“Selfie” (自拍) joins ranks of dictionary words.
In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s 21st birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on some steps and cut his lip. He took a picture of his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum. “And sorry about the focus,” he wrote, “it was a selfie.” That was the first recorded use of the word “selfie”, according to linguistic experts at Oxford Dictionaries.
On Nov 19, Oxford Dictionaries declared “selfie” Word of the Year for 2013, in honor of the term having taken over the world thanks to millions of smart phone self-portraits and the resulting shares on social media.
So what does the choice of the word say about our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism(自恋).Megan Jackson from a local newspaper points out a selfie may only focus on appearance.
Selfies invite judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the warped way we teach girls to see themselves as decorative,” said Ryan.
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves and taking control of their own self-presentation. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse of girl pride —a shout-out to the self”. Which of the following is true about the first use of “selfie”?
| A．The Australian man created it to celebrate his friend’s 21st birthday. |
| B．The Australian man created by chance when he got drunk and shared his photo online. |
| C．The Oxford Dictionary used it to thank the creation of smart phone. |
| D．The social media were so advanced that they made the word transmitted. |
The underlined word “tripped” in the first paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．traveled | B．stepped lightly |
| C．fell down | D．made mistakes |
Who holds a positive opinion towards selfie in the life of women?
| A．Mary Elizabeth. | B．Megan Jackson. |
| C．Erin Gloria Ryan. | D．Rachel Simmons. |
The text is mainly concerned with ________.
| A．the introduction of the word “selfie” |
| B．the choice of the word “selfie” |
| C．the history of the word “selfie” |
| D．the characteristics of the word “selfie” |
How Americans Began to Eat Tomatoes
People have strange ideas about food. For example, the tomato is a kind of very
delicious vegetable. It is one of useful plants that can be prepared in many ways. It has rich nutrition and vitamin in it. But in the 18th century, Americans never ate tomatoes. They grow them in their gardens because tomato plants are so pretty. But they thought the vegetable was poisonous (有毒的). They called tomatoes “poison apples”.
President Thomas Jefferson, however, knew that tomatoes were good to eat. He was a learned man. He had been to Paris, where he learned to love the taste of tomatoes. He grew many kinds of tomatoes in his garden. The President taught his cook a way for a cream of tomato soup. This beautiful pink soup was served at the President’s party. The guests thought the soup tasted really good. They never thought their president would serve his honored guests poison apples. Jefferson never spoke to his honored (尊贵的) guests about the fact.After you read the passage, which of the following do you think is true?
| A．Americans never ate tomatoes after they began to plant them. |
| B．American didn’t eat tomatoes before the 19th century. |
| C．Even now Americans don’t eat tomatoes |
| D．In the 18th century Americans ate a lot of tomatoes. |
The passage tells us that Jefferson was a President who learned to love the taste of tomatoes.
| A．while he was in Paris . |
| B．when he was a little boy. |
| C．the President ’s cook. |
| D．the President’s wife. |
According to the text, ________cooked the beautiful pink soup at the President ’s party?
| A．the President himself. |
| B．A French cook |
| C．the President ’s cook |
| D．the President’s wife |
The underlined word “cook”in paragraph2 means_______
| A．厨房 | B．厨师 | C．厨具 | D．做饭 |
From the passage we know all the honored guests invited by Jefferson were______.
| A．people from other countries | B．from France |
| C．People of his own country | D．men only |
A holiday is any day when people lay aside their ordinary duties and cares. The word came from Old English. At first, holidays honored some holy events or persons. People in Great Britain and other countries speak of holidays as Americans speak of vacations.
Every nation has its special holidays. China observes New Year’s Day (January 1), May Day and National Day as legal (法定的)holidays , as it was on Oct.1,1949 that the People’s Republic of China was founded. The Chinese have long celebrated the Chinese lunar year. In the United States, congress has declared several days as legal holidays such as New Year’s Day (January 1), Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Washington’s birthday, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and so on. Some holidays celebrated special events in the development of a country, such as Greece’s Independence Day, Italy’s Liberation Day and India’s Independence Day.
In the United States, banks and schools usually close on a legal holiday. When such a holiday falls on Sunday, the following Monday is usually observed. Schools and organizations often observe days known as traditional holidays, although schools and business do not close then. Those holidays include Valentine’s Day and Halloween.From the passage we know that China’s National Day is _______
| A．January1 | B．May 1 |
| C．October1 | D．December25 |
In the sentence “China observes New Year’s Day (January 1)’’, observe means ______
| A．praises | B．spends | C．celebrates | D．cares |
From the passage we can infer that _______
| A．Chinese will no longer observe the Spring Festival |
| B．students don’t have to go to school on any holiday |
| C．Chinese and Americans share at least one holiday |
| D．Americans can easily draw money from banks on legal days. |
Which of the following holidays has nothing to do with a country’s development?
| A．China’s National Day | B．Valentine’s Day |
| C．Italy’s liberation Day | D．Independence Day |
If a legal holiday falls on Sunday in the USA, people usually celebrate on ______.
| A．Sunday | B．the following |
| C．the following Monday | D．the following Tuesday. |
Poor families in some countries spend as much as eighty percent of their money on food. Rising prices in recent months have created the worst food crisis(危机) in more than thirty years. The United Nations World Food Program says high food prices could push one hundred million people into hunger.
Nathan Childs is an expert on rice markets. He notes that the harvest for the latest growing season was the largest on record. But India, Vietnam and others have restricted exports(限制出口) to keep prices down at home and protect supplies.
Thailand’s agriculture minister says his country will never restrict rice exports. He told the Reuters news agency Thursday that Thailand has enough supplies to meet demand at home and for export.
Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter. Recent signs of an increase in supplies have helped ease record prices for Thai rice. Prices rose last week above one thousand dollars a ton.
Vietnam, the second biggest exporter, has banned(禁止) exports until June. And Vietnamese officials have now warned that non-food traders who buy rice for speculation(投机活动)will be severely punished.
Some experts say speculation is a necessary part of market activity. But the head of the U.N. Environment Program blames it for the high food prices. “We have enough food on this planet today to feed everyone.” Achim Steiner told the Associated Press.
Earlier, a member of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission didn’t accept the idea that speculators are the main cause. Bart Chilton blamed reduced harvests and grain supplies and the falling value of the dollar.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called heads of major international agencies to a meeting this week in the Swiss capital, Bern. He says high food prices could harm world trade, economic growth, social progress and political security.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Vietnam has banned rice exports to other countries. |
| B．Thailand is the largest rice exporter in the world. |
| C．Some families are too poor to afford enough food. |
| D．Rising prices of food have led to the world food crisis. |
Which country restricted food exports according to the passage?
A. Thailand. B. Switzerland. C. Vietnam. D. The USA.All of the following are the results of rising prices of food EXCEPT ____.
| A．the worst food crisis |
| B．reduced harvests and grain supplies |
| C．people spending more money on food |
| D．pushing one hundred million people into hunger |
What is the reason for the speculation according to the head of the U.N. Environment Program?
| A．High food prices. |
| B．The falling value of the dollar. |
| C．Enough rice supplies in some countries. |
| D．Restricted food exports in some countries. |
Why do men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
The largest study of the effects of ageing on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts hardly lose their pumping power with age.
“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age.” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. “Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70. one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the ageing process.”
What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
“This gender(性别)difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink.
They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on heahhy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease.
The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart, said Goldspink.
The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to _____.
| A．health | B．long life | C．ageing | D．effect |
The text mainly talks about ______.
| A．men’s heart cells | B．women’s ageing process |
| C．the gender difference | D．hearts and long life |
According to the text, the UK scientists have known that _____.
| A．women have more cells than men when they are born |
| B．women can replace the cells that enable the heart to beat |
| C．the female heart loses few of the cells with age |
| D．women never lose their pumping power with age |
We can know from the passage that ______.
| A．scientists are on the way to finding out why the male heart loses more of the cells |
| B．the reason why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart has been found out |
| C．the team has done something to prevent the male from suffering the greater loss |
| D．wome over 70 could lose more heart cells than those at the age of 20 |
When you learn reading, nlath, and other subjects taught in school from your parents or teaehers who come to your house, it’s called homeschooling. A kid may be the only one, or he may be taught with brothers, sisters, or kids from the neighborhood.
Parents choose to homeschool their children for many different reasons. Sometimes a kid is sick and can’t go to regular school. But more often, kids are homeschooled beeause their parents feel they can give their children a better education than the local school can. Patents also may choose homeschooling because they want their children’s education to include religious (宗教的) instruction, which isn’t offered at puhlie schools.
If you don’t like school, homeschooling might seem like the perfect solution. But it’s better for everyone if homeschooling isn’t chosen just as an escape from school or prohlems there. Finding solutions to the problem should be the first step.
Kids who are homeschooled may benefit from the one-on-one attention. For example, if you don’t understand something in math, the whole class won’t he moving on without you. You might be the whole class! It’s also possible that you might learn more than you would in a regular classroom, because if you really good at something, you can keep learning more at your own pace.
Kids who are homeschooled also may get out in their communities more than other kids. They may get to experience hands-on education at museums, libraries, businesses and other community resources. They also might volunteer or take part in “service learning” where they take on local projects.
No matter where a child goes to school, the key to learning is listening to the teacher and asking for help when you need it. A homeschooled child might feel more comfortable with his teacher (a parent), but the child still needs to pay attention and cooperate. Just like in a traditional school, teachers and students need to work together to achieve goals in the classroom.The passage mainly tells us ____.
| A．every kid should be taught at home |
| B．what homeschooling is and how it works |
| C．the advantages and disadvantages of homeschooling |
| D．homeschooled kids should go out to do volunteer work |
What does the author think of homeschooling?
| A．It shouldn’t be encouraged at all. |
| B．It is not a good way to get educated. |
| C．It can offer kids what suits their needs. |
| D．It is only good for the kids who can’t go to school. |
The similarity of homeschooling and learning at school is that ____.
| A．students all should cooperate with their teachers |
| B．students don’t feel lonely |
| C．students all have many classmates |
| D．studenls all have more opportunities to get out |
Which of the following should NOT belong to the reasons why kids get homeschooled?
| A． They can get more benefits from homeschooling. |
| B．They can’t go to school because of their bad health. |
| C．They can learn something that is not taught in school. |
| D．They escape from school because they hate going to school |