Since my family were not going to be helpful about my taking a cooking job, I decided I would look for one all by myself and not to tell them about it till I’d got a permanent one.
I had seen an agency advertised in a local paper, so as soon as there was no one about to say “Where are you going?” I rushed out of the house in search of it. I was wildly excited, and as nervous as if I were going on the stage. Finding the place quite easily, I tore up three flights of stairs, and swung breathlessly through a door which said “Enter without knocking, if you please.”
The simple atmosphere of the office calmed me, and I sat down on the edge of a chair. The woman at the desk opposite looked carefully at me. Then she questioned me in a low voice. I answered softly and started to feel helpless. She wondered why I was looking for this sort of job, so I felt I had to give her the idea of a widowed mother struggling against poverty. But I felt more helpless when she told me that it would be difficult to get a job without experience or references. Suddenly, the telephone on her desk rang. While having a mysterious conversation, she kept looking at me. Then I heard her say:
“In fact, I’ve got someone here who might suit.” She wrote down a number, and my spirits rose as she held out the paper to me, saying: “Ring up this lady. She wants a cook immediately. Cook a dinner for ten people tomorrow. Could you manage that, I wonder?”
“Oh, yes,” say I—never having cooked for more than four. Then I rushed out and called the lady, Miss Cathy. I said confidently that I was just what she was looking for. “Are you sure?” she kept saying. Anyway she decided to employ me and a permanent position if I carried out the promise of my self-praise. I asked her what tomorrow’s menu was to be.
“Just a small, simple dinner: lobster cocktail, soup, turbot Mornay, fruit salad and a savory.” In a rather shaken voice I promised to turn up in good time tomorrow and rang off.What did the author feel on her way?
| A．Excited but worried. |
| B．Nervous and excited. |
| C．Easy and curious. |
| D．Helpless but excited. |
Why didn’t the woman give the author the job at first?
| A．Because the woman found that the author didn’t respect her. |
| B．Because the woman realized that the author made up a story. |
| C．Because the author hadn’t been a cook before or got a reference. |
| D．Because the woman had already hired a more suitable cook. |
According to the passage, what would the author most probably do after the call?
| A．Read some cookery book. |
| B．Call her family and tell them the news. |
| C．Go to the woman’s house. |
| D．Buy what the woman told her at once. |
When a magazine for high school students asked its readers what life would be like in twenty years, they said: Machines would be run by solar power. Buildings would rotate（旋转）so they could follow the sun to take maximum advantage of its light and heat. Walls would “give light” and “change color with the push of a button.” Food would be replaced by pills. School would be taught by electrical impulse（电脉冲）while we sleep. Cars would have radar（雷达）. Does this sound like the year 2000? Actually, this article was written in 1958 and the question was, “what will life be like in 1978?
The future is much too important to simply guess about, the way the high school students did, so experts are regularly asked to predict accuately. By carefully studying the present, skilled businessmen, scientists, and politicians are supposedly able to figure out in advance what will happen. But can they? One expert on Cities wrote: Cities of the future would not be crowded, but would have space for farms and fields. People would travel to work in “airbuses”, large all-weather helicopters carrying up to 200 passengers. When a person left the airbus station he could drive a coin-operated car equipped with radar. The radar equipment of cars would make traffic accidents “almost unheard of”. Does that sound familiar? If the expert had been accurate it would, because he was writing in 1957. His subject was “The city of 1982”.
If the professionals sometimes sound like high school students, it’s probably because future study is still a new field. But economic forecasting, or predicting what the economy will do, has been around for a long time. It should be accuate, and generally it is. But there have been some big mistakes in the field, too. In early 1929, most forecasters saw an excellent future for the stock market. In October of that year, the stock market had its worst losses ever, ruining thousands of investors who had put their faith in financial foreseers.
One forecaster knew that predictions about the future would always be subject to significant error. In 1957, H.J. Rand of the Rad corporation was asked about the year 2000, “Only one thing is certain,” he answered. “Children born today will have reached the age of 43.”How many examples does the author offer to describe the future life?
| A．Three | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
The high school students’ answers to “What would life be like in 1978?” sound __________.
| A．accurate | B．imaginative | C．correct | D．foolish |
In the second paragraph, the writer gives examples to show _________.
| A．predicting about the future can be done in a humorous way |
| B．no predictions are based on careful research |
| C．experts are always better than others in figuring out what the future will be like |
| D．forecasting the future is not an easy job even for experts in this field |
From the third paragraph we can learn that _________.
| A．economy forecasting is rather a new field |
| B．experts began economy forecasting in 1929 |
| C．the predictions about economic situation caused the investors to lose lots of money |
| D．good, accurate forecasting helped the stock market overcome the difficulties |
H.J.Rand’s prediction about the year 2000 shows that ________.
| A．it is easy to figure out in advance what will happen |
| B．it is difficult to figure out in advance what will happen |
| C．only professionals can figure out in advance what will happen |
| D．very few professionals figure out in advance what will happen |
Going green is something that affects every single one of us. Whether by recycling those plastic water bottles, or by cutting down on electricity in your home, the importance of going green on a personal level is extremely important. But, when you’re a millionaire NBA basketball star, how do you help out the environment?
Yao Ming is a basketball player that plays for the Houston Rockets and has spoken out against hunting of sharks for fins, a delicious food in his native China. He is also the United Nations’ Environmental champion. His goal is to raise awareness of climate change and energy-saving. “I will work with young people across the world and try to inspire them to plant trees, harvest rainwater and to become environmental champions in their own communities.”
The Philadelphia Eagles, a professional American football team, are really doing their part to give back to the community. The Eagles Go Green page has a “Green Energy Calculator” and according to the web site fans have saved $ 73,674.90 a year and saved 666,320 pounds of CO2 per year. Also, the Eagles have set up a “Stop global warming virtual march（虚拟游行）on Washington”, a march across America for one year, through the Internet with a goal to bring fans together and to urge leaders to deal with the serious problem of global warming now.
Bob Burnquist, a Brazilian skateboarder, is a member of Action Sports Environmental Coalition and founder of a program that gets organic foods and farming into schools for healthy lunch programs. Bob also has a huge homegrown organic farm where he hosted a gathering in celebration of Earth Day.
Kelly Slater is a surfer and eight-time champion, but he also supports saving the coral reefs world wide. He has founded the Kelly Slater Invitational Competition which raises funds and awareness for Reef Check, which is able to get its message out to a large group of guests including professional surfers, film and music stars, and other famous people.According to the passage, Yao Ming wants to ________.
| A．help the Houston Rockets win the NBA championship |
| B．ask the United Nations to protect sharks in China |
| C．encourage young people to care about the environment |
| D．train more young people to become players of NBA |
What have the Philadelphia Eagles done to help out the environment?
| A．They have called on fans to do things to reduce global warming. |
| B．They have marched on Washington to bring fans together. |
| C．They have saved $ 73,674.90 for solving global warming. |
| D．They have reduced CO2 emission by 666,320 pounds per year. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the last two paragraphs?
| A．Bob Burnquist created Earth Day. |
| B．Bob Burnquist eats only organic foods. |
| C．Kelly Slater donated a lot of money. |
| D．Kelly Slater held a competition. |
The best title for the passage would probably be _________.
| A．Highly Competitive Athletes |
| B．Environment-friendly Athletes |
| C．World-famous Athletes |
| D．Millionaire Athletes |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．Only famous people need to care about environmental problems. |
| B．America is the country that takes best care of environment. |
| C．Environmental problems have a common effect on everyone of us. |
| D．Yao Ming’s goals to raise people’s awareness of environment are mainly about climate change and air pollution. |
Recently, professor of philosophy（哲学）in the United States has written a book called Money and the Meaning of Life. He has discovered that how we deal with money in our daily life has more meaning than we usually think. One of the exercises he asked his students to do is to keep a record of every penny they spend for a week. From the way they spend their money, they can see what they really value in life.
He says our relations with others often become clearly defined（清晰的）when money enters the picture. You might have wonderful relationship with somebody and you think that you are very good friends. But you will know him only when you ask him to lend some money. If he does, it brings something to the relationship that seems stronger than ever before or it can suddenly weaken the relationship if he doesn’t. This person may say that he has a certain feeling, but if it is not carried out in the money world, there is something less real about it.
Since money is so important to us, we consider those who possess a lot of it to be very important. The author interviewed some millionaires in researching his book.
Question: What is the most surprising thing you have discovered about being rich, because you are a self-made man?
Answer: The most surprising thing is how people give me so much respect. I am nothing. I don’t know much. All I am is rich.
People just have an idea of making more and more money, but what is it for? How much do I need for any given purposes in my life? In his book, the professor uncovered an important need in modern society: to bring back the idea that money is an instrument rather than the end. Money plays an important role in the material world, but expecting money to give happiness may be missing the meaning of life.According to the first paragraph, people have not realized ______.
| A．how important money is in their daily life |
| B．how one spends money shows what is important to him |
| C．that money is more important than their philosophy of life |
| D．that their understanding of life is more important than money |
The author seems to believe that asking your friend to lend you some money ________.
| A．is a good way to test your friendship |
| B．will do harm to your friendship |
| C．will strengthen your friendship |
| D．is a good way to break off your friendship |
What does the American professor of philosophy want to explain in his book?
| A．Money is an end． | B．Money is a means． |
| C．Money is everything． | D．Money is unimportant |
The underlined phrase “enter the picture” in the second paragraph can be replaced by “_________”.
| A．is used up | B．is spent on pictures |
| C．is paid in the right way | D．is paid attention to |
What can we learn about the millionaire from his answer in the interview?
| A．He doesn’t feel that he is well educated. |
| B．He doesn’t think he is a very important person. |
| C．He doesn’t consider himself to be very successful. |
| D．He doesn’t think that being rich deserves so much attention. |
If English means endless new words, difficult grammar and sometimes strange pronunciation, you are wrong. Haven’t you noticed that you have become smarter since you started to learn a language?
According to a new study by a British university, learning a second language can lead to an increase in your brain power. Researchers found that learning other languages changes grey matter. This is the area of the brain which processes information. It is similar to the way that exercise builds muscles.
The study also found the younger people learn a second language, the greater the effect is.
A team led by Dr Andrea Mechelli, from University College London, took a group of Britons who only spoke English. They were compared with a group of “early bilinguals” who had learnt a second language before the age of five, as well as a number of later learners.
Scans showed that grey matter density(密度)in the brain was greater in bilinguals than in people without a second language. But the longer a person waited before mastering a new language, the smaller the difference.
“Our findings suggest that the structure of the brain is changed by the experience of learning a second language,” said the scientists.
It means that the change itself increases the ability to learn.
Professor Dylan Vaughan Jones of the University of Wales, has researched the link between bilingualism and maths skills. “Having two languages gives you two windows on the world and makes the brain more flexible(灵活的),”he said. “You are actually going beyond language and have a better understanding of different ideas.”
The findings were matched in a study of native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34. Reading, writing, and comprehension were all tested. The results showed that the younger they started to learn, the better. “Studying a language means you get an entrance to another world,” explained the scientists.The main subject talked about in this passage is ______.
| A．science on learning a second language |
| B．language can help brain power |
| C．man's ability of learning a second language |
| D．language learning and maths study |
In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in order to ______.
| A．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
| B．prove that one needs more practice when he (she) is learning a language |
| C．to show the importance of using the language when you learn the language |
| D．say language is also a kind of physical labor |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means ______.
| A．a researcher on language learning |
| B．an English native speaker |
| C．an active language learner |
| D．a person who can speak two languages |
We may know from the scientific findings that ______.
| A．the ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
| B．there is no difference between a later second language learner and one who doesn't know a second language |
| C．the experience of learning a second language has bad effect on people's brain |
| D．the earlier you start to learn a second language, the higher the grey matter density is |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that ______.
| A．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in studying other subjects |
| B．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| C．Italian is the best choice for you as a second language |
| D．you’d better choose the ages between 2 and 34 to learn a second language |
In the kitchen of my mother's houses there has always been a wooden stand with a small notepad and a hole for a pencil.
I’m looking for paper on which to note down the name of a book I am recommending to my mother. Over forty years since my earliest memories of the kitchen pad and pencil, five houses later, the current paper and pencil look the same as they always did. Surely it can't be the same pencil. The pad is more modern, but the wooden stand is definitely the original one.
“I'm just amazed you still have the same stand for holding the pad and pencil after all these years.” I say to her, walking back into the living-room with a sheet of paper and the pencil. “You still use a pencil. Can’t you afford a pen?”
My mother replies a little sharply. “It works perfectly well. I've always kept the stand in the kitchen. I never knew when I might want to note down an idea, and I was always in the kitchen these days. ”
Immediately I can picture her, hair wild, blue housecoat covered in flour, a wooden spoon in one hand, the pencil in the other, her mouth moving silently. My mother smiles and says, “One day I was cooking and watching baby Pauline, and I had a brilliant thought, but the stand was empty. One of the children must have taken the paper. So I just picked up the breadboard and wrote it all down on the back. It turned out to be a real breakthrough for solving the mathematical problem I was working on.”
This story—which happened before I was born—reminds me how extraordinary my mother was, and is also a gifted mathematician. I feel embarrassed that I complain about not having enough child-free time to work. Later, when my mother is in the bathroom, I go into her kitchen and turn over the breadboards. Sure enough, on the back of the smallest one, are some penciled marks I recognize as mathematics. Those symbols have traveled unaffected through fifty years, rooted in the soil of a cheap wooden breadboard, invisible exhibits at every meal. Why has the author's mother always kept the notepad and pencil in the kitchen?
| A．To leave messages. |
| B．To list her everyday tasks. |
| C．To note down maths problems. |
| D．To write down a flash of inspiration（灵感）. |
What is the author's original opinion about the wooden stand?
| A．It has great value for the family. |
| B．It needs to be replaced by a better one. |
| C．It brings her back to her lonely childhood. |
| D．It should be passed on to the next generation. |
The author feels embarrassed for ______.
| A．blaming her mother wrongly |
| B．giving her mother a lot of trouble |
| C．not making good use of time as her mother did |
| D．not making any breakthrough in her field |
What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
| A．The mother is successful in her career. |
| B．The family members like traveling. |
| C．The author had little time to play when young. |
| D．The marks on the breadboard have disappeared. |
In the author's mind, her mother is ______.
| A．strange in behavior |
| B．enthusiastic about her research |
| C．fond of collecting old things |
| D．careless about her appearance |