The sharing economy has grown in recent years to include everything from apartment sharing to car sharing to community tool sharing. Since 2009, a new form of sharing economy has been emerging in neighborhoods throughout the US and around the world—— Little Free Library. The libraries are boxes placed in neighborhoods from which residents can withdraw (取出) and deposit (存入) books. Little Free Libraries come in all shapes and sizes. Some libraries also have themes, focusing on books for children, adults, or tour guides.
In 2009, Tod Bol built the first Little Free Library as a gift to his mother, who was a devoted reader. When he saw the people of his community gathering around it, exchanging conversation as well as books, he knew he wanted to take his simple idea further. “I think Little Free Libraries open the door to conversations we want to have with each other,” Bol said.
Since then, his idea has become a movement, spreading from state to state and country to country. According to Little FreeLibrary.org, there are now 18,000 of the little structures around the world, located in each of the 50 US states and 70 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Internet has helped to spread Little Free Libraries. But an Atlantic article says the little structures serve as a cure for a world of e-reader downloads. The little wooden boxes are refreshingly physical and human. For many people, the sense of discovery is Little Free Libraries’ main appeal. “A girl walking home from school might pick up a graphic novel that gets her excited about reading; a man on his way to the bus stop might find a volume of poetry that changes his outlook on life,” says the Atlantic article. “Every book is a potential source of inspiration”. How do Little Free Libraries get their books?
| A．The communities bought them. |
| B．Tod Bol donated them. |
| C．US government provided them. |
| D．Citizens shared them. |
Why did Tod Bol want to build more Little Free Libraries?
| A．They can offer neighbors more chances to talk. |
| B．He was inspired by the sharing economy. |
| C．He wanted to promote his idea worldwide. |
| D．They are a gift to please his mother. |
What does the author of the Atlantic article believe?
| A．Little Free Libraries are more popular than e-reader downloads. |
| B．E-reader downloads are undoubtedly beneficial. |
| C．Little Free Libraries are physical and human. |
| D．The Internet has helped to spread Little Free Libraries. |
Little Free Libraries attract readers most in that ________.
| A．they are in various shapes and sizes |
| B．they are located all over the world |
| C．they connect strangers together |
| D．they may give readers a sense of discovery |
It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage. Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr. Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr. White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10℃, Dr. White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them..The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that ____.
| A．the time is too short for doctors |
| B．the patients are often too nervous |
| C．the damage is extremely hard to fix |
| D．the blood-cooling machine might break down |
.The brain operation was made possible mainly by ____.
| A．taking the blood out of the brain |
| B．trying the operation on monkeys first |
| C．having the blood go through a machine |
| D．lowering the brain’s temperature |
.With Dr. White’s new idea, the operation on the damaged brain ____.
| A．can last as long as 30 minutes |
| B．can keep the brain’s blood warm |
| C．can keep the patient’s brain healthy |
| D．can help monkeys do different jobs |
. What is the right order of the steps in the operations?
a. send the cooled back to the brain b. stop the blood to the brain
c. have the blood cooled down d. operate on the brain
| A．a, b, c, d | B．c, a, b, d | C．c, b, d, a | D．b, c, d, a |
A businessman had two sons. While he gave the younger son a lot of love and gifts, he neglected (忽视) the elder son. It was completely puzzling (令人费解) and no one knew why.
When the boys grew up, they were asked to manage the father’s business. The elder son was absorbed in the business. From morning till late in the evening, he was busy working. Within a few years, he ran the business very well and even expanded (扩大) it.
What about the younger son? He didn't have much to do except have a good time. But the father believed that his favorite son would be a success. If the elder son could be a successful businessman, surely the younger one, with a higher education, would do much better.
A few years later, the results of his decision became clear. Uninterested in business, the younger son continued spending his time enjoying himself. And he went out of business. But the elder son’s far smaller share (份) of business had expanded and he had proved himself to be a good decision maker.
Ashamed at the turn of events, the father met the elder son and was angry with the younger one. The elder son, who was listening to all this quietly, suddenly said he wanted to set up an independent business and live on his own.
“Why?” asked the father.
“I blame (责备) one person for the way my brother has turned out, and it’s not him. You can’t blame children for the faults (过失) of their parents, can you?” asked the elder son.. Before the younger son went into the father’s business, he______.
| A．was interested in business | B．had achieved great success |
| C．often looked down upon his brother | D．was well-educated at school |
.Why did the father treat the two sons differently?
| A．the elder son didn’t work hard | B．no one knew why he did it |
| C．the younger son was hardworking | D．he wanted to do an experiment |
. Which is NOT the reason for the younger son’s going out of business?
| A．he himself didn’t work hard |
| B．his father didn’t educate him properly |
C．he was not interest ed in business at all |
| D．he was busy working every day |
.. What does the text really want to teach us?
| A．Parents are responsible for children’s development. |
B．Once something is done, you should do it well. |
| C．Interest is the most important for success. |
| D．One has responsibility for what he himself has done. |
I was waiting for a phone call from my agent. He had left a message the night before, telling me that my show was to be cancelled.
I called him several times, but each time his secretary told me that he was in a meeting and that he would call me later. So I waited and waited, but there was still no call. Three hours passing by, I became more and more impatient. I was certain that my agent didn’t care about my work, and he didn’t care about me. I was overcome with that thought. I started to shout at the phone, “Let me wait, will you? Who do you think you are?”
At that time I didn’t realize my wife was looking on. Without showing her surprise, she rushed in, seized the phone, tore off the wires, and shouted at the phone, “Yeah! Who do you think you are? Bad telephone! Bad telephone! ” And she swept it into the wastebasket.
I stood watching her, speechless .What on earth?
She stepped to the doorway and shouted at the rest of the house, “Now hear this! All objects in this room-if you do an
ything to upset my husband, out you go!”
Then she turned to me, kissed me, and said calmly, “Honey, you just have to learn how to take control.” With that, she left the room.
After watching a crazy woman rushing in and out, shouting at everything in sight, I noticed that something in my mood（情绪）had changed. I was laughing. How could I have trouble with that phone? Her antics helped me realize I had been driven crazy by small things. Twenty minutes later my agent did call. I was able to listen to him and talk to him calmly.. Why did the author shout at the telephone?
| A．He was mad at the telephone. |
| B．He was angry with his agent. |
| C．He was anxious about his wife. |
| D．He was impatient with the secretary. |
. What did the author’s wife do after she heard his shouting?
| A．She said nothing. |
| B．She shouted at him. |
| C．She called the agent. |
| D．She threw the phone away. |
At a primary school in a small town in the east of South Carolina, second-grade teachers Garneau and Lynne are convinced that separating elementary-age boys and girls produces immediate academic improvement in both genders(性别).
David Chadwell, South Carolina’s coordinator of single gender education says, “Boys and girls learn, hear and respond to their surroundings differently. We can teach boys and girls based on what we now know.”
Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, he explains. The composition of the male eye makes it sensitive to motion and direction. “Boys interpret the world as objects moving through space,” he says.
The male eye is also drawn to cooler colors like silver and black. It’s no accident boys tend to create pictures of moving objects instead of drawing the happy colorful family, like girls do in their class.
The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to warmer colors like red, yellow and orange. To attract girls, Chadwell says, the teacher doesn’t need to move as much as in boy’s class. Using descriptive phrases and lots of colors in presentations or on the blackboard gets their attention.
Boys and girls also hear differently. “When someone speaks in a loud tone, girls interpret it as yelling,” Chadwell says. “They think you’re mad and can shut down.” Girls are more sensitive to sounds. He advises girls’ teachers to watch the tone of their voices. Boys’ teachers should sound more forceful, even excited.
A boy’s nervous system causes him to be more cautious when he is standing, moving, and the room temperature is around 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Stress in boys, he says, tends to increase blood flow to their brains, a process that helps them stay focused. Girls are mor
e focused when seated in a warmer room around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Girls also respond to stress differently. When exposed to threat and conflict, blood goes to their guts(肠道), leaving them feeling nervous or anxious.
These differences can be applied in the classroom, Chadwell adds. “Single gender programs are about maximizing the learning.” What is David Chadwell’s attitude toward separating elementary-age boys and girls
while learning?
| A．Supportive | B．Worried | C．Concerned | D．Uninterested |
To engage boy in a class, the teacher ______.
| A．must have a moving object in this hand | B．needs to wear clothes in warm color |
| C．has to speak politely | D．had better move constantly while teaching |
Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?
(=" Paragraph" 1=" Paragraph" 2=" Paragraph" 3 ….. =" Paragraph" 8)
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Ways of teaching boys and ways of teaching girls |
| B．Boys and girls should be separated |
| C．How boys and girls learn differently |
| D．How to teach more effectively |
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 effect is greater, the younger people learn a second language.
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.In the second paragraph, the writer mentions “exercise” in order to_____________.
| A．say language is also a kind of physical labor |
| 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．make people believe language learning helps grey matter work well |
The underlined word “bilingual” probably means_____________.
| A．a researcher on language learning | B．a second language learner |
| C．a person who can speak two languages | D．an active language learner |
We may know from the scientific findings that_____________.
| A．the earlier you start to learn a second language the higher the grey matter density is |
| 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 ability of learning a second language is changing all the time |
In the last two paragraphs, the author wants to tell us that_____________.
| A．learning a second language is the same as studying maths |
| B．early learning of a second language helps you a great deal in study other subjects |
| 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 |