【推荐2】When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness with me. When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say: “Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changed into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.

When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair (失望) and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.

For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell...” We have never met.

It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist (心理学家), who will only fill up the healing (愈合的) silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.

1. In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was ________.

A．become serious about her study	B．go to her friend’s house regularly
C．learn from her classmates at school	D．share poems and stories with her friend

2. In Paragraph 2, “We gave London to each other.” probably means ________.

A．our exploration of London was a memorable gift to both of us

B．we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London

C．our unpleasant feelings about London disappeared

D．we parted with each other in London

3. According to Paragraph 3, the author and her friend ________.

A．call each other regularly	B．have similar personalities
C．enjoy writing to each other	D．dream of meeting each other

4. In the darkest moments, the author would prefer to ________.

A．ask for professional help	B．be left alone
C．stay with her best friend	D．break the silence

【推荐3】Ranjan and Sumer were good friends. They went to the same school and were in the same class.

Ranjan was not strong. He could not play football or other games with boys of his age. All that he did was to watch Sumer and other boys play. He usually went with them to the playground. When they ran off to play, he would sit under a tree and read storybooks. Books became his best friends. The reading made him successful in all the exams. He always stood first in the class.

Sumer was tall and athletic. He spent most of his time running, swimming or riding bicycles. He was an extremely good player in every game. He was a member of the school’s football team and cricket team. The PE teacher thought he would make it big in the game when he grew up.

One day, the two friends went for a walk. Ranjan got tired soon.

“I have no strength. What is the use of all this knowledge, if I am not healthy? I would give away all my knowledge if I could be half as healthy and strong as you,” said Ranjan.

Sumer was surprised and replied, “So you are not happy with yourself too? I always wished I could have done as well as you did in the studies. I even thought I could have given away my sporting skills for better grades in those exams.”

The two friends looked at each other and cried out at the same time, “The grass looks greener on the other side of the hill.”

1. What did Ranjan usually do when he went to the playground with Sumer?

A．He read his favorite books.	B．He played with his friend.
C．He studied for the exams.	D．He took care of the clothes.

2. Why did the P.E. teacher think Sumer might become a sports star?

A．Sumer was very strong.	B．Sumer was good at playing football.
C．Sumer loved sports so much.	D．Sumer spent all his time playing sports.

3. What can we learn from paragraph 6?

A．Ranjan was proud of his knowledge.

B．Sumer was unhappy with his studies.

C．Sumer could do as well as Ranjan did in the studies.

D．Ranjan and Sumer decided to learn from each other.

4. What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?

A．Practice makes perfect.

B．Nobody knows his own strong points.

C．Grass usually appears greener in faraway places.

D．We always want something better and feel unhappy.

【推荐1】Dear Sir,
I’m writing to complain about the service offered by your company.
I told your service department on November 21 that my washing machine needed repairing, Your service engineers have since been here four times—on December 1l, December 19, December 25 and January 5．The problem was found out on the first visit and the wrong parts were brought by different engineers on the two next visits.The correct part was fitted by the first engineer on the fourth visit.
In short, my complaints are:
a．I had to wait three weeks for an engineer to call and nearly two months for the machine to be repaired.
b．The engineers who called on December 19 and December 25 had been given wrong information by the company, which made me take two half days off unnecessarily.
c．The first and fourth visits lasted a total of thirty minutes.But in the invoice （发票）, I have to pay for four visits of four hours’ work.I will not be paying the invoice for their mistakes and I do hope to receive your answers to these complaints.

Yours,

Robert White

1. Robert’s main purpose in writing to the company is to tell the company ________.

A．how its service department is operating

B．how its different engineers came for the repair

C．that two of the engineers didn’t give him any help

D．that he refuses to pay the company for their mistakes

2. The first of Robert’s complaints is that________.

A．it took him three weeks to have the machine repaired

B．it took him nearly sixty days to get his machine repaired

C．it had been almost two months before the first engineer came

D．it took the engineer 3 weeks to find out something wrong with the machine.

3. It can be inferred from the letter that Robert promises to pay for________.

A．three hours’ work	B．half an hour’s work
C．an hour’s work	D．four hours’ work

【推荐2】Some people will do just about anything to save money. And I am one of them. Take my family’s last vacation or example. It was my six-year-old son’s winter break from school, and we were heading home from Fort Lauderdale after a weeklong trip. The flight was overbooked, and Delta, the airline, offered us $400 per person in credits to give up our seats and leave the next day. I had meetings in New York, so I had to get back. But that didn’t mean my husband and my son couldn’t stay. I took my nine-month-old and took off for home.

The next day, my husband and son were offered more credits to take an even later flight. Yes, I encouraged - okay, ordered them to wait it out at the airport, to “earn” more Delta Dollars. Our total take: $1,600. Not bad, huh?

Now some people may think I’m a bad mother and not such a great wife either. But as a big-time bargain hunter, I know the value of a dollar. And these days, a good deal is something few of us can afford to pass up.

I’ve made a living looking for the best deals and exposing the worst tricks. I have been the consumer reporter of NBC’s Today Show for over a decade. I have written a couple of books including one titled Tricks of the Trade: A Consumer Survival Guide. And I really do what I believe in.

I tell you this because there is no shame in getting your money’s worth. I’m also tightfisted when it comes to shoes, clothes for my children, and expensive restaurants. But I wouldn’t hesitate to spend on a good haircut. It keeps longer, and it’s the first thing people notice. And I will also spend on a classic piece of furniture. Quality lasts.

1. Why did Delta give the author’s family credits?

A．They had early bookings.	B．They took a later flight.
C．Their flight had been delayed.	D．Their flight had been cancelled.

2. What can we learn about the author?

A．She rarely misses a good deal.	B．She seldom makes a compromise.
C．She is very strict with her children.	D．She is interested in cheap products.

3. What does the author do?

A．She’s a housewife.	B．She’s a writer.
C．She’s a media person.	D．She’s a business woman.

4. What does the author want to tell us?

A．How to expose bad tricks.	B．How to reserve airline seats.
C．How to make a business deal.	D．How to spend money wisely.

【推荐3】Back in 1975, economists planned rising life expectancy (预期寿命) against countries’ wealth, and concluded that wealth itself increases longevity. It seemed self- evident: everything people need to be healthy--from food to medical care- costs money.

But it soon proved that the data didn't always fit that theory. Economic booms didn’t always mean longer lives. In addition, for reasons that weren’t clear, a given gain in gross domestic product (GDP) caused increasingly higher gains in life expectancy over time, as though it was becoming cheaper to add years of life. Moreover, in the 1980s researchers found gains in learning were associated with greater increases in life expectancy than gains in wealth were. Finally, the more educated people in any country tend to live longer than their less educated fellow citizens. But such people also tend to be wealthier, so it has been difficult to make out which factor is increasing lifespan.

Wolfgang Lutz and his colleagues have now done that by collecting average data on GDP per person，lifespan, and years of education from 174 countries, dating from 1970 to 2010. They found that, just as in 1975, wealth associated with longevity. But the association between longevity and years of schooling was closer, with a direct relationship that did not change over time, the way wealth does.

Lutz argues that because schooling happens many years before a person has attained their life expectancy, this association reflects cause: better education drives longer life. It also leads to more wealth, which is why wealth and longevity are also associated. But what is important, says Lutz, is that wealth does not seem to be longevity, as experts thought- in fact, education is driving both of them.

He thinks this is because education permanently improves a person’s cognitive abilities, allowing better planning and self-control throughout the rest of their life. This idea is supported by the fact that people who are more intelligent appear to live longer.

1. Which of the following best describes economists ’conclusion in 1975?

A．Lifespan could be increased by wealth.

B．Economic growth didn’t always mean longer life.

C．Education influenced longevity more than wealth did.

D．A given growth in GDP caused higher gains in longevity.

2. What did Wolfgang Lutz and his colleagues find?

A．Wealth and longevity did not have any association.

B．Longevity and education were more closely associated.

C．Differences in wealth predicted differences in longevity.

D．Relationship between education and longevity changed over time.

3. What part does education play permanently according to Lutz?

A．It enables people to have better planning and self-control.

B．It always leads to a longer but not necessarily richer life.

C．It improves people’s imaginative and innovative abilities.

D．It helps people acquire time-managing and learning habits.

4. Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A．Wealth influences longevity.

B．Education influences longevity.

C．Wealth has nothing to do with longevity.

D．The relationship between education and wealth.

【推荐1】I have happy memories of trips to Europe, but my trip to Romania (罗马尼亚) was unique. When I was there as recalled, it was like being in a “James Bond” movie. My husband was born there, but his family sent him to study in Italy. Before he left, his mother told him, “As long as I write in pencil, don’t come back. When I write to you in pen, it’s safe to return.” But she never wrote in pen.
My husband lived a poor life in Italy. He applied to go to America, but there was a limit in number and he was rejected. He was accepted by Canada, though, and from Calgary he jumped onto a train to San Francisco. There he stayed —illegally. He became a US citizen when we got married. By then he was a charming European with a Romanian accent and the manners of a prince.
With seven years’ experience in America, a US passport, and two children later, he felt it was safe to visit Romania. He hadn’t seen his mother, two sisters, and two brothers since he was sixteen. We flew to Munich, Germany; picked up the German-made car we had purchased in the States; and drove to Romania via Austria and Hungary. When we reached Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, his family was waiting outside his sister’s house to greet us. After a long time of hugging, kissing, and crying, his family also hugged me, the American wife with two young children. They had great interest in me. Few Americans visited Romania at that time, and most Romanians had little chance to travel. I had brought an English-Romanian dictionary with me and managed to communicate, using only nouns, with no verbs. My Romanian improved, and the family’s stock of English words increased, but mostly I spoke in broken, New York-accented Romanian. The sisters loved their gifts of skirts and purses, the brothers loved the radios, and the children loved the candy. We made side trips to the Black Sea and enjoyed sightseeing in beautiful mountains. Dining at outdoor cafes to the music of violins was fantastic with fancy flavor, but nothing was as special as family dinners.
Romania didn’t have many dry cleaners. Most homes had old-fashioned washing machines but no dryers, and it was a hot summer. My husband’s relatives didn’t want to risk dirtying their clothes. Their solution was as simple as it was shocking: the women only wore their bras(胸罩) and slips (衬裙) at dinner table. The men were eating without shirts. They all had jobs, so time was precious. Having dinner without proper clothes was a small inconvenience compared with the effort of washing clothes —at least in my husband’s home, perhaps all across Romania. I, of course, having just met them, ate fully clothed. I washed my clothes by hand and hung them outdoors to dry.
On the last night of our three-week stay, we had a large family dinner. I was tired of washing my clothes. So I pulled my dress over my head and placed it on the chair behind me. All men and women applauded for my action. Even with my poor Romanian, I understood that they were saying, “She’s part of our family now.”
My children were 4 and 5 at the time, but they still have memories of that trip. They know how to say, “Good morning.” and “There are apricots (杏子) on the tree.” I can still say, “Do you speak Romanian?”and “I swim in the Black Sea.” But most of all, I remember sitting at a long dining-room table in my bra, enjoying meatballs with fresh garlic (大蒜).
1. From Para. 1, we learn that ________.

A．a trip to Europe would be dangerous

B．the mother didn’t want to see her son

C．Romania might be unsafe at that time

D．the mother didn’t like to write in pen

2. The writer’s husband became an American citizen through ________.

A．experiences	B．application
C．illegal stay	D．marriage

3. During the writer’s trip in Romania, she ________.

A．bought a new German-made car

B．had little interest in the relatives

C．used a new language with effort

D．enjoyed the mountain sights best

4. What made the writer feel special about the family dinner in Romania?

A．The way people dressed .

B．The way people spoke.

C．The fantastic violin music.

D．The fancy food flavor.

5. The writer was completely accepted by her husband’s family when ________.

A．she offered gifts to the whole family

B．she spoke her husband’s language

C．she washed all the clothes by hand

D．she had dinner in bra like other ladies

6. The writer shared her story to say ________.

A．“east and west, home is the best”

B．“when in Rome do as the Romans do”

C．“marry a dog and follow the dog forever”

D．“the course of true love never runs smooth”

【推荐2】Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.
Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as ‘bracketing’. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, _______________. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.
Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far
more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.
It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic(有疗效的) In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy(心理疗法), before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.
1. . The phrase “stepping into his or her shoes” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.

A．preparing a topic list first

B．focusing on one’s own mind

C．directing the talk to the desired results

D．experiencing the speaker’s inside world

2. . What is mainly discussed in Paragraph 2 ?

A．How to listen well.

B．What to listen to.

C．Benefits of listening.

D．Problems in listening

3. According to the author , in communication people tend to ________.

A．listen actively

B．listen purposefully

C．set aside their prejudices

D．open up their inner mind

4. According to the author , the patients improved mainly because _______.

A．they were taken good care of.

B．they knew they were truly listened to.

C．they had partners to talk to.

D．they knew the roots of problems.