Eve was waiting in the corridor outside her class. She was feeling sick. She had two exams that day and physics was first. She really hated physics. It was her worst subject. Lisa looked back at her, and then looked away quickly. Eve thought she looked guilty. She didn't have a problem with physics. She didn't have a problem with anything... Miss Perfect!
“Hi, Eve! So what's wrong with you and Lisa?” asked Tina, “I thought you were friends.” “Yes, so did I,” said Eve. “But she hasn't spoken to me for two weeks now. She promised to help me review for the physics exam too, but then she’s ignored all my calls and texts.”
While in the exam, Eve found Lisa was holding her phone on her knee under the table and reading from it. Eve couldn’t believe it! Is that how Lisa always got such good grades? She thought about telling the teacher, but she hesitated. The next exam was history. That was Eve’s favorite subject but she couldn't concentrate. She didn't know what to do about Lisa. Just then, Mr. Reed, their teacher, walked past. “Mr. Reed…”
Lisa was called to the teachers’ office and there waited Mr. Reed…
The history test was over. Eve was walking towards the school gate when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Lisa. Eve could see that she had been crying. “Listen,” said Lisa. “I'm really sorry I haven’t answered your calls, but my dad had a heart attack two weeks ago and he’s in hospital. He had a big heart operation today and I was very worried about him. So I was reading texts from my mum, but Mr. Reed caught me. He thought I was cheating. He believes me now, but I have to take the exam again. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was happening. Will you forgive me?” The reason for Eve’s feeling sick is most probably that _______.
A.she found Lisa was looking back at her |
B.she had to take two exams within one day |
C.she was worried about the physics exam |
D.she had been waiting for too long a time |
Lisa didn't help Eve review for the physics exam because _______.
A.she had to look after her sick father |
B.she herself was quite bad at physics |
C.she didn't consider Eve as a true friend |
D.she was selfish and hated to waste time |
At the end of the story Eve probably felt _______.
A.confident and optimistic | B.regretful and sorry |
C.sad and angry | D.glad and inspired |
What lesson can we learn from this passage?
A.A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
B.A life without a friend is a life without sun. |
C.Old friends and old wines are the best. |
D.Friendship should be based on trust. |
Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.
Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members,but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care more about. I know this from my personal experience.
E-mail makes it easy to work at home, where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours aren't necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my young daughter than I might have if she'd been born before E-mail became such a practical tool.
The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun—see a great movie perhaps— and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may be tired of telling the story.
With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience,and address it to all the friends who you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.
E-mail is also an inexpensive way to stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children at college.
We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They don't take the place of any of the old ways. The purpose of this passage is to ______ .
A.explain how to use the Internet |
B.share the writer's joy of keeping up with the latest technology |
C.tell the usefulness of the Internet |
D.introduce the basic knowledge about personal computers and the Internet |
The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ______ .
A.spend less time working |
B.have more time to spend with his children |
C.work, at home on all weekends |
D.work at a speed comfortable to him |
According to the writer, E-mail has an obvious advantage over the telephone because the former helps one ______ .
A.reach a group of people at one time conveniently |
B.keep his communication as personal as possible |
C.pass on much more information than the latter |
D.get in touch with his friends faster than the latter |
The best title for the passage is "______".
A.Computer—New Technological Advances |
B.Internet—New Tool to Maintain Good Friendship |
C.Computer—Have Made Life Easier |
D.Internet—A Convenient Tool for Communication |
Last month, students from one hundred and three universities in eighty-eight countries took part in an international computer programming contest. The Battle of the Brains took place in Harbin, China. Three-person teams from each school had five hours to solve eleven real world problems.
Jerry Cain coached the team from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He says the problems involved, among other things, paperweights,robots,castles and lakes.
The students first listed the problems in order of difficulty. Then they figured out the requirements of each. They designed ways to test their solutions. And they wrote the needed software systems. Even the winning team from Shanghai Jiaotong University in China was not able to solve all the problems within the given time limit. Stanford's team solved five problems and finished in fourteenth place. Stanford was one of twenty-one American universities that took part in the contest this year.
The official name of the Battle of the Brains is the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. It began in nineteen seventy at Texas A and M University. The contest quickly became popular in the United States and Canada. It developed and grew as more and more schools took part in local and area contests.
The first final competition was held in nineteen seventy-seven at the Association for Computer Machinery Computer Science Conference.
Today, a network of universities holds area competitions that send the winners to the world finals, which are now organized by IBM.
Contest spokesman Doug Heintzman says the world champions receive prizes and scholarships. They are also guaranteed an offer of employment or internship with IBM. This competition is an opportunity to be recognized and to be recruited (雇用,聘用) by some of the top technology and research firms around the world. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A.The winners will be sent to the world finals, which are now organized by IBM. |
B.Five-person teams had three hours to solve eleven real world problems. |
C.Shanghai Jiaotong University in China solved all the problems within the given time limit. |
D.Stanford's solved five problems and finished in fortieth place in the contest. |
What is not the possible result of the world champions?
A.Receiving prizes and scholarships. |
B.Being offered employment or internship with IBM. |
C.Being recognized and employed by top technology and research firms. |
D.Being given an opportunity to go travelling around the world for free. |
This . passage would most likely be found in ______ section of the newspaper.
A.politics | B.economy |
C.education | D.entertainment |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A.The Battle of the Brains |
B.Listing the Problems in Order of Difficulty |
C.Champions Receiving Prizes and Scholarships |
D.An International Computer Programming Contest |
Forgiving is easy. Forgetting the experience that comes before the forgiveness, however, always remains with us. Choosing to forgive means choosing to let go of the bad or negative emotions that one experiences so that we can live in peace and harmony.
Five years ago I went through a painful divorce. My older brother, a great believer of our faith, was very angry at my decision to divorce. Despite his response I felt my decision was correct. After two years of arguing over the phone and hurtful words in emails my brother and I ended our friendship in a cold silence.
Out of the blue he visited the same city that I was living in to see our mother. I thought for nights about how to react to his visit. I sought advice from many friends—all of whom said I should wait for his apology before trying to repair our friendship. Since I had done no wrong, it was he that needed to come to me.
A very close friend advised me otherwise. He said "Choose to be the bigger person here; forgive and forget. Let go, "he said "and move on." Though his words gave me courage, I still felt very angry and betrayed. My dear friend gave me a gentle shove (推,促使)and even stayed on the phone while I went over to greet my brother and family. When I did, I felt so relieved. I felt peace at last!
Today I am so grateful to my friend for encouraging me. If I hadn't taken his advice, I wouldn't enjoy the loving relationship that I do now with all of my family. Still, it would be a lie it I said that I didn't think about the past sometimes. The difference is that I do not feel angry. I am at peace and have a greater understanding and acceptance of the whole experience. In short I feel I have grown since then. In the author's opinion, the purpose of forgiving is ______.
A.to forget unpleasant experience |
B.to make up with relatives or friends |
C.to let go of the bad or negative emotions |
D.to make ourselves live in peace and harmony |
Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the phrase "let go of" in the first paragraph?
A.give up | B.give out |
C.give away | D.give off |
What drove the author to forgive her brother?
A.One close friend's encouragement. |
B.The friend's staying on the phone. |
C.Her mother's persuasion. |
D.Her own understanding with growth. |
It can be inferred that the author ______.
A.realized her mistake in her divorce in the end |
B.learned how to forget unpleasant experiences |
C.felt having learned to forgive means growth |
D.thought friendship is the most important of all |
Readers of many different periods have considered Du Fu to be the greatest poet of the Chinese tradition. Such general agreement can partially be explained by the immense variety of his work, which holds up quite well to different tastes and historical changes in fashion. Like Shakespeare in English tradition, Du Fu's poetry came to be so deeply bound up with the constitution of literary value that generation after generation of poets and critics rediscovered themselves and their interests in some aspect of the poet.
Chinese critics from the Song Dynasty referred to Du Fu as the "poet-historian". Du Fu witnessed a typically political and social situation; the common people still lived in poverty while the emperor and his top officials enjoyed a foolishly luxurious life. He composed many poems,which expressed his dissatisfaction with the government and his great pity for the common people. Du Fu used his poems to comment on current events and historical images. Du Fu became the historian by creating his responses to particular situations.
Du Fu was talented. When he was young, he wanted to get a good job in the government. Unfortunately Du Fu was refused several times. He was in his fifties when he began to serve as a minor official in Changan( Xi'an).
Du Fu was dismissed in the form of a transfer to the post of personnel administrator in Huazhou and so he left Changan. And in 759 he arrived in Chengdu. He set up a modest cottage with some money he borrowed from his friend who served as a local governor. In the cottage he had a simple and peaceful life for three years, writing about 240 poems.
Du Fu left Chengdu after 762 and wandered in the southern provinces and eventually died of illness in 770. After his death, the people in Chengdu built a shrine (神殿)on the site of his garden to honor him, which is known as part of Du Fu Thatched Cottage now. Why does the author compare Du Fu to Shakespeare?
A.Du Fu's poetry was written following Shakespeare's style. |
B.Du Fu's poetry referred to the social change critically. |
C.Du Fu and Shakespeare were best friends. |
D.Shakespeare read a lot of Du Fu's poems. |
Du Fu ______ when he was young.
A.didn't want to be an official |
B.was worried about the education |
C.wasn't liked by the emperor |
D.wasn't offered an opportunity to work in the government |
What did Du Fu describe in most of his poems?
A.The luxurious life that the emperor and his top officials enjoyed. |
B.His happy life. |
C.His responses to particular situations. |
D.His dissatisfaction with the government and his great pity for the common people. |
What did the people do after Du Fu died according to the passage?
A.They destroyed his cottage. |
B.They rebuilt the cottage he had lived into a high building. |
C.They built a shrine to honor him. |
D.They made a carved statue of him. |
What's the title of the passage?
A.Du Fu—the Most Important Politician in Tang Dynasty |
B.The Origin of Du Fu Thatched Cottage |
C.Du Fu—One of the Greatest Poets in Tang Dynasty |
D.Du Fu Was Not a Skilled Survivor in Government Politics |
Alone in the darkness under layers of rubble (碎石),Dan Woolley felt blood streaming from his head and leg.
Woolley, an aid worker, husband, and father of two boys, followed instructions on his cell phone to survive the January 12 earthquake in Haiti.
"I had an app that had pre -downloaded all this information about treating wounds. So I looked up excessive bleeding and I looked up compound fracture(断裂)," Woolley told CNN.
The application on his iPhone (网络电话)is filled with information about first aid and CPR from the American Heart Association. "So I knew I wasn't making mistakes," Woolley said. "That gave me confidence to treat my wounds properly."
Trapped in the ruins of the Hotel Montana in,he used his shirt to bandage his leg, and tied his belt around the wound. To stop the bleeding on his head, he firmly pressed a sock to it. Concerned he might have been experiencing shock,Woolley used the app to look up what to do. It warned him not to sleep. So he set his phone alarm to go off every 20 minutes.
Once the battery got down to less than 20 percent of its power, Woolley turned it off. By then, he says, he had trained his body not to sleep for long periods, drifting off only to wake up within minutes.
With his injuries tended to,he wrote a note to his family in his journal: "I was in a big accident, an earthquake. Don't be upset at God. He always provides for his children even in hard times. I'm still praying that God will get me out, but he may not. But even so he will always take care of you."
After more than 60 hours, Woolley was pulled from the rubble. "Those guys are rescue heroes," he said of the crew that pulled him out. Which of the following best summarizes the passage?
A.How to Deal with the Wound |
B.Try to Get in Touch with Outside |
C.How to Stay Awake under the Ground |
D.An Unforgettable Experience in the Earthquake |
When Woolley treated his wounds, ______.
A.he kept looking through information about first aid |
B.he carried out the process with much confidence |
C.he felt nervous without the nurse's help |
D.he had to operate by the light of iPhone |
Woolley set his phone alarm to go off every 20 minutes because ______.
A.he tried his best to communicate with rescuers |
B.he was forced to stay awake to check his wounds |
C.he was afraid that sleep might do harm to him |
D.he needed to use the app to look up what to do |
The underlined sentence suggests that ______.
A.he turned off his iPhone to save power |
B.the battery of his iPhone doesn't last long |
C.he didn't want his iPhone to disturb him |
D.his iPhone went off because of lack of power |