On Jan. 3, a netizen (网民) nicknamed “Programmer Humor” published a short story on his micro-blog. It said that there was an old lady who swept nearly every inch of his Internet company. When she passed by a programmer, she took a look at the codes on the programmer’s computer and kindly reminded him, “Be careful, the stack is overfilled!”
Certainly, it is a casual and fictitious (虚构的) story made up by the micro-blogger. However, no one would have guessed that the short blog would eventually cause the first great Internet meme (网络快速爆红现象) of 2011 in China. Suddenly, the mysterious “Sweeping Old Lady” is showing up nearly everywhere and reminding professionals of their mistakes. From 8 a. m. on Jan. 5, some netizens collected stories of the “Sweeping Old Lady” and found she had appeared to give advice in 150 kinds of careers. A netizen even said he had met with a similar situation in real life.
Actually, the “Sweeping Old Lady” is not new figure, but is based on the “sweeping monk (和尚)”in Louis Cha’s famous Kung fu novel of “Tian Long Ba Bu”. The “sweeping monk” is an old monk and does the lowest class of work in Shaolin Temple, but he is actually the No. 1 master in the noel both in Kung fu and in the study of Buddhism.
The “Sweeping Old Lady” is also a great modest master. Lots of netizens wish that they could have such a lady beside them to give them precious suggestions at a key time.
Although there may be 1,000 “Sweeping Old Ladies” in 1,000 people’s minds, it cannot prevent the “Sweeping Old Lady” from becoming the most popular figure on the Internet.
“Programmer Humor” said he is just a programmer in the real world and once he saw the story about the “Sweeping Old Lady,” he wrote it down in his micro-blog because it was funny. He never knew who the original writer of the story was and never thought the story could be so popular.
1. What quality does the “Sweeping Old Lady” have?| A．Honest and knowledgeable. | B．Modest and patient. |
| C．Modest and knowledgeable. | D．Honest and patient. |
| A．She is an old lady good at sweeping the Internet. |
| B．She is just an imaginary figure created by a netizen. |
| C．She is well-know as the old “sweeping monk.” |
| D．She likes to give instructions everywhere. |
| A．The sweeping old lady is always looking down on the people around her. |
| B．We should ask sweeping old lady for advice when meeting with difficulties. |
| C．People want to have a “Sweeping Old Lady” nearby to do the cleaning. |
| D．We shouldn’t judge a person by his or her appearance and we’d better respect everyone. |
| A．She should be praised and respected. |
| B．She shouldn’t mind others’ business. |
| C．She should go in for network. |
| D．She shouldn’t show off before professionals. |
相似题推荐
She said, “Hi, girl! My name is Rose. I’m 87 years old. Can give you a hug?”
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may! “and she gave me a giant squeeze.
“Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age ?”I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel!”
“No seriously “I said. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!” “she told me.
Over the course of the year, Rose because a campus icon（偶像）and she easily made friends wherever she went .She loved to dress up and she reveled（陶醉）in the attention bestowed（赠给）upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us.
“We do not stop playing because we are old“; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success/You have to laugh and find humor everyday. Your’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die!” she said.
“The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.” Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Song of Rose”. She challenged each of us study the lyrics(歌词)and live them out in our daily lives.
At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
1. Rose made herself known to the author in a _______ manner.
| A．serious | B．cold | C．crazy | D．humorous |
| A．Rose finished the college degree within a year |
| B．Rose did realize her dream of meeting a rich husband and getting married through college education |
| C．Rose enjoyed her campus life very much |
| D．Rose grew so old that she stopped playing |
| A．at the graduation |
| B．which she prepared carefully |
| C．ended with ”The Song of Rose” |
| D．to challenge all the other speakers |
| A．whenever you have a dream, you succeed |
| B．All people don’t grow up while growing older |
| C．Rose usually regretted having done something |
| D．a nine-year-old is as old as a 87-year-old if he doesn’t do anything |
| A．Growing Older or Growing Up | B．It’s Never too Old to learn |
| C．Humour Does Count | D．Challenge Yourself |
From time to time, life might provide a person with the present of a moment that changes everything. As for me, that came on a plane home in January, 2009. Frankly, as a lawyer, I specialized in corporate law in oil and gas projects. In fact, I’d grown to hate my job. It involved too much paperwork and loads of traveling, which I thought was fairly exhausting.
Actually, becoming a lawyer was unintended. I loved my school but it was competitive and students were destined for a good university, and then a graduate plan. That was the track I was on. After graduation, I became a lawyer, but that just made me trapped. I wanted to make a difference, but I had no idea what else I could do.
On that life-changing flight, I asked a stewardess to bring me a hot drink. When she returned, I couldn’t help crying. Hugging me, she said, “I don’t know what’s wrong but if you’re crying in business class, you need to change your life.”
Those words had a great effect on me. I couldn’t carry on in a job that made me so uncomfortable.
After much reflection, I resigned 18 months later. The last time I’d been happy was when I was volunteering at a school. Because of that, my friend Sophia kept telling me I’d love teaching. Then I contacted four schools and became a teacher in the end. No amount of planning would have prepared me for my first day as a teacher. It was stressful, but as I became familiar with the curriculum, I relaxed.
Five years on, I’m head of department. Watching my students develop is so rewarding and results day makes me burst with pride. I used to feel scared about the thought of becoming a more senior lawyer, but I’m so positive about the opportunities teaching can offer. I earn less now but I become richer in many ways.
Every single day, I feel excited to go to work.
1. Why did the author dislike her job? (no more than 15 words)2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean? (no more than 3 words)
3. What made the author choose to become a teacher? (no more than 10 words)
4. How does the author’s life change after being a teacher? (no more than 10 words)
5. What kind of career will you choose after graduation? Please explain. (no more than 25 words)
【推荐3】After the age of sixteen, as has been discovered, the number of our brain cells begins to decrease at a speed of several million a year. They simply die off. In certain types of activity, the human brain is at its highest point in the early twenties, when it has collected enough information to be able to use the vast number of cells freely in the most effective way. Pure mathematics is one of the fields in which this happens, and we know that Albert Einstein made all his world-shaking discoveries between the age of about 20 and 25, and spent the rest of his life tidying them up and arranging them.
But in certain other types of activity (of which being an author is perhaps one), experience is more important than sharpness of brain, and there one usually finds that a person reaches his or her climax much later in life.
Besides sharpness of brain and experience, here is another thing that is very important, and that is wisdom. One can have a very quick, inventive brain and plenty of experience, but if one uses these foolishly, one harms both oneself and others. Wisdom does not always come with age — there are plenty of foolish middle-aged people about — but the average person tends to learn wisdom as he gets older, usually by making painful or embarrassing mistakes. Learning to be wise is basically learning what is not possible and what is possible but so difficult that it is not worth all the trouble one has to go through to get there. Mostly, it is learning about human nature; how real people behave and react, as against how one would like them to behave and react. One can read and hear lot of idealistic stuff about how to make the world a better place, which would be found if it was based on an accurate observation of human nature, but which is basically a waste of time because it is not.
1. According to the writer, the great discoveries made by Albert Einstein were mainly a result in .| A．sharpness of the brain | B．years of hard work |
| C．rich experience | D．his deep understanding of nature |
| A．they have to learn lessons from failures |
| B．they do not have a chance to show their talents |
| C．their work often requires much experience |
| D．they fail to realize earlier the importance of hard work |
| A．it helps to avoid various mistakes |
| B．it contributes to one’s creativity |
| C．it provides the right direction of efforts |
| D．it encourages one to go forward in face of difficulty |
| A．it is always a waste of time to make plans about the future |
| B．one has to use wisdom in deciding what is the best thing to do |
| C．one should always challenge the impossible to push the society forward |
| D．it is human nature to make attempts on what looks impossible |
【推荐1】
I go to a gym in west London, always unwillingly. Exercise is too exhausting and boring. Always was. At school I made believe that I had headaches and parental notes too, to get out of PE classes and compulsory games. Now, twice a week, I dutifully get on cycling machines and other equipment and make myself work out for an hour. To get through the difficult hour, I people-watched: young and old, fit and unfit and Clayton Rose, one of the instructors.
Clayton is a personal trainer not only to body perfectionists, but to people who are mentally and physically disabled, the obese and hopeless. He treats them all the same. I have witnessed him listening keenly to a middle-aged working-class woman who goes on and on about her life, holidays, everything. Slim and attractive now, she was once so heavy that she was in a wheelchair. I have seen him calm down a young man with Tourette's syndrome（抽动症）and get him on a treadmill. I have also watched him pushing and coaching strong, cool men.
Clayton was shocked when I said I wanted to write about him. "Why? You know I'm not educated? I'm not clued up about politics and all that. Just an ordinary guy.”
He grew up in Twickenham, where his dad worked in a timber yard, his mum in an office. After college, the young man got into personal training and found his work. One of his best friends got seriously ill and was given months to live. Clayton put him on a program that kept him alive for almost five years: "I don't earn much, but I love my work; training and talking really helps people who don't have confidence, who are lonely, afraid, sick. Lots of people can't step into a gym. They need someone they can trust, someone who will be on their side.
The gym recently updated its equipment. The flashy new stuff confuses and upsets disabled customers. Me too. The private firm running these centers made decisions without considering these needs. Clayton is managing the chaos with grace and strength. Last week, when a young woman in a wheelchair started sobbing loudly, he calmed her down, restored her dignity, superhumanly contained his anger.
One of his colleagues thinks Clayton's "a legend". He is, and doesn't know it—a rare thing in this age of extreme narcissism（自恋）and monetized everything.
1. Why was I unwilling to go to a gym?| A．Because I suffered from headaches. |
| B．Because I had bad memories of PE classes. |
| C．Because I had to watch a large crowd exercising |
| D．Because I felt it tiring and no fun |
| A．He brings out the best in them. |
| B．He helps them with illness advice |
| C．He treats them differently. |
| D．He focuses on body perfection. |
| A．The pay he receives |
| B．The grace and strength it brings. |
| C．The comforting power he gives. |
| D．The disabled people on his side. |
| A．Reasons to go to a gym. |
| B．An instructor inspiring confidence. |
| C．Exercise with push and inspiration. |
| D．Rays of hope in the age of narcissism. |
【推荐2】I’ve gotten used to travelling alone over the past few years, and have found it’s something I quite enjoy most of the time. One thing I still find difficult though is eating alone in foreign restaurants, especially during main dining hours, such as a Saturday night. And yet, that’s the position I found myself in last night, wanting to enjoy a final Parisian meal of oysters（牡蛎）. I headed to a spot close to my house. But, to my dismay, when I arrived around 8:15 it as if the restaurant were already full. And worse, everyone was eating with someone else, and all of a sudden I got a kind of lonely and sad feeling. But I wanted my oysters, so I asked a waiter, “Would it be possible to find a seat for me?”
He said, “It is quite full, but for you I will find a place!” I waited and he quickly returned and asked me to follow him. He pulled out a table next to another couple. This couple was using one of the chairs of my table to store their things, and as the waiter pulled out my chair, the gentleman began to remove his belongings. I told him it wasn’t necessary.
“You are alone?” He asked me. “Yes,” I said. And then the waiter came up.
“No! You are not alone! Now you are here, dining with us!” he said, smiling, and with a gesture of his hand indicating the restaurant.
It was perhaps one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. I settled into my seat and watched the families and couples enjoying their dinner while I slurped the last briny oysters of my visit. And the feeling of being alone was forgotten.
1. The underlined word “dismay” in the first paragraph most probably means “______”.| A．concern | B．surprise | C．satisfaction | D．disappointment |
| A．Because he wanted to use the chair. |
| B．Because he wanted to use these things. |
| C．Because he thought that the author needed the chair. |
| D．Because he wanted to invite the author to join them. |
| A．kind but silly | B．gentle and thoughtful |
| C．noisy but polite | D．funny and humorous |
| A．felt very comfortable and satisfied |
| B．forgot to enjoy the delicious oysters |
| C．still felt lonely when she was eating oysters |
| D．enjoyed sharing foods with others in the restaurant |
【推荐3】After the sudden loss of her 5-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, Natalia Spencer felt she needed to do something to honor the little girl. That strong wish inspired Spencer to start what she calls a “Walk of Love”, a 6,000-mile trek (长途徒步旅行）along the British coastline.
“Elizabeth particularly loved the beach and the sea and we visited the seaside a lot. After she passed away, I went to the seaside and it was the first time I had felt some comfort,” Spencer said. “I knew this was what I had to do. It was something I could do and it would somehow make life more bearable.”
On Valentine's Day, Spencer began walking Durdle Door in Dorset, England, the last beach she took Elizabeth to before she became ill. So far, Spencer has journeyed about 1,500 miles, walking through Dorset, Cornwall, Devon and the entire coast of Wales. Every day, except Saturday, Spencer walks 20 miles. Often locals join her; many times they share stories about losing their own children.
Everything changed for Spencer on Nov. 22, 2015. Spencer noticed Elizabeth was ill with what she thought—was a chest infection. But the girl’s health worsened rapidly. Doctors diagnosed her with a life-threatening immune condition where the immune cells damage tissue and organ. This caused Elizabeth's organs to shut down and stopped the blood supply to her arms and legs. She was moved to Bristol Children's Hospital where she spent 18 days on life support before passing away on Dec. 10.
After Elizabeth died, Spencer struggled. She stayed with friends because it felt too hard to live in a house with the memories of Elizabeth. In January, a friend encouraged Spencer to go for a walk and the two ended up at the Gower Peninsula in Wales. That's when she realized she wanted to walk along the coast for her daughter.
While walking provides Spencer with time to grieve (感到悲痛)，she’s also using the trip to raise￡100,000(about $144,000) for the Bristol .Children’s Hospital. She admired the doctors and nurses and wanted to raise money to allow another family access to treatment.
Spencer expects to complete her walk next spring. She’d love to finish on Valentine’s Day, but doesn’t know if that is realistic.
1. Why did Natalia Spencer decide to walk along the British coastline?| A．To realize her daughter's dream. |
| B．To remember her dead daughter. |
| C．To share stories with people around. |
| D．To raise money for a children’s hospital. |
| A．Spencer’s story-sharing with the local people. |
| B．Spencer’s daily life after Elizabeth’s death. |
| C．Spencer’s memory of traveling with Elizabeth. |
| D．Spencer's walking along the coastline. |
| A．She encouraged her mother to walk around Britain. |
| B．She once walked along the entire British coast. |
| C．She died of an immune-system disease. |
| D．She fell sick as a result of a chest infection. |
| A．A Little Girl’s Struggle with a Strange Disease. |
| B．A Mother’s Effort to Save Her Daughter. |
| C．A Woman's Action to Raise Money for Children. |
| D．A Mother’s Walk to Honor Her Lost Child. |
【推荐1】Instead of leaving behind money as a big inheritance(遗产),people prefer to choose to create travel trust funds(基金) for their children. Ten kinds of travel trust funds have been set up since over 15 years ago.
More and more people thought that travel trust funds should be a part of their inheritances. Some people, who stored travel trust funds in the bank, did so to make sure their children could come back at any time. For example, at the time they studied or took courses in other countries. And there are also other trust funds to encourage travel with a charity(慈善) aim. For example, those funds would be given to volunteers who would work in Africa.
Now, let’s look at Mrs Liebman’s case. Her father worried that with two daughters living in Israel and one son in the US, the cost of plane tickets might prevent his children from visiting one another. At a family dinner in 2000, her father decided to create a travel fund which he would pay up to $800 every year. Four years later, he died and so far the money has been used by his kids for family parties. The amount was raised over the years to keep up with the rising cost of air travel. Most recently, Mrs Liebman, her husband and their three children flew from Israel to the US for a wedding and received a check to pay for their flights.
For Mrs Liebman, the money from her father has had a very positive influence. In the past dozen years, her brother’s and sister’s families have more chances to get together to enjoy their happy life. “There has been a new level of connection made. It’s really a good way to leave kids some kinds of travel trust funds when parents go away.” She said.
1. The second paragraph is written to tell us_________.| A．the different uses of travel trust funds | B．the tradition of the inheritance in the US |
| C．the advantages of travel trust funds | D．the form of Americans’ inheritance |
| A．Mrs. Liebman comes from a rich and large family. |
| B．Money should be used to travel with families. |
| C．Mrs Liebman’s father supported the way of leaving money for his kids. |
| D．Mrs Liebman’s father expected there was a good relationship among his kids. |
| A．left her children a lot of money to travel all over the world |
| B．worked in Africa as a volunteer before she got married |
| C．received money from the travel trust fund to visit her family members |
| D．went home every four years after her father died in 2,000 |
| A．Give away money for a charity aim. | B．Build travel trust funds for her parents. |
| C．Create some travel trust funds for her kids. | D．Make use of her free time to travel. |
【推荐2】Catching nearly 4,000 wild butterflies with handheld nets and taking the temperature of each tiny insect must rank among the harder of scientific efforts.
However, researchers have discovered significant differences in the ability of British butterflies to maintain a suitable temperature, raising fears that global heating will threaten the populations of some species.
Butterflies are ectotherms-unable to generate their own body heat-and require warm temperatures to fly. However, extreme temperatures can pose problems, particularly for those butterflies that must find shady habitats to regulate (调节) their body temperature.
The study shows that larger, paler butterflies are best able to protect themselves from extreme temperatures, changing the angles of their reflective wings in relation to the sun to direct heat away from or on to their bodies. Darker, large species have greater difficulty controlling their body temperature, but even they are better than “thermal specialists”, which rely on finding a spot at a specific temperature in a landscape-a “microclimate”-to control their body temperature.
“After being caught in butterfly nets on British nature reserves, the 29 different species of butterflies’ temperatures were taken with a fine probe. As we plan conservation measures to address the effects of climate change, it will be important to understand not only the habitat requirements of different butterfly species, but also their temperature requirements,” said Dr Ed Turner, of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, who led the work. “With this new understanding of butterflies, we should be able to better manage habitats and landscapes to protect them, and in doing so we’re probably also protecting other insects too.”
1. Why did scientists take the temperatures of butterflies?| A．To seek solutions to global heating. |
| B．To uncover climate threats to them. |
| C．To classify them into different species. |
| D．To stress the toughness of scientific research. |
| A．By angling their wings. |
| B．By generating the body heat. |
| C．By choosing a microclimate. |
| D．By making use of their colour. |
| A．Finding a nature reserve. |
| B．Attracting other butterflies. |
| C．Adapting to climate change. |
| D．Perceiving the surroundings. |
| A．Understanding butterflies should be strengthened. |
| B．Better management of butterfly habitats is popular. |
| C．Protecting butterflies can lead to additional benefits. |
| D．Goals of protecting butterflies have been achieved. |
【推荐3】What makes you happy? You may want to answer that spending time with your family, taking a vacation or driving a new sports car makes you happy but the key to happiness may be altruism. Helping others may actually improve your happiness.
According to Time Magazine, the greatest thinkers in the world have suggested that true happiness is found in helping others and now there is scientific research from a team of psychologists at the University of Missouri-Columbia to prove it.
While Americans are guaranteed (保证) the pursuit (追求) of happiness in their Declaration of Independence, it is usually referring to individual rights and is self-serving (自私的). The researchers led by Liudmila Titova and Kenno n Sheldon looked at whether pursuing happiness for others will actually make people happier. They found that it does.
Two experiments were conducted by the team, according to Psychology Today. The first experiment asked participants to recall (回忆) a time that they tried to make themselves or another person happy. They were asked to write about the event and rate how happy it made them feel. In the second experiment, they were asked to remember a time that they tried to make someone else happy and also write about how it made them feel. This experiment produced a higher rate of happiness than the first.
“The results of these studies include findings from previous research showing that people get improved personal happiness from attempts to make other people happy—an approach that might seem unbelievable for a lot of people at first,” researchers wrote in the study.
But how does the research translate into real life? Find your passion and share your values. Whatever you do, the key is to find an approach that works for you and let it come naturally. Remember that improving happiness is a benefit of helping others and not the goal.
1. What does the underlined word “altruism” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Earning money. | B．Finding happiness. | C．Loving family. | D．Helping others. |
| A．By doing two experiments. | B．By comparing with other researches. |
| C．By showing previous research. | D．By presenting some facts. |
| A．Set a goal for the future. | B．Do something for others. |
| C．Find your passion for work. | D．Sha re your happiness naturally. |
| A．Improving Others’ Happiness Matters | B．Sharing Your Goals Makes You Happy |
| C．Helping Others Could Improve Happiness | D．Improving Happiness Benefits People A Lot |
