Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to the patients at the clinic.
One evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man. He’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old son. “Good evening. I’ve come to see if you’ve a room. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus till morning.” He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. “I guess it’s my face…I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…” For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.”
I told him we would find him a bed. When I had finished the dishes, I talked with him. He told me he fished for a living to support his five children, and his wife, who was hopelessly crippled (残疾的) from a back injury. He didn’t tell it by way of complaint. Next morning, just before he left, as if asking a great favor, he said, “Could I come back and stay the next time?” He added, “Your children made me feel at home.”
On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and the largest oysters (牡蛎) I had ever seen. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us and there was never a time that he did not bring us vegetables from his garden. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned how to accept the bad without complaint when facing the misfortune.Why did the author agree to let the man spend the night in his house at last?
A.Because the man said others refused to accommodate him. |
B.Because the man said he would not cause much inconvenience. |
C.Because the man said he had come from the eastern shore. |
D.Because the man said he had been hunting for a room since noon. |
How long would it take the man to travel from his home to Baltimore by bus?
A.About 1 hour. | B.About 2 hours. |
C.About 3 hours. | D.About 4 hours. |
From the text we can know that __________.
A.the author’s children were kind and friendly to the man |
B.the man was fed up with his hard-work and his family |
C.John Hopkins Hospital provided rooms for the patients to live in |
D.the author and his family were thought highly of by his neighbors |
The author’s family were grateful to know the man because __________.
A.he often brought them fish and vegetables from his garden |
B.he paid them money for his staying |
C.he taught them how to accept the bad without complaint |
D.he stayed only overnight with the writer’s family |
D
“Pay has little to do with motivation in the workplace”.That’s the argument put forward by best-selling author Daniel Pink in his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.“Pay for performance is supposed to be a folk tale,” he says.
Daniel argues that, if employees receive a basic level of payment, three other factors matter more than money: a sense of independence, of mastery over one’s labor, and of serving a purpose larger than oneself.For example, in 2008 at the offices of Best Buy’s Richfield, salaried workers there were allowed to organize their own work day, putting in only as many hours as they felt necessary to get their jobs done.Productivity increased by 35% according to The Harvard Business Review.
But the managers at Goldman Sachs aren’t exactly making some efforts to adjust.Like others on Wall Street, the banking giant argues that fat bonuses (extra rewards) are essential to make its numbers.“That’s exactly the attitude that leads to the recent financial crisis in the United States,” responds Daniel, “as managers always focus on short-term rewards that encourage cheating, shortcuts, and dishonest behavior.”
Moreover, the 45-year-old author and former Al Gore speechwriter refers to social-science experiments and experiences at such workplaces as Google and 3M.In one 2005 experiment he describes, economists working for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston tested the power of incentives (激励) by offering cash rewards to those who did well in games that included reciting a series of numbers and throwing tennis balls at a target.The researchers’ finding: Over and over, higher incentives led to worse performance --- and those given the highest incentives did the poorest job.
From this and other cases, Daniel draws a conclusion that monetary incentives remove the element of play and creativity, transforming “an interesting task into a dull one.” It’s even possible, he adds, for oversized rewards to have dangerous side effects, like those of a drug dependency in which an addicted requires ever larger amounts.He refers to scientific testing that shows the promise of cash rewards increase a chemical in the brain similar to that brought on by cocaine or nicotine.
Daniel, however, is also aware that his company examples --- no GE, no IBM, no Microsoft --- hardly represent the commanding heights of the economy.But he thinks his approach will catch on, even in the biggest companies.“Managers tend to be realistic, and in time they will respond,” he says.
53.In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink is promoting the idea that _____.
A.it is a money-driven society B.all workers are not driven by money
C.money plays a key role in management D.pay has nothing to do with workplaces
54.In Daniel’s point of view, many Wall Street managers are _______.
A.dishonest B.considerate C.short-sighted D.ridiculous
55.In paragraph 5, the example of drug-taking is given to show _______.
A.money is as addictive as cocaine or nicotine
B.big rewards bring about dangerous side effect
C.nicotine and money bring the same chemical
D.workers do not need the incentives of money at all
56.We can learn from the last paragraph that _______.
A.Daniel’s approach will be popular in a wider field
B.realistic managers will first consider Daniel’s approach
C.Daniel’s approach meets the demand of economic crisis
D.GE, IBM and Microsoft will join in Daniel’s approach next
C
A car that runs on coffee is unveiled(shown to the public for the first time)today but at between 25 and 50 times the cost of running a car on petrol, the invention won’t please any motor industry accountants.
Nicknamed the Car-puccino, it has been created using a 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco bought for £400 and it was chosen because it looked like the time-traveling DeLorean in the movie Back To The Future.The car will be driven the 210 miles between Manchester and London powered only by roasted coffee granules (颗粒).It has been built by a team from the BBC1 science programme Bang Goes The Theory and will go on display at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester to show how fuels other than traditional petrol can power vehicles.
The team calculates the Car-puccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee (咖啡粉) — about 56 cups of espressos (浓咖啡) per mile.The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey.In total, the trip will cost 11,760 espressos, and the team will have to take ‘coffee breaks’ roughly every 30 to 45 miles to pour in more granules.They will also have to stop about every 60 miles to clean out the ‘coffee filters’ to rid them of the soot and tar which is also generated by the process.So despite a top speed of 60mph, the many stops mean the going will be slow, with the journey taking around ten hours.
Sadly, the inventors will still have to pay duty on their coffee fuel---even though tax collectors at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom haven’t yet worked out how much.
Nick Watson, producer of Bang Goes The Theory, said, “Coffee, like wood or coal, has some carbon content so you can use it as a fuel.The coffee needs to be very dry and in granules to allow the air to move through the pile of coffee as it burns.The brand doesn’t matter.” He said the same technology could be used to power a car on other unusual fuels, such as woodchips or nut shells, construction or agricultural waste.
49.Which is the right way to choose the coffee used as fuels to run the Car-puccino?
A.It should be very dry. B.The stronger, the better.
C.The smaller the granules are, the better. D.It should be of a certain brand.
50.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.All kinds of materials can be used as fuels.
B.The Car-puccino will be put into the market soon.
C.Nick Watson is the designer of the Car-puccino
D.Much remains to be improved for the Car-puccino.
51.The Car-puccino has its disadvantages EXCEPT that ________.
A.it makes a lot of noise
B.it runs at a very high cost
C.it has to stop to be refueled very often.
D.it’s not good enough for long-distance journey
52.How much ground coffee will be used to cover a distance of 126 miles in this car?
A.About 70 kilos B.About 42 kilos. C.About 32 kilos D.About 30 kilos
B
Below are some classified ads from the Internet
45.Which website should you visit if you want to buy some cigarettes as presents at a low price?
A.http://www.electroniccigar.org
B.http://www.iicdmichigan.org
C.http://www.productreviewjunction.com/Gifts & Flowers.htm
D.http://www.productreviewjunction.com/Books.htm
46.How many adverts are trying to be price competitive?
A.2 B.3C.4 D.5
47.Where do the volunteers get training before taking on their voluntary work?
A.Brazil B.Ecuador C.Congo D.America
48.What number can you call if you are going to lose weight?
A.312-078-4860 B.240-564-3268 C.302-393-3126 D.252-747-7024
第二部分:阅读理解(第一节20小题;第二节共5小题;每小题2分,满分50分)
第一节:阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中,选出最佳选项。
A
In 1921, Lewis Lawes became the warden (监狱长) at Sing Sing Prison of New York State.No prison was tougher than Sing Sing during that time.But when Warden Lawes retired some 20 years later, that prison had become a humanitarian institution.Those who studied the system said credit for the change belonged to Lawes.But when he was asked about the transformation, here’s what he said, “I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried outside the prison walls.”
Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden.Everybody warned her from the beginning that she should never set foot inside the prison walls, but that didn’t stop Catherine!
When the first prison basketball game was held, she went into the gym with her three beautiful kids and she sat in the stands with the inmates.Her attitude was: “My husband and I are going to take care of these men and I believe they will take care of me! I don’t have to worry!” She insisted on getting acquainted with them and their records.She discovered one convicted murderer was blind so she paid him a visit.Holding his hand in hers she said, “Do you read Braille?” “What’s Braille?” he asked.Then she taught him how to read.Later, Catherine found a deaf-mute in prison.She went to school to learn how to use sign language.
Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus that came alive again in Sing Sing from 1921to 1937.Then, she was killed in a car accident.The next morning Lewis Lawes didn’t come to work, so the acting warden took his place.It seemed almost instantly that the prison knew something was wrong.The following day, her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison.As the acting warden took his early morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals gathered like a herd of animals at the main gate.He came closer and noted tears of grief and sadness.He knew how much they loved Catherine.He turned and faced the men.
“All right, men, you can go.Just be sure and check in tonight!” Then he opened the gate and a parade of criminals walked, without a guard, the three-quarters of a mile to stand in line to pay their final respects to Catherine Lawes.And every one of them checked back in.Every one!
41.Catherine was not afraid of getting inside the prison walls because she believed ______.
A.one good turn deserves another B.no pains, no gains
C.a new broom sweeps clean D.virtue never grows old
42.The underlined word in paragraph three most probably refers to ______.
A.basketball players B.prison guards
C.prisoners D.family of the prisoners
43.What made every one of the criminals check back in?
A.The acting warden’s requirement B.The strict rules of the prison
C.Their respect for Catherine D.The force of the guards
44.What is the best title of the passage?
A.A Tough PrisonB.A Woman Bringing Changes
C.A warden Caring for Prisoners D.A Great Wife
第五部分:写作: 20分
阅读概括:
阅读下面短文,以约30个词概括短文的要点。5分
Dear Ms Jordan,
I am sorry for misbehaving in class .I won't do it again.
Tyler Vincent Turner
This is a letter of apology that my six-year-old son Tyler wrote to his teacher .It was simple enough and took less than five minutes to write, but I hoped the message I was sending to Tyler was one that would have a lasting effect.
When I made the decision, I hoped it was the right thing to do .It turned out that Ms Jordan was thrilled when she received the note . She told me that in her 25 years as a teacher no student had ever written her a letter of apology for misbehavior . She literally looked like she was going to cry.
I want him to realize that he is responsible for his behavior, good or otherwise .That’s why I decided to make him write the letter of apology .I didn’t tell him what to write--- the words were his own. And he did so without any reluctance and gave it to his teacher this morning with a verbal apology.If it happens again, he’ll have to write another letter. Taking responsibility for your own actions should start as young as possible and a six-year-old boy is certainly old enough.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________