a victim or creator. When you choose to be a victim, the world is a cold and difficult place. “They” did things to you which caused all of your pain and suffering. “They” are wrong and bad, and life is terrible as long as “they” are around. Or you may blame yourself for all your problems, thus internalizing(内化)your victimization. The truth is, your life is likely to stay that way as long as you feel a need to blame yourself or others.
Those who choose to be creators look at life quite differently. They know there are individuals who might like to control their lives, but they don’t let this get in the way. They know they have their weaknesses, yet they don’t blame themselves when they fail. Whatever happens, they have choice in the matter. They believe their dance with each sacred(神圣的)moment of life is a gift and that storms are a natural part of life which can bring the rain needed for emotional and spiritual growth.
Victims and creators live in the same physical world and deal with many of the same physical realities, yet their experience of life is worlds apart. Victims relish (沉溺)in anger, guilt, and other emotions that cause others---and even themselves---to feel like victims, too. Creators consciously choose love, inspiration, and other qualities which inspire not only themselves, but all around them. Both victims and creators always have choice to determine the direction of their lives.
In reality, all of us play the victim or the creator at various points in our lives. One person, on losing a job or a special relationship, may feel as if it is the end of the world and sink into terrible suffering for months, years, or even a lifetime. Another with the same experience may choose to first experience the grief, then accept the loss and soon move on to be a powerful creative force in his life.
In every moment and every circumstance, you can choose to have fuller, richer life by setting a clear intention to transform the victim within, and by inviting into your life the powerful creator that you are.What does the word “they” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?
| A．People and things around you. |
| B．Opportunities and problems. |
| C．Creators and their choices. |
| D．Victims and their sufferings. |
According to Paragraph 2, creators __________.
| A．seem willing to experience failures in life |
| B．possess the ability to predict future life |
| C．handle ups and downs of life wisely |
| D．have potential to create something new |
What can we learn from Paragraph 3?
| A．Creators and victims face quite different things in life. |
| B．Creators and victims are masters of their lives. |
| C．Victims can influence more people than creators. |
| D．Compared with victims, creators are more emotional. |
The examples mentioned in Paragraph 4 show that _______________.
| A．strong attachment to sufferings in life pulls people into victims. |
| B．people need family support to deal with challengers in life. |
| C．it takes creators quite a long time to get rid of their pains. |
| D．one’s experiences determine his attitude toward life. |
What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
| A．To define victims and creators. |
| B．To evaluate victims against creators. |
| C．To explain the relationship between victims and creators. |
| D．To suggest the transformation from victims to creators. |
In their book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living, Robert and Brenda Vale say keeping a mediumsized dog has the same ecological impact as driving 10,000 km a year in a 4.6 liter Land Cruiser.
“We’re not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. We’ re just saying that we need to think about and know the ecological impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted.”
Constructing and driving the jeep for a year requires 0.41 hectares of land, while growing and manufacturing a dog’s food takes about 0.84 hectares — or 1.1 hectares in the case of a large dog such as a German shepherd.
Convincing flesheating cats and dogs to go vegetarian for the sake of the planet is a nonstarter, the Vales say. Instead they recommend keeping “greener”, smaller, and more sustainable pets, such as goldfish, chickens or rabbits.
The book’s playful title, and serious suggestion that pet animals may be usefully “recycled”, by being eaten by their owners or turned into pet food when they die, may not appeal to animal fans.
Annoying as the idea may be, the question is valid given the planet’s growing population and limited resources, Robert Vale said.
“Issues about sustainability are increasingly becoming things that are going to require us to make choices which are as difficult as eating your dog. It’s not just about changing your light bulbs or taking a cloth bag to the supermarket,” he said.
“It’s about much more challenging and difficult issues,” he added. “Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things, you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat eater yourself.”
56. The authors gave their book the playful title to________.
A. make it amusing B. create a vivid image
C. show writing skills D. arouse people’ s concern
57. In Paragraph 3 the writer mainly wants to tell us________.
A. the amount of consumed land
B. the neglected ecological impact
C. some familiar examples
D. some actual figures
58. What does “sustainability” mean according to the passage?
A. Going vegetarian.
B. Raising cats and dogs.
C. Using a cloth bag.
D. Keeping a greener life.
59. Who may not like the idea of “recycling” pet animals?
A. Manufacturers.B. Drivers.
C. Animal fans. D. The authorities.
60. What do the authors think of living a sustainable life?
A. Challenging. B. Inspiring. C. Inviting. D. Touching.
When you are little, it’s not hard to believe you can changed the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed the people at the Rio Earth Summit. “I am only a child,” I told them. "Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words."
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur（刺激） action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I've sat through many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual's voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choices--education, career, lifestyle--life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are learning a shortsighted way of looking at the future, focusing on four-year government terms and quarterly business reports. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for our future when we were 12 was idealistic and naïve（天真）.
Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of the change. I hope this goal will be met through our common efforts. Thank you all.
57．The purpose of what the speaker said at the age of 12 was to .
A．end poverty and make school beautiful
B．find environmental answers and show off
C．focus people’s attention on some social problems
D．find a wonderful place and clean it up
58．What does the underlined word “ovation” in the second paragraph refer to?
A．A long period of laughing.
B．A cold and unfriendly welcome.
C．An expression used for greeting.
D．Great applause or cheering.
59．The information in the text is presented mainly through .
A．question and answer B．a personal lecture[来
C．cause and effect D．listing steps in a process
60．Which of the following best describes the speaker?
A．He is an experienced educator. B．He is an impolite man.
C．He is a man of great worries. D．He is a man of social responsibility.
Frederick Law Olmsted （1822 - 1903）, a Connecticut farm boy, saw his first public park in Liverpool, England, as he accompanied his brother on a walking tour. He was impressed by the park’s winding paths, open fields, lakes and bridges. Perhaps the most wonderful things of all was that the park was open to everyone.
A moment beginning in 1840 to set aside park land on New York City’s Manhattan Island has successful result in 1856 with the purchase of 840 acres of rocky and swampy （沼泽） land, bought with about $ 5 million in state funds. Olmsted’s chance meeting with a project organizer led to his applying for the job of park manager. In 1857 Olmsted was appointed manager of the proposed park, and the clearing of the site began.
Calvert Vaux, a British architect, asked Olmsted to collaborate with him on a park design, and Olmsted agreed. Vaux saw the park as a work of art, while Olmsted saw the park as a place for people to escape the noise of the city. Together they invented a plan that would give the persons and animals living in the city a quiet, green park and would also preserve and increase the good qualities of the natural features of the land. The commissioners voted in favor of Vaux and Olmsted’s plan, and in 1858, the two became the official designers of New York City’s Central Park.
It took millions of cartloads of topsoil to build Central park’s gentle slopes, shady glens, and steep, rocky ravines. Five million trees were planted, a water – supply system was laid, and bridges, arches, roads and paths were constructed. The park officially opened in 1876, and today, well over a century later, people still escape the noise of the city in Olmsted and Vaux’s great work of art.
53．What is the text mainly about?
A．A history of the planning of Central park.
B．An engineering plan for Central Park.
C．A biography of Frederick Law Olmsted.
D．A guided walking tour of Central park.
54．Olmsted became manager of Central Park because of .
A．his friendship with Calvert Vaux
B．his hard work in clearing the land
C．his winning a design competition
D．a chance meeting with one of the park’s organizers
55．The underlined word “collaborate” in the third paragraph means .
A．disagree B．comment C．vote D．work together
56．Which of the following is true about Central Park?
A．It is out of date nowadays.
B．The designers came from the same country.
C．It is an old park in America.
D．It is only for people who can well afford it.
Games originally are entertainment. Contemporary games are very realistic and for this reason they are a source of great experience for the player and develop the imagination. Games are entertainment and even more than that. The statistics （统计） of the New York University led by Green claim that the player preferring active games get improvement of some types of brain activity. In particular, game players deal with problems of simultaneously （同时地） tracking several moving objects at the average level of 30% better than people who do not play active computer video games. The “gaming” violent experience may not be the cause of violent behavior in reality. None of the playing experience will become the priority in making important decisions concerning problems in real life. A game is an abstraction （虚拟物）. A player gets abstract tasks and acts according to abstract rules.
Games are also the possibility to be however a person wants to he and to rest from the outside world for some time. But what if a person gets so much excited with the game scenes that he becomes violent in reality? Then, it proves that the games cause people to become violent in reality. But a psychologically healthy person will never confuse these two different worlds. A game is virtual world with visual images very similar to human. These images represent by themselves nothing but playing obstacles （障碍）. A game may potentially give the opportunity to “destroy the obstacles” that may not be destroyed according to the rules but it is more about personal choice whether to do it or not. This leads us to the conclusion that violence is not a consequence but the cause. People who are originally trended to violence may get into a temper by games and perform violence in the “real world”. But in this case violence in games is a simple justification （理由） of the violent nature of the player.
49．The passage is .
A．a story B．a descriptive writing
C．an argumentative writing D．a scientific essay
50．In the first paragraph the author used the statistics to prove that .
A．games can provide experience for the players
B．games can help develop player’s imagination
C．games can cause violent behavior
D．game are more than entertainment
51．What is the author’s attitude towards the “computer games”?[
A．“Violent games” can lead to the performance of violence in the real world.
B．Violence is not a consequence of the “computer games” but the cause.
C．Games are just entertainment and nothing more.
D．The virtual world and the real world are just the same.
52．The best title for this passage is .
A．Violent games cause violence B．Games: good or bad?
C．The cause of violence D．The consequence of games
Some names have special meanings in popular American expressions. One day, an average Joe was walking down the street. An average Joe is a common person – either male or female. He did not know where he was going. So average Joe asked John Q. Public for directions to the nearest bank. John Q. Public is also a common person – male or female. “Jeez Louise,” said John Q. Public. This is an expression of surprise. “Don’t you know that all banks are closed today? It is Saturday.”
“For Pete’s sake.” said average Joe. This is also an expression used to show a feeling like surprise or disappointment. “I do not believe you,” said he. At that moment, Joe Blow was walking down the street with a woman. Joe Blow is also an expression for a common person. Now this Joe Blow was NOT walking next to a plain Jane. A plain Jane is a woman who is neither ugly nor pretty. The woman with Joe Blow was a real Sheila – a beautiful woman.
Average Joe asked the woman if all banks were closed on Saturday. “No way, Jose,” she answered. This is a way of saying “no.” “No way, Jose. Many banks are open on Saturdays.”
Average Joe did not know either of these two people from Adam. That is, he did not know them at all. But he followed their directions to the nearest bank. [
When he arrived, he walked to the desk and said: “I am here to withdraw some money so I can pay my taxes to Uncle Sam”. This represents the United States government. The banker produced some papers and told him to sign his John Hancock at the bottom. A John Hancock is a person’s signed name – a signature. Historically, John Hancock was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Hancock had a beautiful signature and signed his name larger than all the others.
45．The main idea of this text is that .
A．some popular American names have special stories
B．some popular American expressions have some special names[
C．some popular American names have special meanings
D．some popular American expressions are interesting
46．Which of the following refers to an ordinary – looking woman?
A．A average Joe B．John Q. Public
C．Joe Blow D．A plain Jane
47．The name “Jeez Louise” is .
A．an expression of surprise B．a feeling like disappointment
C．an expression for a common man D．a woman who is neither ugly nor pretty
48．What does the banker really want to ask Joe to sign on the papers?
A．John Hancock. B．United States Declaration.
C．His own name. D．Uncle Sam.