I went online to check if my pay was in my bank account. To my amazement I discovered that not only had I been paid, a company I’d never worked for had also paid me! I knew I’d have been beside myself if my own salary was not in my account, so I tried to get the money back to the right person. Easier said than done.
The bank couldn’t help as it wasn’t a bank problem. The human resources department at the company that paid me was unable to help as I didn’t have enough details. I rang the bank again. Thankfully, I had a sympathetic(同情的) call operator who gave me a name, so I again rang the company Daniel worked for.
I expected the bank would contact me to arrange to take the money from my account and repay Daniel. I heard nothing for a month and the money remained in my account when Daniel called, explaining he’d tried to get back his money but had been unsuccessful as neither the bank nor his company felt it was their error. He had rung to ask if I could speak to the bank, but after chatting for a few minutes we realized we could probably fix this problem ourselves.
We decided I would take the money from my account and he would pick it up from me. Due to my busy job I was unable to meet Daniel personally but he left me a lovely bottle of wine in exchange for what was rightfully(正当地) his. I never had any intention of keeping Daniel’s pay but red tape(繁琐手续) made it difficult to do the right thing. It all came down to two people being able to do what a huge bank and a large company couldn’t do--admit a mistake has occurred and fix it.The underlined phrase “beside myself”(in Paragraph1) probably means___________.
A.very fortunate | B.very angry |
C.really thankful | D.at ease |
What was the attitude of the author towards the extra money in his bank account?
A.He didn’t know what to do with it. |
B.He felt lucky to get it. |
C.He thought of keeping it for himself. |
D.He wanted to return it to the right person. |
From the passage we can infer that___________.
A.the bank could solve the problem soon and easily with the red tape |
B.some large organizations usually have troublesome official rules |
C.Daniel didn’t know the error before he contacted the author |
D.the company gave the wrong account to the bank |
How was the problem solved in the end?
A.The author and Daniel solved the problem themselves. |
B.It cost Daniel a lovely bottle of wine to get back his money. |
C.The author gave the money back to the company. |
D.The call operator offered to solve their problem |
Goals can help you do, be and experience everything you want in life.Instead of just letting life happen to you, goals allow you to make your life happen.
Successful and happy people have an idea of how their life should be and they set lots of goals to help them succeed.By setting goals you are taking control of your life.It’s like having a map to show you where you want to go.Think of it this way.There are two drivers.One has a destination in mind which is laid out for her on a map.She can drive straight there without any wasted time or wrong turns.The other driver has no goal or destination or map.She starts off at the same time from the same place as the first driver, but she drives without an aim around, never getting anywhere, just using up gas and oil.Which driver do you want to be?
Winners in life set goals and follow through on them.Winners decide what they want in life and then get there by making plans and setting goals.Unsuccessful people just let life happen by accident.Goals aren’t difficult to set---and they aren’t difficult to reach.It’s up to you to find out what your goals and ideals(理想) really are.
Research tells us that when we write a goal down, we are more likely to achieve.Written goals can be reviewed regularly, and have more power.Like a contract(合同) with yourself, they are harder to neglect(忽视) or forget.Also when you write your goals in a particular way, you are able to make yourself be continuously alert(警觉) to situations that will further your goals.
60.The writer gave the example of two drivers to show_______________.
A.how stupid the first driver was B.the importance of having a map
C.how stupid the second driver was D.the importance of setting a goal
61.According to the passage, successful people are different from unsuccessful ones in that ______.
A.the successful people set goals for everything and can get help from others
B.the unsuccessful people’s goals are often too big for them to realize
C.the successful people set goals in their lives and make plans to carry them out
D.the unsuccessful people make plans for everything but can not work hard
62.According to the passage, the most important thing in realizing one’s ideal is to_______.
A.try to be realistic about one’s ability
B.let others help him or her to make his or her dream come true
C.let others understand him or her first, then work together with them
D.have a clear mind of what he or she wants in life
63.Which is the best title for the passage?
A.Goals help you succeed. B. How to succeed.
C.Why we always failed. D. A research on setting goals.
Parents and kids today dress alike, listen to the same music, and are friends.Is this a good thing? Sometimes, when Mr.Ballmer and his 16-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, listen to rock music together and talk about interests both enjoy, such as pop culture, he remembers his more distant relationship with his parents when he was a teenager.
“I would never have said to my mom, ‘Hey, the new Weezer album is really great.How do you like it?’” says Ballmer.“There was just a complete gap in taste.”
Music was not the only gulf (分歧).From clothing and hairstyles to activities and expectations, earlier generations of parents and children often appeared to move in separate orbits.
Today, the generation gap has not disappeared, but it is getting narrow in many families.Conversations on subjects such as sex and drugs would not have taken place a generation ago.Now they are comfortable and common.And parent-child activities, from shopping to sports, involve a feeling of trust and friendship that can continue into adulthood.
No wonder greeting cards today carry the message, “To my mother, my best friend.”
But family experts warn that the new equality can also result in less respect for parents.
“There’s still a lot of strictness and authority on the part of parents out there, but there is a change happening,” says Kerrie, a psychology professor at Lebanon Valley College.“In the middle of that change, there is a lot of confusion among parents.”
Family researchers offer a variety of reasons for these evolving(演化的) roles and attitudes.They see the 1960s as a turning point.Great cultural changes led to more open communication and a more democratic process that encourages everyone to have a say.
“My parents were on the ‘before’ side of that change, but today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,” explains Mr.Ballmer.“It’s not something easily accomplished by parents these days, because life is more difficult to understand or deal with, but sharing interests does make it more fun to be a parent now.”
72.Which of the following shows that the generation gap is disappearing?
A.Parents help their children develop interests in more activities.
B.Parents put more trust in their children’s abilities.
C.Parents and children talk more about sex and drugs.
D.Parents share more interests with their children.
73.The change in today’s parent-child relationship is ______.
A.more confusion among parents
B.new equality between parents and children
C.less respect for parents from children
D.more strictness and authority on the part of parents
74.By saying “today’s parents, the 40-year-olds, were on the ‘after’ side,” the author means that today’s parents ______.
A.follow the trend (趋势)of the change
B.can set a limit to the change
C.fail to take the change seriously
D.have little difficult adjusting (调整)to the change
75.The purpose of the passage is to ______.
A.describe the difficulties today’s parents have met with
B.discuss the development of the parent-child relationship
C.suggest the ways to handle the parent-child relationship
D.compare today’s parent-child relationship with that in the past
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it.And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is.That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about.It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand.He told this story about himself.He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23.That was a lot of money in those days.He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City.When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day.When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up.The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life.They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours.He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories.He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States.“Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you.Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses.And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world.But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr.Jones always seems to be ahead.
64.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.
A.want to be as rich as their neighbours
B.want others to know or to think that they are rich
C.don’t want others to know they are rich
D.want to be happy
65.It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.
A.live outside New York City B.live in New York city
C.live in apartmentsD.have many neighbours
66.Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.
A.an important name B.a popular name in the United States
C.his neighbour’s name D.not a good name
67.According to the writer, it is ________ to keep up with the Joneses.
A.correct B.interesting C.impossible D.good
第三部分阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项中,选出最佳选项。
As late as 1800, women's only place was in the home.The idea of women in the business world was unthinkable.Men were certain that no woman could do a good job outside her home.This was such a widely accepted idea that when the well-known Bronte sisters began writing books in 1864, they had to sign their books with men's names instead.
Teaching was the first profession(职业)open to women soon after 1800.But even that was not an easy profession for women to enter because most schools and colleges were open only to men.Oberlin College in Ohio was the first college in America to accept women.
Hospital nursing became respectable work for women only after Nightingale became famous.Seeing that she was not only a nurse but also a rich and well-educated woman, people began to believe it was possible for women to nurse the sick and still be “ladies”.Miss Nightingale opened England's first training school for nurses in 1860.
The invention of the typewriter(打字机)in 1867 helped to bring women out of the home and into the business world.By 1900, thousands of women were working at real jobs in schools, hospitals, and offices in both England and America.Some women even managed to become doctors or lawyers.The idea that women could work in the business world had been accepted.
56.Why couldn't women become teachers easily? Because_______.
A.the first profession open to them was writing
B.most schools and colleges were open only to men
C.they wanted to be nurses instead
D.they had to work in the business world
57.The article is mainly about_______.
A.women in the business world B.the famous Bronte sisters
C.schools and colleges in America D.rights for American women
58.Which fact does the article lead you to believe?
A.The Bronte sisters thought that they were men.
B.England's first training school for nurses was in Ohio.
C.There are more men than women in professional job.
D.Women find it necessary to work harder than before.
59.Which of the following is TRUE?
A.The typewriter was made in the 1970's.
B.Most Englanders are doctors or lawyers.
C.People's ideas about women's work have changed.
D.The 18th century saw a changing world for women.
We may all have had the embarrassing moment: Getting half-way through a story only to realize that we’ve told this exact tale before, to the same person. Why do we make such memory mistakes?
According to research published in Psychological Science, it may have to do with the way our brains process different types of memory.
Researchers Nigel Gopie, of the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, and Colin Macleod, of the University of Waterloo, divided memory into two kinds. The first was source memory, or the ability to keep track of where information is coming from. The second was destination memory, or the ability to recall who we have given information to.
They found that source memory functions better than destination memory, in part because of the direction in which that information is travelling.
To study the differences between source and destination memory, the researchers did an experiment on 60 university students, according to a New York Times report. The students were asked to associate (联想) 50 random ( 随意的) facts with the faces of 50 famous people. Half of the students "told" each fact to one of the faces, reading it aloud when the celebrity's (名人的) picture appeared on a computer screen. The other half read each fact silently and saw a different celebrity picture afterward.
When later asked to recall which facts went with which faces, the students who were giving information out (destination memory) scored about 16 percent lower on memory performance compared with the students receiving information (source memory).
The researchers concluded that out-going information was less associated with its environmental context (背景)---- that is, the person ---- than was incoming information.
This makes sense given what is known about attention. A person who is giving information, even little facts, will devote some mental resources to thinking about what is being said. Because our attention is limited, we give less attention to the person we are giving information to.
After a second experiment with another group of 40 students, the researchers concluded that self-focus is another factor that undermines destination memory.
They asked half the students to continue giving out random information, while the other told things about themselves. This time around, those who were talking about themselves did 15 percent worse than those giving random information.
"When you start telling these personal facts compared with non-self facts, suddenly destination memory goes down more, suggesting that it is the self-focus component ( 成分) that's reducing the memory, Gopie told Live Science.
72. The point of this article is to ____.
A. give advice on how to improve memory
B. say what causes the memory to worsen
C. explain why we repeat stories to those we've already told them to
D. discuss the differences between source and destination memory
73. What can we learn from the article?
A. Source memory helps us remember who we have told the information to.
B. One's limited attention is one of the reasons why those reading aloud to the celebrity's pictures perform worse on the memory test.
C. Silent reading is a better way to remember information than reading aloud.
D. It tends to be more difficult for people to link incoming information with its environmental context than outgoing information.
74. The underlined word "undermines" probably means ____.
A. weakens B. benefits C. explains D. supports
75. What did the scientists conclude from the second experiment?
A. Destination memory is weaker than source memory.
B. Focusing attention on oneself leads to relatively poor source memory performance.
C. Associating personal experience with information helps people memorize better.
D. Self-focus is responsible for giving information twice or more to the same person.