There are two kinds of people in the world. Although they have equal degree of health and wealth and other comforts of life, one becomes happy and the other becomes unhappy. This arises from the different ways in which they consider things, persons, events and the resulting effects upon their minds.
People who are to be happy fix their attention on the convenience of things: the pleasant parts of conversation, the well prepared dishes, the goodness of the wine and the fine weather. They enjoy all the cheerful things. Those who are to be unhappy think and speak only of the opposite things. Therefore, they are continually dissatisfied. By their remarks, they sour the pleasure of society, hurt many people, and make themselves disagreeable everywhere. If this turn of mind was founded in nature, such unhappy persons would be the more to be pitied. The intention of criticizing and being disliked is perhaps taken up by imitation. It grows into a habit, unknown to its possessors. The habit may be strong, but it may be cured when those who have it realize its bad effects on their interests and tastes. I hope this little warning may be of service to them, and help them change this habit.
Although in fact it is chiefly an act of the imagination, it has serious results in life since it brings on deep sorrow and bad luck. Those people hurt many others; nobody loves them, and no one treats them with more than the most common politeness and respect. This frequently puts them in bad temper and draws them into arguments. If they aim at getting some advantages in social position or fortune, nobody wishes them success. Nor will anyone start a step or speak a word to favor their hopes. If they bring on themselves public objections, no one will defend or excuse them, and many will join to criticize their wrongdoings. These should change this bad habit and be pleased with what is pleasing, without worrying needlessly about themselves and others. If they do not, it will be good for others to avoid any contact with them. Otherwise, it can be disagreeable and sometimes very inconvenient, especially when one becomes mixed up in their quarrels.People who are unhappy _______.
| A．always consider things differently from others |
| B．usually are affected by the results of certain things |
| C．usually misunderstand what others think or say |
| D．always discover the unpleasant side of certain things |
The phrase “sour the pleasure of society” most nearly means “_______”.
| A．has a good taste with social life |
| B．makes others unhappy |
| C．tend to scold others openly |
| D．enjoy the pleasure of life |
We can conclude from the passage that _______.
| A．people can get rid of the habit of unhappiness |
| B．such unhappy people are dangerous to social life |
| C．we should pity all such unhappy people |
| D．unhappy people can not understand happy persons |
If such unhappy persons insist on keeping the habit, the author suggests that people should _______.
| A．show no respect and politeness to them |
| B．persuade them to recognize the bad effects |
| C．prevent any communication with them |
| D．quarrel with them until they realize the mistakes |
The history of newspapers is an often-dramatic chapter of the human experience going back some six centuries.In Renaissance Europe handwritten newsletters circulated(发行) privately among merchants,passing along information about everything from wars and economic conditions to social customs and “human interest” features.The first printed newspaper appeared in Germany in the late 1400s in the form of news pamphlets(小册子) or broadsides.
In the English-speaking world,the earliest predecessors(前身) of the newspaper were corantos,small news pamphlets produced only when some event worthy of notice occurred.The first successively published title was The Weekly News of 1622.The first true newspaper in English was the London Gazette of 1666.
In America the first newspaper appeared in Boston in 1690,entitled Public Occurrences.Published without official permission,it was immediately suppressed(查禁).Its publisher was arrested,and all copies were destroyed.The first successful newspaper was the Boston News-Letter,begun by postmaster John Campbell in 1704.By the eve of the Revolutionary War,some two dozen papers were issued at all the colonies.At the war’s end in 1783 there were forty-three newspapers in print. The Bill of Rights in 1791 at last guaranteed freedom of the press,and America’s newspapers began to take on a central role in national affairs.By 1814 there were 346 newspapers.
In the 1830s,advances in printing and papermaking technology led to an explosion of newspaper growth—the emergence(出现) of the “Penny Press”;it was now possible to produce a newspaper that could be sold for just a cent a copy.The cheap newspaper helped people to get more interesting reading materials easily.In 1850,there were 2526 different papers.By the 1910s,all the basic features of the modern newspaper had emerged. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Handwritten newsletters came out publicly in Renaissance Europe. |
| B．The first printed newspaper was seen about six hundred years ago. |
| C．The first successively published newspaper in the English-speaking world was corantos. |
| D．In America the first newspaper was successful as soon as it appeared. |
What does the underlined phrase “Penny Press” in the last paragraph mean?
| A．People can press pennies easily. |
| B．People can produce newspapers with little cost. |
| C．It is a penny factory. |
| D．The name of the press owner is Penny. |
What is the main reason for newspapers in the USA increasing so fast in the 1830s?
| A．The pass of the Bill of Rights in 1791. |
| B．Newspapers began to take on a central role in national affairs. |
| C．Advances in printing and papermaking technology. |
| D．All the basic features of the modern newspaper had emerged |
Which of the following is NOT a newspaper?
| A．Public Occurrences. |
| B．The Boston News-Letter. |
| C．The Bill of Rights. |
| D．The London Gazette. |
An Earthship is a home that is built of materials such as old tires and aluminum cans. It is the idea of a man named Michael Reynolds. Many Earthships are more or less self-sufficient because they provide their own heat, air and water. They often have gardens watered and fed by waste water. They are comfortable and ecologically friendly.
The main material used in building Earthships is tires. Tires are plentiful and
can't be recycled like paper, plastic, and metal. While building supplies for most houses can be very expensive, old used tires are free.
First, the tires are packed tightly with dirt. Each full tire weighs as much as
400 pounds. The tires are then stacked like bricks. The walls are extremely strong. They also help keep an even temperature in the house (between 60 and 70 degrees) without heating and cooling systems.
The walls inside the Earthship are made of aluminum cans that are held together by cement. Then they are coated with adobe or stucco.
The roofs of Earthships are sloped so that rain and snow run into large tanks. These tanks hold all the water for the house, and pumps push the water through the pipes. Sometimes, water flows in certain areas of the house as waterfalls! Water that has been used is pumped out into the gardens where owners grow much of their own food.
In most of these houses, the southern side has huge windows that take in winter sunlight as a source of heat. Summer sun does not come in through the south windows, so it doesn't get too hot in the summer. The house also has solar panels that gather energy for lights and hot water and cooking. The Earthships have all the comforts of a regular house without the high cost of electric bills!
In a time when we are running out of energy resources, pollution is bad, and waste is piling up, Earthships are the best places to live in. For people who truly care about the environment,Earthships provide a great alternative to traditional houses. You won't be giving up any comforts, and the styles are attractive. We all hope that more and more people will build Earthships and take a huge step toward helping the environment and saving our planet.What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Earthships are a good way to live and protect the environment. |
| B．Tanks hold water collected from rain and snow. |
| C．It's important to grow your own food in a vegetable garden. |
| D．People who live in Earthships usually live in the desert. |
Which of the following is NOT explained in the passage?
| A．How an Earthship is built. |
| B．What an Earthship is mainly made of. |
| C．Why the Earthship is so called. |
| D．How an Earthship is heated in winter. |
Which evidence best supports the idea that Earthships are environmentally friendly?
| A．They were invented by Michael Reynolds. |
| B．Water that has been used is pumped out into the garden. |
| C．They are comfortable and ecologically friendly. |
| D．The tires are packed tightly with dirt. |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．a large population are already living in Earthships |
| B．the idea of Earthships will attract the attention of governments |
| C．the materials for the Earthships will be harmful to the dwellers(居住者) |
| D．the northern side of the Earthship has no window |
A new study finds that the animal known as man’s best friend can also be a good friend to the heart. Researchers in California say they have found that even just a short visit with a dog helped ease the worries of heart patients.
The study divided the patients into three groups. In Group A, a dog and a person visited each patient for twelve minutes. Patients in Group B received just a human visitor for twelve minutes. And members of Group C received no visitor, human or canine(犬的).
The dogs would lie on the hospital bed so the heart patients could touch them. The researchers say some patients immediately smiled and talked to the dog and the human visitor. Dogs, in her words, “make people happier, calmer and feel more loved.”
The researchers examined the patients before, during and after the visits. They measured stress levels based on blood flow and heart activity. They say they found a twenty-four percent decrease in the group visited by both a dog and a person. They reported a ten percent decrease in the group visited by a person only. There was no change in the patients without any visit. These patients, however, did have an increase in their production of the hormone epinephrine (epinephrine肾上腺素). The body produces epinephrine during times of stress.
The increase was an average of seven percent. But the study found that patients who spent time with a dog had a seventeen percent drop in their levels of epinephrine. Patients visited by a human but not a dog also had a decrease, but only two percent.The author believes that _______.
| A．the dog can take the place of most medicines |
| B．the dog is the most popular pet for man |
| C．the findings of the research cannot be trusted |
| D．visits by a human work better than visits by a dog |
Which of the following best shows the stress level changes in the groups of patients? BACC
From the research findings we may conclude that _______.
| A．the less the body produces epinephrine, the better |
| B．the longer a visit lasts, the happier the patient should be |
| C．the patients enjoyed the dogs’ company more than the human visitors’ |
| D．it’s impossible for heart patients to recover without dogs’ visits |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Worried Heart Patients | B．Epinephrine and Stress |
| C．Good Friend to the Heart | D．Three Groups of Patients |
“Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” says education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have a product that we now think of as of great importance: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their work time just thinking about and developing new ideas.
Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.
Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can give back information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.
It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should let their children decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?
| A．They should encourage people to work a longer time. |
| B．People should be discouraged to think freely. |
| C．People will do better if they spend most of their work time developing new ideas. |
| D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their work time considering and improving new ideas. |
According to the passage, creativity is ________.
| A．something that most people are born with |
| B．something that depends mainly on intelligence |
| C．a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems |
| D．something that is not important to the character of a person at all |
Why do schools tend to fail to encourage creativity?
| A．They give children too many choices. |
| B．They are not strict enough with children. |
| C．They care too much about examination marks. |
| D．They don’t understand the importance of education. |
Which of the following skills is the most important in developing creativity?
| A．Reading. | B．Writing. | C．Mathematical skill. | D．Decision-making. |
Fidenzio Salvatori is determined that the city of Toronto will have an outdoor marketplace for merchants from its immigrant community, complete with dancing and other forms of amusement form their native countries. “Toronto is truly multicultural (多元文化的)，” he said in a newspaper interview. “It’s a city from many places, and multicultural marketplace will help Torontonians to understand and appreciate the rich variety of cultural groups in our city.”
Salvatori, aged 23, will soon complete his studies at the University of Toronto. He was eleven years old when he came to Canada from Italy with his parents. “Most of Toronto’s immigrants are from lands where the marketplace has always been part of daily life,” he said.
Salvatori has been interested in getting an open-air market for Toronto for the last three years. This year, with the help of two fellow students, he prepared a proposal on the subject and presented it to the city’s Executive committee, asking for their support. The proposal pointed out Toronto’s rich variety of national groups, “whose customs include market shopping.”
Under a Canadian government program for multiculturalism, the three students have received two thousand dollars with which they will do a study to find out whether Toronto’s immigrant businessmen would support an open-air market. They hope the merchants will support the plan strongly. “A study done earlier this year showed that 90 percent of shoppers would be in favor of it,” Salvatori said. “At first it would be an experiment. But we think it will prove to be good business for the merchants, as well as tourist attraction.”What is Fidenzio Salvatori’s purpose of having an outdoor marketplace for Toronto?
| A．To provide different forms of amusement. |
| B．To keep the cultural variety of the city. |
| C．To inspire its immigrant community. |
| D．To satisfy its immigrant merchants. |
Fidenzio Salvatori, with two other students, has got two thousand dollars from the government ______.
| A．to make an experiment | B．to perform a research |
| C．to start a marketplace | D．to operate a business |
According to Salvatori, the marketplace may also help to improve Toronto’s ______.
| A．market management | B．travel industry |
| C．community service | D．city planning |
It can be inferred from the text that the Canadian government supports ______.
| A．the protection of different cultures | B．the plan of an open-air market |
| C．the request of merchants | D．the attitude of shoppers |