Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt I wouldn't have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn't sure what to do. After all, it’s just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That's when I discovered why my attacker was charging me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate’s sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life. Should I have been careless enough to step on her? His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate’s safety seemed admirable. I couldn’t do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I’ve used that butterfly’s courage as an inspiration and to remind myself that good things are worth fighting for.
1. The writer changed his direction while walking down a path because he wanted_______.
| A．to get close to a butterfly |
| B．to escape a sudden attack |
| C．to look over the bad situation |
| D．to avoid getting his shoes dirty |
| A．struck the author four or five times and made him badly hurt |
| B．paused until the author took a step backwards |
| C．thought it was the author who caused the death of his mate |
| D．attacked the author for his mate’s safety and to accompany her for the last moments of life |
| A．butterflies are brave insects |
| B．the small can defeat the large |
| C．how to deal with challenges in his life |
| D．people should try their best to fight for everything |
| A．caring | B．ambitious | C．courageous | D．aggressive |
As a writer, I know about winning contests – and about losing them. I know what it is like to work hard on a story only to receive a rejection letter from the publisher. I also know the pressure of trying to live up to a reputation created by previous victories. What if she doesn’t win the contest again? That’s the strange thing about being a parent. So many of our own past scars and destroyed hopes can resurface in our children.
A revelation (启示) came last week when I asked her, “Don’t you want to win again?” “No,” she replied, “I just want to tell the story of an angel going to first grade.”
I had just spent weeks correcting her stories as she spontaneously (自发地) told them. Telling myself that I was merely an experienced writer guiding the young writer across the hall, I offered suggestions for characters, conflicts and endings for her tales. The story about a fearful angel starting first grade was quickly “guided” by me into the tale of a little girl with a wild imagination taking her first music lesson. I had turned her contest into my contest without even realizing it.
Staying back and giving kids space to grow is not as easy as it looks. Because I know very little about farm animals who use tools or angels who go to first grade, I had to accept the fact that I was co-opting my daughter’s experience.
While stepping back was difficult for me, it was certainly a good first step that I will quickly follow with more steps, putting myself far enough away to give her room but close enough to help if asked. All the while I will be reminding myself that children need room to experiment, grow and find their own voices.
1. What do we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．A lot of amusements compete for children’s time nowadays. |
| B．Children have lots of fun doing mindless activities. |
| C．Rebecca is much too busy to enjoy her leisure time. |
| D．Rebecca draws on a lot of online materials for her writing. |
| A．She was constantly under pressure to write more. |
| B．Most of her stories had been rejected by publishers. |
| C．She did not quite live up to her reputation as a writer. |
| D．Her road to success was full of pain and frustrations. |
| A．She believed she possessed real talent for writing. |
| B．She was sure of winning with her mother’s help. |
| C．She wanted to share her stories with readers. |
| D．She had won a prize in the previous contest. |
| A．trying not to let her daughter enjoy her own life |
| B．trying to get her daughter to do the thing as the author wished |
| C．making sure that her daughter would win the contest |
| D．helping her daughter develop real skills for writing |
It used to be that one followed in the footsteps of their father or grandfather or took over the family’s business when it came to making a career choice. These days, a career path can start anywhere and then veer off into something totally different.
Career choices must be realistic and well thought out. It is not uncommon for persons to start a career path and realize they have made a terrible mistake, feeling as if it may be too late to turn around. Not only does a career choice concern your strongest skills and interest, it is also something that you will be doing continuously to bring in income. This is why a career choice can be such a personal decision. Formerly it used to be unusual for someone to change occupations or careers more than once or twice in a lifetime; it is now even more unusual to keep the same career during someone’s working life.
There are a great many measures in helping one choose the right profession. A number of websites offering tools such as career tests and information, educational resources, resume services and the kind can be found. It is important for one to research one’s career in this changing economy situation, and choose the best from several related career choices.
1. According to the author choosing the right career _________.| A．is not difficult at all | B．needs a lot of dreams |
| C．is an interesting thing | D．needs a lot of thoughts |
| A．set out to do the same job | B．change the former course |
| C．compare two different things | D．dream of getting an easy job |
| A．change his job often | B．do the same job all his life |
| C．find a few good jobs at a time | D．live without a job for many years |
| A．tests and information | B．training courses |
| C．employer’s phone numbers | D．instructions on resume |
Americans have an unspoken rule about tipping: they give tips to almost everyone who offers them a service of some kind. Americans tip their waiters, barbers and taxi drivers. An appropriate tip is between 15 and 20 percent of the amount charged for the service (But the charge for the tip doesn’t appear on the bill. The customer is expected to add it himself/herself.) Tipping less than this sends a message to your waiters that you think they’ve done a bad job serving you. And to leave no tip at all is simply unacceptable.
It’s not that American waiters are greedy. In many countries, waiters are paid a salary for their work. They’ll earn money even if no one comes into the restaurant. This system offers much more safety for waiters than the American version. In the US, waiters know that a night without customers means a night without pay.
Some countries include a tip for waiters – a “service charge” – on the bill itself. Since the tip is included with the other charges, waiters don’t need to worry about people forgetting to tip. But in the US, waiters do not receive a salary, and service charges only appear on bills when there are six or more customers at the table.
Since almost all American customers are familiar with the system, they know to add a tip without being told. But visitors to the US may expect waiters to be paid a salary, or think that the tip is included on the bill.
So much as we waiters loved hearing stories about other places from our foreign customers, we were always nervous when they got ready to leave the restaurant. We were never sure what to expect.
1. If you order $200 worth of food, which of the following is a proper total payment?
| A．$200 | B．$215 | C．$220 | D．$230 |
| A．because they are unfamiliar with the American tip system . |
| B．because they are too mean to give tips to any waiter. |
| C．because they have difficulty communicating with waiters. |
| D．because they are not really easy to become satisfied. |
| A．The service charge never appear on the bill in the USA. |
| B．Customers are usually expected to tip waiters in the USA. |
| C．Dining out in other countries is much more expensive than in the USA. |
| D．Waiters in other countries earn much more money than those in the USA. |
| A．To complain about the difficult life of American waiters. |
| B．To warn other waiters not to serve any foreign customer. |
| C．To call on foreign customers to leave tips for American waiters. |
| D．To tell us something about American waiters’ salary system. |
5 . Often we take for granted the many household items we use every day. It is difficult to imagine there was a time in the past when these inventions did not exist. Actually, several of the most common inventions have been with us for quite some time. Inventions like toothbrush, contact lenses（隐形眼镜）, and credit cards came into use long ago.
The first toothbrush was introduced in China in the late 1400s but it was only 300 years later that this simple tool came into common use in Europe. By the nineteenth century, a variety of paste and powder cleaners were available throughout Europe as dental(牙齿的) care became more widespread. The first tube of toothpaste hit the market in Great Britain in 1891.
There is evidence to show that the first contact lenses were actually suggested by an astronomer, Sir John Herschel, in 1827. However, SirJohn Herschel was never able to create a working model of his idea. It was not until 1887 that a Swiss doctor from Zurich, Dr. Eugen Frick, came up with a workable process for producing precision (精密)lenses. Dr. Frick designed a new method for producing contact lenses,and the Zeiss factory in Germany began to produce contact lenses.
Credit cards have also been available for many years. They have been in use in the United States since the 1920s. At first, these cards were only used to buy gas in the quickly growing automobile service industry. Then, in the 1950s, Diners Club introduced the first general-purpose credit card. Today, credit cards such as Master Card, Visa, and American Express are commonly used by travelers around the world.
While it may be true that some of the greatest inventions and discoveries in history came about by chance, the majority of inventions that simplify our lives today came about through careful research and patient study. Of course, it still holds true that even with all the comforts of modern technology, inventors continue to search for ways of helping all of us get out of doing those necessary but tedious (乏味的) tasks which we still face. As the old saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
1. From the second paragraph we can learn that _____.| A．toothbrushes came into common use in Europe in the 17th century |
| B．people could enjoy a variety of paste and powder cleaners in the 18th century |
| C．more and more people paid attention to dental care throughout Europe in the 19th century |
| D．the English could use different kinds of tubes of toothpaste in the early 19th century |
| A．Diners Club | B．Sir John Herschel |
| C．Dr Eugen Frick | D．the Zeiss factory |
| A．Credit cards have a history of about two hundred years. |
| B．Three kinds of credit cards are being used in the USA. |
| C．The use of credit cards is closely related to the economic development. |
| D．American Express is only used by American travelers now. |
| A．the greatest inventions came about by chance |
| B．inventions came about through careful research and patient study |
| C．inventors still continue to make inventions |
| D．necessity is the mother of invention |
After tracking more than 20,000 people aged 45-79 years in the United Kingdom from about 1993-2007, Kay-Tee, Khaw of the University of Cambridge and his colleagues found that people who adopted these four healthy habits lived an average of 14 years longer than those who didn’t.
“We’ve known for a long time that these behaviors are good things to do, but we’ve not seen this benefit before, ” said Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health at Britain’s Medical Research Council. “The benefit was also seen regardless of whether or not people were fat and what social class they came from.”
Study participants（参与者）scored a point each for not smoking, regular physical activity, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and moderate alcohol intake．
Public health experts said they hoped the study would inspire governments to introduce policies helping people to adopt these changes．But because the study only observed people rather than testing specific changes, it would be impossible to conclude that people who suddenly adopted these healthy behaviors would surely gain 14 years．
“We can't say that any person could gain 14 years by doing these things, ”said Dr．Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization．“The 14 years is an average across the population of what's theoretically（理论上地）possible．”
“Most people know that things like a good diet matter and that smoking isn't good for them, ”Susan Jebb said．“We need to work on providing people with much more practical support to help them change．”
1. Which of the following DOESN'T belong to the four healthy habits?
| A．Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day． |
| B．Do proper exercise in the morning every day． |
| C．Drinking alcohol in the proper amount every day． |
| D．Having a cigarette before going to bed every day． |
| A．Susan Jebb did not take part in the study． |
| B．the study observed people as well as tested specific changes． |
| C．there's no need for people under 45 to adopt these good habits． |
| D．only those from first class can benefit from these healthy behaviors． |
| A．All the people are well aware of the harm of their bad habits． |
| B．People aged 45 to 70 have bad habits in the United Kingdom． |
| C．Governments should take measures to help people change their bad habits． |
| D．People have adopted the four healthy habits after knowing they're good． |
| A．Smoking and Drinking Cuts You 14 Years |
| B．How to Live a Much Healthier Life |
| C．Healthy Habits May Give Extra 14 Years |
| D．How to Make Your Life Longer Than Others |
7 . You’re out to dinner. The food is delicious and the service is fine. You decide to leave a big fat tip. Why? The answer may not be as simple as you think.
Tipping, psychologists have found, is not just about service. Instead, studies have shown that tipping can be affected by psychological reactions to a series of different factors from the waiter’s choice of words to how they carry themselves while taking orders to the bill’s total.
“Studies before have shown that mimicry (模仿) brings into positive feelings for the mimicker,” wrote Rick van Baaren, a social psychology professor. “These studies show that people who are being mimicked become more generous toward the person who mimics them.”
So Rick van Baren divided 59 waiters into two groups. He requested that half serve with a phrase such as, “Coming up!” Those in the other half were instructed to repeat the orders and preferences back to the customers. Rick van Baaren then compared their take-home(实得收入). The results were clear---it pays to mimic your customer. The copycat waiters earned almost double the amount of tips to the other group.
Leonard Green and Joel Myerson, psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis, found the generosity of a tipper may be limited by his bill. After research on the 1,000 tips left for waiters, cab drivers, hair stylists, they found tip percentages in these three areas dropped as customers’ bills went up.
“That’s also a point of tipping,” Green says. “You have to give a little extra to the cab driver for being there to pick you up and something to the waiter for being there to serve you. If they weren’t there you’d never get any service. So part of the idea of a tip is for just being there.”
1. According to the passage, a customer gives the cab driver a tip for ____.| A．driver’s politeness | B．being there | C．driver’s attitudes | D．driver’s mimicry |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．oppose Mr. Green’s idea about tipping |
| B．support the opinions of Mr. Green and Rick van Baaren about tipping |
| C．give his generous tip to the waiters very often |
| D．think part of Mr. Green’s explanation is reasonable |
Yoga（瑜伽） is an ancient practice that helps create a sense of union in body, mind, and spirit. It brings us balance. I was seriously out of balance when I started practicing yoga in 1999. I had plantar fascitis in both feet, and my doctor had warned me against all the things I loved to do: walking, hiking, and playing tennis. I was desperate for exercise. Yoga became my salvation and even enhanced my other fitness activities. I practice yoga at least twice a week, but I consider yoga to be part of my daily life because after a while you no longer just practice yoga—you love it.
Yoga becomes part of your physical life. Your body grows stronger, more toned, and more flexible as you move from one pose to the other. I spent a week in Mexico at a yoga retreat, and it was the first vacation on which I lost weight. “Rather than building muscle, yoga builds muscle tone,” says Shakta Kaur Khalsa, author of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Yoga. “Because yoga helps maintain a balanced metabolism (新陈代谢), it also helps to regulate weight. Additionally, yoga stretches muscles lengthwise, causing fat to be removed around the cells.” I do yoga poses throughout the day. After hours at my computer, I stretch my stiff shoulders and arms. When I need a boost of energy, I do energizing poses. When I am feeling exhausted at the end of the day, I do restorative poses.
Yoga becomes part of your mental life. Yoga teaches you to focus on breathing while you hold the poses. This attention to breath is calming; it dissolves stress and anxiety. I use yogic breathing on the tennis courts, in the dentist’s chair, and in traffic jams. You should always leave a yoga practice feeling energized, not tired. If you feel tired after yoga, it means you spent the time “fighting” yourself, trying to force yourself into poses. In yoga, you “surrender” to the pose by letting go of the tension.
Yoga becomes part of your spiritual life. Yoga is practiced by people from all religions; it is not restricted to any religious group. Yoga teaches “right” living in how we deal with ourselves and others. As I work on a difficult pose, I learn patience, forgiveness, and the value of gentleness. Yoga advocates proper eating, but you don’t have to be a vegetarian to practice yoga.
1. What would be the best title for this passage?
| A．What’s Yoga? | B．How I Do Yoga Poses |
| C．The Benefits of Yoga | D．The Varieties of Yoga |
| A．grow taller | B．lose weight |
| C．become flexible in thinking | D．make more friends |
| A．they consume energy in practicing yoga |
| B．they respond well to yoga poses |
| C．they spend too much time on yoga |
| D．they force themselves into yoga poses |
| A．Yoga as a means to keep fit. | B．Different yoga poses. |
| C．Popularity of yoga all over the world. | D．Encouraging people to do yoga. |
9 . The young boy saw me, or rather, he saw the car and quickly ran up to me, eager to sell his bunches (串) of bananas and bags of peanuts. Though he appeared to be about twelve, he seemed to have already known the bitterness of life. “Banana 300 naira. Peanuts 200 naira.”
He said in a low voice. I bargained him down to 200 total for the fruit and nuts. When he agreed, I handed him a 500 naira bill. He didn’t have change, so I told him not to worry.
He said thanks and smiled a row of perfect teeth.
When, two weeks later, I saw the boy again, I was more aware of my position in a society where it’s not that uncommon to see a little boy who should be in school standing on the corner selling fruit in the burning sun. My parents had raised me to be aware of the advantage we had been afforded and the responsibility it brought to us.
I pulled over and rolled down my window. He had a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts ready. I waved them away. “What’s up”. I asked him. “I...I don’t have money to buy books for school.” I reached into my pocket and handed him two fresh 500 naira bills.
“Will this help?” I asked. He looked around nervously before taking the money. One thousand naira was a lot of money to someone whose family probably made about 5,000 naira or less each year. “Thank you, sir,” he said. “Thank you very much.”
When driving home, I wondered if my little friend actually used the money for school-books. What if he’s a cheat? And then I wondered why I did it. Did I do it to make myself feel better? Was I using him? Later, I realized that I didn’t know his name or the least bit about him, nor did I think to ask.
Over the next six months, I was busy working in a news agency in northern Nigeria. Sometime after I returned, I went out for a drive. When I was about to pull over, the boy suddenly appeared by my window with a big smile ready on his face.
“oh, gosh! Long time.”
“Are you in school now?” I asked.
He nodded.
“That’s good,” I said. A silence fell as we looked at each other, and then I realized what he wanted. “Here,” I held out a 500 naira bill. “Take this.” He shook his head and stepped back as if hurt. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “It’s a gift.”
He shook his head again and brought his hand from behind his back. His face shone with sweat (汗水). He dropped a bunch of bananas and a bag of peanuts in the front seat before he said, “I’ve been waiting to give these to you.”
1. What was the author’s first impression of the boy?| A．He seemed to be poor and mean. | B．He seemed to have suffered a lot. |
| C．He seemed younger than his age. | D．He seemed good at bargaining. |
| A．told him his purpose of selling fruit and nuts | B．wanted to express his thanks |
| C．asked him for money for his schoolbooks | D．tried to take advantage of him |
| A．Because he had enough money to do that. |
| B．Because he had learnt to help others since childhood. |
| C．Because he held a higher position in the society. |
| D．Because he had been asked by the news agency to do so. |
| A．Brave and polite. | B．Kind and smart |
| C．Honest and thankful. | D．Shy and nervous. |
The idea of using light to liberate the drug in the capsule isn’t new. Researchers around the globe have developed polymers (聚合物) and other materials that begin to break down when they absorb either ultraviolet (UV, 紫外线) or visible light. But tissues also readily absorb UV and visible light, which means the drug release can be triggered only near the skin, where the light can reach the capsule. NIR light largely passes through tissues, so researchers have tried to use it as a trigger. But few compounds (化合物) absorb NIR well and go through chemical changes.
That changed last year when Adah Almutairi, a chemist at the University of California, San Diego, reported that she and her colleagues had designed a polymer that breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. Their polymer used a commercially available NIR-absorbing group called o-nitrobenzyl (ONB). When they catch the light, ONB groups fall off the polymer, leading to its breakdown. But ONB is only a so-so NIR absorber, and it could be poisonous to cells when it separates from the polymer.
So Almutairi and her colleagues reported creating a new material for capsules that’s even better.This one consists of a long chain of compounds called cresol groups linked in a polymer. Cresol contains reactive(易反应的) components that make it highly unstable in its polymeric form, a feature Almutairi and her colleagues use to their advantage. After polymerizing the cresols, they cap each reactive component with a light-absorbing compound called Bhc. When the Bhcs absorb NIR light, the reactive groups are exposed and break the long polymer into two short chains. Shining additional light continues this breakdown, potentially releasing any drugs in the capsule. What’s more, Almutairi says, Bhc is 10 times better at absorbing NIR than is ONB and is not poisonous to cells.
1. According to the passage, which of the following could be the best trigger?
| A．Temperature change. | B．NIR light. | C．Acidity change. | D．UV light. |
| A．It breaks down when it absorbs NIR light. |
| B．It falls off the polymer and triggers drug release. |
| C．It has not come onto the market up till now. |
| D．It is not effective enough and could be poisonous. |
| A．protected | B．formed | C．exposed | D．combined |
