“The 13th of June，1325，I left Tangier，my birthplace，with the intention of making the pilgrimage（朝圣）to Mecca ．．．to leave all my friends，to abandon my home as birds abandon their nests．” So begins an old manuscript in a library in Paris—the travel diary of Ibn Battuta．
Almost two centuries before Columbus，this young Moroccan set off for Mecca，returning home three decades later as one of history’s great travelers．Driven by curiosity，he journeyed to remote corners of the Islamic world，traveling through 44 modern countries，three times as far as Marco Polo．Little celebrated in the West，his name is well known among Arabs．In his hometown of Tangier，a square，a hotel，a cafe，a ferry boat，and even a hamburger are named after him．
Ibn Battuta stayed in Mecca as a student for several years，but the urge to travel soon took over．In one adventure，he traveled to India seeking profitable employment with the sultan—the Muslim ruler of Delhi．On the way，he described his group being attacked in the open country by 80 men on foot，and two horsemen: “… I was hit by an arrow and my horse by another，but God in his grace preserved me ．．．” In Delhi，the sultan gave him the position of judge，based on his previous study at Mecca．But the sultan had an unpredictable character，and Ibn Battuta looked for an opportunity to leave．When the sultan offered to finance a trip to China，he agreed．Ibn Battuta set off in three ships，but misfortune struck while he was still on the shore．A sudden storm grounded and broke up two ships，scattering （散播）treasure and drowning many people and horses．As he watched，the third ship，with all his belongings and slaves—one carrying his child—was carried out to sea and never heard from again．
After a lifetime of amazing adventures，Ibn Battuta was finally ordered by the Sultan of Morocco to return home to share his wisdom with the world．Fortunately，he agreed and wrote a book that has been translated into numerous languages，allowing people everywhere to read about his unparalleled journeys．What can we learn about Ibn Battuta from the passage？
| A．He had great interest in the Islamic world． |
| B．He returned to his homeland to write a book． |
| C．His journeys were less important than Marco Polo’s． |
| D．His journeys were very common for people of that time． |
The Sultan of Delhi gave Ibn Battuta a position of judge because _______．
| A．Ibn Battuta had studied in Mecca |
| B．Ibn Battuta had been a judge before |
| C．Ibn Battuta had worked as a translator |
| D．Ibn Battuta had traveled to many countries |
Which is the best title for the passage？
| A．The Learned Ibn Battuta |
| B．A Visitor to Mecca |
| C．The Travels of Ibn Battuta |
| D．Desire for Adventures |
One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience, is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are．
When we see something we don’t like, we wish it could be different. We cry out for something better. That may be human nature，or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture. The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different．However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place. We’ve judged it as bad，rather than saying, “It's not bad or good, and it just is it．”
In one of my books, I said, “You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”. Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong．However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad. Instead，you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is．
This can be applied to whatever you do：how other people act at work，how politics works and how depressing the news media can be．Accept these things as they are，and try to understand why they’re that way. _It_ will save you a lot of sadness，because you’ll no longer say, “Oh, I wish bad things didn’t happen!’’
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all. But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are, but because you enjoy the process of changing, learning and growing．
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’ll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person, to make a difference in this world. That’s the correct path you choose to take，because you enjoy that path. Therefore, when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference, try a different approach: accept, and understand. It might lead to some interesting results．The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ___________.
| A．it is our natural emotion in the life |
| B．culture asks us to be different from others |
| C．everyone has their own opinions on things |
| D．we dislike something in the beginning |
In Paragraph 4，the underlined word "it" refers to ____________．
| A．acting well at work and in politics |
| B．feeling depressed for the news media |
| C．accepting and understanding what has happened |
| D．saying something negative when bad things come |
In the last paragraph，you are advised _____________．
| A．to help others and make a difference |
| B．to enjoy what you have to do in the work |
| C．to judge yourself and make a wish for you |
| D．to try a new way when making the world better |
What is the main theme of the passage?
| A．Expecting things to be different gives us hope． |
| B．Accepting can make our life happier and better． |
| C．Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness． |
| D．Judging good or bad is important for our world． |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological（病态的）relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．attraction | B．advantage |
| C．adaption | D．attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.
| A．attract people to buy their products |
| B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life |
| D．deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ______.
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
| A．Neutral | B．Skeptical |
| C．Disapproving | D．Sympathetic |
Does everyone want a challenging job? In spite of all the attention focused by the media, academicians, and social scientists on human potential and the needs of individuals, there is no evidence to support that the vast majority of workers want challenging jobs. Some individuals prefer highly complex and challenging jobs; others develop in simple, routine work.
The individual-difference variable（变量）that seems to gain the greatest support for explaining who prefers a challenging job and who doesn’t is the strength of an individual’s needs for personal growth and self-direction at work. Individuals with these higher-order growth needs are more responsive for challenging work. What percentage of ordinary workers actually desire higher-order need satisfactions and will respond positively to challenging jobs? No current data is available, but a study from the 1970s estimated the figure at about 15%. Even after adjusting for changing work attitudes and the growth in white-collar jobs, it seems unlikely that the number today exceeds 40%.
The strongest voice advocating challenging jobs has not been workers—it’s been professors, social science researchers, and media people. Professors, researchers, and journalists undoubtedly made their career choices, to some degree, because they wanted jobs that gave them autonomy, recognition and challenge. That, of course, is their choice. But for them, to force their needs onto the workforce in general is presumptuous (冒失的).
Not every employee is looking for a challenging job. Many workers meet their higher-order need off the job. There are 168 hours in every individual’s week. Work rarely consumes more than 30% of this time. That leaves considerable opportunities, even for individuals with strong growth needs, to find higher-order need satisfaction outside the workplace. So don’t feel you have a responsibility to create challenging jobs for all your employees. For many people, work is something that will never excite or challenge them. And they don’t expect to find their growth opportunities at work. Work is merely something they have to do to pay their bills. They can find challenges outside of work on the golf course, fishing, at their local pub, with their friends in social clubs, with their family, and the like.What makes people choose challenging jobs?
| A．Positive responses. | B．Work attitudes. |
| C．Higher-order growth needs. | D．Personal self-direction. |
Who is the least likely to prefer a challenging job?
| A．College professors. | B．Construction workers. |
| C．Social researchers. | D．Media journalists. |
The passage is intended for _______.
| A．job-hunters | B．researchers |
| C．employers | D．graduates |
Which is the best title for the passage?
| A．Not Everyone Wants a Challenging Job |
| B．Complex Jobs Offer Growth Opportunities |
| C．Employers Should Create Challenging Jobs |
| D．Challenging Jobs Give a Sense of Recognition |
Whether we should allow marine (海洋的) parks to stay open has been widely debated in our community recently. A variety of different arguments have been put forward about it.
Smith, a sociologist, argued that dolphin parks provide the only opportunity for much of the public to see marine mammals. As this argument goes, most Australians live in cities and never get to see these animals. Marine parks allow the average Australian to appreciate our marine wildlife. However, in fact, there are many places where they can be seen in the wild. Moreover, these places do not charge an overpriced entry fee — they are free.
Dr. Alison Lane, the director of the Cairns Marine Science Institute, insists that we need marine parks for scientific research. She argues that much of our knowledge of marine mammals comes from studies which were undertaken at marine parks. The knowledge which is obtained at marine parks can be useful for planning for the preservation of marine mammal species. However, Jones, a zoologist, explains that park research is only useful for understanding captive animals and is not useful for learning about animals in the wild. Their diets are different, they have significantly lower life lengths and they are more likely to have a disease. In addition, marine mammals in dolphin parks are trained and this means that their patterns of social behavior are changed.
The Marine Park Owners Association holds that marine parks attract a lot of foreign tourists. This position goes on to state that these tourists spend a lot of money, increasing our foreign exchange earnings and assisting our national balance of payments. However, foreign tourists would still come to Australia if the parks were closed down. Indeed, surveys of overseas tourists show that they come here for a variety of other reasons and not to visit places like Seaworld. Tourists come here to see our native wildlife in its natural environment and not to see it in cages and concrete pools. They can see animals in those conditions in their own countries.
In a word, perhaps an agreement cannot be reached now. However, a question does deserve our consideration: If we continue with our past crimes against these creatures, how will our future generations view us?Who support(s) the idea of closing marine parks?
| A．Most Australians. | B．Jones. |
| C．Smith. | D．Alison Lane. |
Which is NOT the reason to keep marine parks?
| A．For entertainment purpose. |
| B．For scientific research purpose. |
| C．For economic purpose. |
| D．For political purpose. |
The author tries to persuade readers to accept his argument mainly by________.
| A．pointing out the problems with keeping the marine parks |
| B．using evidence he has collected at the marine parks |
| C．discussing the advantages of animals' natural homes |
| D．questioning the way the animals are studied |
| For: Doug Smith, Director of wolf recovery, Yellowstone National Park In the world today there is so much we are losing; more and more species disappear from the earth every year. The time has come to put something back，to restore to treat some of the old wounds enforced on nature over the years. Wolves are animals killing and eating other animals in North America. They play an important role in keeping the continent healthy. Most places don’t have enough wild country to make their restoration possible, which means it’s even more important to restore wolves where conditions are right, places like Yellowstone, which has both a high level of wildness, as well as abundant creatures that wolves hunt and eat for living. Some who oppose wolf restoration have a human centered point of view that the earth is here for humans, we can use it whenever we want and for whatever purpose. But wolves offer us a chance to live another way—a way to learn to live with other life forms. |
Against: Larry Bouret, Vice President, Wyoming Farm Bureau What does wolf introduction to Yellowstone mean? To the average citizen it probably just means introducing wolves to Yellowstone. There would be no unfavorable effects because few people live near Yellowstone. But to farmers it means introducing wolves, which wander over vast areas—in and out of the park—onto their farms. Wolves eat meat—as in the cattle, sheep that keep farmers in business. Introduction apparently also means lawsuits by environmental groups attempting to remove livestock from federal lands. To farmers, who own private lands in the same area, it means the possibility of financial ruin. To farmers it is a form of land use restrictions. To farmers introducing wolves means taking away the farmers’ livelihoods without just compensation. Why do people not want a nuclear power plant built in their backyard? For the same reason farmers do not want wolves introduced into their backyard. |
What are the two passages mainly about?
| A．Whether to remove livestock away from federal lands. |
| B．Whether to introduce wolves to Yellowstone. |
| C．How to increase the number of wolves. |
| D．How to keep the balance of nature. |
According to the passage Doug Smith is _______.
| A．a national park administrator. |
| B．a wildlife conservationist. |
| C．an enthusiastic hunter. |
| D．a private land owner. |
What are the farmers concerned about?
| A．Being controlled by wolves. |
| B．Having to sell their farmland. |
| C．Suffering heavy financial loss. |
| D．Being forced to leave their homes. |
Why does Larry Bouret mention “nuclear power plant”?
| A．To summarize his opinion. |
| B．To make his view persuasive. |
| C．To tell the danger of nuclear power plant. |
| D．To introduce the background of wolf recovery. |