Nothing good generally comes of a conversation that start with the words, "I think you should probably sit down before I tell you this.”
And so it came to pass. Away for Christmas, we got a call from kind friends at home, our neighbour's house had caught fire while they were out. The fire didn't spread to our house but the smoke very much did.
It's weeks of either throwing out, or sending away for specialist cleaning, every single thing into which smoke could have permeated(渗透)because the particles(微粒) are an ongoing health risk and washing isn't enough. Anything soft—sofas and carpets and children’s teddy bears, clothes—is suspected. We will be seeing in the New Year in a decidedly minimalist fashion.
What I didn't expect to feel, however, is this lucky. Friends and neighbours have come together with incredible generosity. We will never again underestimate the closeness of the village community in which we live, or the innate kindness that is most people's natural reaction to trouble, and are grateful to be reminded of so much that is good. But that's not the only thing I've learned. For in a sense, we have a chance to start again.
The surprise on being forced to think about what might urgently need replacing is how short the list of essentials seems; how much we must have been hanging on to out of habit, and how much we have been conditioned to think was important.
It's all too easily assumed that family history lives in tangible(有形的)things— old photographs, a dress bought decades ago for a night heavy with memories — but that's not quite right. These things were only reminders of what we already carry with us in head and heart.
Walking through the house, sweeping up the broken glass, I realised that the answer to the old question of “What would you save in a fire? ” is actually that nothing really matters but each other.
1. What happened to the author's house?| A．It caught a fire. |
| B．It was affected by a fire. |
| C．It was broken into by friends. |
| D．Its windows were broken. |
| A．something that may be damaged. |
| B．something that may not be genuine. |
| C．something that may not be so good. |
| D．something that may be dangerous. |
| A．People around him were cold to others' trouble. |
| B．His friends and neighbours were so generous. |
| C．People in his community were close to each other. |
| D．He was so lucky to find much that was good. |
| A．Worried. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Excited. | D．Contented. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Have you ever struggled to understand how someone else feels? Building up your empathy (同理心) skills helps you connect with your friends.
What is empathy?
Empathy is a kind of capability that lets you step into someone else’s shoes and then figure out how they are feeling. For instance, if you can see your friend is upset after losing a football match and you support them by telling them some warm and motivating words, you are showing empathy. Miranda McKeamey set up an organization called EmpathyLab that builds empathy through reading.
Scientists say empathy isn’t something you are born with, it’s a skill you can acquire through learning. One way you can do this is by active listening. When someone is talking to you, listen closely and respond in a way that shows you understand their situations and emotions thoroughly. Reading, advocated by EmpathyLab, is also a great way to boost empathy, since stories can take you inside someone else’s mind and show you the world through their eves and emotions.
Put empathy into action.
| A．How can you have more empathy? |
| B．Who need empathy most in daily life? |
| C．Besides, it also spreads kindness and inspires them to do the same. |
| D．To find out more conducts you can do, log in EmpathyLab.UK.com. |
| E．Only by putting empathy into action can you relate to others’ bad lives. |
| F．She believes even small, supportive actions can have a positive impact. |
| G．Miranda recommends going into the thick of people’s lives to show empathy. |
【推荐2】The impression you make at the beginning of an interview is very important. Employers often decide to hire someone in the first three minutes of the interview. They judge you by your appearanice, attitude and manners.
A friendly smile when you walk into the room is important. A smile shows a confident and positive attitude.
When you introduce yourself, make eye contact with the interviewer. Some interviewers offer a handshake. Others don’t.
Try to be as natural as possible. But pay attention to your body language. The way you sit, walk, gesture, use your voice and show feelings on your face is all parts of your body language. It makes the interviewer know how you feel about yourself and the situation you are in. Are you positive about yourself?Your abilities? Your interest in the job?
Speak clearly and loudly enough. Show interest and enthusiasm in your voice. When you speak, look at the interviewer. Also, don’t say negative things about yourself, or former employers.
Listen to questions carefully. If you don’t understand a question, ask the interviewer to repeat it or explain:
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch that.”
“I’m not sure exactly what you mean.”
Almost everyone is nervous in a job interview. Interviewers know that. They don’t expect you to be totally calm and relaxed. But they expect you to try to control your nervousness. They expect you to show confidence in your ability to do the job.
At the end of the interview, thank the interviewer for her or his time.
It’s a good idea to send a short thank-you letter right after the interview, or deliver it by hand.
Phone the company if you have not heard anything after one week. Ask if they have made a decision about the job.
Good luck！
1. What does the underlined word “It” mean in Paragraph 4?| A．The interviewer. | B．An employee. | C．An instructor. | D．Body language. |
| A．Because it can help us win the employer’s positive impression. |
| B．Becausc it can help us feel about the employer. |
| C．Because it is needed by our employer. |
| D．Because we need it to improve our feelings. |
| A．to give you some advice on the art of finding a job |
| B．to tell right from wrong about job interviews |
| C．to explain why we should do something about an interview |
| D．to suggest not being shy in an interview |
| A．A Friendly Smile | B．Making a Good Impression |
| C．Don’t Be Nervous | D．Sending a Thank-You Letter |
【推荐3】Open data-sharers are still in the minority in many fields. Although many researchers broadly agree that public access to raw data would accelerate science, because other scientists might be able to make advances not foreseen by the data's producers, most are reluctant to post the results of their own labours online (see Nature 461, 160-163; 2009). When Wolkovich, for instance, went hunting for the data from the 50 studies in her meta-analysis, only 8 data sets were available online, and many of the researchers whom she e-mailed refused to share their work. Forced to extract data from tables or figures in publications, Wolkovich's team could conduct only limited analyses
Some communities have agreed to share online - geneticists, for example, post DNA sequences at the GenBank repository, and astronomers are accustomed to accessing images of galaxies and stars from, say, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a telescope that has observed some 500 million objects - but these remain the exception, not the rule. Historically, scientists have objected to sharing for many reasons: it is a lot of work; until recently, good databases did not exist; grant funders were not pushing for sharing; it has been difficult to agree on standards for formatting data and the contextual information called metadata; and there is no agreed way to assign credit for data.
But the barriers are disappearing in part because journals and funding agencies worldwide are encouraging scientists to make their data public. Last year, the Royal Society in London said in its report Science as an Open Enterprise that scientists need to shift away from a research culture where data is viewed as private preserve. Funding agencies note that data paid for with public money should be public information, and the scientific community is recognizing that data can now be shared digitally in ways that were not possible before. To match the growing demand, services are springing up to make it easier to publish research products online and enable other researchers to discover and cite them.
Although exhortations to share data often concentrate on the moral advantages of sharing, the practice is not purely altruistic. Researchers who share get plenty of personal benefits, including more connections with colleagues, improved visibility and increased citations. The most successful sharers - those whose data are downloaded and cited the most often - get noticed, and their work gets used. For example, one of the most popular data sets on multidisciplinary repository Dryad is about wood density around the world; it has been downloaded 5,700 times. Co-author Amy Zanne, a biologist at George Washington University in Washington DC, thinks that users probably range from climate-change researchers wanting to estimate how much carbon is stored in biomass, to foresters looking for information on different grades of' timber. "I would much prefer to have my data used by the maximum number of people to ask their own questions," she says "It's important to allow readers and reviewers to see exactly how you arrive at your results. Publishing data and code allows your science to be reproducible ".
1. What do many researchers generally accept?| A．It is imperative to protest scientist' patents |
| B．Repositories are essential to scientific research |
| C．Open data sharing is most important to medical science |
| D．Open data sharing is conducive to scientific advancement |
| A．Opposed |
| B．Ambiguous |
| C．Liberal |
| D．Neutral |
| A．The fear of massive copying |
| B．The lack of a research culture |
| C．The belief that research is private intellectual property |
| D．The concern that certain agencies may make a profit out of it |
| A．is becoming increasingly popular |
| B．benefits sharers and users alike |
| C．makes researchers successful |
| D．saves both money and labor |
【推荐1】My First Day at Senior High
My name is Li Kang. I live in Shijiazhuang, a city not far from Beijing. It is the capital city of Hebei Province. Today is my first day at Senior High school and I’m writing down my thoughts about it.
My new school is very good and I can see why. The teachers are very enthusiastic and friendly and the classrooms are amazing. Every room has a computer with a special screen, almost as big as a cinema screen. The teachers write on the computer, and their words appear on the screen behind them. The screens also show photographs, text and information from websites. They’re brilliant!
The English class is really interesting. The teacher is a very enthusiastic woman called Ms Shen. We’re using a new textbook and Ms Shen’s method of teaching is nothing like that of the teachers at my Junior High school. She think that reading comprehension is important, but we speak a lot in class, too. And we have fun. I don’t think I will be bored in Ms Shen’s class!
Today we introduced ourselves to each other. We did this in groups. Some students were embarrassed at first but everyone was very friendly and it was really nice. Ms Shen gave us instructions and then we worked by ourselves.
Ms Shen wants to help us improve our spelling and handwriting. We do this in a fun way, with spelling games and other activities. I like her attitude very much, and the behaviour of the other student shows that they like her, too.
There are sixty-five students in my class—more than my previous class in Junior High. Forty-nine of them are girls. In other words, there are three times as many girls as boys, They say that girls are usually more hard-working than boys. But in this class, everyone is hard-working. For our homework tonight, we have to write a description of the street where we live. I’m looking forward to doing it!
后面3个小题是补充练习，选出与句子含义相同的答案。
1. All of the following are reasons why we like Ms. Shen except that ________.
| A．she is a very enthusiastic woman with a new teaching method |
| B．we speak a lot and have fun in her English class |
| C．she helps us improve our spelling and handwriting in a fun way |
| D．she is beautiful and often plays games with us |
| A．There are more girls than boys in the class. |
| B．There is a computer with a special screen in the classroom. |
| C．We can watch TV in the classroom. |
| D．All the students are hard-working. |
| A．Excited and nervous. | B．Anxious and frightened. |
| C．Interested and cheerful. | D．Disappointed and uneasy. |
| A．My previous teachers’ method of teaching is better than that of Ms Shen. |
| B．My previous teachers’ method of teaching is different from that of Ms Shen |
| A．I will find the class interesting! |
| B．I will find the class difficult! |
| A．The students stopped being shy eventually. |
| B．The students couldn’t do the activity |
【推荐2】Wang Fang, a Suzhou native, has given her heart and soul to Kunqu Opera. Wang, who has twice won the Plum Performance Award — China’s top award for theatre and opera performances — started to learn the traditional art form in 1977.
Born with a melodic voice, Wang loved to sing and dance when she was little. She performed frequently, and was recruited by the Suzhou Kunqu Opera Troupe (剧团) when she was in middle school. However, her parents refused the troupe’s invitation, insisting that she should concentrate on her studies and not drop out of school. After members of the troupe visited the parents repeatedly and showed great sincerity, Wang’s parents finally agreed.
Learning the traditional art form was never easy. She started to learn how to pronounce words, sing them lyrically and make gestures gently. As an actress playing martial artists roles at first, she had to spend extra time practicing kung fu movements. Years later, Wang used the word “unimaginable” to describe how hard the days were when she first learned Kunqu. She was soaked in sweat when practicing movements in summer, while in winter she often had chilblains (冻疮) on her hands when training in shabby classrooms with broken windows. “But I was young and determined at the time. No matter how difficult, I always got up early the next morning to practice.” Wang recalls.
Wang says she did not love Kunqu at first, but in her early 20s, when she watched the show Peony Pavilion performed by Zhang Jiqing, a master of the art form, it clicked. “I was shocked,” Wang says. “Her every movement was full of elegance and delicacy. Each of her lines and songs was perfect. I was overwhelmed (难以禁受) by the beauty of Kunqu for the first time in my life, and it has stayed with me since.” Now, Wang has herself become a master of Kunqu. Her performances have impressed generations of audiences and helped to promote the art form among young people.
1. Why did Wang’s parents turn down the troupe’s invitation at first?| A．They didn’t want Wang to ignore her studies. |
| B．They saw no future in learning Kunqu Opera. |
| C．They didn’t think Wang had artistic talent. |
| D．They regarded members of the troupe as insincere. |
| A．be crowded with | B．be worthy of |
| C．be bathed in | D．be composed of |
| A．It is never too late to learn. | B．A good beginning is half done. |
| C．Rome was not built in a day. | D．Don’t judge a book by its cover. |
【推荐3】Hope Matters
Reyes Guana, 42, grew up in a poor Mexican family. He has seven brothers and sisters. His parents always had two jobs to make ends meet.
As a boy, Guana had a good relationship with the school cleaner. He called her "Nike" because she wore Nike shoes. The boy liked how Nike made everything clean. He told her he wanted to be a cleaner, too. "Well, it's good if you want to be a cleaner," Nike told little Guana. "But make sure you go to college."
Guana also looked up to the principal of his school. The school leader told the boy that his job was to help students and teachers. "Wow, when I grow up, I want to do what you're doing," Guana told him. "Well, if you stick to your dream, you will," the principal replied.
And Guana really got there. But it was quite a long journey for him. Twenty-three years ago, he followed in Nike's footsteps and was cleaning schools. He worked at three schools to pay for his college education. He held that job for four years and then worked his way up to being a school safety monitor. After that, he worked as a teacher for a few years.
Now, as a principal, Guana never forgets where he came from. He helps students from poor families and shows respect for every school staff member. He always invites everyone to school parties, including those who clean the floors and those who drive the school buses.
1. Guana hoped to be a cleaner because he ________.| A．was good at cleaning | B．admired the cleaner "Nike" a lot |
| C．needed to support his poor family | D．had to pay for his college education |
| A．when he was nineteen | B．after he worked as a teacher |
| C．as soon as he got enough money | D．before he became a principal |
| A．went back to "Nike" | B．entered a college |
| C．realized one's dream | D．became well-known |
| A．Guana should have been named principal earlier |
| B．a boy from a poor family can have a bright future |
| C．a cleaner is more important than a college student |
| D．the cleaners and the drivers should get more respect |
