I saw a dear friend a few days ago and stopped by to ask her how she was doing.She looked up,voice lowered,just complaining:“I'm so busy…have so much going on”
Almost immediately after,I ran into another friend and asked him how he was.Again,the same tone,the same response:“I'm just so busy…got so much to do.”
Their responses knocked me down.How did we create a world in which we have more and more to do with less time for leisure,less time for reflection,less time for community? When did we forget that we are human beings,not human doings? What happened to a world in which we can sit with the people we love so much and have slow conversations with meaningful pauses and silences that we are in no rush to fill?
This disease of being “busy” is spiritually destructive to our health and well-being.It weakens our ability to be fully present with those we love the most in our families, and keeps us from forming the kind of community that we all so desperately tong for.
I don’t have any magical solutions.All I know is that we are losing the ability to live a truly human life.I am always a prisoner of hope, but I wonder if we are willing to make a change to our so-called busyness of life.Somehow we need a different model of organizing our lives,our societies,and our families.
I want us to have a kind of existence where we can pause,look each other in the eye,touch one another,and ask ourselves:Here is how my heart is doing,I am taking the time to reflect on my own existence,and I know how to express the state of my heart.

What’s the result of the busy lifestyle?
| A.People will become forgetful in their everyday life. |
| B.People are beginning to find some time for leisure. |
| C.People may lose the ability of enjoying their life. |
| D.People will further understand the importance of community. |
How can we live a relaxed and balanced life according to the author?
| A.By seeking help from local families. |
| B.By improving our working ability. |
| C.By reconstructing the model of our lives. |
| D.By creating a smarter open community. |
Calling himself a prisoner of hope,the author means that .
| A.he thinks people won’t change |
| B.he actually has magical solutions |
| C.it is harmful to have many hopes |
| D.he is always optimistic about life |
What is the purpose of the author writing the article?
| A.To express concerns about people’s complaints. |
| B.To criticize and reflect on the people’s present lifestyle. |
| C.To voice his opinions on how to live a simple life. |
| D.To question whether it is possible to live a slow life. |
Mr Smith made many tests (作试验) with different animals and the monkey was the cleverest of all the animals.
One day Mr Smith put a monkey in a room. He also put some small boxes in it. In one of the boxes there was some food. "How long will it take the monkey to find the food? " Mr Smith said to himself. " Let me wait and see. " He left the room and waited outside. Three minutes later, he put his eye to the keyhole (钥匙眼). What did he see? He saw the eye of the monkey. The monkey was on the other side of the door and looked at Mr Smith through the keyhole.Mr Smith made tests with __________.
| A.different animals | B.the monkey only |
| C.all the monkeys | D.all of the cleverest animals |
There was some food in _______ of the small boxes.
| A.some | B.none | C.one | D.each |
Mr Smith put a monkey and some boxes in a room because he wanted to know___________.
| A.how much food monkey could find |
| B.how many boxes the monkey could carry |
| C.how long it would take the monkey to put its eye to the keyhole |
| D.how long it would take the monkey to find the food |
What was the monkey doing when Mr Smith was putting his eye to the keyhole?
| A.The monkey was eating food. |
| B.The monkey was looking for food. |
| C.The monkey was eating on the other side of the door. |
| D.The monkey was looking at Mr Smith through the keyhole. |
Mr Smith is a ________.
| A.teacher | B.scientist (科学家) |
| C.doctor | D.farm worker |
Doctor Mason has held a clinic for ten years. He is an expert doctor. He usually gets up at 7:00 a.m. and commutes to work by subway. It’s always very crowded with people and he tries to keep his distance from them. In the winter he notices the stress on the faces of the commuters and knows that some of these people will come to him for advice. He always solves their problems and returns to the comfort of his home a satisfied man.
Martin is a gifted artist. He knows that he has an unusual occupation(职业), but he actually treats it as a disciplined career. He gets up at the same time every day and works for nine hours with a break for lunch. His new project uses metal but his designs use pencil and paper. In nine months’ time, his work will be on display outside the local library, and he will be very proud of it.What kind of transportation does Doctor Mason usually take?
| A.bus | B.underground |
| C.boat | D.bicycle |
What does Doctor Mason often do when he’s in a subway which is crowded with people?
| A.He tries to take the next one. |
| B.He gives up and tries to take a taxi. |
| C.He tries to keep his distance from the tube. |
| D.He tries to keep his distance from the people. |
What’s the possible meaning of the word “gifted” in the passage?
| A.intelligent | B.stupid |
| C.common | D.strange |
What does he use in his design?
A. metalB. metal and pencil
C. pencil and paper D. Both A and C.Which of the statements is NOT true?
| A.When Doctor Mason notice the stress on people’s face in winter, he knows that some of these people will come to him for advice. |
| B.Doctor Mason often feel satisfied after he helps people with their problems. |
| C.Martin is very strict with his work. |
| D.Martin has to work for nine hours without a break everyday. |
Have you got a Facebook account? Are you thinking of getting one? Jamie Simmonds has just signed up. Let’s see how she’s getting along.
As from June 2012, Facebook had over 955 million active users. The average Facebook user has 130 friends. Facebook is translated into more than 70 different languages. The world spends 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page says he’s a Harvard graduate, even though he actually dropped out to focus on Facebook. The site is valued at between $7.9 and $11 billion.Which of the following is conveyed in this passage?
| A.Visiting Facebook website took up a large part of Jamie’s time and energy. |
| B.Jamie is enthusiastic about her present job. |
| C.Facebbook was created by a Harvard graduate, Mark Zuckerberg. |
| D.Compared with Facebook, Twitter is a better choice for Jamie. |
Why did Jamie’s boyfriend ask her whether she had broken up with him?
| A.He had seen photos of Jamie dancing on the table. |
| B.She showed in her Facebook that she was still not dating anyone. |
| C.Her boyfriend was angry that she refused to add him as her friend. |
| D.He saw the name of her ex-boyfriend on his news feed. |
What does the word “un-friend” mean in the underlined sentence “Someone’s un-friended me!”?
| A.Be unfriendly to others |
| B.Remove a name from friend list |
| C.Have a quarrel with somebody |
| D.End friendship with somebody |
For a while, my neighborhood was taken over by an army of joggers(慢跑者). They were there all the time: early morning, noon, and evening. There were little old ladies in gray sweats, young couples in Adidas shoes, middle-aged men with red faces. “Come on!” My friend Alex encouraged me to join him as he jogged by my house every evening. “You’ll feel great.”
Well, I had nothing against feeling great and if Alex could jog every day, anyone could. So I took up jogging seriously and gave it a good two months of my life, and not a day more. Based on my experience, jogging is the most overvalued form of exercise around, and judging from the number of the people who left our neighborhood jogging army, I’m not alone in my opinion.
First of all, jogging is very hard on the body. Your legs and feet take a real pounding(重击)running down a road for two or three miles. I developed foot, leg, and back problems. Then I read about a nationally famous jogger who died of a heart attack while jogging, and I had something else to worry about. Jogging doesn’t kill hundreds of people, but if you have any physical weaknesses, jogging will surely bring them out, as they did with me.
Secondly, I got no enjoyment out of jogging. Putting one foot in front of the other for forty-five minutes isn’t my idea of fun. Jogging is also a lonely pastime. Some joggers say, “I love being out there with just my thoughts.” Well, my thoughts began to bore me, and most of them were on how much my legs hurt.
And how could I enjoy something that brought me pain? And that wasn’t just the first week;it was practically every day for two months. I never got past the pain level, and pain isn’t fun. What a cruel way to do it! So many other exercises, including walking, lead to almost the same results painlessly, so why jog?
I don’t jog any more, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m walking two miles three times a week at a fast pace, and that feels good. I bicycle to work when the weather is good. I’m getting exercise, and I’m enjoying it at the same time. I could never say the same for jogging, and I’ve found a lot of better ways to stay in shape.The underlined word “them”(Paragraph 3) most probably refers to _____.
| A.heart attacks | B.back problems |
| C.famous joggers | D.physical weaknesses |
What was the writer’s attitude towards jogging in the beginning?
| A.He felt it was worth a try. |
| B.He was very fond of it. |
| C.He was strongly against it. |
| D.He thought it must be painful. |
Why did the writer give up jogging two months later?
| A.He disliked doing exercise outside. |
| B.He found it neither healthy nor interesting. |
| C.He was afraid of having a heart attack. |
| D.He was worried about being left alone. |
From the writer’s experience, we can conclude that______.
| A.not everyone enjoys jogging |
| B.he is the only person who hates jogging |
| C.nothing other than jogging can help people keep fit |
| D.jogging makes people feel greater than any other sport |
Never before in Chinese history has a documentary film aroused so much public enthusiasm. Everybody is talking about a new 7-part documentary called A Bite of China which was recently broadcast late at night on CCTV I. The documentary describes various gourmet items across the vast Chinese culinary (烹饪) landscape.
According to Taobao, China’s biggest online retail website, just five days after the series began to air, nearly 6 million people went to the site in search of various local specialities, particularly those mentioned in the documentary. More than 7.2 million deals were concluded. A ham producer from Yunnan Province saw his sales grow 17-fold in five days.
However, one can’t help but believe that the documentary’s popularity is probably linked to the endless stream of terrible food security issues that have emerged in recent years. In one well-received article, a netizen wrote, “I wonder how many felt so empty-hearted and sighed after watching the film .Formaldehyde(甲醛) sprayed cabbage, Sudan Red colored salty eggs, restaurants using gutter oil. The list is long…”
A varied and ancient food culture that is famous world-wide and which should have made the Chinese proud ends like this: one can only sigh. Food is the most vital thing in people’s lives. Yet China’s food industry is a typical description of “bad money driving out the good”. The market is huge while the cost of faking and cheating is so low for unscrupulous (不道德的) businessmen; and the punishment is too light. Take the milk industry as an example. Although Sanlu, the company that sold the melamine-adulterated milk powder, was punished, thousands of other dairies didn’t work hard to improve the quality. In order to allow national brands to survive, Chinese authorities are happy to loosen their regulations.
As the documentary shows, people are attracted not to gourmet items like matsutake, a species of rare mushroom grown naturally in remote forests, but to common Chinese dishes like barley, lotus root or tofu. They are what meet our basic needs. This explains why people are so excited about A Bite of China---it is a reminder that there is still a world out there where food is excellent and people have dignity.The underlined word “gourmet items” probably means________.
| A.beautiful clothes | B.latest technology |
| C.delicious food | D.great inventions |
The second paragraph mainly talks about______.
| A.the producer of the document |
| B.the content of the document |
| C.the history of Chinese gourmet |
| D.The popularity of the document |
We can infer from what a netizen wrote in one well –received article that ______.
| A.none of the television viewers have a knowledge of the Chinese food culture |
| B.there is a huge contrast between the ancient food culture and the reality |
| C.the price of food is too high for many common people |
| D.the documentary was made by a world-famous Chinese director |
According to the passage, China’s food industry is full of faking and cheating because_____.
| A.there are still so many poor people at the present time |
| B.the punishment for unscrupulous businessmen isn’t serious enough |
| C.the Chinese government encourages it to do so |
| D.the food technology is not so advanced as in developed countries |