Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people werr not willing to work on farms along the Atlantic because they worried about the terrible storms that would destroy buildings and crops. The farmer received a steady stream of refusals at the interview for a farmhand.
Finally, a short, thin man approached the farmer. “Are you a good farmhand?” the farmer asked him.
“Well, I can sleep when the wind blows. ” answered the little man.
Although puzzled by this answer ，the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm ，busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.
Then one night the wind howled loudly from offshore. Jumping out of bed，the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled，“ Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they are blown away! ”
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows. ”
Enraged (激怒）by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot . Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement，he discovered that all of the hay had been covered. The cows were in the barn，the chickens were in the coops，and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could be blown away.
The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he also returned to his bed to sleep while the wind was still blowing.Why did the farmer constantly advertise for hired hands?
| A．Because he needed hired hands all the year round. |
| B．Because there was too much work to do on the farm. |
| C．Because he could hardly hire a farmhand. |
| D．Because he offered poor conditions for the hired hands. |
The farmer felt amazed because _______.
| A．the little man was sleeping |
| B．everything was in safety |
| C．the wind was too strong |
| D．he could not open the doors |
What did the man mean by saying “I can sleep when the wind blows” ?
| A．He needed much sleep after working hard on the farm. |
| B．He was very brave and not afraid of wind |
| C．He enjoyed sleeping when the wind blew. |
| D．He would get everything done before the wind blew. |
Which of the following statements about the little man is TRUE?
| A．He was not afraid of storms. |
| B．He was a heavy sleeper under any condition. |
| C．He was hard-working and devoted to his work. |
| D．He was fired shortly after he tied everything down. |
Switzerland is the best place to be born in the world in 2013, and the US is just 16th. A new study produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit says American babies will have a dimmer future than those born in Hong Kong, Ireland and even Canada. The EIU, a sister company of The Economist, attempted to measure how well countries will provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in years to come.
People born in Switzerland will tend to be the happiest and have the best quality of life judged in terms of wealth, health and trust in public institutions, according to the analysis. The Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden and Denmark also all make the top five in a “quality-of-life” index（指数）where it is best to be born next year.
One of the most important factors is being rich, but other factors come into play including crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life. In total, the index takes into account 11 factors. These include fixed factors such as geography, others that change slowly over time such as demography（人口学）social and cultural characteristics, and the state of the world economy. The index also looks at income per head in 2030, which is roughly when children born in 2013 will reach adulthood. Small economies dominate the top 10 countries, with Australia coming second and New Zealand and the Netherlands not too far behind.
Half of the top 10 countries are European, but only one, the Netherlands, is from the euro-zone. The crisis-ridden south of Europe, including Greece, Portugal and Spain, falls behind despite the advantage of a favourable climate. Interestingly, the largest European economies - Germany, France and Britain — do not do particularly well. Nigeria has the unenviable title of being the worst country for a baby to enter the world in 2013.According to the passage, the happiest people live in .
| A．Denmark | B．Switzerland | C．Germany | D．Nigeria |
The factors of telling the best place to be born don’t include .
| A．economy | B．geography |
| C．trust in public institutions | D．pollution |
From the passage, we know .
| A．the Economist Intelligence Unit is a company |
| B．the Economist attempted to measure the best place to live |
| C．the Scandinavian countries are hardly at the top of the list |
| D．half of the top 10 countries are from the euro-zone |
The purpose of the text is to show people .
| A．the best place to be born in 2013 |
| B．a new study made by the EIU |
| C．the worst country to be born in 2013 |
| D．the factors of measuring the best place to be born |
Some people believe that international sport creates goodwill between the nations and that if countries play games together they will learn to live together. Others say that the opposite is true: international contests encourage false national pride and lead to misunderstanding and hatred. There is probably some truth in both arguments, but in recent years the Olympic Games have done little to support the view that sports encourage international brotherhood. Not only was there the incident of tragedy involving murders of athletes, but the Games were also ruined by lesser incidents caused principally by minor national contests.
One country received its second-place medals with visible anger after the hockey final. There had been noisy scenes at the end of the hockey match, as the losers disagreed with the final decisions. They believed that one of their goals should have been allowed and that their opponents’ victory was unfair. Their manager was in great anger when he said: “This isn’t hockey. Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished.” The president of the Federation said later that such behavior could result in the suspension(停赛) of the team for at least three years.
The American basketball team announced that they would not yield first place to Russia, after a disputable(有争议的) end to their contest. The game had ended in disorder. It was thought at first that the United States had won by a single point, but it was announced that there were three seconds still to play. A Russian player then threw the ball from one end of the court to the other, and another player popped it into the basket. It was the first time the US had ever lost an Olympic basketball match. An appeal jury (评审委员会) debated the matter for four and a half hours before announcing that the result would stand. The American players then voted not to receive the silver medals.
Incidents of this kind will continue as long as sport is played competitively rather than for the love of the game. The suggestion that athletes should compete as individuals or in non-national teams, might be too much to hope for. But in the present organization of the Olympics there is far too much that encourages aggressive patriotism (爱国主义).According to the author, recent Olympic Games have _______.
| A．created goodwill between the nations |
| B．hardly showed any international friendship |
| C．caused only false national pride |
| D．led to more and more misunderstanding and hatred |
What did the manager mean by saying, “...Hockey and the International Hockey Federation are finished”?
| A．Hockey and the Federation are ruined by the unfair decisions. |
| B．His team would no longer take part in international games. |
| C．There should be no more hockey matches organized by the Federation. |
| D．The Federation should be ended. |
The basketball example implied that _______.
| A．too much patriotism was displayed in the incident |
| B．the announcement to make the match last longer was wrong |
| C．the appeal jury was too hesitant in making the decision |
| D．the American team was right in receiving the silver medals |
Which statement best summarizes this passage?
| A．Athletes should compete as individuals. |
| B．Different teams often have disputes when fighting for the first place. |
| C．Any team that has disrespectful behavior should be suspended. |
| D．The organization of the Olympic Games must be improved. |
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority —someone who actually knows something —and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.Why does the author compare the parent teen war to a border conflict?
| A．Both can continue for generations. |
| B．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens accuse their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ___ ___.
| A．give orders to the other |
| B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other |
| D．get the other to behave properly |
What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war |
| C．Solutions for the parent-teen problems |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship |
Here is a true story about a famous man who worked in the White House and a criminal. They once faced the same thing: their mother gave them apples when they were young.
The criminal said: one day, my mother brought some apples and asked my brother and me: “Which one do you want?” “The reddest and biggest one,” my little brother said. My mother stared at him and said to him angrily: “You should learn to give the good things to others; you shouldn’t always think of yourself.” Seeing this, I suddenly changed my idea and then said to my mother: “Mum, please give me the smaller one and give the bigger one to my little brother.” Hearing my words, my mother was very happy. She kissed me on my face and gave the reddest and biggest apple to me as a prize. From then on, I learned to tell lies, fight, steal and rob. In order to get what I wanted, I played hard. As a result, I was sent into prison.
The famous man from the White House said: One day, my mother brought some apples. She said to my brother and me: “You all want the reddest and biggest one, right? Well, let’s have a competition. Now I divided the grassland in front of the gate into two and I will give one to each of you and you must shear(修剪) it well. And I will give the reddest and biggest apple to him who does it the most quickly and best.”
After the competition, I won and I got the biggest apple. In our family, as long as you want to get the best things, you must take part in competition. I think it is fair. No matter what you want, you must pay lots of efforts.The criminal got the reddest and biggest apple because .
| A．he told the truth that he wanted a smaller one |
| B．he knew how to make his mother happy from her answer |
| C．elder brother should of course have the bigger one |
| D．his mother loved him more than she loved the younger brother |
We can conclude from the passage that .
| A．it’s wrong to ask children to choose apples when they are not old enough |
| B．it’s important to make children aware that no matter what they want, they must pay work |
| C．it’s wrong to ask children not to always think of themselves |
| D．it’s always necessary to have a competition when we give children apple |
The writer tells the story by .
| A．organizing it in the order of time |
| B．making a comparison between two men |
| C．providing some scientific information |
| D．describing it in the order of space |
It is implied in the passage that .
| A．we should always try to win competitions which can bring us a lot |
| B．in order to get what we want, we should play hard |
| C．a mother’s educational method has a great influence on a child’s growing |
| D．giving children apples will lead them to become criminals |
Throughout the world, clothing has many uses. It is used to provide protection from cold. It is also worn to prevent others from seeing specific parts of one’s body. However, the parts of the body that must be covered vary widely throughout the world. Some clothing is worn to provide supernatural protection. Wearing a lucky shirt to take an exam is calling for supernatural assistance.
People in all cultures use clothing and other forms of bodily decoration to communicate status(身份), intentions and other messages. In North America, we dress differently for business and various leisure activities. North American women usually are much more knowledgeable of little difference in messages communicated by clothes than men. At times, this leads to silly mistakes of understanding of female intentions on the part of men. Of course, clothing styles also are intended to communicate messages to members of the same gender（性别）.
Long before we are near enough to talk to someone, their appearance tells their gender, age, economic class, and often even intentions. We begin to recognize the important cultural clues at an early age. The vocabulary of dress that we learn includes not only items of clothing but also hairstyles, jewelry, and other body decoration. In most cultures, however, the same style of dress communicates different messages depending on the age, gender, and physical appearance of the individual wearing it.
Putting on certain types of clothing can change your behavior and the behavior of others towards you. This can be the case with a doctor’s white lab coat, or an army uniform. Most uniforms are clearly symbolic so that they can rapidly and unmistakably communicate status. For instance, the strange hairstyle and clothing of the English “punks” are essential aspects of their uniforms.
There are many forms of body decoration other than clothes that are used around the world to send messages. These include body and hair paint, and even body deformation. When doctors put braces on teeth, they are actually doing the same thing – deforming or reforming a part of the body to make it more attractive.Which of the following is the best title for this passage?
| A．Clothing and Culture |
| B．Ways of Sending Message |
| C．Clothing and Social Behavior |
| D．Communication through Clothing |
Some people wear lucky shirts to take an exam because they believe .
| A．clothes can hide their fear for the exam |
| B．clothes have extraordinary power |
| C．shirts can make them more comfortable |
| D．shirts provide protection against bad weather |
From the passage, it can be inferred that .
| A．clothing plays an important role in social activities |
| B．words of dress are unable to communicate different messages |
| C．dress is better than language in communicating messages |
| D．messages communicated by clothes are the same in different cultures |