As an American artist and writer of children’s books, Tasha Tudor’s art and nineteenth-century
lifestyle have fascinated adults and children for decades. She received many awards and honors for her contributions to children’s literature. When people talk about her creativity in artwork, she said, “I do it to support my dogs and my four children.” Her great publishing record, the number of magazine stories that have been written about her over the years, and her admirers have no effects on her at all.
Much of Tasha’s artwork and her reading are done in the wintertime. “I love winter. It’s delightful,” she says. “I don’t have to go anywhere because I work at home. If I’m snowed in, I can stay this way for months.” She hopes for early, deep snow to protect her garden from the hardship of the New England winter, and when it comes she puts on snowshoes when she needs to get down the mile-long dirt path that leads to the road.
Given her enjoyment of winter and her fantasy(梦幻)way of life, it’s not surprising that Tasha’s Christmas is a storybook holiday. She hangs flowers over the front door. Her tree comes from the woods, and it goes up on Christmas Eve, lit by homemade candles and decorated with her great- grandmother’s collection that dates from 1850. In a place of honor on the tree are large cookies cut into the shapes of her animals.
The grandchildren and friends get presents from Tasha’s old dolls; so do the animals and they have their own Christmas tree. “Of course, it’s a known fact that all the animals talk on Christmas Eve,” she has written. Small, handmade gifts fill a big wooden box.
At the end of each year, Tasha can look back and know that her life is perfect, that she has again ignored the twentieth century, and that the magic continues. And for the rest of us,here’s a bit of advice, Tasha style: “Nowadays, people are so restless. If they took some tea and spent more time rocking on the porch(门廊) in the evening listening to light music, they might enjoy life more.”Tasha loved winter because it allowed her to ________.
A.read stories to her grandchildren |
B.show her DIY snowshoes to kids |
C.stay indoors working during reading |
D.enjoy bicycle tiding along the path |
From the passage, we can learn that Tasha’s life is ________.
A.modern and fashionable |
B.simple and fantastic |
C.lonely and hard |
D.adventurous and inspiring |
Which of the following is TRUE about Tasha?
A.She cared little about fame. |
B.She created an animal fund. |
C.She wrote many stories for magazines. |
D.She bought presents for her relatives. |
In which section of a paper can you probably read the article?
A.Travel. | B.Sports. | C.Economy. | D.People. |
Depend on yourself. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.
There have been many great men in history. But many of them were very poor when they were young, and had no uncles, aunts or friends to help them. Schools were few and not very good.
They could not depend upon them for education. They saw how it was, and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way till they became well-known. One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils, “I cannot make worthy men of you, but I can help make men of yourselves.”
Some young men do not try their best to make themselves valuable to society. They can never gain achievements unless they see their weak points and keep improving themselves. They are nothing now and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of their parents and teachers, and depend on their own efforts.Which of the following titles fits this passage best?
A.How to Become Famous | B.What Helps to Make a Good Teacher |
C.Men Must Help Each Other | D.Depend on Your O![]() |
Many great men succeeded because_________.
A.they were anxious to become rich |
B.they had received good education |
C.they had made great efforts to learn and work |
D.they wanted very much to become well-known |
If young people depend on their own efforts, _________.
A.they are more likely to succeed in their lives |
B.they are sure to be famous in the world |
C.they will need no advice from their parents and teachers |
D.they will be nothing as long as they live |
From this passage we can see that the writer_________.
A.is a man with a strong will |
B.shows great respect for teachers |
C.is in favour of those who struggle for success |
D.feels it important to accept the advice of others |
A Train Floating On Air
A train that floats on air? It's not magic―it's magnets (磁).And it's close to reality.
In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus.In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power.And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.
These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.
How does it work?
Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.
When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.
Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.This passage is about __________.
A.maglev | B.magnets | C.levitation | D.electricity |
Which of the following is a repelling action?
A. | B. | C. | D. |
What can we learn from the text?
A.A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train. |
B.Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev. |
C.Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnetwheels. |
D.Electric currents decide the movements of a maglev train. |
What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?
A.A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary o![]() |
B.A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed. |
C.Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one. |
D.Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train. |
Not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep is not a disorder in itself but a sign of some other problems, often a physical one.
If you have trouble sleeping, the American Sleep Disorders Association suggests that, for a week or two, you put down the time you go to bed, get up, exercise, and drink coffee, tea or wine. The purpose is to find the habits that may affect your sleep.
Then:
a.Don’t drink coffee in the six hours before going to bed.
b.Stop smoking and drinking at bedtime.
c.Don’t sleep during the day.
d.Go to bed at the same time every night. Set your alarm clock for the same time every morning and get up at that time, whether or not you sleep well.
e.Use the bedroom only for sleep. Read, watch TV, eat and talk elsewhere.
f.Take sleeping pills according to your doctor’s directions and don’t take them for longer than three weeks at a time.
g.If you haven’t fallen asleep within 15 minutes of going to bed, don’t turn over worrying about it. Get up and read or watch TV until you are sleepy, then return to bed.
If you continue to have trouble sleeping, ask your doctor for help or go to a sleep-disorders center. According to the passage, there is probably if you are not able to fall
asleep or stay asleep.
A.a bad way of sleeping | B.a disorder in sleep |
C.a physical reason | D.a problem caused by the brain |
If you have trouble sleeping, you should try to ______.
A.ask a doctor for help or go to a sleep-disorders center |
B.p![]() |
C.do more physical exercise |
D.find out the cause first |
According to the passage, which of the following would be the best way to help you sleep well?
A.Taking some sleeping pills every day. |
B.Reading books before you go to bed. |
C.Setting your alarm clock at night. |
D.Forming good living habits. |
The author writes this article in order to ______.
A.tell us not being able to fall asleep is a serious disease |
B.provide us with some suggestions on sleep problem |
C.persuade us not to go to see the doctors when we are ill |
D.help the American Sleep Disorders Association to find the causes of not being able to fall sleep |
What does fizz (气泡) taste like? In Bubbly (多泡的)drinks such as sodas, tiny bubbles give the drink a lift--- and have a distinct taste, In a new study on mice, scientists have connected that fizzy-taste feeling to the ability to taste sourness, such as that of oranges or vinegar.
Scientists first thought the taste of bubbles came from the bubbles bursting on the tongue, but now ate starting to think differently. Charles Zuker, of Columbia University, and his team studied the nervous system of mice to understand how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide, which is the gas that makes up the bubbles.
Animals, including human beings, are able to detect different tastes by using taste buds(味蕾) which pick up tastes in the mouth, and then send them to the brain. In the experiment, different groups of mice were genetically engineered to be missing one of the senses involved in taste. “Genetically engineered” means the researchers were able to turn off the switches for certain senses by changing the genes responsible for taste. The mice in one group could not taste sweet; another, sour; the third, bitter, and the fourth, salt. When the scientists gave carbon dioxide to the mice, the nervous systems of all the mice responded to the gas, except those of the mice that could not taste sour.
This shows that the taste of the bubbles must be sour, and that by turning off the ability of the mice to taste sour, the scientists also turned off their ability to taste carbon dioxide. When they studied the cells that detect sourness, the researchers found a protein attached to the cells that is important to the process of tasting carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide comes into contact with this protein, the protein knocks off particles called protons. These protons(质子), in turn, travel to the brain, which says ,” Hey! That’s a taste!”
It may seem like a lot of work to get from a can of soda to a taste, but the science of the senses is anything but simple, “ Taste is a challenging system to study,” one researcher says. What is the most important function of the bubbles?
A.To look interesting . | B.To make drinks taste good. |
C.To make drinks funny. | D.To produce a lot of fizz. |
From the experiment the researchers learned that______.
A.sourness has nothing to do with the taste of bubbles. |
B.there is a connection between sourness and bubbles. |
C.the taste of bubbles is better if it’s less sour. |
D.most mice cannot taste carbon dioxide. |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A.the taste of bubbles is produced by the bubbles bursting on the tongue. |
B.the nervous systems of mice show how the tongue tastes carbon dioxide. |
C.taste seems simple but is very complex to research. |
D.nerve cells sending signals to the brain is the first step in tasting something. |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Nervous Systems Understand How the Tongue Tastes. |
B.The Process of Taste |
C.The taste![]() |
D.Different Animals Detect Different Tastes. |
Do you know what it means when somebody tells you that he had “a catch-22 experience”?
The phrase “catch-22” comes from a book of the same title by the American writer Joseph Heller published in 1961.Catch-22 is a book of black humor.The author uses silly and even surreal(超现实的)events.It has a non-linear narrative structure(非线性的叙述结构)in which events follow the theme rather than the timing,to give us a very strange picture full of contradictions(矛盾).
The story takes places in a bomber base in Italy during World WarⅡ.The main character, Captain Yossarian wants to leave the war.Unfortunately, every time he completes the number of tasks to be sent home,the number is raised and he is forced to continue fighting.It seems hopeless for him to go home under the very strange rule in this Air Force-catch-22:only when a soldier goes crazy can he be allowed to go home.But he has to go to the hospital to show the doctors that he is crazy.However, if he tells them he is crazy but is obvious healthy, he cannot go home.In short,catch-22 is“heads 1 win,tails I lose.If you can you can’t;and if you can’t,you can.”Whenever you try to behave correctly in a crazy world.There’s a catch(潜在的困难).
During the Vietnam War, the phrase“catch-22”became a popular term for being caught in a no.win,circular dilemma and is now commonly used.The Oxford English Dictionary explains catch.22 as“a set of circumstances in which one requirement,etc,is dependent upon another, which is in turn d
ependent upon the first.”
Which of the following statements is right?
A.Catch-22 is one of Heller’s experiences during World War II. |
B.Catch-22 is one of Yossarian’s experiences during the Vietnam War. |
C.The events in catch-22 follow the theme. |
D.The events in catch-22 follow the timing. |
Why did Captain Yossarian fail to leave the war?
A.He wasn’t so anxious to leave the war. |
B.He didn’t finish his tasks. |
C.He was put into a catch-22 situation. |
D.He wasn’t mad enough to be sent home. |
What does the underlined sentence most probably mean?
A.Whenever and however you try, you are unable to reach the goal. |
B.You can solve every problem you meet as long as you want to. |
C.You can’t solve a![]() |
D.If you can’t solve all the problems.you can solve none. |
The phrase“catch-22”came into being ________ _.
A.in World War II | B.in the Vietnam War | C.in the 1950s | D.in the 1960s |