On a stormy day last August, Tim heard some shouting．Looking out to the sea carefully, he saw a couple of kids in a rowboat were being pulled out to sea.
Two 12-year-old boys, Christian and Jack, rowed out a boat to search a football．Once they’d rowed beyond the calm waters, a beach umbrella tied to the boat caught the wind and pulled the boat into open water．The pair panicked and tried to row back to shore．But they were no match for it and the boat was out of control.
Tim knew it would soon be swallowed by the waves.
“Everything went quiet in my head,” Tim recalls（回忆）．“I’m trying to figure out how to swim to the boys in a straight line.”
Tim took off his clothes and jumped into the water．Every 500 yards or so, he raised his head to judge his progress．“At one point, I considered turning back,” he says．“I wondered if I was putting my life at risk.” After 30 minutes of struggling, he was close enough to yell to the boys, “Take down the umbrella! Let’s aim for the pier（码头）,” Jack said．Tim turned the boat toward it．Soon afterward, waves crashed over the boat, and it began to sink．“Can you guys swim?” he cried．“A little bit,” the boys said.
Once they were in the water, Tim decided it would be safer and faster for him to pull the boys toward the pier．Christian and Jack were wearing life jackets and floated on their backs．Tim swam toward land as water washed over the boys’ faces.
“Are we almost there?” they asked again and again．“Yes,” Tim told them each time.
After 30 minutes, they reached the pier.Why was the boat far into open water?
A．The boys rowed too fast．
B．The big current carried it.
C．The wind blew it．
C．The boys tried to get attention..Why did the two boys go to the sea?
| A．To go boat rowing |
| B．To get back their football. |
| C．To swim in the open water |
| D．To test the umbrella as a sail. |
What does “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．The beach |
| B．The water |
| C．The boat |
| D．The wind |
Why did Tim raise his head regularly?
| A．To take in enough fresh air |
| B．To consider turning back or not. |
| C．To check his distance from the boys． |
| D．To ask the boys to take down the umbrella. |
How can the two boys finally reach the pier?
| A．They were dragged to the pier by Tim. |
| B．They swam to the pier all by themselves. |
| C．They were washed to the pier by the waves. |
| D．They were carried to the pier by Tim on his back. |
Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station(加油站)about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register(收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery(电池)was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership - a shop selling cars - was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Thank you” - two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.The words “took off” underlined in Paragraph 2 mean “______”.
| A．turned off | B．moved off | C．put up | D．set up |
What happened when the author found smoke coming out of his car?
| A．He had it pulled back to the gas station. |
| B．The couple sent him a business card. |
| C．The couple offered to help him. |
| D．He called his friend for help. |
The battery of the author’s car was dead because_______.
| A．something went wrong with the lights |
| B．the meeting lasted a whole day |
| C．he forgot to turn off the lights |
| D．he drove too long a distance |
By telling his own experiences, the author tries to show______.
| A．how to write a thank-you letter |
| B．how to deal with car problems |
| C．the kind-heartedness of older people |
| D．the importance of expressing thanks |
Some people succeed in unbelievable ways.
Roussel was orphaned at the age of eight and went to live with his grandfather. He built on the music he had learned from his mother, entertaining himself by reading through the family music collection and playing his favorite songs on the piano.
Three years later, Roussel’s grandfather died, and his aunt adopted him. Her husband arranged for young Albert to take regular piano lessons. Summer vacations at a Belgian seaside resort added a second love to his life -- the sea. He studied to be a naval cadet (海军学员), but still made time to study music.
In the French Navy, while he served on a warship based at Cherbourg, he and two friends found the time to play the music of Beethoven and other composes (作曲家). Roussel also began composing. At the Church of the Trinity in Cherbourg on Christmas Day 1892, he had his first performance as a composer.
That success encouraged Roussel to write a wedding march, and one of his fellow offices offered to show it to a well-known conductor (指挥家), Edouard Colonne. When Roussel’s friend returned with the manuscript (手稿), he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music.
Not long afterwards, at the age of 25, Roussel did just that. He applied characters that he had developed in the navy to his composing and became a major force in twentieth century French music. As for Eduoard Colonne’s inspiring advice that Roussel devote his life to music, Roussel's navy friend later admitted that he had made it up and that he had never even shown Roussel's manuscript to the conductor.Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a. Roussel gave up his naval career.
b. Roussel was adopted by his aunt.
c. Roussel read through the family music collection.
d. Roussel had his first performance as a composer in Cherbourg.
| A．c, b, d, a | B．b. c, d, a | C．b, c, a. d | D．c, b, a, d |
What ______ did played the most important part in Roussel's final success.
| A．his mother | B．the husband of his aunt |
| C．his navy friend | D．Edouard Colonne |
We can infer from the article that______.
| A．Roussel's aunt adopted him after his grandfather died. |
| B．Roussel read through the family music collection in his grandfather's. |
| C．Colonne advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music. |
| D．If Roussel hadn't joined the navy, he might not have achieved so much. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．A clever musician | B．A white lie |
| C．A helpful conductor | D．A great manuscript |
A smart phone (智能手机) is a mobile phone built on a mobile operating system, with more advanced computing abilities than a common phone. The first smart phones enabled the users to send and receive emails. Later models added the function of portable media players, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation (导航) units to form one multi-use device. Many modem smart phones also include touch screens and web browsers (浏览器) that display web pages.
A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smart phone. That doesn’t mean making calls, but playing phone games and browsing the Web.
Nowadays we always find people checking emails in a restaurant, taking a picture of the food when it arrives, or checking a message during a conversation instead of traditional communication. It’s no secret that our lives are being affected by our smart phones obsession.
However, this phenomenon has never been presented so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10.5 million times. Whether it will be screened in the cinema remains to be seen.
Ironically, YouTube’s data show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phones.
The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene Deguzman, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of whom are absorbed in their phones instead of the world around them. To a certain extent, we all do it.People prefer a smart phone to a common one, because the latter only can help us ______.
| A．check emails | B．send messages | C．find the destination | D．watch a video |
The underlined word “obsession” in the third paragraph most probably means “______”.
| A．devotion | B．contribution | C．addiction | D．emotion |
Which of the following is right?
| A．People spend as average of two hours and 40 minutes each day using smart phones. |
| B．The film hasn’t been put on in the cinema. |
| C．The film is written by an actor named Charlene Deguzman. |
| D．The film has already been viewed more than 105 million times in the first few days. |
When the writer mentions the number of people watching the film from mobile devices in the fifth paragraph, he mainly feels ______.
| A．encouraged | B．depressed | C．proud | D．satisfied |
A new study has found evidence of aggressive (攻击性的) behavior in children who drink four or more servings of soft drinks every day. Information for the study came from the mothers of 3,000 5-year-olds. Researchers asked the women to keep a record of how many servings of soft drinks their children drank over a two-month period. They were also asked to complete a checklist of their children’s behavior.
The researchers have found that 43 percent of the children drink at least one daily serving of soda, and 4 percent of the youngsters have even four or more sodas to drink every day.
Shakira Suglia, a famous expert, says they’ve found that children who drink the most soda are more than twice as likely as those who drink no soda to show signs of aggression.
“For the children who consume four or more soft drinks per day, we see more withdrawn behaviors, which make them hard to get along well with others.”
The aggressive behaviors include destroying possessions belonging to others, taking part in fights and physically attacking people.
The researchers have determined the link after considering factors like the child’s age and sex. They have also considered other possible influence, such as whether the boys and girls are eating sweets or giving fruit drinks on a normal day. In addition, the researchers have examined parenting styles and other social conditions that may be taking place in the home.
Researches are trying to find why young children who drink a lot of soda have behavior problems. An ingredient often found in soft drinks is caffeine, which helps to make people feel energetic. Doctor Suglia suggests that caffeine could cause the 5-year-olds to be more aggressive. Earlier studies of adults have found the highest sugar levels in those who carry weapons (武器) and show signs of negative social behavior.What section of a newspaper is the passage probably taken from?
| A．Scientific Technology | B．Science Fictions | C．Social News | D．Health Report |
The underlined word “withdrawn” in paragraph 4 can probably be replaced by the word ______.
| A．backward | B．unsocial | C．generous | D．friendly |
Researchers studied the following aspects of the children except ______.
| A．age | B．sex | C．games | D．parents |
According to the research, which of the following is right?
| A．Mothers were asked to keep a record of how many servings of soft drinks their children drank over a three-month period. |
| B．4 percent of the youngsters have even four or fewer sodas to drink every day. |
| C．Children who drink no soda show fewer aggressive behaviors. |
| D．Children with the highest sugar levels tend to carry weapons and show signs of negative social behavior. |
After a further study on ingredients in soda, Shakira Suglia implies that the direct cause of the aggressive behaviors may be ______.
| A．soft drinks | B．attention problems | C．caffeine | D．social conditions |
Where Are We Going, Dad? has become one of China's most popular television shows, since its debut (首次登场) in October, averaging more than 600 million viewers each week. Sponsorship rights (冠名权) for the show's second season were sold for 312 million yuan (about $ 50 million), more than ten times higher than the rights to the first season.
What accounts for its popularity? The show features a new generation of Chinese fathers, who, as part of the country’s new middle class, have faced more problems with modern child-raising techniques such as taking an active role with their children.
Part of the appeal of the show is the chance to throw a glance at the lives of Chinese celebrities (名流) and their children. Audiences are interested in watching the failed attempts of celebrity dads making dinner, doing hair, and disciplining (管教) children -- tasks often left to mothers in a society still influenced by the saying that “men rule outside and women are inside.” “In traditional Chinese culture, fathers are strict and mothers are kind. But on the show, we see fathers who are much gentler on their kids and more involved in their upbringing, ” said Li Minyi, an associate professor. “This show raises an important question for modern Chinese society -- what is the role of fathers in today’s China?”
After each episode (集) goes to air, the Chinese internet explodes with comments on each celebrity's parenting style.
Actor Guo Tao tries to communicate with his son, Shitou, but is seen as a more traditional Chinese father, and has been criticized online for being too harsh. Zhang Liang. a supermodel, is an audience favorite for treating his son. Tiantian, more like a friend. The show’s most famous celebrity. Lin Zhiying, a film star, was originally praised as patient with his son Kimi. But as the season progresses, fans begin to criticize him for raising a spoiled, undisciplined boy. Director Wang Yuelun is at a complete loss when it comes to care of his daughter’s hair.
Even the People's Daily is pleased with the success of the show.Sponsorship rights for the show’s first season were sold for about______.
| A．312 million yuan | B．50 million yuan | C．31 million yuan | D．600 million yuan |
According to the passage, the show______.
| A．gives audiences the chance to raise the star's children themselves |
| B．invites some famous film stars to take part in it |
| C．lets people think about the role of fathers in modem families |
| D．raises people's concern about women's role in the society |
The underlined word “harsh" in the fifth paragraph most probably means “______”.
| A．careless | B．strict | C．clumsy | D．kind |
According to the writer, ______is the most successful father.
| A．Guo Tao | B．Zhang Liang | C．Lin Zhiying | D．Wang Yuelun |