Youfeelhappiestwhenyoucreateah-优题课

URBANA, ILL. (AP)--Mike dropped out of college to support his pregnant(怀孕的) girlfriend and now works as a manager of a trucking company, Lynn graduated with honors from Harvard University and was hired as a lawyer with a top law firm in a major city. What do these two people have in common? Ten years ago they were both high school valedictorians (致告别辞者).
A University of Illinois study follows the lives of 81 valedictorians and salutatorians (致词的学生代表) who graduated a decade ago from public and private high schools in the state.
Tales of Success and Failure
The study found tales of success and failure. The research on 46 women and 35 men found that some were doctors and scientists, one was a drug addict, another was a waitress with emotional problems.
"There is a popular idea about people who do well in school doing well in life," said Terry Denny, professor of education. Denny conducted the study with Karen Arnold, a former graduate student of Denny' s who is now a professor at Boston College. Denny and Arnold contacted the 81 students before graduation, and then followed up with interviews nearly every other year. They also sent them questionnaires in the mail.
Varied Careers
One-third of the students are lawyers, or have a doctorate. Nineteen are in business and 15 are engineers or computer scientists. Others include a farmer, a stock broker, and an aerobics instructor.
Arnold says many of the students have only average positions in the work world and that "most are not headed for greatness in their careers." Denny, however, says that it is too early to make such predictions. "Who expects someone to be on the Supreme Court at the age of 28 or to be the discoverer of an important scientific invention right after college?" he said. "These students are just getting started in life. They are just beginning to find out what life is all about."
What can we conclude from Paragraph 1?

A．Mike got married before he went to college.

B．Lynn was honored by a law firm in the city.

C．Mike was not so lucky as Lynn after graduating from college.

D．Mike and Lynn both graduated first in their high school class.

According to the article Denny is probably older than Arnold because.

A．Denny was her professor

B．Arnold did well at school.

C．Denny interviewed some students

D．Arnold helped Denny in the research

What is probably the best title for the article?

A．Successful Careers for College Graduates

B．Success in Education Predicts Success in Later Life

C．High School Honors Not Always Key to Life Success

D．A study on Successful Jobs and College Graduates

Who probably wrote this article?

A．College graduates	B．Reporters
C．Professors and researchers	D．Teachers

The Winter Olympics proved no match for television's gold-medal winner, "American Idol". Fox's unbelievable successful contest crashed the Olympics in head-to-head competition on Tuesday night, 27 million viewers to 16.1 million, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The Olympics recovered a bit after "Idol" went off the air, but its overall audience of 18.6 million was the least-watched winter Olympics telecast since Nagano's closing ceremonies in 1998, Nielsen said.
Since its opening on Friday, the Turin games have been running well below the 2002 Salt Lake City games in viewership interest. Much of that was expected, but Tuesday's rating was the first alarming sign for NBC that increased TV competition has taken a toll.
"The competition from 'Idol' is heavier than the Olympics has ever seen," said NBC Sports spokeswoman Alana Russo.
It doesn't figure to get any easier, with "Idol" and ABC's "Lost" on the air Wednesday. CBS' "Survivor" and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" offer more competition on Thursday.
Even figure skating, the most popular winter Olympics sport for viewers, didn't help much on Tuesday. NBC filled about two-thirds of the hour during which it competed with "American Idol" with tape of the men's figure-skating competition.
Through five nights of Olympics coverage, NBC's average prime time rating is 12.7 ( a rating point represents 1,102, 000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 110.2 million TV homes). NBC said before the games started that it had promised its advertisers a rating of between 12 and 14. If it slips below that, NBC will have to make it up to advertisers with free commercial time.
" ‘American Idol' is clearly a phenomenon," said Randy Falco, president of the NBC Universal Television Group. "But we expected it and are tracking fight where we planned to be at this point." Between NBC and its networks, about 65 percent of the nation's television homes have tuned in at least some of the games.
How many viewers watched the Winter Olympics on Tuesday night?

A．110.2 million	B．12.7 million
C．27million	D．16.1million

What did NBC do on Tuesday night to attract more viewers?

A．To ask the "idol" to go off the air.

B．To play the tapes of men's figure skating.

C．To add "Survivor" to its program.

D．To do more advertising.

If the rating slips below 12, NBC will .

A．do more advertising for nothing

B．stop running normally

C．never cover the Olympics

D．pay extra money for advertisers

What does the underlined word "taken a toll" mean?

A．paid off.

B．caused loss.

C．broken out.

D．picked up.

It is always hard for a small fish to live in a big pond. Pluto's recent departure from the classical planet family clearly proves that size really matters.
Astronomers voted on August 24 to create the first scientific definition of the word planet, and Pluto obviously didn't make the cut. It turned out to be only a "dwarf planet" (矮行星). After weeks of heated debate, over 2,500 astronomers from 73 countries voted on the definition of a "planet" at a conference of the international Astronomical Union (IAU). According to the definition, a planet must have a clear neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto has widely been considered a planet since its discovery in 1930. Unfortunately, it has a special orbit which overlaps with Neptune's. It is all because, compared with Neptune, Pluto is very small. It is attracted by Neptune's gravity when the two planets get closer.
According to IAU, a "dwarf planet" should have an orbit around the Sun. It will not have a clear neighborhood around its orbit, and must not be a satellite. The new classification means that the science textbooks will have to be updated. The solar system is now made up of the eight "classical planets," together with a number of dwarf planets. The classical planets are: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The debate over Pluto's status started in 1992. After an advanced telescope was sent into space, astronomers started find a belt of objects, which lies beyond Neptune. The belt contains nearly 1,000 objects, including Pluto. As they continued the exploration, scientists recently discovered at least 41 dwarf planets at the edges of the solar system. There are at least two objects of a similar size to Pluto.
It seems that even if the IAU had kept Pluto's status as a planet, the classical theory of nine planets in the solar system would have had to be changed, but the other way around. More dwarf, planets of a similar size to Pluto would join the family of planets. Scientists will probably find many more dwarf planets.
According to the passage, Pluto is .

A．a planet which has a clear neighborhood around its orbit

B．a satellite of Neptune which was discovered in 1930

C．the smallest planet in the solar system

D．a planet which has an orbit around the sun

The sentence "It is always hard for a small fish to live in a big pond" quoted in the beginning of the passage is used to .

A．tell us a small fish can hardly survive in the big pond

B．tell us the size of an object really matters

C．mean that a small planet can hardly exist in the solar system

D．explain the disappearanee of Pluto in the solar system

From the last paragraph we can infer that if IAU kept Pluto's status as a planet, the number of planets in the solar system would be.

A．eight

B．nine

C．less than nine

D．more than nine

Which of the following statements is NOT true aceording to the passage?

A．According to definition of a "planet", if Pluto were bigger it would not have left the classic planet family.

B．It's quite possible for dwarfs to lose if they compete with big men

C．Pluto has a special orbit which overlap with Neptune's, because it is so small as to be attraeted by Neptune's gravity when the two planets get closer

D．A "dwarf planet", which can not be a satellite without a clear neighborhood around its orbit, should have an orbit around the Sun.

A few years ago, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, where I was employed. purchased Norand Corporation. Pioneer's sales representatives in the field used Norand hand-held terminals to upload daily sales information and download new price and sales incentive information. Pioneer bought so many of these hand-held-terminals, the economies made the purchase of Norand look interesting. Owning Norand also allowed Pioneer to explore high-technology markets outside agriculture.
But after a few years, the emerging laptop PC technology made the hand-held units obsolete (已废弃的). Pioneer sold Norand at a loss. Pioneer always took a given percent of the annual profits to divide equally among all employees, so our profit-sharing checks were lower than if Pioneer had not purchased Norand. Additionally, my Pioneer stock was lower than it had been before the purchase of Norand. I was not pleased.
The CEO of Pioneer, Tom Urban, made annual formal visits to each of the Pioneer divisions to talk about the state of the business and to listen to employees' concerns. When he walked into the meeting room for his first visit after the sale of Norand, he acknowledged the group, remove his jacket, and neatly folded it across the back of the chair. He loosened his tie, undid his collar and rolled up his sleeves.The next thing he said was the last thing I ever expected to hear a CEO say.
He said, "I made a mistake buying Norand and I am sorry. I am sorry your profit-sharing was lower because of the purchase, and I am sorry your stock was hurt by the purchase. I will continue to take risks, but I am a bit smarter now, and I will work harder for you."
A great man and leader stood before us that day. As I sat listening to him, I knew I could trust him, and that he deserved every bit of loyalty I could give to him and to Pioneer. I also knew I could take risks in my own job.
In the brief moment of silence before the questions started, I recall thinking that follow him into any battle.
All of the following are the results brought by Pioneer's purchase of Norand except.

A．Pioneer can explore high-technology markets outside agriculture

B．Pioneer's sales representatives can upload information using Norand hand-held terminals

C．some of Norand's employees joined the Pioneer

D．it later led to the lower of profit-sharing checks of Pioneer's original employees

The underlined sentence in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to .

A．the next thing he said was what I expected least to hear a CEO say

B．the next thing he said was the last thing I heard from a CEO

C．the next thing he said was what I expected most to hear a CEO say

D．the next thing he said was what I heard from the last CEO

Why did Tom Urban remove his jacket, loosen his tie, undo his collar and roll up his sleeves before he spoke?

A．He felt hot in the room.

B．He wanted to look cool by doing this.

C．He was too excited.

D．He wanted to be close and frank with his employees.

What did the employees feel after Tom Urban apologized to them?

A．They felt he was a stupid CEO.

B．They felt he did not deserve their loyalty

C．They felt he was more trustworthy.

D．They didn't want to take risks with him.

Chinese White Collars（白领） Go Down on the Farm
The latest craze among China’s white collar workers, reported in the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph, is an online virtual agricultural game called “Happy Farm.” Virtual farmers can visit each other’s farm, trade livestock and can use real cash to buy virtual (虚拟的) items such as special tools, quality seeds, and animals. The free game is played through social networking sites like kaixin001.com, Face book or xiaonei.com.
Urban office workers can escape the pressures and stresses of everyday life and enter a peaceful virtual existence where players can grow vegetables, practice animal farming and receive satisfaction that comes with a hard-won harvest. Because most Chinese white collars have little amusement after work, Happy Farm gives them a virtual world to make their dreams come true.
Global Times, an English language daily based in Beijing, recently reported that there are more than 15 million Chinese urbanites spending more than five hours a day on their virtual “farms.”
According to the English language website of the People’s Daily newspaper, the increased interest in farming among some urban office workers has resulted in some of them becoming real hobby farmers, tending small plots of land in their free time. Mr. Liu, a white collar worker, has rented a piece of farmland for RMB 3000. Mr. Liu and his family like to drive down to their farm on the weekend and do different farming tasks such as watering, weeding, fertilizing and worming. Later on, cabins will be built on agricultural land making it possible for part-time farmers like Mr. Liu to stay on their land for two weeks enabling them to get a little taste of a farmer’s life.
It is a rather interesting social development that some of urban office workers are becoming interested in farming and agriculture, while large numbers of farmers and agricultural workers continue to move to the cities.
What is “Happy Farm”? (No more than 7 words)
Why do more and more Chinese white collars go down on Happy Farm?
(No more than 14 words)
List 4 farming tasks Mr. Liu and his family do on their farms. (No more than 5 words)
How long do Chinese urbanites spend on their virtual farms every day? (No more than 4 words)