A typical lion tamer（驯兽师）in people’s mind is an entertainer holding a whip( 鞭) at a chair. The whip gets all of the attention, but it’s mostly for show. In reality, it’s the chair that does the important work. When a lion tamer holds a chair in front of the lion’s face, the lion tries to focus on all four legs of the chair at the same time. With its focus divided, the lion becomes confused and is unsure about what to do next. When faced with so many options, the lion chooses to freeze and wait instead of attacking the man holding the chair.
How often do you find yourself in the same position as the lion? How often do you have something you want to achieve (e.g. lose weight, start a business, travel more)—only to end up confused by all of the options in front of you and never make progress?
This upsets me to no end because while all the experts are busy debating about which option is best, the people who want to improve their lives are left confused by all of the conflicting information. The end result is that we feel like we can’t focus or that we’re focused on the wrong things, and so we take less action, make less progress, and stay the same when we could be improving.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Anytime you find the world waving a chair in your face, remember this: All you need to do is focus on one thing. You just need to get started. Starting before you feel ready is one of the habits of successful people. If you have somewhere you want to go, something you want to accomplish, someone you want to become…take immediate action. If you’re clear about where you want to go, the rest of the world will either help you get there or get out of the way.Why does the lion tamer use a chair?
| A．To entertain the audience. |
| B．To show off his skills. |
| C．To get ready for a fight. |
| D．To trick the lion. |
In what sense are people similar to a lion facing a chair?
| A．They feel puzzled over choices. |
| B．They hold on to the wrong things. |
| C．They find it hard to make changes. |
| D．They have to do something for show |
What is the author’s attitude towards the expert mentioned in Paragraph3?
| A．Tolerant. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Respectful. | D．Supportive. |
When the world is “waving a chair in your face”, you’re advised to _____
| A．wait for a better chance |
| B．break your old habits |
| C．make a quick decision |
| D．ask for clear guidance |
Want to take an out-of-this-world trip? Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to make that possible. Beginning in 2009, people should have the opportunity to become space tourists, traveling at about 3,000 mph to heights about 75 miles above Earth. Branson has high hopes for his latest plans. "It is just the start of what we believe will be a new age in the history of mankind—one day making the affordable exploration of space by human beings a real possibility," he said.
At the start, though, the trip won’t be cheap. Seats aboard Virgin’s first craft—VSS Enterprise—will cost about $200,000. Prices could drop after the first hundred space flights. Despite the current ticket cost, more than 30,000 people—including celebrities(名人) Sigourney Weaver and Victoria Principal—have expressed interest in getting onboard.
People who don't have an extra $200,000 still have a chance to get a seat aboard the craft. A computer game contest and a reality television show are in the works. Those who can’t afford a ticket will have an opportunity to win a seat.
Virgin is expected to be the first commercial spacecraft. It will hold six passengers and two pilots. Passengers will be able to see the Earth from many different viewpoints. The cabin will include 15 floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing for views that extend about 1,000 miles in any direction.
Passengers will have three days of preflight preparation. On the big day, the spacecraft will take off from the Mojave Spaceport in the California desert. The craft will rocket passengers into space at four times the speed of sound. The journey will last about 2 1/2 hours. Passengers will wear spacesuits and helmets(头盔). They will be able to float around the cabin and do somersaults(空翻) during the five minutes of weightlessness they will experience in zero gravity. At the end of the flight, the craft will land on a runway.Virgin Galactic could be _____.
| A．the engineer of the first commercial spacecraft |
| B．the name of a series of spacecrafts |
| C．the company of the first commercial spacecraft |
| D．a passenger aboard the first commercial spacecraft |
The space passengers will do all the following except that _____.
| A．they will receive a three-day training course |
| B．they will wear spacesuits and helmets |
| C．they will take about $200,000 with them |
| D．they will experience weightlessness |
Which statement is true according to the passage?
| A．More than 30,000 people have got to travel in spacecraft. |
| B．Many people signed up for space travel in spite of the high ticket cost. |
| C．Those without much money could also go space travel without occupying the seats. |
| D．The first commercial spacecraft will have six persons on board. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．The exciting moment of the spacecraft’s launching. |
| B．The living condition of space tourists in the craft. |
| C．Preparations for a space travel. |
| D．Plans for the first commercial space flight. |
Think of some of your favorite singers. When you listen, they can make you happy or sad, peaceful or angry. They can make you relax or want to get up and dance. Gifted singers have the power to affect us in many ways — emotionally, physically and mentally.
But becoming a great singer isn’t as easy as listening to one. It takes practice, devotion and strong lungs! Just ask the well-known American opera（歌剧）star Carol Vaness.
At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she often sings, Carol’s voice must be loud enough to be heard by four thousand people. It must reach every person in the theater, without a microphone, even when she’s singing softly. The reason Carol can project her voice that far is the way she breathes.
“When you breathe, it’s like a swimmer taking a deep breath before going underwater, ” Carol explains. “You have to take a lot of air into your lungs.”
According to Carol, the main difference between pop singing and opera is “how you breathe, how much air you take in, and how you control it coming out. Regular singing is more like speaking, and it’s a lot softer. When I sing for children, they’re often surprised by how the vibrations strike their ears — like waves on a beach, ” Carol says. “In opera, the air doesn’t just go out of your mouth — it vibrates in your chest, the way a guitar vibrates when it’s played.”
Ever since she started piano lessons at the age of ten, Carol has loved music. As she got older, she decided to become a music teacher. When she went to college, she took singing lessons as part of her studies. Her voice teacher discovered that nineteen-year-old Carol had an exceptionally beautiful soprano voice – the highest singing voice for women.
Carol decided to make opera her goal, not only because she loved to sing but also because she loved the drama. Opera is a play in which the characters sing the words instead of speaking them. The stories of opera can be tragic or comical. They can be personal stories about two people falling in love or grand stories about kings and queens who lived long ago. As the characters in an opera sing, the emotions(情感) expressed by words and music come to life.
Today, Carol performs throughout the United States and Europe and she has song for almost twenty years. But she has never forgotten where she started singing in the first palace.
“Put your heart into your singing and enjoy it,” says Carol, “because singing is a great joy. That’s why I sing. In fact, that’s why everybody sings.”According to the passage, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City _____.
| A．is a five-story building | B．can seat 4,000 people |
| C．has no microphone in it | D．can project the singer’s voice |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．Opera Singing and Pop Singing | B．The Way an Opera Star Sings |
| C．An Opera Star | D．Singing without a Microphone |
Which statement is true?
| A．A pop singer breathes more deeply than an opera singer when he or she sings. |
| B．Opera singing is more like speaking. |
| C．A pop singer takes in much more air than an opera singer when singing. |
| D．An opera singer breathes differently from a pop singer when singing. |
From the passage you can conclude all the following EXCEPT that _____.
| A．Carol once learned to play the piano |
| B．Carol worked as a music teacher |
| C．Carol has been singing opera for 20 years or so |
| D．Carol is popular with Americans and Europeans |
The sentence “Put your heart into your singing” in the last paragraph means “_____”.
| A．devoting yourself to singing | B．taking trouble to sing |
| C．singing happily | D．trying your best to sing |
Buckminster Fuller once said, “The minute you choose to do what you really want to do, it’s a different kind of life.” If you want to live abundantly, decide what you really want and figure out a way to do it. Be clear and live with intent (意向).
You may have heard of Fred Lebow. He complained to his doctor that he lacked energy. His doctor advised him to take up running. He fell in love with it! He was 39 years old when he entered his first race.
Fred joined the New York Road Runners Club and organized New York City’s first marathon race. But what Fred truly wanted to do was to bring people together. He believes that anybody should be able to run — people of all ages and of any country.
Not everyone in New York was excited about people running through their neighborhood. A youth gang warned him that nobody had better run through their turf. “That’s great,” Fred said. “I need someone to protect the runners in your area, and you look like just the fellows to do it.”
He gave them each a hat, shirt and jacket and that year, when the marathon went through their neighborhood, these young men proudly guarded the runners along their way.
Fred decided what was truly important to him and he found a way to do it. He lived with intent. That single decision made his life remarkably different.
As one sports writer said, “Fate handed him a short race. With his goal, with his love of life, Fred turned it into a marathon.” Fred would say that it’s not about how long you live, but how you run the race of life. The purpose that Fred Lebow organized New York City’s first marathon race was _____.
| A．to be popular with people |
| B．to display his true love for sports development |
| C．to drive away his loneliness in the running |
| D．to get more people together |
Which word in the passage is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “turf”?
| A．Neighborhood. | B．Way. | C．Decision. | D．Race. |
What’s the best title for this passage?
| A．Determination guarantees you a success. |
| B．The race of life with intent. |
| C．Nothing is impossible in one’s life race. |
| D．The benefits of taking up running. |
London Summer School in Classics
Dates
The London Summer School in Classics 2008 will be held at King’s College London. It will run from 8th July until 17th July. Applications close on 2nd June, 2008.
For an application form, please download either the 2-page PDF or the word format document from the foot of the page.
If you have any problems downloading the application form or any questions, please contact: London Summer School in Classics, King’s College London.
Tel: 020 7848 2299
Fax: 020 7848 2545
Organization
The school is organized by the colleges of the University of London. The summer school offers eight days of intensive teaching in Greek and Latin. There are four language classes each day as well as lectures and a debate, between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm. The course is not residential (提供住宿的), and there is no teaching during the weekend of 12th to 13th July.
The fee is £85.00. Travel grants (旅行补助金) are available as a contribution to your travel costs, but may not cover all your expenses. The travel grants are arranged during the summer school.
Teaching is generally in groups of 12-15 people and it, as far as possible, comprises (包含) of students of roughly the same level of experience. The style of teaching is friendly, but demanding: a lot of work is expected from students during the school, but they usually find the whole experience both stimulating and valuable. Some classes concentrate chiefly on reading, while others offer a mixture of grammar and translation practice. Our tutors include some of the most experienced and talented teachers of Classics in the London area and beyond.
The Summer School in Classics caters for a wide range of interests and for both school & university students as well as those who wish to learn Greek or Latin, or to revive their knowledge of the languages. Our principal concern is to provide a thorough program of language learning in a lively university environment.To join in the school, you have to apply before ________.
| A．8th July, 2008 | B．2nd June, 2008 |
| C．17th July, 2008 | D．13th July, 2008 |
As a student of the school, you are probably asked to _______.
| A．do a lot of reading in Greek and Latin |
| B．learn the grammar of Greek and Latin only |
| C．do some translation work only |
| D．speak Greek and Latin with experienced teachers |
What is the London Summer School in Classics most concerned about?
| A．Providing a stimulating experience for students. |
| B．Promoting students to develop a wide range of interests. |
| C．Teaching students languages in a lively environment. |
| D．Improving students’ level of debating in the argument. |
Which is one of the teaching ways of the school?
| A．Student groups consist of the same level students strictly. |
| B．Students needn’t do any work in the class. |
| C．Students learn Greek and Latin by listening to teachers all day. |
| D．Students are generally divided into groups of 12-15. |
Which of the following can we know from the passage?
| A．The fee is £85, including the travel costs. |
| B．Students needn’t go to class on 12th and 13th July. |
| C．People should fill in two application forms. |
| D．People can contact the school by phone or email. |
Wugging, or web use giving, describes the act of giving to charity at no cost to the user. By using Everyclick.com, which is being added to a number of university computers across the UK, students can raise money every time they search, but it won’t cost them a penny.
Research shows that students are extremely passionate about supporting charity — 88% of full time students have used the Internet to give to charity. This age group is often the least likely to have their own income. 19% of 22 to 24 year olds have short-term debts of more than £5,000. With rising personal debt levels in this age group, due to university tuition fees or personal loans and a lack of long-term savings, traditional methods of donating to charity are often not appealing (有感染力的) or possible.
Beth Truman, a 21 year old recent university graduate, has used Everyclick.com to donate to her chosen charity, the RSPCA, for two years and has seen the “wugging” movement grow in popularity with students. “When you’re at university you become more socially aware, but it’s sometimes hard to give to others when you have little money yourself,” says Beth. “Wugging is great for people in this age group as it allows them to use the technology on a daily basis to give to charity, without costing them a single penny.”
Wugging is perfect for people who want to be more socially aware and supportive but don’t feel they have the means to do so. Students using the web can raise money for causes they care about without costing them anything in terms of time or money, and charities get a valuable source of funding.
Everyclick.com works like any other search engine, allowing users to search for information, news and images but users can decide which of the UK’s 170,000 charities they would like to support through their clicks. Everyclick.com then makes monthly payments to every registered charity. Launched in June 2005, Everyclick.com is now the eighth largest search engine and one of the busiest charity websites in the UK.According to the passage, “wugging” is actually ______.
| A．a website |
| B．a charity-related action |
| C．a school organization |
| D．a student movement |
In the case of charity, Everyclick.com ______.
| A．frees students of the financial worries |
| B．receives much money from students |
| C．offers valuable information to students |
| D．praises students for their money-raising |
What does Beth Truman think of the “wugging” movement?
| A．It makes Everyclick.com popular in the UK. |
| B．It becomes easy to do charity because of it. |
| C．It results in students’ more social awareness. |
| D．It helps students to save money. |
From the passage, we can conclude that ______.
| A．most full time students do charity on the Internet every day |
| B．Everyclick.com helps students pay for the college education |
| C．“wugging” is a win-win idea for both students and charities |
| D．Everyclick.com is the most successful search engine in the UK |
What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．“Wugging”, a new popular term on the Internet. |
| B．British people show strong interest in charity. |
| C．More Britain charities benefit from the Internet. |
| D．Students raise money for charity by “wugging”. |