Car washes are a common sight throughout Nigeria, but Madinat Aliyu's roadside business is very special: she is the only woman car-washer in the north of the country.
“This job has caused me a lot of problems,” said the 27-year-old, checking cars waiting to be cleaned in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state.
Aliyu took up her work two years ago, hoping to use the 7,000 naira (£28) she earned every month to put her younger sisters and brothers through school following the death of their mother, the only one who made money to support the family. But her family begged her to stop doing this job, and she has received “judgment and warnings” from strangers too.
“My grandmother cried for many days. Some people thought it was a joke to bring more customers (顾客). Others said if she is doing it for money, let's just give her money to stop bringing us shame,” she said as she got water from a well by the roadside. “But I hate laziness or depending on somebody else.”
However, Aliyu has admirers. “Some customers only allow her to wash their cars,” said her colleague (同事) Shamsudeen Mohammed. “I was trained to wash cars by men, and I can honestly tell you women are better to work under,” he added.
Recently another woman came to Aliyu to ask for advice on starting her own car wash. “Unfortunately her family discouraged her. I told her, if you listen to them, you will find yourself begging or marrying a man who is older than your grandfather,” she said.
Though she is considered a pariah (贱民) by many, Aliyu has no plans to stop her work. “I see men doing something and I think I can do it too.”
Madinat Aliyu washes cars mainly to _____.
| A．make a living |
| B．learn about cars |
| C．meet her future husband |
| D．know the life of the poor |
From the fifth paragraph, we know Shamsudeen Mohammed _____.
| A．thought Aliyu did a good job |
| B．trained Aliyu to wash cars |
| C．had more customers than Aliyu |
| D．liked to work with men |
As a woman car-washer, Aliyu _____.
| A．gets her family's support |
| B．dreams of going to school |
| C．is thought highly of by strangers |
| D．sets an example for the women in Nigeria |
Which of the following can best describe Aliyu?
| A．Shy but smart. |
| B．Independent and confident. |
| C．Honest but lazy. |
| D．Humorous and imaginative. |
The economic growth that many nations in Asia and increasingly Africa have experienced over the past couple of decades has transformed hundreds of millions of lives – almost entirely for the better. But there’s a byproduct to that growth, one that’s evident – or sometimes less than evident – in the smoggy, smelly skies above cities like Beijing, New Delhi and Jakarta. Thanks to new cars and power plants, air pollution is bad and getting worse in much of the world, and it’s taking a major toll (伤亡人数，代价) on global health.
How big? According to a new analysis published in the Lancet, more than 3.2 million people suffered deaths from air pollution in 2010, the largest number on record. That’s up from 800,000 in 2000. And it’s a regional problem: 65% of those deaths occurred in Asia, where the air is choked by diesel soot (内燃发动机烟雾) from cars and trucks, as well as the song from power plants and the dust from endless urban construction. In East Asia and China, 1.2 million people died, as well as another 712,000 in South Asia, including India. For the first time ever, air pollution is on the world’s top – 10 list of killers, and it’s moving up the ranks faster than any other factor.
So how can air pollution be so damaging? It is the very finest soot – so small that it roots deep within the lungs and then enters the bloodstream – that contributes to most of the public – health toll of air pollution including death. Diesel soot, which can also cause cancer, is a major problem because it is concentrated in cities along transportation zones affecting overpopulated areas. It is thought to contribute to half the deaths from air pollution in urban centers. Fro example, 1 in 6 people in the U.S. live near a diesel – pollution hot spot like a rail yard, port terminal or freeway.
We also know that air pollution may be linked to other non – deadly diseases. Fortunately in the U.S. and other developed nations, urban air is for the most part cleaner than it was 30 or 40 years ago, thanks to regulations and new technologies like the catalytic converters (催化式排气净化器) that reduce automobile emissions. Govemments are also pushing to make air cleaner – see the White House’s move last week to further tighten soot standards. It’s not perfect, but we’ve had much more success dealing with air pollution than climate change.
Will developing nations like India eventually catch up? Hopefully – though the problem may get worse before it gets better. The good news is that it doesn’t take a major technological advance to improve urban air. Switching from diesel fuel to unleaded (无铅燃油) helps, as do newer and cleaner cars which are less likely to send out pollutants. Power plants – even ones that burn mineral fuels like coal – can be fitted with pollution – control equipment that, at a price, will greatly reduce smog and other pollutants.
But the best solutions may involve urban design. In the Guardian, John Vidal notes that Delhi now has 200 cars per 1,000 people, far more than much richer Asian cities like Hong Kong and Singapore. Developing cities will almost certainly see an increase in car ownership as residents become wealthier – and that doesn’t have to mean deadly air pollution. Higher incomes should also lead to tougher environmental regulations, which is exactly what happened in the West. We can only hope it happens before the death toll from bad air gets even higher. What tends to give rise to the highest death toll according to the passage?
| A．The lack of tight environmental protection standards. |
| B．The increasing numbers of the diesel cars and trucks. |
| C．The frighteningly high death rate from deadly cancer. |
| D．The world’s serious air pollution such as soot and dust. |
The “byproduct” (Paragraph 1) most probably refers to .
| A．consequence | B．solution | C．reform | D．design |
The basic reason why so many people die from air pollution is that .
| A．the diesel soot is too small to be seen |
| B．the diesel soot is much too poisonous to breathe |
| C．the diesel soot roots in lungs and gets into blood |
| D．the diesel soot can also contribute to deadly cancer |
According to the passage, the writer actually wants to convince the readers that .
| A．the global economic growth is mainly to blame for air pollution and climate change |
| B．the developing countries are repeating the same mistakes as the developed ones made |
| C．the ecological situation and air pollution in India are becoming worse and worse |
| D．the unbeatable air is increasingly becoming a major killer throughout the world |
By describing urban design as “the best solution” in the last paragraph, the writer means that .
| A．the making of tougher environmental regulations alone is of little use |
| B．more sever regulations should be made to handle air pollution |
| C．the urban construction in western developed countries is the best choice |
| D．the pace of development has to be slowed down to reduce air pollution |
Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around for individuals who would be my first investors. “Angel money” it was called. But when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help, I found the number got small.
With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And if you struggled, they could drop you cold.
As I was searching for “angel money”, I started to build a team who trusted me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet.
Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major technology “guy” in-house.
Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him.
We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night, my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good business at the time.
Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no guarantees of success.
She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000.
I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven.
“I have confidence in your plan,” she said. “You' 11 do well. You're going to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company.”
Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She left and I just stood there, completely humbled and completely committed.For a newly-established business, bum rate refers to___________.
| A．the salary it pays to its staff | B．the interest it pays to the bank |
| C．the way in which it raises capital | D．the speed at which it spends money |
By "Angel money", the author refers to__________.
| A．the money borrowed from banks | B．the money spent to promote sales |
| C．the money raised from close friends | D．the money needed to start a business |
To get help from a venture-capital company, you may have to__________.
put up with unfair terms B. change your business line
C. enlarge your business scope D. let them operate your businessThe author easily built a team for his company because__________.
| A．they were underpaid at their previous jobs |
| B．they were turned down by other companies |
| C．they were confident of the author and his business |
| D．they were satisfied with the salaries in his company |
Louise decided to lend money to the author because__________.
| A．she wanted to join his company |
| B．she knew he would build a team |
| C．she knew his plan would succeed |
| D．she wanted to help promote his sales |
As Rosalie Warren stood at the mailbox in the lobby of her apartment building in May 1980, she shared the anxiety of many other college seniors. In her hand was an envelope containing her final grades. As she nervously opened it, Warren wondered whether her hundreds of hours of studying had paid off.
They had.
“I got five ‘A’s,” she still recalls with elation. “I almost fell on the floor!”
Warren would graduate from Suffolk University with a bachelor of science degree in philosophy and history at age 80.Three years later, at age 83, she would receive her second degree from Suffolk, a master’s in education.
Now, with both diplomas proudly displayed in her apartment, Warren is not finished with learning. Now 93,she continues for her 18th year at Suffolk under a program that allows persons 65 and over to attend classes tuition free. “It’s my life to go to school, to enjoy being in an academic atmosphere,” she says. “That’s what I love.”
Warren was born Rosalie Levey on Aug.29, 1900. Two years after she entered high school, her father died. Warren had to leave school for factory work to help support her family’s 10 children. Warren describes herself as a “person who always liked school,” and she says the move “broke my heart completely because I couldn’t finish high school.”
In the end, however, “I went to school nights,” she recalls. “Any place I could find an outlet of learning and teaching, I was there.”
A short time later, her mother became ill, and Warren had to care for her, once again putting her education on hold.
Finally, in 1921, her mother, now recovered, drew from her saving to send Warren to Boston University for two years to study typing, stenography, and office procedures.
Those courses helped Warren gain several long-term office positions over the next 60 years, but her great desire “to be in the academic field” continued.
In 1924, she married Eugene Warren, and seven years later, her daughter, Corinne, was born. In 1955, by then a widow and a grandmother, Warren took a bus tour across the United States that was to last nine months. She said she wanted to see “things you never see in the West End.”
When she returned home, she took a bookkeeping position and also enrolled in courses in philosophy, sociology
And Chinese history. free program for senior citizens.” I was at the registrar’s office the very next day.”she recalls. At first ,she took one or two courses at a time , but encouraged by her professors , she enrolled as a
In 1975, when she was 75, Warren learned from a neighbor about Suffolk University’s tuition- degree candidate.
“I had not studied for so many years,” she says, “but I was determined.” For the next four years, Warren, who calls herself a “student of philosophy,” worked toward her degree.
Nancy Stoll, dean of students at Suffolk, says Warren is “an interesting role model for our younger students---that learning is a lifetime activity….She is genuinely enthusiastic about being here, and that permeates (散发) her activities and is contagious (传染的) to students and faculty.”What does the word elation mean in the sentence “I got fives ‘A’s”, she still recalls with elation”?
| A．Great happiness | B．Great surprise | C．Great pride | D．Great honor |
How old was Warren when she got her first college degree?
| A．She was 79 | B．She was 23 | C．She was 80 | D．She was 75 |
What kind of work did she do for 60 years?
| A．Studying | B．Factory work | C．Typing | D．Office work |
Which statement can be inferred from the underlined sentences?
| A．Because Warren needn’t pay her tuition, she went to study at Suffolk University |
| B．At first Warren had to pay for her courses at Suffolk University |
| C．Most of the students at Suffolk University are older than 65 |
| D．Suffolk University encourages older people to take courses |
It can be inferred from this passage that Rosalie Warren _______.
| A．came from a wealthy family | B．didn’t like working in an office |
| C．put her family before her education | D．didn’t like her family very much |
What is the main topic of this passage?
| A．Rosalie Warren’s family |
| B．Rosalie Warren’s life |
| C．Rosalie Warren’s education |
| D．Rosalie Warren’s studying at Suffolk University |
I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in City and landing on my head. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember the brightness of sunshine and what color red is .It would be wonderful to see again , but a calamity (灾难)can do strange things to people .It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t been blind . I believe in life now.I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply , otherwise. I don’t mean that would prefer to go without my eyes . I simply mean that Atlantic the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left .
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person is able to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me--a potential to live, you might call it--which I didn't see, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn't been able to do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self confidence that helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean something bigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the sweeping, intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the simplest things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. "I can't use this." I said. "Take it with you," he urged me, "and roll it around." The words stuck in my head. "Roll it around! "By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia's Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set ahead of me a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was wildly out of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______
| A．the author lost his sight because of a car crash. |
| B．the author wouldn't love life if the disaster didn't happen. |
| C．the disaster made the author appreciate what he had. |
| D．the disaster strengthened the author's desire to see. |
What's the most difficult thing for the author?
| A．How to adjust himself to reality. |
| B．Building up assurance that he can find his place in life. |
| C．Learning to manage his life alone. |
| D．How to invent a successful variation of baseball. |
According to the context, “a chair rocker on the front porch” in paragraph 3 means that the author __________
| A．would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life. |
| B．would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair. |
| C．would lose his will to struggle against difficulties. |
| D．would sit in a chair and stay at home. |
According to the passage, the baseball and encouragement offered by the man _____
| A．hurt the author's feeling. |
| B．gave the author a deep impression. |
| C．directly led to the invention of ground ball. |
| D．inspired the author. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Miserable Life |
| B．Struggle Against Difficulties |
| C．A Disaster Makes a Strong Person |
| D．An Unforgettable Experience |
We can stay young forever. That is the message Dr. Shen Ziyin wants to give the world. And the Chinese doctor claims that he has found an answer to the problems of aging.
His solution is a herbal medicine to slow the process of aging.
Dr. Shen Ziyin has been trained in Western medicine. At the same time he studied traditional Chinese medicine. And, he has been working for the past forty years to put together the best of both and find a cure for aging. He has
taken a hint from its aging process. It is responsible for the level of activity that the human bodies go through Studies conducted by Dr.Shen show that herbal medicine based on the shen system slow the the ancient Chinese medicine system called “shen”.
According to Shen, it is the kidney（肾脏）which adjusts the functioning of the body as well as aging process, says a report in The Telegraph newspaper.
We notice that when people grow old, they have reduced strength, loss of hair, backache, weakness in general, and wrinkles, among others. This happens because when people grow old, their bodies produce T-cells. These T-cells contain a particular substance called Fas. Fas makes the cells in the body destruct themselves.
So the only way to slow down aging is to slow the production of T-cells in the body. This can happen if people eat low calorie food. Then the body is not active enough to produce extra T-cells. But, is going hungry all the time a good price to pay for staying young?
This is where Dr. Shen’s herbal medicine comes in. But how effective it will be, only time can tell.How did Dr. Shen find the solution to the problem of aging?
| A．By studying Western medicine. |
| B．By learning traditional Chinese medicine. |
| C．By combining both Western and Chinese medicine. |
| D．By doing research on both Western and Chinese people. |
What plays the most important role in keeping people young according to Shen?
| A．Medical treatment. | B．People’s good kidney. |
| C．Level of people’s activity. | D．Positive life attitude. |
The reason why people become old is that _________.
| A．their bodies produce T-cells |
| B．their bodies are unable to fight diseases |
| C．they have reduced strength, loss of hair |
| D．they become weaker and weaker |
We can probably learn from the passage that _________.
| A．producing more low calorie food allows people to keep young |
| B．the more Chinese herbal medicine people drink, the better for health |
| C．people should try to quicken the production of T-cells in the body |
| D．it remains unknown how effective Dr. Shen’s herbal medicine is |