Brad closed the door slowly as Sue left home to visit her mother. Expecting a whole day to relax,he was thinking whether to read the newspaper or watch his favorite TV talk show on his first day off in months. “This will be like a walk in the park,” he’d told his wife.“I’ll look after the kids,and you can go to visit your mom.”
Things started well,but just after eight o’clock,his three little “good kids”－Mike,Randy,and Alex－came down the stairs in their night clothes and shouted “breakfast,daddy.” When food had not appeared within thirty seconds,Randy began using his spoon on Alex’s head as if it were a drum. Alex started to shout loudly in time to the beat(节拍).Mike chanted “Where’s my toast,where’s my toast” in the background.Brad realized his newspaper would have to wait for a few seconds.
Life became worse after breakfast. Mike wore Randy’s underwear on his head. Randy locked himself in the bathroom,while Alex shouted again because he was going to wet his pants.Nobody could find clean socks,although they were before their very eyes.Someone named “Not Me” had spilled a whole glass of orange juice into the basket of clean clothes.Brad knew the talk show had already started.
By ten o’clock,things were out of control. Alex was wondering why the fish in the jar refused his bread and butter. Mike was trying to show off his talent by decorating the kitchen wall with his color pencils. Randy,thankfully,appeared to be reading quietly in the family room,but closer examination showed that he was eating apple jam straight from the bottle with his hands. Brad realized that the talk show was over and reading would be impossible.
At exactly 11：17，Brad called the daycare centre(日托所)．“I suddenly have to go into work and my wife’s away. Can I bring the boys over in a few minutes?” The answer was obviously “yes” because Brad was smiling.
1. When his wife left home,Brad expected to________．| A．enjoy his first day off work |
| B．watch TV talk show with his children |
| C．go out for a walk in the park |
| D．read the newspaper to his children |
| A．Drawing on the wall. | B．Eating apple jam. |
| C．Feeding the fish. | D．Reading in a room. |
| A．Because he wanted to clean up his house. |
| B．Because he suddenly had to go to his office. |
| C．Because he had to take his wife back home. |
| D．Because he found it hard to manage his boys. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Called 'the man who shaped America' and 'the father modern industrial design', Raymond Loewy must be one of the most influential designer of all time. He revolutionized the industry, working as a consultant for more than 200 companies and creating designs for everything from packaging to refrigerators, from cars to the interiors of spacecraft.
Loewy's design all had one thing in common. They were shaped by the MAYA principle - Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. His idea was that people will not accept solutions to design problems if the solutions are too different from current designs.
After a short period as a fashion illustrator, Loewy started his career in industrial design in 1929 by re-designing a copying machine for the British manufacturer, Sigmund Gestetner. The 28-years-old designer completed the task in three days and the design of the machine lasted for the next 40 years.
The Gestetner duplicator was the beginning of many design which used streamlining. He described this as 'beauty through function and simplification'. He spent the next 50 years streamlining everything from postage stamps and company logos to the interiors of stores. The famous Greyhound bus and Studebaker car show his use of streamlining in action.
He is perhaps most famous for his re-design of the Lucky Strike packaging. In 1940 , the President of the Lucky Strike Manufacturing Company, Goerge Washington Hill, be Loewy $50,000 that he could not improve the appereance of the green and red Lucky Strike . Loewy accepted the challenge. He changed the background of the packet from green to white. Then he put the red lucky strike target on both sides of the packet. This made it more eye-catching and greatly increased sales. It is now recognised as a design classic.
Loewy's logo design aimed at 'Visual retention'. He wanted to make sure that anyone who saw the logo, even for a short while, would never forget it. He designed many highly visible logos for famous companies such as Shell Oil , Exxon, Greyhound and Nabisco.
By the mid 20th century, his industrial design firm was so famous that he could say 'the average person, leadinga normal life lose is bound to be in daily contact with some of the things, service or structure' designed by his firm.
1. Loewy’s biggest influence was in ______ .| A．completely changing the industry |
| B．successfully shaping Americans’ taste |
| C．changing people’s idea about design |
| D．building a professional design team |
| A．offering original but not revolutionary answers to problems |
| B．providing completely different design |
| C．providing most immediately recognizable designs |
| D．speeding up the design process |
| A．keeping | B．escaping |
| C．forgetting | D．remembering |
| A．Loewy provided service to ordinary people. |
| B．Loewy’s design were famous and influential. |
| C．Loewy’s design firms existed all over the world. |
| D．Loewy was welcomed and respected by the public. |
【推荐2】During my second year in high school, I got sick and missed a few days. When I returned, I was greeted with two essays due (到期的), three days of math and history homework, plus several tests. The next day at school, I got a rude awakening: I’d totally forgotten to prepare for the test on Romeo and Juliet! Worse still, I had missed the in-class discussion and all the notes. When lunch time came, I went to the English room to face my certain doom (厄运). All I could do was try to guess at the questions I didn’t know.
As it turned out, I didn’t know the majority of the questions. I was just about to give in when my pencil accidentally fell and broke. Standing by the blackboard and sharpening my pencil, I looked down and there in full view lay the answer sheet for the test! What good fortune! I can kiss good-bye to all my worries of failing the test! My heart started beating, and my brain whispered, “Yes! Read over the answers — quickly!” This was quickly followed by another voice, “No! You’ll get caught!” My mind turning back and forth, “Yes! No! Yes! No!” …This went on for ten of the longest seconds in my entire life.
Finally, I decided to finish the test on my own, without cheating! I was satisfied with my decision but pretty certain I had failed the test.
The next day when I walked into the English room, my great joy of having been an honest soul changed into a wave of doom as I saw my test paper lying face down on my desk. I knew what awaited me. I stared at it for a few seconds before I got up the nerve to turn it over.
You can only imagine my shock when I learned that I had passed the test! I have never in my whole life been so happy to see my grade a C-.
My mom says the victories that take the most courage are won within. Now I know exactly what she means. Now not only can my conscience (良心) rest easy, but I don’t have to worry about getting caught and meeting a sad ending like Romeo and Juliet.
1. What would the author do when he went to the English room?| A．He would learn the play’s lines. | B．He would take an English test. |
| C．He would join in the discussion. | D．He would complete the class notes. |
| A．To show he was ashamed of his cheating. |
| B．To reflect his fear when he stood by the blackboard. |
| C．To describe how eager he was after he got the answers. |
| D．To stress his inner conflict when he spotted the answer sheet. |
| A．His test grade was a C-. | B．He had failed the English test. |
| C．He would be praised by his mother. | D．He would be shocked to see his grade. |
| A．Truthful and courageous. | B．Lucky and ambitious. |
| C．Brave and hard-working. | D．Sincere and fortunate. |
【推荐3】I am a part of the Windward Robotics team known as the Omnicats, one of the many clubs offered at my school. My eight teammates and I started out by watching the robotics qualifiers (资格赛) and finals of Chinese teams. We used these robotics videos for inspiration and drew up mind maps of what our team wanted to do.
We met every day for two hours after school in order to build our robots. Typically, adults oversee what students are building, but my school lets teens take control. It leaves room for more errors, but we’re prouder of our final product.
Before our first real match, a practice one was offered at the actual site. My sub-team had been further along than other teams but quickly fell behind. When that big day arrived, I immediately felt my teammates’ nervousness. Our first match was in three minutes. All of us glanced around at each other. It seemed that tons of tasks were waiting for us to handle. Our robot was still sitting in a box. Two of our teammates rushed to take the robot for an official examination as the rest of us discussed our strategy.
Our team captain explained that we all should try driving the robot now, while it was early in the season. She gave me the remote. I had only driven for a limited amount of time in practice so I was extremely nervous. Our autonomous code (自动代码) began to run almost immediately after our short discussion. Despite all the drama, we ended up winning the match. Not too bad for the first match! I was so proud. I did not enjoy the pressure of driving but liked building the robot behind the scenes instead.
We have transferred to a different type of robotics at the end of the season, which involves the whole team designing one giant robot with large tools. I am a part of the electrical team now, so I make sure the motherboard (母板) can supply the robot’s energy needs. We have all enjoyed the rest of the season and learned that robotics is never dull!
1. What does the underlined word in paragraph 2 mean?| A．check | B．revise | C．preview | D．request |
| A．Because they didn’t prepare for it at all. |
| B．Because it was really too difficult for them. |
| C．Because they didn’t make full preparations before the match. |
| D．Because they didn’t know what the match would be like. |
| A．It was tiring but exciting. |
| B．It was stressful but wonderful. |
| C．It was terrible but delightful. |
| D．It was boring but rewarding. |
| A．Robotics Is Never Dull |
| B．Teamwork for Robots |
| C．A Person Who Loves Robots |
| D．My First Robotics Match |
【推荐1】Lord Robert Winston was sitting on a train,when he found himself becoming steadily angry. Winston is normally a fairly amiable man. What was driving him slowly insane was the particular behavior of another passenger. Ignoring the child with her, the woman had picked up her phone and begun what would become a very loud conversation filled with boring facts.
Winston did try to ignore it,but there is something fundamentally un-ignorable about a loud, one-sided conversation. It was then that Lord Winston made a mistake. He began to tweet(网上发 about the woman. He took photos of her and sent them out to his more than 40,000 followers.
When the train had finally arrived at its destination, Winston quickly ran off. He had had enough of what he described as her "rudeness."But the woman faced an unusual surprise. The press had picked up on Winston's tweets. They were waiting for her on the platform.When they excitedly showed her Winston's messages,the woman's face fell, She also suddenly found herself using just one word to describe Winston's actions:"rude".
We find ourselves living at a time of incredible rudeness. Social media has taught the world that it needs to have an opinion, on everything,at all times. Reality television has taught us to celebrate meanness(不友好)，so long as that meanness is delivered as “honesty.”So what can we do about the rising tide of rudeness?
Winston shone a spotlight on that woman's behaviors, but he did not confront it, and he did not stop it. Instead,that spotlight was shone weakly from afar, shaming her by taking an almost rudimentary(原始的)form of revenge Often, the trick to handling rudeness is far more elegant, and can be done with the gentle delivery of a sentence as simple as “just stop."
When we see it happen in a store, we must step up and say,"Just stop."If it happens to a colleague,we must point t out Because once a rude pt 12 )s had the looking glass held up to them and can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end that behavior themselves.
1. What's the best title of this article?| A．Before You Are Rude | B．When Someone Is Rude |
| C．If They Can End It | D．Unless You Can Stop Rudeness |
| A．selfless |
| B．cooperative |
| C．mild-mannered |
| D．open-minded |
| A．The woman shouldn't have ignored Winston's anger over her behavior. |
| B．Winston is actually as rude as the woman with his behavior. |
| C．Being rude is widely accepted as being honest in the society. |
| D．Winston should have pointed out the woman's rudeness to her face. |
| A．To argue against a point of view. |
| B．To introduce a social phenomenon. |
| C．To offer solutions to a social problem. |
| D．To express concerns over a social problem. |
【推荐2】A jobless man applied for the position of “office boy” at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him and then watched him cleaning the floor as a test.
“You are employed,” he said. “Give me your e-mail address and I’ll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start.”
The man replied, “But I don’t have a computer, neither an e-mail.”
“I’m sorry,” said the HR manager. “If you don’t have an e-mail, that means you do not exist. And a person who doesn’t exist cannot have the job.”
The man left with no hope at all. With only ten dollars in his pocket, he decided to go to the supermarket and buy 10kg tomatoes. He then sold the tomatoes from door to door. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home happily with 60 dollars.
The man realized that he could survive in this way, and started to go every day early, and return late. Thus, his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, and then he had his own delivery vehicles. Five years later, the man was one of the biggest food retailers (零售商人) in the US.
He started to plan his family’s future and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker (经纪人) and chose a protection plan.
When the conversation ended, the broker asked him his e-mail. The man replied, “I don’t have an e-mail.”
The broker answered surprisingly, ‘‘You don’t have an e-mail, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an e-mail?” The man thought for a while and replied, “Yes, I’d be an office boy at Microsoft!”
1. Why couldn’t the man have the job at Microsoft?| A．Because he was lazy. | B．Because he didn’t pass the test. |
| C．Because he didn’t have an e-mail. | D．Because he didn’t have a computer. |
| A．tomato | B．money |
| C．time | D．operation |
| A．He is one of the biggest food retailers in the world. |
| B．He started his career by selling tomatoes in the supermarket. |
| C．He didn’t give up though he failed the interview. |
| D．He didn’t want to accept the job at Microsoft. |
| A．Misfortune may be an actual blessing. | B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．Accidents will happen. | D．No pains, no gains. |
【推荐3】When I was nine years old, I never dreamed that the small vending machine (自动售货机) I had owned would turn me into a small business owner. Wanting to inspire his daughter’s business sense, my dad brought home a vending machine he had purchased from a friend. Setting it down in front of me in our living room, he asked in all seriousness, “Do you want to start a business?” I said yes.
I owned 15 vending machines by the time I left high school, with all of the profits going toward my college fund. In addition to being a great bonding experience for my family, I couldn't tell you how many skills I learned from starting and developing my own business that helped me gain responsibility. I learned that not every experience in life led to the comforting encouragement: Well, you were tried. You should face bravely all kinds of difficulties.
Understanding both personal and professional finances is one of the most important life lessons to learn—the earlier, the better. I had to be fearless and confident—learning these skills at a young age saved me from speaking with difficulty through presentations later in life. Truly understanding what you're selling displays confidence and reliability, as does truly believing in it. Comprehending the ins and outs of your product and business shines through when speaking with clients though rejection happens all the time.
Throughout the unbelievable experience of running my own business in my childhood, I've learned valuable skills that help me in my school, job and personal life. I believe in the value of customer service. I go after clients and opportunities and understand that sometimes things don't go my way. With the help of my parents and customers who supported me, I grew up as a young entrepreneur with skills to keep for the rest of my life.
1. Why did the author's dad give her a vending machine?| A．To earn her college fund. | B．To raise her business awareness. |
| C．To solve her friend's financial problem. | D．To remind her how hard it is for him to earn money. |
| A．It was scary but smooth. | B．It was tough but worthwhile. |
| C．It distanced her from her family. | D．It taught her how to refuse clients. |
| A．Her attitude towards rejection. | B．Her understanding of financial crises. |
| C．Her insight into her business experience. | D．Her vision of the future vending machines. |
| A．It is too old to run the business. |
| B．One can succeed without support. |
| C．Abilities acquired at a young age are useful in the future. |
| D．Customer needs are always consistent with the enterprise. |
