Not so long ago, most people didn't know who Shelly Ann Francis Pryce was going to become. She was just an average high school athlete. There was every indication that she was just another American teenager without much of a future. However, one person wants to change this. Stephen Francis observed then eighteen-year-old Shelly Ann as a track meet and was convinced that he had seen the beginning of true greatness. Her time were not exactly impressive, but even so, he seemed there was something trying to get out, something the other coaches had overlooked when they had assessed her and found her lacking. He decided to offer Shelly Ann a place in his very strict training seasons. Their cooperation quickly produced results, and a few year later at Jamaica's Olympic games in early 2008, Shelly Ann, who at that time only ranked number 70 in the world, beat Jamaica's unchallenged queen of the sprint(短跑).
"Where did she come from?" asked an astonished sprinting world, before concluding that she must be one of those one-hit wonders that spring up from time to time, only to disappear again without signs. But Shelly Ann was to prove that she was anything but a one-hit wonder. At the Beijing Olympic she swept away any doubts about her ability to perform consistently by becoming the first Jamaican woman ever to win the 100 meters Olympic gold. She did it again one year on at the World Championship in Briton, becoming world champion with a time of 10.73--- the fourth record ever.
Shelly-Ann is a little woman with a big smile. She has a mental toughness that did not come about by chance. Her journey to becoming the fastest woman on earth has been anything but smooth and effortless. She grew up in one of Jamaica's toughest inner-city communities known as Waterhouse, where she lived in a one-room apartment, sleeping four in a bed with her mother and two brothers. Waterhouse, one of the poorest communities in Jamaica, is a really violent and overpopulated place. Several of Shelly-Ann's friends and family were caught up in the killings; one of her cousins was shot dead only a few streets away from where she lived. Sometimes her family didn't have enough to eat. She ran at the school championships barefooted because she couldn't afford shoes. Her mother Maxime, one of a family of fourteen, had been an athlete herself as a young girl but, like so many other girls in Waterhouse, had to stop after she had her first baby. Maxime's early entry into the adult world with its responsibilities gave her the determination to ensure that her kids would not end up in Waterhouse's roundabout of poverty. One of the first things Maxime used to do with Shelly-Ann was taking her to the track, and she was ready to sacrifice everything.
It didn't take long for Shelly-Ann to realize that sports could be her way out of Waterhouse. On a summer evening in Beijing in 2008, all those long, hard hours of work and commitment finally bore fruit. The barefoot kid who just a few years previously had been living in poverty, surrounded by criminals and violence, had written a new chapter in the history of sports.
But Shelly-Ann's victory was far greater than that. The night she won Olympic gold in Beijing, the routine murders in Waterhouse and the drug wars in the neighbouring streets stopped. The dark cloud above one of the world's toughest criminal neighbourhoods simply disappeared for a few days. " I have so much fire burning for my country,"Shelly said. She plans to start a foundation for homeless children and wants to build a community centre in Waterhouse. She hopes to inspire the Jamaicans to lay down their weapons. She intends to fight to make it a woman's as well as a man's world.
As Muhammad Ali puts it, " Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision." One of the things Shelly-Ann can be proud of is her understanding of this truth.
65.Why did Stephen Francis decide to coach Shelly-Ann?
| A. |
He had a strong desire to free her family from trouble. |
| B. |
He sensed a great potential in her despite her weaknesses. |
| C. |
She had big problems maintaining her performance. |
| D. |
She suffered a lot of defeats at the previous track meets. |
66.What did the sprinting world think of Shelly-Ann before the 2008 Olympic Games?
| A. |
She would become a promising star. |
| B. |
She badly needed to set higher goals. |
| C. |
Her sprinting career would not last long. |
| D. |
Her talent for sprinting was known to all. |
67.What made Maxime decide to train her daughter on the track?
| A. |
Her success and lessons in her career. |
| B. |
Her interest in Shelly-Ann's quick profit. |
| C. |
Her wish to get Shelly-Ann out of poverty. |
| D. |
Her early entrance into the sprinting world. |
68.What can we infer from Shelly-Ann's statement underlined in Paragraph 5?
| A. |
She was highly rewarded for her efforts. |
| B. |
She was eager to do more for her country. |
| C. |
She became an athletic star in her country. |
| D. |
She was the envy of the whole community. |
69.By mentioning Muhammad Ali's words, the author intends to tell us that ____.
| A. |
players should be highly inspired by coaches |
| B. |
great athletes need to concentrate on patience |
| C. |
hard work is necessary in one's achievements |
| D. |
motivation allows great athletes to be on the top |
70.What is the best title for the passage?
| A. |
The Making of a Great Athlete |
| B. |
The Dream for Championship |
| C. |
The Key to High Performance |
| D. |
The Power of Full Responsibility |
Men have always believed that they are smarter than women. Now, a study has found that while this is certainly true, men also have to deal with the fact that they are also more stupid than the fairer sex.
In the study, scientists measured the IQ of 2500 brothers and sisters and they found an uneven number of men not only in the top two percent, but also in the bottom two percent.
The study's participants were tested on science, maths, English and mechanical abilities.
Though there were twice as many men as women in the smartest group, there were also twice as many men among the dolts.
The aggregate scores of men and women were similar.
One of the study's authors, psychology professor Timothy Bates, said that the phenomenon may be because men have always been expected to be high achievers and women have been restricted to spend more time taking care of their home.
"The female developmental program may be tilted more towards ensuring survival and the safety of the middle ground.," the Daily Mail quoted Professor Bates, of Edinburgh University, as saying.
The research tallies with past results that men were more likely than women to receive first class University degrees or thirds and women secured the seconds.
It has been said that men are more ready to take risk when it comes to academics. Women have always found to be steadier in their learning.
A past study has shown that women are securing more firsts and seconds, while men are continuing to receive more thirds.
The argument for the change is that the increase of coursework at the cost of exams favors women's steady approach.The purpose of the passage is to tell us that ________.
| A.man are smarter then women |
| B.man are more stupid the women |
| C.a new fact about the IQ of men and women has been found |
| D.men are more likely to receive first class university degrees |
According to Timothy Bates, less women are in the smartest group because _________.
| A.they are born stupid |
| B.they have to spend more time to tale care of their home than men |
| C.they don’t like to take risk |
| D.they are not expected to be high achievers |
The underlined wordtallies with in the eighth paragraph means________.
| A.agree with | B.deal with | C.go against | D.go with |
It can be inferred from the passage that______.
| A.Women are steadier in their learning. |
| B.men are more ready to take risk in everything |
| C.women are securing more firsts and seconds |
| D.women are doing much better in academy |
Which of the following questions has NOT been discussed in the passage?
| A.Why are men smarter than women? |
| B.Why are men more stupid than women? |
| C.How does the result go along with the past research? |
| D.How can we help the men in the bottom? |
Feel tired lately?Has a doctor said he can’t find anything wrong with you?Perhaps he sends you to a hospital,but all the advanced equipment there shows there is nothing wrong with you.
Then,consider this:you might be in a state of sub-health(亚健康).
Sub-health,also called the third state or gray state,is explained as borderline state between health and disease.
According to the investigation by the National Organization,over 45 percent of sub-health people are middle-aged or elderly.The percentage is even higher among people who work in management positions as well as students around exam-week.
Symptoms(征兆)include a lack of energy,depression,slow reactions,insomnia(失眠),agitation, and poor memory.Other symptoms include shortness of breath,sweating and aching in the waist and legs.
The key to preventing and recovering from sub-health,according to some medical experts,is to form good living habits, alternate work and rest, exercise regularly,and take part in open air activities.
As for meals,people are advised to eat less salt and sugar.They should also eat more fresh vegetables,fruits,fish because they are rich in nutritional elements—vitamins and trace elements(微量元素)—that are important to the body.
Nutrition experts point out that it is not good to eat too much at one meal because it may cause unhealthy changes in the digestive tract(消化道).They also say that a balanced diet is very helpful in avoiding sub-health.When you are in a state of sub-health,you should ________.
| A.stay home and keep silent |
| B.go to a doctor and buy some medicine |
| C.not consider it very serious |
| D.find out the reasons and relax yourself |
Middle-aged people may be easy to get sub-health because ________.
| A.they have used up their energy |
| B.they have lost their living hopes |
| C.they have more pressure in life and work |
| D.they have changed their way of life |
The key to preventing you from falling into a state of sub-health is to ________.
| A.keep on working regularly | B.go to sleep a bit earlier |
| C.form good living habits | D.take medicine if necessary |
The underlined word “alternate” in this passage is closest in meaning to ________.
| A.arrange by turns | B.cause to take place |
| C.make up for | D.keep away from |
Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of person’s intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.
It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random from population, it is likely that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we take two identical twins, they will very probably be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.
Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence. The writer is in favor of the view that man’s intelligence is given to him____________.
| A.at birth |
| B.through education |
| C.neither at birth nor through education |
| D.both at birth and through education |
If a child is born with low intelligence, he can_____________________.
| A.become a genius |
| B.still become a genius if he should be given special education |
| C.reach his intelligence limits in rich surroundings |
| D.not reach his intelligence in his life. |
The example of the twins going to a university and to a factory separately shows_________.
| A.the importance of their intelligence |
| B.the importance of their positions |
| C.the role of environment on intelligence |
| D.the part that birth plays |
Car crashes are the top killer of American teenagers.Most of the crashes result from distracted driving not paying attention to the road.
Ryan Didone was a fifteen-year-old passenger in a car that hit a tree.He was one of the nation's more than thirty thousand victims of traffic crashes in 2008.Nearly four thousand deaths, about twelve percent, involved drivers aged fifteen to twenty.Ryan's father, Thomas Didone, is a police captain in Montgomery County, Maryland.He said, "It was an inexperienced, immature driver who felt that he was invincible(不可战胜的), driving at night with a carload of kids.He was distracted, he was going too fast, and it ended up causing one death and some upsetting experiences and tragedy for the rest of the community."
Jim Jennings from the Allstate Insurance Company said "The number one cause of distracted-driving accidents is the mobile phone.Talking on the phone or reaching for it is like drinking four beers and driving.If you're texting while driving, you are twenty-three times more likely to get into an accident than somebody who isn't.
Reaching for a cell phone when it's going off, you're nine times more likely to get into an accident than normally driving," The insurance industry recently held a safety event near Washington for teen drivers.
At first, nineteen-year-old Kevin Schumann easily avoided large, inflatable dolls thrown in front of the car to represent children.He also avoided orange cones representing the edge of the road.Then, as part of the test, he started texting. He hit several cones and at least one doll.
Debbie Pickford from the Allstate Insurance Company said, "Teens are especially at risk from distracted driving—and not just because they lack experience on the roads.What we know from research on teen brain development, is that teens don't really have fully developed brains until they are twenty-five years old. You put those two things together and you get a much, much higher risk.”According to the passage, _____is the most likely to lead to a traffic accident while you are driving.
| A.texting on the mobile phone | B.reaching for a cell phone. |
| C.talking on the mobile phone | D.bringing along a cell phone |
A safety event held by insurance industry was meant to __.
| A.attract more teenagers to take part in it |
| B.draw enough attention to teenagers' distracted driving |
| C.make more teenagers practice avoiding large barriers |
| D.encourage more teenagers to pay for insurance protection |
The passage is probably followed by a concluding paragraph about ____.
| A.much higher risk | B.teen brain developmen |
| C.experience on the roads | D.measures to be taken t |
Of all the following, which is the best title for the passage?
| A.Car Crashes —the Top Killer. |
| B.Distracted Driving —Let's Avoid! |
| C.Drunken Driving — Dangerous Enough! |
| D.Tips on Driving While Calling |
The New York Aquarium (水族馆) offers a diverse collection and nice viewing experience for all our guests. Whether you’re observing penguins on their rocky coastline home or swimming underwater, looking at a coral reef (珊瑚礁) under the water, or cheering on California sea lions at the theater, you’ll find plenty to see and do during your visit. Your underwater adventure is waiting for you! This summer, head out to Coney Island to learn about the underwater world at the New York Aquarium.
Just off the Coney Island in Brooklyn, the New York Aquarium features more than 300 marine (海洋的) species, such as dolphins and seals. Meet some of our mammals and fish, and learn about their natural history, biology, and cultural roles.
| Hours |
|
| Summer hours May 28 – Sept. 5 |
10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. , Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. , Weekends & Holidays |
| Fall hours Sept. 6 – Nov. 6 |
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. , Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. , Weekends & Holidays |
| Winter hours Nov. 7 – Mar. 31 |
10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. , Daily |
| Spring hours Apr. 1– May 27 |
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. , Monday–Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. , Weekends & Holidays |
Total Experience Ticket
Adult $18.00
Child (Ages 3-12) $14.00
Senior (65+) $15.00
Groups (at least ten visitors) $8.00
﹡Includes admission to our 4-D Theater Plus General Admission.
﹡Children under 3 years old are free!
﹡To receive the group rate, you must make a reservation at least two weeks in advance of your group’s visit. Please call 718-741-1818.
Friday Afternoon Special
Admission on Fridays beginning at 3:00 p.m. is by donation. Suggested donation is $13 for adults, $9 for children, and $10 for seniors. Every dollar you give supports our work in caring for animals at the aquarium.
Aquarium Parking
Car $13.00
Bus $13.00
Please note:
﹡Due to rising costs, the Wildlife Conservation Society reserves the right to change all fees without notice.
﹡All Aquarium buildings and exhibits are wheelchair-accessible.
﹡For further information, please call 718-265-3454.Which animal can’t visitors probably see at the New York Aquarium?
| A.Penguins. | B.Pandas. | C.Dolphins. | D.Seals. |
Six adults (including a man of 68) and two children (aged 2 and 10) are going to visit the New York Aquarium on Sunday. They will have to pay ______________ at least.
| A.$144 | B.$133 | C.$119 | D.$64 |
The donation is used to ______________.
| A.help the poor people |
| B.help to save the endangered animals in the wild |
| C.help the disabled visitors |
| D.care for animals at the aquarium |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A.A visitor in a wheelchair can get around at the New York Aquarium. |
| B.You can visit the New York Aquarium at 5:30 p.m. on Christmas. |
| C.Visitors can enjoy free parking service on Friday. |
| D.To enjoy the group rate, visitors must make a reservation at least two weeks in advance by sending an e-mail. |