Honey(蜂蜜)from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious. Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest(巢)and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals unexpected helper一a little bird called a honey guide.
The honey guide does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax (蜂蜡) in the beehives (蜂)finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax, always falls to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.
Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very determined in its efforts to get it. The birds seem to be able to smell wax from a long distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.
Why is it difficult to find a wild bees' nest?
| A.It's small in size. |
| B.It's hidden in trees. |
| C.It's covered with wax. |
| D.It's hard to recognize. |
What do the words "the follower" in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A.A bee. | B.A bird. |
| C.A honey seeker. | D.A beekeeper. |
The honey guide is special in the way .
| A.it gets its food |
| B.it goes to church |
| C.it sings in the forest |
| D.it reaches into bees' nests |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A.Wild Bees |
| B.Wax and Honey |
| C.Beekeeping in Africa |
| D.Honey-Lover's Helper |
Think about the last time you felt a negative emotion—like stress, anger, or frustration. What was going through your mind as you were going through that negativity? Was your mind cluttered with (充斥) different kinds of thoughts? Or was it paralyzed, unable to think?
The next time you find yourself in the middle of a very stressful time, or you feel angry or frustrated, stop. Yes, that’s right, stop. Whatever you’re doing, stop and sit for one minute. While you’re sitting there, completely immerse yourself in the negative emotion.
Allow that emotion to consume you. Allow yourself one minute to truly feel that emotion. Don’t cheat yourself here. Take the entire minute—but only one minute—to do nothing else but feel that emotion.
When the minute is over, ask yourself, “Am I willing to keep holding on to this negative emotion as I go through the rest of the day?”
Once you’ve allowed yourself to be totally immersed in the emotion and really feel it, you will be surprised to find that the emotion clears rather quickly.
If you feel you need to hold on to the emotion for a little longer, that is OK. Allow yourself another minute to feel the emotion.
When you feel you’ve had enough of the emotion, ask yourself if you’re willing to carry that negativity with you for the rest of the day. If not, take a deep breath. As you exhale, release all that negativity with your breath.
This exercise seems simple—almost too simple. But, it is very effective. By allowing that negative emotion the space to be truly felt, you are dealing with the emotion rather than stuffing it down and trying not to feel it. You are actually taking away the power of the emotion by giving it the space and attention it needs. When you immerse yourself in the emotion, and realize that it is only emotion, it loses its control. You can clear your head and proceed with your task.What should you do when you are into negativity according to the article?
| A.Listen to some music. |
| B.Ignore it and do something else. |
| C.Just do nothing and truly feel that emotion. |
| D.Think about it and try to deal with it immediately. |
The underlined word “immerse” (Paragraph 2) most probably means _____.
| A.break down | B.get rid of | C.cut off | D.throw into |
What’s the best title of this text?
| A.Clear Your Mental Space. |
| B.Deep Breath, Trouble Away. |
| C.Try to Avoid the Negative Emotion. |
| D.Keep Holding on to This Negative Emotion as Long as Possible. |
The author’s opinion towards negative emotion is _____.
| A.doubtful | B.optimistic | C.frightened | D.confused |
Strange things happen when you travel, because the earth is divided into twenty-four zones. The time difference between two zones is one hour. You can have days with more than twenty-four hours and days with fewer than twenty- four hours. You can have weeks with more than seven days and weeks with fewer than seven days.
If you make a five-trip across the Atlantic Ocean , your ship come into a different time zone every day. As you come into each zone, the time changes one hour. If you travel west, you set your watch back. If you travel east, you set it ahead. Each day of your trip has either twenty-five or twenty-three hours.
If you make a trip by ship across the Pacific Ocean , you cross the International Date Line. This is the point where a new day begins when you cross the line, you change one full day. If you travel east, today becomes yesterday, if you travel west it is tomorrow.Something interesting will happen to the time if you travel because ______.
| A.a day has always fewer than twenty-four hours |
| B.a day has always more than twenty- four hours |
| C.a day has more or fewer than twenty-four hours, |
| D.some time zones are large and some time zones are small |
The time difference between two time zones is ______.
| A.twenty-four hours | B.one hour |
| C.two hours | D.twenty-three hours |
If we travel east across the International Date Line on July 5th, the date becomes July ____.
| A.3rd | B.4th | C.5th | D.6th |
Homelessness is a huge problem all over the world. It’s said that each day there are about 1 million people living on the streets in the US. It is a serious problem which should be dealt with effectively.
There are two main reasons for people leaving their homes: poverty and less affordable houses due to bad economic conditions. Other reasons include: domestic violence, divorce, and mental illness. Living without a home makes people main targets of violence activities and besides, these homeless people have to face the following difficulties on a daily basis.
They have to move about, carrying their belongings, which makes it difficult for the charity and the government to help them. They have limited access to bathrooms and restrooms and are forced to live in dirty conditions, making them easy to be attacked by diseases. They have limited access to health-care facilities in case of emergency, and almost no access to education as they have no money. They are often ill-treated by society, which makes them unfriendly, often ending up being involved in activities connected with crime like selling drugs or guns.
Homelessness is not something that happened overnight --- it has been in the country for decades. The society usually believes those living on the street to be mentally unstable. This belief is partially true. Most of them are normal people just like you and me.
The federal government is doing all it can to help but it is not enough, so the ordinary citizens have to stand up and try to help whenever it’s possible. There are various organizations, such as charity organizations that are working constantly to make sure that homeless people find a shelter to live in. the united efforts have helped millions of people return to their normal lifestyle. However, there is still a long way to go before a better situation is created for all the homeless.Homeless people suffer from all the following except __________.
| A.violent activities | B.disease attack | C.moving a lot | D.heavy work |
The homeless are usually treated as __________.
| A.having mental problems | B.a danger to society |
| C.physically disabled people | D.being too lazy to do anything |
Which of the following are mentioned to help solve the problem of the homeless?
① the government② homeless people ③ charity organizations ④ the ordinary citizens
| A.①②③ | B.①③④ | C.①②④ | D.②③④ |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A.Most homeless people died of hunger and cold. |
| B.The homeless should work hard to change their own situation. |
| C.The homeless problem is a serious problem that need solving effectively. |
| D.The homeless people have nothing to take when they move about. |

Are you an optimist? Do you look at your glass and see it as half full? Do you believe that every cloud has a silver lining and that generally things turn out for the best? Do you believe that if something is meant to be, it will be? If you reply “yes” to all of these questions, then you are an optimist. You probably are enthusiastic, cheerful and outgoing. You may well be successful atwork and in love.
But you may be misguided because things don’t turn out for the best. You may believe that when one door closes another one opens (for example,you may fail to obtain a new job,another chance will come around soon), Wrong. When one door closes, another door slams in your face. That's bitter reality.
Now a book has been published which confirms what we pessimists(悲观者)have suspected all along. It's called The Positive Power of Defensive Pessimism. Its author argues that defensive pessimism can lead to positive results. Defensive pessimism is a strategy used to manage fear, anxiety and worry. Defensive pessimists prepare for things by setting low outcomes for themselves. They carefully consider everything that may go wrong and plan for ways to handle these problems. And this gives them a sense of control. Lawrence Sanno, a psychology professor, says, “What’s interesting about defensive pessimists is that they tend to be very successful people, so their low opinion of the situation’s outcomes is not realistic. They use it to motivate themselves to perform better. ”
So far, so good. This is not rocket science. Defensive pessimists prepare carefully and consider what might go wrong, whether at work, on a date or even in a sports game. It makes sense to have a back-up plan. There are many sayings in English urging caution. For example, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” and “ Don’t count your chickens until they hatch. “ To have a confident and optimistic approach to life’s problems is good. But listen to what Woody Alien,the American comedian says, ”Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem.”
There are pros and cons to being an optimist and a pessimist. Don’t feel bad if you see the glass half empty. You are a realist. But lighten up and hook up with someone who sees the same glass half full.What is the passage mainly about?
| A.A book that has recently been published. |
| B.The dangers of being too optimistic. |
| C.The benefits of defensive pessimism. |
| D.How to become successful in life. |
The underlined sentence “This is not rocket science” in paragraph 4 means.
| A.he cost is not so high | B.there is no real proof |
| C.it’s not a dangerous thing to do | D.it is quite simple to understand |
The writer would probably describe himself as.
| A.an optimist | B.a realist | C.a defeatist | D.a scientist |
Which of the following English expressions would a defensive pessimist believe?
| A.“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” |
| B.“Every cloud has a silver lining.” |
| C.“Whatever will be, will be.” |
| D.“The glass is half full not half empty.” |
An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.
James Harrison has an antibody in his plasma that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr. Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations. When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special that his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the “man with the golden arm” or the “man in two million”. He said: “I've never thought about stopping. Never.” He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 litres of blood. “I was in hospital for three months,” he said. “The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.”
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood. At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition. The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D. After his blood type was discovered, Mr. Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine. “They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,” he said. “I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.”
Mr. Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood. It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women. It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.
It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far. Mr. Harrison is still donating every few weeks now.How old is James Harrison?
| A.56 | B.70 | C.74 | D.78 |
What does the underlined phrase “two million” refer to?
| A.dollars | B.babies | C.mothers | D.all of the above |
Why did James decide to donate his blood? Because _____.
| A.someone else’s blood saved his life |
| B.he has a golden arm worth a million dollars |
| C.a vaccine called Anti-D is to be developed |
| D.his daughter asked him to help her son |
The sentence “The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood” (underlined in Paragraph 5) suggests that _____.
| A.all the patients have a rare antibody in their blood |
| B.babies suffer permanent brain damage before born |
| C.Rhesus disease contributes to permanent brain damage |
| D.. the mother and the baby have different types of blood |
What can we infer from the sixth paragraph?
| A.His wife Barbara needed to be taken care of badly then. |
| B.Some of the tests to develop the vaccine are dangerous. |
| C.Mr. Harrison was glad to help develop a new vaccine. |
| D.His blood type was accidentally discovered after tests. |