Think of somebody you really admire. You will probably find that their success didn’t come easily. As the “Father of Hybrid Rice(杂交水稻)”, Yuan Longping got over great difficulties and spent his whole life working to reduce world hunger and helping to feed the country with the largest population.
Wu Mengchao, the “Father of Chinese Hepatobiliary Surgery(肝胆外科)”, focused on saving people’s lives for nearly eighty years. He performed more than 16,000 operations during his life. Holding the surgeon’s knife for such a long time deformed his fingers, which are not in the shape of normal ones. Wu once said, “It would my greatest happiness if I could work at the operating table until my dying day.”
In 1969, in order to solve the problem of treating malaria(疟疾), Tu Youyou, the pharmacologist(药学家) took on the job as head of a research team. She and her teammates performed different kinds of experiments. However, the results were disappointing. Instead of giving up? They kept trying. Finally, in 1972, they made it! In 2015, at the age of 85, she received Nobel Prize.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb(灯泡) believed that every failure was a step towards success. He once said, “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong try is another step forward.”
Some people only became successful after their deaths. Not like Pablo Picasso who became famous and very rich during his lifetime, the artist Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting all through his life and that was to a friend. But he kept painting and he painted more than 2,000 artworks in the following ten years. Now his paintings are very popular and they sell for millions of pounds.
One thing all these people have in common is sticking to their goals no matter what.
1. What do Yuan Longping and Wu Mengchao have in common?| A．They succeeded in solving world problems. |
| B．They spent all their lives serving people. |
| C．They achieved a lot in the medical field. |
| D．They are remembered for their happiness. |
| A．changed the shape of his fingers | B．made him feel down |
| C．gave him too much pressure | D．got his fingers cut off |
| A．Pablo Picasso became famous after his death |
| B．Vincent van Gogh painted 2,001 artworks in his life |
| C．it took Tu Youyou’s team about 3 years to reach their goal |
| D．Thomas Edison tried 10,000 ways before he invented the light bulb |
| A．Not everyone can be successful. |
| B．The more difficulties, the better. |
| C．Great achievements aren’t made naturally. |
| D．Great hopes make great men. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Imagine reading a story titled “Pursuing Success”. That would be an inspiring story, wouldn’t it? Maybe—but maybe not. It might well be the story of someone whose never ending chase for more and more success leaves them unsatisfied and incapable of happiness. Though it isn’t a conventional medical addiction, for many people success has addictive properties.
Obviously, success goes with praise. To a certain extent, praise stimulates the neurotransmitter dopamine (神经递质多巴胺), which contributes to all addictive behaviors.
The desire for success may be born to human nature, but specialness doesn’t come cheap. Success is tough work, and it requires bearing the cost of losing. In the 1980s, the physician Robert Goldman famously found that more than half of ambitious athletes would be willing to take a drug that would kill them in five years in exchange for winning every competition they entered.
Unfortunately, success is endless. The goal can’t be satisfactory; most people never feel “successful enough”. The high only lasts a day or two, and then it’s on to the next goal. Psychologists call this the hedonic treadmill (享乐跑步机现象), in which satisfaction wears off almost immediately and we must run on to the next reward to avoid the feeling of falling behind.
People should get off the treadmill. But quitting isn’t easy for addicts. For people hooked on substances, withdrawal can be a painful experience, both physically and psychologically. Research finds that depression and anxiety are common among outstanding athletes after their careers end. Olympic athletes, in particular, suffer from the “post-Olympic blues”.
Just like wine, success in and of itself is not a bad thing. Both can bring fun and sweetness to life. But both become bossy when they are a substitute for—a instead of a complement (补充物) to—the relationships and love that should be the center of our lives.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．Success doesn’t always bring positive results |
| B．A traditional, medical addiction leads to success |
| C．The passion for constant success is rarely praised. |
| D．Success addition has already drawn wide attention. |
| A．To stress the key to success lies in efforts. |
| B．To show success is a tough and cruel job. |
| C．To argue that athletes deserve more rewards. |
| D．To describe the routine training of an ordinary athlete. |
| A．Enjoying the beauty and love around you. |
| B．Being offered a promotion at work. |
| C．Having the house you want to live in. |
| D．Eating the food you’ve been longing for. |
| A．Satisfaction and a sense of pride. |
| B．Anxiety and short-lived happiness. |
| C．Relaxation and endless motivation. |
| D．Confidence and permanent happiness. |
| A．Stop chasing success. | B．Chase success at any cost. |
| C．Reflect on what matters in life. | D．Give up love and relationships. |
【推荐2】When Jack, my husband, and I drove past a fire station with a sign reading, “Are you ready for the next storm?” Our area had just been in the path of Hurricane Irma, causing downed trees and outages. We were stuck in the dark and cut off from the outside world.
We have had our share of storms in the past years — a snowstorm and other heavy snows that knocked down trees, sometimes up to a week at a time. Those days in a cold house weren’t fun, but we learned so much from those early storms, things that made later storms easier to bear.
Now we have stored up flashlights, lanterns and candles. We bought a battery-operated radio to keep up with the news. We stocked up on batteries so that we’d have plenty for extended power failures. We make sure our grill (烤架) is ready and its tank is full, and we purchase food that can be easily prepared and then cooked or heated on the grill. And we don’t forget to buy emergency chocolate! We have book lights to read in the dark. We keep our car gas tanks full and have emergency cash on hand.
We’re ready for the next storm, but we wouldn’t have learned to do all those things if we hadn’t encountered a storm in the past. The same is true spiritually. Those little storms in our lives are never fun, but they prepare us for the big storms — the big trials — that will come our way. They can teach us some valuable lessons.
Are you ready for the next storm? Now is the time to get ready, not when the storm arrives.
1. Which can replace the underlined word “outages” in paragraph 1?| A．Traffic accidents. | B．Power failures. | C．Natural disasters. | D．Bad weather. |
| A．The importance of storing up daily goods. | B．The experience of dealing with housework. |
| C．The items the author bought for her daily life. | D．The preparations the author made for emergency. |
| A．It was instructive. | B．It was satisfactory. | C．It was unbearable. | D．It was destructive. |
| A．Strike while the iron is hot. | B．Take precautions before it is too late. |
| C．Kill two birds with one stone. | D．Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. |
【推荐3】In 1910, the Los Angeles Times ran a story about a boy charged with staring at many pieces of metal and opening a valve (阀门) to release the built-up pressure all day. Needless to say, he got incredibly bored. One day, the boss walked in and the boy was nowhere to be found. Yet the pump ran just as it should. The “lazy” boy had designed a mechanized (机械化的) release and won his freedom. The first generation of the automatic steam engine was born. The boy's behavior reflects a deeper truth—laziness can drive innovation.
However, our culture teaches by example that our worth depends on how industrious we are, so we work even harder to produce even more. Until ten years ago, daydreaming and mind- wandering were still associated with unhappiness. This judgment has an almost ancient history. Laziness was declared a moral failing, and its cure lay in hard work.
But recently, there's one big paradox (悖论): The harder we work，the less productive we are. “The trouble is that, without any time to refresh and recharge, we are less efficient, make more mistakes, and get less engaged with what we're doing, ” says Tony Schwartz, head of the Energy Project. This forced sustained focus leads to selective attention, which can prevent you from generating fresh solutions and ideas. Studies show that taking breaks and allowing your thoughts to wander can help you refocus, gain fresh perspective, and make new connections between ideas.
During this epidemic of overwork, how can we make our labor more meaningful and our lives more fulfilling? Perhaps we could do with a healthy amount of deliberate day-dreaming. So maybe this week，notice when you have some downtime in your day, or some white space in your calendar. Instead of filling the space with more work or more digital distractions, step back, and be, in the words of poet Mary Oliver, “idle and blessed.”
1. What do we know about the boy in paragraph 1?| A．He played games every day. |
| B．He was charged with his laziness. |
| C．His behaviour made his boss annoyed. |
| D．His boredom contributed to his invention. |
| A．Intelligent. | B．Hardworking. |
| C．Determined. | D．Straightforward. |
| A．Extra breaks bring trouble. |
| B．More efforts boost productivity. |
| C．Proper relaxation inspires creativity. |
| D．Forced sustained focus improves efficiency. |
| A．Go ahead, take a break | B．Daydream less, do more |
| C．Failure results from laziness | D．Hard work leads to innovation |
【推荐1】The central authorities have published the first comprehensive document guiding the governments of various levels to deal with challenges of one of the largest and fastest aging populations in the world.
It is predicted that by 2035, the number of people above 60 years old will account for more than one-fourth of the country’s population, which is already the case in some big cities.By 2050, China’s aging population will approach its peak, with the percentage of the people aged beyond 60 making up 27.4 percent of the total.
International experience shows that it is the social security and public service system that bears the main pressure from an aging population.However, if policymakers carefully take the trend into consideration to make the social management and national development policies as well as take enough and effective forward-looking measures, the aging population will not necessarily become a problem.
As the experience of many developed economies shows, it is essential that the country transforms its growth model from one driven by production elements to one driven by innovation (创新) before the coming of the aging society, so as to minimize the impact of the loss of labor on the economy.So while increasing the social investment and inputs for the elderly, improving elder care, retirement services and strengthening legal and social protections, the government must also build a high quality work force and introduce advanced and innovative technologies to improve productivity.
The plan therefore provides a guideline for local governments to change their view so that rather than seeing senior citizens as simply a financial burden, they should view them as motivation for providing high-quality services and a better social environment.Treating the elderly well is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, and building a policy system for pensions, respect for the elderly and a healthy social environment is also a must.
Therefore, the aging of the population itself is not a problem.It is an important trend showing the country’s social development.
1. What do we know about aging population from the passage?| A．It will contribute to the lack of labor force. |
| B．It has reached its peak in China up to now. |
| C．It reflects the advantages of public service system. |
| D．It can be solved completely through technological innovation. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Disapproving. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．An introduction to a new phenomenon. | B．A research paper on a social problem. |
| C．A news report of an official plan. | D．A comment on a current issue. |
【推荐2】Kids are natural scientists. That may be why they ask so many questions.
Younger kids take up science and math with amazing enthusiasm, yet as they get older they often lose their excitement. Children look on scientific exploration as play, but as they get older they start to connect it with big heavy books, long worksheets and a lot of really confusing words.
What a tragedy! We had their attention, they were listening, they were participating, they were learning and then we lost it to boredom.
We need our kids to play more. More play brings up basic scientific concept. Being familiar with basic scientific concepts brings about exploration which leads to research. Once they are researching, they are completely into the learning.
My boys built a small 9-hole golf course next to our driveway one day. It was a great product of science. They dug out the holes and channels to guide the golf ball. They played with architecture with a series of pipes they had found in the garage. They tested speed and momentum (动量)by creating one of the holes across the driveway. They experienced biology when deciding which front yard plants could be used as a part of the course and which needed to be pulled up.
If I had sent them out to the yard to build a 9-hole golf course, it would have never happened. It was because it was their idea that it worked. I try to tell them some of the concepts after the fact. When they ask about something, I try to relate it back to something they have built，experienced, or felt. I try to give them a vocabulary around what they already know.
An afternoon can change the way kids look at the world. Not bad for a day of play.
1. What can we learn about kids’ attitudes towards science from the first three paragraphs?| A．Kids think they are born to work as scientists. |
| B．Younger kids begin to learn science on purpose. |
| C．Older kids often link science with boring things. |
| D．Children’s taking an interest in science is a tragedy. |
| A．Play--Doing exploration--Making serious scientific research -- Getting familiar with basic scientific concept. |
| B．Play--Doing exploration--Getting familiar with basic scientific concepts --Making serious scientific research. |
| C．Play--Getting familiar with basic scientific concepts -- Doing exploration -- Making serious scientific research. |
| D．Play--Making serious scientific research--Getting familiar with basic scientific concepts-- Doing exploration. |
| A．speed | B．momentum |
| C．biology | D．agriculture |
| A．asked her some related scientific concepts |
| B．made a better golf course than the one they had built |
| C．asked their friends to help them with the work |
| D．got bored and refused to follow the writer’s directions |
| A．Architecture. | B．Education. |
| C．Health. | D．Sports. |
【推荐3】In 1240, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II built Castel del Monte on a lonely hill in central Puglia, where he had a perfect view of approaching enemies. He probably never imagined the enemies might be tourists one day. But these days, the old castle has been polished clean, and hundreds of multicolored Pullman buses snake up the winding roads to its grounds, now filled with T-shirt stands, Coca-Cola signs and a 200-car parking lot. All this thanks to the fact that UNESCO has designated (认定) it a World Heritage Site in 1996.
Officially, UNESCO honors places that exemplify an area’s ancestry, with the purpose of ensuring they are preserved. Unofficially, this designation is a kind of fairy dust that often turns little-known cultural sites into overnight tourist sensations. This is both a gift and a cuss. Lisa Mastny, senior adviser to the World Watch Institute, says tourism is double-edged for places considered of “outstanding value to humanity. It offers many poor communities the chance to obtain financial rewards, but also threatens the very resources —human and natural—upon which the industry is ultimately built”.
There is growing awareness that assigning UNESCO designation is worthless — or worse, harmful — without some kind of follow-up preservation program. “In the early days there wasn’t much attention given to what would happen once these site s became World Heritage. But that’s changing slowly,” says Joseph King, director of the sites unit at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). In Africa, a 12-year training program is currently underway to teach locals not only how to preserve their immovable cultural heritage, but how to use it for economic development. In Eastern Europe, where tourism is a relatively new thing, cities are looking for help in figuring out where to draw the line between preserving historical centers and promoting urban development.
1. What can we learn about Castel del Monte?| A．It was built to enjoy the view. | B．It has become a hot tourist spot. |
| C．It has to make way for a shopping mall. | D．It failed to win UNESCO designation in 1996. |
| A．Solution. | B．Promise. | C．Drawback. | D．Chance. |
| A．By quoting experts. | B．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Is UNESCO Helpful in Driving Global Tourism? |
| B．How Can a Place Be Included in the UNESCO List? |
| C．Why Is It Important to Market World Heritage Site Tours? |
| D．Does Identifying World Heritage Sites Do More Harm Than Good? |
【推荐1】Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society is honored to announce that Shirley M. Malcom is the 2021 receiver of the Gold Key Award. As the Society’s highest honor, the Gold Key Award is presented to a member who has made extraordinary contributions to their profession and has encouraged critical innovations to enhance the health of the scientific research, and to promote the public understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition.
“Dr. Malcom has pioneered and championed much of the thinking about diversity and inclusivity in science that is finally being adopted today. We are delighted to present her with the Sigma Xi Gold Key Award,” announced Jamie Vernon, executive director and CEO of Sigma Xi. “It is hard to overstate Dr. Malcom’s contributions to the sciences and science education. She is a model of the values that Sigma Xi stands for,” said Sigma Xi President Robert Pennock.
Trained as a zoologist and ecologist, Malcom has played many roles in her distinguished career, including high school science teacher, university tutor, and National Science Foundation program officer. In her current role as the senior advisor and director of SEA Change at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), she heads initiatives that focus on advancing institutional transformation in support of diversity, fairness, and inclusiveness.
Malcom has been a pioneer and role model for African American women in science. Throughout her career, she has advocated for the advancement of science education for minority students at every level, from K-12 through college, graduate school, and beyond.
The symbolism of the Gold Key Award pays respect to the early days of Sigma Xi (late 1800s to early 1900s), when acceptance into the Scientific Research Honor Society was often accompanied by the presentation of a small gold key. The key represented pride in the science or engineering accomplishments of the holder. Previous receivers of the award include Walter E.Massey, Gordon E. Moore, and Norman R. Augustine.
1. Why was Dr. Malcom awarded the Sigma Xi Gold Key Award?| A．Because she was a zoologist and ecologist. |
| B．Because she worked as a high school science teacher. |
| C．Because she promoted public understanding of variety and inclusiveness in science. |
| D．Because she set up the Education and Human Resources Programmes. |
| A．Innovative and pioneering. | B．Brave and determined. |
| C．Considerate and optimistic. | D．Cautious and friendly. |
| A．Dr. Malcom has made contributions to starting institutional transformation. |
| B．Dr. Malcom has advocated for the advancement of science education for all students. |
| C．The Gold Key Award is a symbol of pride and honor in science. |
| D．There are three receivers of the Gold Key Award in total. |
| A．In a book review. | B．In a guidebook. | C．In a biography. | D．In a news report. |
【推荐2】Albert Einstein was an extraordinary physicist, but no artist. Pablo Picasso could paint anything, but he had no talent for science. Lionel Messi is great at soccer, but nobody talks about his singing ability.
This specialization of talent may seem normal, but it may be a modern phenomenon. In English, we have a term for people with broad knowledge and skills: “Renaissance man (or woman)”. It refers to the European Renaissance, a time when it became common to study a wide range of subjects. This led to complex works of art, invention and philosophy that transformed European culture.
The classic Renaissance man was undoubtedly Leonardo da Vinci, who died 500 years ago. Even today, he is regarded as one of the great creative minds of the Italian Renaissance. “He was hugely influential as an artist and sculptor but also greatly talented as an engineer, scientist and inventor,” says the BBC.
At 14, Da Vinci became an apprentice (学徒) of the popular sculptor and goldsmith Andrea del Verrocchio. Young Leonardo learned how to draw and paint in his workshop, but he was also introduced to chemistry, metallurgy and carpentry. He acquired so many skills that it became natural for him to try new things. The man who would design a flying machine and a military tank set his life course during these early years.
It is interesting to note that his skills as a draftsman (画师) were important in both his artistic and his scientific activities. For instance, he made marvelously detailed drawings of moving water, but not really for artistic reasons. As The Conversation notes, Da Vinci wanted to learn about moving water so he could benefit people. For this purpose, he eventually drew up plans for canals.
Da Vinci was also fascinated by anatomy (解剖学). He dissected (切开) bodies and drew detailed pictures of what he saw. These drawings anticipated the future of scientific medicine.
Apart from his scientific drawings, Da Vinci had a genius for painting lifelike images of people. Even today, this ability stands out in works like the Mona Lisa (1503). With her famous smile, we recognize her as a flesh-and-blood human like ourselves.
The best epitaph (碑文) for Da Vinci may be his own words:”Learning never exhausts the mind.” His numerous projects over 67 years make it clear that his mind was never exhausted. Five centuries after his death, his life and work inspire would-be Renaissance men and women everywhere.
1. “Renaissance man” is mentioned mainly to____.| A．show that people in the past were less talented |
| B．compare the great minds of the Renaissance |
| C．introduce Da Vinci as a representative |
| D．show how Da Vinci created the world |
| A．He learned anatomy in his childhood. |
| B．He designed a military tank in his later years. |
| C．He invented 67 things in his lifetime. |
| D．His drawings were both artistic and scientific. |
| A．Hardworking and humorous. |
| B．Knowledgeable and creative. |
| C．Imaginative and easygoing. |
| D．Open-minded and generous. |
| A．Realistic. | B．Mysterious. | C．Abstract. | D．Modern. |
【推荐3】Stephen Hawking, the world-known physicist, died peacefully at the age of 76 at his home in Cambridge in the early hours of Wednesday, March 14th, 2018. The British scientist was famous for his work with black holes and relativity, and wrote several popular science books including his most famous book, A Brief History of Time , which has now shot to the top of the Amazon Best Sellers list.
At the age of 21 Prof Hawking was given only a few years to live after being diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease( 运动神经元病). The illness left him in a wheelchair and largely unable to speak except through a voice synthesizer(合成器).
Prof Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology(宇宙学) as a union of relativity and quantum mechanics(量子力学). He also discovered that black holes leak energy and fade to nothing—a phenomenon that would later become known as Hawking Radiation. Through his work with mathematician Sir Roger Penrose he demonstrated that Einstein’s general theory of relativity implies space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes.
The scientist also gained popularity outside the academic world and appeared in several TV shows including The Simpsons, Red Dwarf and The Big Bang Theory. He was portrayed in both TV and film—recently by Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, which charted his rise to fame and relationship with his first wife, Jane.
The Motor Neurone Disease Association, of which Prof Hawking had been a sponsor since 2008, reported that its website had crashed because of an infux of donations to the charity.
1. From the passage it can be inferred that .| A．Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with a rare form of motor neurone disease in 1942 |
| B．Stephen Hawking had no more than one wife in his whole life |
| C．Stephen Hawking was left in a wheelchair by his illness more than half a century |
| D．Stephen Hawking gained popularity nowhere except in the academic world |
| A．Stephen Hawking was a famous American scientist |
| B．Stephen Hawking was the first to set out the theory of relativity |
| C．Hawking Radiation implies space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes |
| D．Stephen Hawking was a sponsor of the Motor Neurone Disease Association for ten years |
| A．intelligent |
| B．hard-working |
| C．affectionate |
| D．considerate |
| A．To let us know Stephen Hawking, the great British scientist, has passed away. |
| B．To tell us the disabled can achieve as many great things as the healthy. |
| C．To be in memory of Stephen Hawking and express people’s love to him. |
| D．To tell us what Stephen Hawking was famous for. |
