Dogs and cats are not for students who live in the dormitory. Just think about the noise, the smell and all that wild behavior—chewing on whatever they can get their teeth on, or knocking over the trash can. But don’t feel sad. There are smaller and less destructive pets to make your dormitory life colorful.
Betta fish
They make great pets with their big personality and astonishing colors, ranging from bright red, dark blue to lemon yellow. Unlike many fish, most bettas react to their owner’s presence and become more active when they are nearby, which is unusual in the fish world.
Chinchillas
Without bad smell, about the size of a rabbit and with fur so dense that they can’t get pests such as fleas(跳蚤), the friendly creature originally from the Andes Mountains in South America makes an ideal indoor pet. Chinchillas are very social animals, so if you only have one, you will become its family. In cold winter days, in a glance at this fury pet in a dorm will bring you a lot of warmth.
Land hermit crabs
In a society where owners are often asked “Are they tasty?”, land hermit crabs are among the most unlucky animals commonly kept as pets. But they are easy to care for, inexpensive and fascinating to watch. And the fact that they don’t cause any allergic reactions makes them perfect for college dormitories.
Red-eared sliders
If you’re interested in a lifelong friend, a red-eared slider makes a wonderful pet. If well cared for, they can live for around 40 years. But there are a couple of things you should know. Red-eared can grow to an adult size of up to 30cm! So you may need a larger tank quickly. In addition, you will need to provide UV lighting, water heater, and a swimming area and a basking (晒太阳) area. Housing a red eared slider is not easy.All the dormitory pets mentioned in the text are _____.
| A．active and allergic | B．quiet and peaceful |
| C．colorful and tasty | D．small and smelly |
Which of the following is not true about these creatures?
| A．Bettas are active and rich in colors. |
| B．Chinchillas are originally mountain animals. |
| C．Land hermit crabs are allergic but tasty. |
| D．Red-eared sliders need more care from the owner. |
If you want to keep the pet as long as possible, you’d better choose _____.
| A．Betta fish | B．Chinchillas |
| C．Land hermit crabs | D．Red-eared sliders |
The text is mainly to _____.
| A．introduce the best way to keep pets |
| B．offer useful tips for choosing pets |
| C．inform students of lifestyle of pets |
| D．recommend some dormitory pets |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along. Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
| A．They thought spinach made them strong. | B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
| C．Spinach had a lot of iron. | D．People liked folic acid. |
A research group told people that spinach____.
| A．made Popeye strong |
| B．was a green vegetable |
| C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
| D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from____.
| A．iron | B．folic acid | C．spinach | D．exercise |
Folic acid is ____.
| A．something in food | B．a vegetable | C．dangerous | D．a certain kind of spinach |
Hungry for the brightest students, many of the country’s stronger universities are actively discounting tuition （学费）．And it’s the high achievers, rather than the needy students, who are getting a good chunk of the money．The practice is remarkably widespread, reaching almost all but the 30 or so Ivy and other top colleges that forbid good grades-based financial aid．Schools are also becoming more aggressive in raising their discounts．At the DePauw University Website, enter an SAT or ACT score, grade point average and class rank, and a computer program immediately tells you what kind of "award"．Only "the real unlucky" pay full price any more．
About 76% of first-year students got some form of discount this year at 331 private schools．Average award per student: $7,000．At small schools with tuition under about $20,000, the average discount is even higher, with some schools returning over half their tuition．
Carnegie Mellon even tells students it will "negotiate（讨价还价）" and perhaps match financial-aid packages if kids are offered bigger awards at other schools．Much as banks and insurers offer special rates to their best customers, schools are giving the biggest breaks to their top students．Public four-year colleges, too, are offering discounts．
The flip side of big discounts is that less money is available to improve academic programs and keep school infrastructure （基础设施） up to date．Universities that have sharply increased their tuition discount rates have seen graduation rates fall, and that’s true even among highly selective schools．They get the students in the door, but don’t have the services to keep them．From the first paragraph, we can judge that _______．
| A．all the universities don’t offer tuition discounts． |
| B．Ivy and other top colleges offer financial aid to the high achievers |
| C．the needy students get more money from the universities |
| D．the graduation rates of the students from highly selected schools fall |
The underlined words “flip side” in the last paragraph probably mean “_______”．
| A．advantage | B．disadvantage | C．bad practice | D．good function |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The brightest students are not at all hungry for stronger universities． |
| B．About 76% of first-year students got an award of $ 20,000 per year． |
| C．Public colleges never offer discounts to the students． |
| D．Colleges should concentrate more on the services to keep the students |
This passage mainly talks about _______．
| A．the great benefit of offering lower tuition |
| B．college tuition discounts in popularity |
| C．the top students in need of tuition discounts |
| D．reducing graduation rates due to big discounts |
A HOLIDAY jet pilot （飞行员） said that he would land and call the police after a woman refused to stop smoking．
He warned Maureen Harkavy, “Put that cigarette out, or I’ll land the plane and have you arrested．”
Maureen, 47, was so shocked she wrote to the airline’s chairman．But his reply was even ruder．
“You seem to think you have a God-given right to pollute your neighbors’ atmosphere,” wrote John Ferriday of Paramount Airways．
（a）Said Maureen, “I only found out about it when I was checking in．I’m a nervous flyer so I lit a cigarette during the flight．A stewardess （空姐） asked me to put it out, but I said I wanted to carry on as there was no rule against smoking on the plane．” She was just finishing her cigarette when the pilot arrived．
（b） “I’ve never seen such an unpleasant letter．” She said, “I don’t think I’ll ever fly again．” But there was a funny side．Maureen explained, “We were offered duty-free （免税） cigarette from the stewardess on the plane!”
（c） Mr．Ferriday went on: “Believe me, you haven’t．Especially when you travel on my planes．”
Maureen and her husband Michael were moved to Paramount flight just before they left Portugal．But they were not told of the company’s no smoking policy．
（d） “He was loud and rude,” said Maureen．“He said if I lit another cigarette he would land the plane at Bordeaux and hand me to the French police．”
Later, from her home in Mosely, Birmingham, Maureen wrote to the company and received the rude reply．The second half of the story has been in wrong order．（Parts a-d） Choose the rearranged order which you think is right．
| A．a, c, b, d | B．c, a, b, d | C．c, a, d, b | D．d, a, b, c |
The pilot warned Maureen Harkavy ____________________．
| A．to throw her cigarette out of the plane, or he would get her off the plane． |
| B．to stop smoking, or he would bring down the jet and hand her to the police． |
| C．not to light another cigarette after her first one． |
| D．to stop smoking, or he would bring her to justice． |
Maureen Harkavy ______ on the plane．
| A．accepted the warning |
| B．agreed to the warning |
| C．refused to do what she was told to |
| D．was so shocked that she wrote to the airline’s chairman |
In the answer letter to Maureen Harkavy, the airline’s chairman ____ ．
| A．made an apology to her for his worker’s rudeness |
| B．made sure that he would solve the problem |
| C．said that she had the right to smoke on his plane |
| D．actually completely agreed with what the pilot said |
“The first and best of victories is for a man to conquer himself; to be conquered by himself is, of all things, the most shameful,” says Plato．Self-control is at the root of all the advantages．Let a man give in to his impulses （冲动） and feelings, and from that moment he gives up his moral freedom．
A single angry word has lost many a friend．When Socrates found in himself any temper or anger, he would check it by speaking low in order to control himself．If you are conscious of being angry, keep your mouth shut so that you can hold back rising anger．Many a person has dropped dead in great anger．Fits of anger bring fits of disease．“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad．” “Keep cool”, says George Herbert, “for fierceness makes error a fault．”
To be angry with a weak man is to prove that you are not strong yourself．“Anger,” says Pythagoras, “brings with folly（愚蠢） and ends with regret．” You must measure the strength of a man by the power of the feelings he conquers, not by the power of those which conquer him．
Self-control is man’s last greatest victory．
If a man lacks self-control he seems to lack everything．Without it he can have no patience, no power to govern himself; he can have no self-confidence, for he will always be controlled by his strongest feeling．If he lacks self-control, the very backbone and nerve of character are lacking also．What does the reader learn from the first paragraph?
| A．The greatest victory for a man is to conquer everything except himself． |
| B．One’s moral freedom is based on the control of himself． |
| C．To control oneself is the most difficult in one’s life． |
| D．If a person is too stubborn, he will feel most shameful． |
What does the underlined sentence “Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” mean ?
| A．If the gods want to kill you, they make you crazy first． |
| B．If you are mad, you will be punished by the gods． |
| C．If you cannot control yourself, you will become crazy． |
| D．If you always lose your temper, you will soon be finished． |
If a man lacks self-control, he lacks all of the following EXCEPT _______．
| A．the very backbone and nerve of character |
| B．the patience and power to control himself |
| C．strong feelings |
| D．self-confidence |
The author’s main purpose in writing this article is to _______．
| A．explain that self-control is the key to success |
| B．teach people how to control everything in order to make a great success |
| C．distinguish all kinds of self-control and suggest ways for keeping it |
| D．advise people not to lose temper so as to make and keep more friends |
To switch or not to switch, that is the question．Google’s announcement of its Nexus One smartphone（智能手机） happened over a week ago and I’m still receiving lots of e-mails from readers asking the same question: Should they give up their iPhone for the Nexus One?
Some people with iPhones, disappointed by American Telephone&Telegraph’s inadequate service and the high monthly cost, are wondering if they have really got something to replace it．Does the Nexus One offer the functions that Apple has led them to expect?
I’m on the fence myself, even though I never thought I’d be interested in anything but the iPhone．From my experience using the Nexus One, and from talking to people who have made the change, it’s not necessarily about the differences between the iPhone and the Nexus One．The phones are extremely similar in design and general feel．Instead, the decision can be made based on the software（软件） services you use on your desktop．
My friend Chad Dickerson received a pre-launch Nexus One from Google three weeks ago．He said Google’s phone feels connected to certain services on the Web in a way the iPhone doesn’t．“Compared to the iPhone, the Google phone feels like it’s part of the Internet to me,” he said．“If you live in a Google world, you have that world in your pocket in a way that’s cleaner and more connected than the iPhone．”
Personally, the phones work perfectly with their own software, but both of them don’t make an effort to play well with other services．Why are some iPhone users expecting a new type of phone?
| A．Because their old ones are out of date． |
| B．Because they accept Google’s announcement． |
| C．Because of the limited service and high cost． |
| D．Because of the terrible software they can use．． |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the new phones in the third paragraph?
| A．Negative | B．Neutral | C．Indifferent | D．Positive |
In Chad Dickerson’s opinion, the Nexus One is ________ the iPhone．
| A．better than | B．worse than | C．as good as | D．as bad as |
The best title of the passage might be ________．
| A．Apple’s New Smartphone |
| B．Torn Between Two Phones |
| C．Good Services Matter |
| D．Google’s New Smartphone |