D
Dear Guys,
I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.
One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly (勉强地) agreed.
Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request.
However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, and threw it as hard as I could.
It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.
Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, and then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.
The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.
This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.
Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.
Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.
“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.
“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.
And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”
I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.
Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.
It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.
I surprised myself—and I’m sure you as well—by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery.
Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”
Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period were just enough blows for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”
And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.
Sincerely, Jen CorderyThe writer agreed to throw the ball because ______.
| A．she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries |
| B．she wanted to refresh her childhood memories |
| C．she could not refuse the polite request from the young man |
| D．she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight |
Which of the following is closet in meaning to the underlined word “game”?
| A．anxious | B．brave | C．afraid | D．curious |
Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?
| A．To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back. |
| B．To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills. |
| C．To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were. |
| D．To express her dislike towards softball. |
What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer ________.
| A．inspired | B．encouraged | C．awkward | D．depressed |
What happened to the ball at last?
| A．The writer managed to throw the ball back. |
| B．The boy got the ball back by himself. |
| C．The writer threw the ball away out of anger. |
| D．The boys got angry and left without the ball. |
What’s the writer’s purpose in writing this open letter?
| A．To express her regret over what she did the day before. |
| B．To announce that she would never play all games again. |
| C．To joke on her inability to throw the ball over the fence. |
| D．To criticize the young men for their cruelty to her dignity. |
Imagine a world in which there were suddenly no emotion — a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation. People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, anxiety nor fear, they would be as likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there could be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society's economic underpinnings (支柱) would be destroyed: since earning $10 million would be no more pleasant than earning $10, there would be no incentive (动力) to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind, for as we will see, incentives mean a capacity to enjoy them.
In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero, because emotions are the basic instruments of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. As individuals, we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True, we consider the length, shape, size or texture, but an object's physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us — hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations colored by emotions in our families, communities, and overall society. Out of our emotional experience with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions are "good" and others are "bad", and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life — from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept. In fact, society uses our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals who perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such as flying fighter planes in a war, and uses the legal penal (刑法的) system to make people afraid to engage in antisocial acts. Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?
| A．people would not be able to tell the physical aspects of objects. |
| B．People would not know what was beneficial and what was harmful to them. |
| C．$ 10 million is equal to $ 10 in a world without emotions. |
| D．There would be full of lies, arguments and violence. |
In can be inferred from the passage that the economic foundation of society is dependent on ________.
| A．the ability to make money |
| B．the capacity to work |
| C．the motivation to work |
| D．our emotional experiences |
Why are the emotional aspects of an object more important than its physical aspects?
| A．They help society use its members for more profit. |
| B．They encourage us to perform important tasks in the war. |
| C．They help to perfect the legal and penal system to make people afraid. |
| D．They help us adapt our behaviors to the world surrounding us. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．People could only live in a world with emotions. |
| B．People would always do bad things in the emotionless world. |
| C．Emotions are very important in the world. |
| D．Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. |
You can love them or hate them, but no matter which tourist destination you visit, chances are you'll see someone with their head buried in a Lonely Planet guidebook.
Lonely Planet is one of the world's largest travel guide brands, publishing more than 500 different guides in eight languages. The popular brand also produces television shows, websites and podcasts (播客) all devoted to travel.
Some people praise Lonely Planet books because they make traveling easy and affordable. They also save time and make sure you don't miss the best things.
They also provide the reviews of hostels, hotels, restaurants and ticket information about your destination.
This can be great if you're a nervous traveler, or if you haven't traveled by yourself before. If you're in a country where you don't speak the language, sometimes there's nothing better than getting into a taxi and opening up a guidebook. You simply point to a map that directs the taxi driver to a hostel that's cheap and clean, with friendly staff and cold beer.
But others criticize Lonely Planet and other travel guide publishers like them. They say guidebooks take the fun and spontaneity (自发性) out of traveling, and that part of the enjoyment of travel comes from the fact that anything can happen. They also regret that if you follow a guidebook, you'll end up doing the same thing and having the same experience as everyone else. You might end up seeing the same group of people over and over, because everyone is reading the same book and following the same route.
Another criticism of travel guides is that they have a large impact on local communities. For example, some locals devote their lives to behaving in ways that attract tourists. They pretend to live a traditional lifestyle, wear traditional clothes and live in traditional houses in order to attract the tourist dollar.The Lonely Planet guidebook can bring you the following advantages EXCEPT that _____.
| A．you can speak a foreign language when opening a guidebook |
| B．you can easily find a nice place to stay in a strange city |
| C．it provides lots of useful information about your destination |
| D．it can help you save time and money when traveling |
People criticize the guidebook because ________.
| A．it is not as useful as most travelers expect |
| B．tourist destinations will be crowded if everyone follows the same route |
| C．travelers may not get the chance to have unexpected adventures |
| D．local people keep modern lifestyles under its influence |
What do we know about the Lonely Planet guidebook from the text?
| A．It's a world-famous brand only producing guidebooks for travelers. |
| B．It's very useful to a person who's nervous about touring an unfamiliar place. |
| C．It's very useful to a tourist who likes to repeat others' experiences. |
| D．It is loved by all travelers because of the convenience it brings to travelers. |
Which of the following best shows the structure of the text? (①－⑦ stand for
Paragraph l－Paragraph 7 )
The Netherlands on Monday introduced its first-ever intelligent bicycle, fitted with electronic devices to help bring down the high accident rate among elderly cyclists in the bicycle-mad country.
Developed for the government by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), the intelligent bicycle, runs on electricity. A commercial-available bicycle is expected to be on the market in the next two years and should sell for between 1, 700 to 3, 200 euros per bicycle.
The devices on the bike are linked through an onboard computer with a vibrating (震动的) warning system fitted in the bicycle's saddle and handlebars to warn cyclists of the coming danger.
The saddle vibrates when other cyclists approach from behind, while, the handlebars do the same when barriers appear ahead.
"Accidents often happen when cyclists look behind them or get a fright when they are passed at high speed," said Maurice Kwakkernaat, one of TNO's research scientists involved in the project. "The onboard system technology has already been at work in the car industry," he said.
''More and more elderly people are using a bicycle, not only for short distances, but also for longer distances," Dutch Environment and Infrastructure Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen told AFP. "This type of bicycle is truly needed in the Netherlands because it will help us bring down the number of elderly people who are injured every year and allow them to continue to enjoy cycling," she said.
In the Netherlands, bicycles outnumber the population of 17 million by at least one million and there are some 25,000 km of bicycle path in the country. Those statistics are set to grow as more and more people take to two-wheeled transport, leading to an increased risk of injury.
Last year, 184 cyclists died in the country, of which 124, or 67%, were older than 65, according to the Central Statistics Office. The year before, 200 cyclists died, the majority of victims also being elderly.
The current model weighs 25 kilograms but researchers are working on making the onboard systems smaller.
The intelligent bicycle is aimed to ________.
| A．protect the environment |
| B．help reduce traffic pressure |
| C．popularize the use of bicycles |
| D．improve safety for elderly cyclists |
Which part of the intelligent bicycle will vibrate when another cyclist was suddendly
found ahead ?
| A．The handlebars. | B．The wheels. |
| C．The saddle. | D．The onboard computer. |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A．the elderly ride bicycles wherever they go |
| B．the accident rate among elderly cyclists is high |
| C．the number of elderly cyclists is decreasing |
| D．the elderly are planning to give up cycling |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．A Test Bicycle | B．Elderly Cyclists |
| C．A Smart Bicycle | D．A Bicycle-mad Country |
Sports are the base of my life, next to my mother who raised me when my dad left us. I have been into sports since I was six years old. I have known many coaches and heard hundreds of their tips, but they usually focused on drills to develop my skills and reach the next level of play.
When I was in Senior Two, I met the new school basketball coach, Brian Pawloski. I thought I was certain to be selected for the school team since I had been in it the year before. I showed up to the tryouts and put out about 90% effort since I thought I’d make it with no problem. That was a big mistake.
Brian Pawloski is the hardest-working coach I have ever met. He didn’t expect 100% effort, he expected 200% effort. One example: he once made us do 40 suicide drills for the 40 lay-ups (投篮) we missed in a game. Some think this is crazy, but it isn’t. After this conditioning practice, as we were getting a cup of cold water to drink, I said, “coach, that was the best practice I ever had.” I was completely sincere. This man was and is the person who influenced me most at my high school. He expects us to be excellent not just on the court but in the classroom. If I am not working on basketball, I am reading a book that he thinks will help us better understand life’s challenges, including Wooden, Coach, and The Screwtape Letters.
In the first two years I slacked off, not putting forth my full potential. Now, unlike the coaches of my youth, this man was interested in how he did off the court. He always made sure I kept up with my studies and was able to be trusted. I can honestly say that no other coach has given me so much advice on how to succeed in basketball, but more importantly, in life. My school is lucky to have such a great person to teach, coach and influence their students. I will always remember my high-school basketball days as one of the hardest times I have ever worked in my life not only in basketball but in my growth as an individual.Different from other coaches, Coach Brian ________.
| A．concentrated on skill training |
| B．expected the team to do well in their studies |
| C．trained the team to the edge of death |
| D．asked the team to do more reading than training |
The underlined phrase “slacked off” in the last paragraph probably means ________.
| A．paid no attention | B．showed no interest |
| C．made less effort | D．had less passion |
In the author’s eye, Coach Brian is ________.
| A．professional and serious |
| B．hardworking and honest |
| C．skilled and cruel |
| D．strict and helpful |
Dear Dr.Servaas,
I was diagnosed with histoplasrnosis（组织胞浆菌病）30 years ago ．At that time， my doctor told me that it was lung fungus（真菌）that could affect my eyesight.This has happened·Can it affect other organs of the body？
F．Buongiorne
Delta Junction，Arkansas，
Most people have no symptoms resulting from the lung infection，explains histo expert Dr.L.Joseph Wheat，when symptoms do develop，they are usually mild and will disappear without treatment
In some cases，however，histo can spread from the lungs and cause more serious problems．
“Histo is more severe in persons with diseases that reduce thcir immunity or who are receiving immunosuppressive（免疫抑制）medications,”says Dr.Wheat，"In such cases，histo can spread from lungs to other parts of the body．Patients with this type of histoplasmosis usually have constant fever，sweats，and weight loss·Excellent tests are available to diagnose this type of histo，and the treatment is highly effective·”
As mentioned by our Arkansas reader，eye problems accompanied by vision loss have been reported long after the first infection．
"Histo is thought by some to be a cause of spots on the back of the eye，called ‘histo spots’，”notes Dr·Wheat．“These injuries cause no problems in some patients， while in others they cause visual loss．There is no proof that histo causes these spots， however，as the organism is not found in the injured parts，and treatment for histo is not effective for the eye spots．”
People catch histoplasmosis by breathing extremely small spores（孢子）of the histoplasma fungus into their lungs·This fungus is commonly found in areas polluted by bird or bat droppings such as caves，chicken cages，barns（谷仓），and under bridges．It will spread through the air during construction or whenever plowing，sweeping，or digging disturbs the soil．What’s the problem with F．Buongiorne？
| A．He has recently been diagnosed with his to． |
| B．He is having difficulty in breathing． |
| C．He is worried about his health． |
| D．He has become totally blind． |
Which of the following is Dr．Wheat’s opinion about“histo"？
| A．The disease is equally harmful to all people． |
| B．The disease will make people put on weight． |
| C．The disease won’t cause serious problems and no medicine is effective for it· |
| D．The disease doesn’t，t necessarily have a serious effect on every patient with it· |
How is“histo" related to“histo spots"？
| A．"Histo spots" may not be caused by“histo"． |
| B．Patients with“histo" will have“histo spots"． |
| C．"Histo spots" will cause visual loss to all patients． |
| D．“Histo spots" can be cured by the same medicine as cures“histd |
We can infer from the passage that＿ ．
| A．“histo" spreads through water |
| B．"histo" originates from animals |
| C．you may have the disease by eating affected chicken |
| D．workers in a close office are most likely to have“histo" |