1 . During my elementary school years, I used to compare（比较） my mom with my best friend Tiffany’s mom.
Tiffany’s mom always gave her lots of money to buy the most fashionable clothes and favorite food. Her mom allowed her to do anything she liked. I really admired Tiffany. My mom didn’t give me much pocket money and she always told me that I should behave myself. I was annoyed with her.
Whenever I didn’t get what I wanted, I would complain to my mom, Tiffany’s mom would give her that! I wish she were my mom. Every time, my mom would calmly say “Poor Tiffany”. I couldn’t understand her. “She shouldn’t be feeling sorry for Tiffany!” I thought. “She should be feeling sorry for me.”
One day, I couldn’t help saying to Mom, “Poor Tiffany? Lucky Tiffany! She gets everything she wants! Why do you feel sorry for her?” I burst out crying.
My mom sat down next to me and said softly. “Yes, I do feel sorry for her. I have been teaching you a lesson that she will never be taught.”
I looked up at her. “What are you talking about?”
Mom said with care, “One day she will really want something. Maybe she’ll find out that she can’t have it. Her mother won’t always be around to give her money, and what’s more, money can’t buy everything.”
She continued, “I have taught you valuable lessons by not giving you everything you want. You’ll know how to look for bargains（便宜货） and save money, but she won’t. You’ll understand that you need to work hard to get the things that you want but she won’t. When Tiffany is a grown woman, she’ll wake up one day and she will be wishing that she had a mom like the one you’ve got. Life lessons are more important than modern clothes and delicious food.”
It took some time, but I eventually understood my mom’s words. Now I am a happy and successful woman.
1. During the author’s elementary school years, she ______.| A．went to school with Tiffany every day |
| B．usually got lots of money from her mom |
| C．wished that her mom were as good as Tiffany’s |
| D．admired Tiffany because Tiffany was better at her lessons |
| A．Tiffany’s family was really poor |
| B．she wanted to comfort the author |
| C．she wanted the author to help Tiffany |
| D．she thought Tiffany would be spoiled（宠坏）by her mother |
| A．She was strict and taught the author to be independent. |
| B．She cared for other people’s children more than her own. |
| C．She thought that life lessons were as important as money. |
| D．She was so poor that she couldn’t give the author much money. |
| A．The author is grateful to her mother now. |
| B．The author was quite satisfied with her mother in the past. |
| C．Tiffany used to wish that she had a mom like the author’s. |
| D．Tiffany’s mother tried to teach her child to get things with hard work. |
2 . Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”
However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”
1. By saying“we are knocking at the door of immortality”,Michael Zey means_________.| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| C．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
| D．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| A．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
| D．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| A．a great effort |
| B．the conservative estimate |
| C．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years |
| D．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| A．No Limit for Human Life |
| B．Living Longer or not |
| C．Science,Technology and Long Living |
| D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
3 . Teenagers have their own TV channels， websites and magazines. So what about books？
Last year one publisher， Martins， started publishing a series called Waves. We spoke to the director Julia Smith. She explained， "Teenage fiction has been published since the 1970s but publishers have never been very successful in getting teenagers to buy and read books. Now they're realizing that teenagers are just older children， but are not adults either. They are often not interested in adult fiction. For this series we are looking for new writers who write especially for teenagers.
Athene Gorr's novel was published in the series last year and is selling well. Its title is The Purple Ring. She says， "The important thing is to encourage teenagers to pick up your book. I'm a new writer. Although I've got an unusual name which people might remember， nobody knows it yet! But my book has a fantastic cover which makes people want to look inside. Then they realize what an excellent story it is!"
And what do teenagers themselves think about the series？ We talked to Sophie Clarke， aged 15. She said？ "I've read a few books in the Waves series. They say they are for 14-19 year olds and I agree with that. We're not interested in the same things as people in their twenties and thirties. I like them and I think they look really good too. The only thing is that because bookshops put them in the children section， lots of teenagers won't find them so they may not do very well. And it's a shame there's no such series as I think lots of teenagers， especially boys， might buy."
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2？ ______| A．The Waves series are suitable for adults. |
| B．It is necessary to publish books aimed at teenagers. |
| C．Teenagers are more interested in reading nowadays. |
| D．Teenagers should be encouraged to read. |
| A．Its writer. |
| B．Its cover. |
| C．Its price. |
| D．Its title. |
| A．They have attractive covers. |
| B．They are about real facts. |
| C．They are popular with teenage boys. |
| D．They are wrongly placed in the children section. |
| A．To compare different series of teenage fiction. |
| B．To give information about a new series of books. |
| C．To encourage more writers to create fictions for teenagers. |
| D．To explain why teenage fiction is easier to write than adult fiction. |
4 . According to researchers, money can buy happiness, but only if you spend it on someone else.
Spending as little as $ 5 a day on someone else could significantly bring you happiness, the team at the University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School found.
Their experiments on more than 630 Americans showed they were measurably (适度地) happier when they spent money on others—even if they thought spending the money on themselves would make them happier.
“We wanted to test our theory that how people spend their money is at least as important as how much money they earn,” said Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia.
They asked their 600 volunteers first to rate their general happiness, report their annual income and detail their monthly spending including bills, gifts for themselves, gifts for others and donations to charity.
“Regardless of how much income each person made, those who spent money on others reported greater happiness, while those who spent more on themselves did not,” Dunn said in a statement.
Dunn’s team also surveyed 16 employees at a company in Boston before and after they received an annual profit-sharing bonus of between $3,000 and $8,000.
“Employees who devoted more of their bonus to pro-social (有益社会的) spending experienced greater happiness after receiving the bonus, and the manner in which they spent that bonus was a more important predictor of their happiness than the size of the bonus itself,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
They gave their volunteers $5 or $20 and half got clear instructions on how to spend it. Those who spent the money on someone or something else reported feeling happier about it.
“These findings suggest that very minor alterations in spending allocations (分配) -as little as $5—may be enough to produce real gains in happiness on a given day,” Dunn said.
1. According to the passage, .| A．the more money you spend on others, the happier you are |
| B．spending money on others can bring you happiness |
| C．Elizabeth Dunn is a psychologist from Harvest Business School |
| D．six hundred people took part in the experiment |
| A．those who spent money on others felt happier no matter how much they earned |
| B．those who spent more money on themselves felt happier |
| C．people thought spending money could make themselves happier |
| D．the money spent was as important as the money earned |
| A．were given clear instructions on how to spend the bonus |
| B．had more happiness than the size of the bonus itself |
| C．experienced greater happiness after receiving their bonus |
| D．felt happier after they contributed much of the bonus to charities |
| A．Experiment on Money Spending |
| B．Devoting Your Money to Charities |
| C．Spending Money on Others Makes One Happier |
| D．Bonus and Pro-social Spending |
5 . No one knows who made the first ice cream. Some people think that water ices and milk ices may have been made by the Chinese between three thousand and a thousand years ago. In that time, the dish reached India. The Indians, in turn, many have passed on the secret to the Arabs and Persians.
Marco Polo, an Italian who travelled widely in the thirteenth century, noted that he found the Chinese had long been making ices out of fruit juices and milk. From the fourteenth century on, ices became popular first in Venice and then throughout Italy.
In 1535, when Catherine de Medeicis left Italy to marry the future King Herry II of France, she took her cooks with her. They made desserts the French had never tasted before, which was ice cream.
At first ice cream was a luxury in France. Only rich people had the money to buy it. Then, in 1660, a young man from Sicily, Francisco Procopio, arrived in Paris. He opened a shop that sold ice cream at prices people could afford. Then his ice cream became more popular that other shops were opened.
About 1640, King Charles introduced ice cream to England and soon ice cream quickly became popular in England too.
1. Ice cream was unknown in France until .| A．1535 | B．1660 | C．1640 | D．1774 |
| A．Catherine de Medeicis | B．King Charles |
| C．Francisco Procopio | D．Marco Polo |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel in the world | B．Development of ice cream in France |
| C．Development of ice cream in England | D．Development of ice cream in other countries |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel | B．the history of ice cream |
| C．Catherine’s marriage | D．one of Chinese inventions |
6 . I had the meanest mother in the world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal (麦片粥), eggs and toast. Others had cokes and candy for lunch, while we had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids’. But at least I was not alone in my suffering. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.
My mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. She had to know who our friends were and what we were doing. We had to wear clean clothes every day. Other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of disgrace (丢脸) because she made our clothes herself, just to save money.
The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by 9:00 each night and up at 7:45 the next morning. So while my friends slept, my mother actually had the courage to break Child Labor Law. She made us work. I believed she lay awake all night thinking up mean things to do to us. Through the years, our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother, however, would merely be content with black marks. None of us was allowed the pleasure of being a dropout (辍学者).
She forced us to grow up into educated and honest adults. Using this as a background, I’m now trying to bring up my three children. I’m filled with pride when my children think I am mean because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the world.
1. From the passage we can learn that the writer’s mother was .| A．not generous at all | B．very strict with her children |
| C．very mean with money matters | D．very cruel to her children |
| A．Eating differently from other kids. |
| B．Wearing clean clothes which were made by mother. |
| C．Going to bed early and getting up early. |
| D．Letting mother know where they were. |
| A．the writer worked hard and usually got good grades in studies |
| B．mother was punished for breaking the Labor Law |
| C．all the other kids studied better than the writer |
| D．the writer’s family lived a painful life |
| A．Mother practised economy in running her home. |
| B．The writer is very thankful to her mother. |
| C．The writer is strict with her children when bringing them up. |
| D．The writer doesn’t love her mother for the past painful life. |
7 . Whether you prefer burning the midnight oil or going to bed early so you can get up at the break of dawn depends on your genes, according to experts.
I jump out of bed each morning, eager to start an active day. But I can hear my neighbor’s alarm clock ringing non-stop every morning and I doubt if he gets to work on time.
A lot of noise comes from his flat in the evening. He’s happy to stay up watching TV till after midnight, while I go to bed early and try to sleep.
Well, it might not be his fault after all. I’m called “a lark (百灵鸟)”and my neighbor “an owl (猫头鹰)”
We all have inside “clocks” in the brain to control all kinds of bodily functions and it is reset every day by light. These inside clocks run to a different schedule in “larks” and “owls”. If you have a fast clock, you like to do things early, and if you have a slow clock, you like to do things late.
Because we live in a 24/7 world, scientists believe it’s important to understand a person’s “chronotype”—the time of the day when they function the best. It could help us lead a healthier life.
A US professor has studied sleeping patterns and thinks work times should be changed and made more individual to fit in with our chronotypes.
And he has advice for those who can’t choose their working hours:“If that’s not possible, we should be more careful about light exposure,” says the professor. “You should try to go to work not in a covered vehicle but on a bike. The minute the sun sets we should use things that have no blue light, like computer. . . screens and other electronic devices.”
1. How is the passage mainly developed?| A．By presenting and solving problems. |
| B．By explaining the cause-effect relationship. |
| C．By giving examples and drawing a conclusion. |
| D．By analyzing differences and providing advice. |
| A．drilling for oil in the midnight |
| B．using too much oil in the midnight |
| C．staying up late |
| D．getting up late |
| A．almost always gets to work on time |
| B．has to work deep into the night every day |
| C．is passive during the day but energetic at night |
| D．is easily woken up by his alarm clock in the morning |
| A．may cause sleep problems | B．will make you nervous |
| C．will reduce your work efficiency | D．may make you sleepy |
8 . Lisa Pina never thought she would need the fire safety training she received during her apprenticeship(学徒期)as a union painter and dry waller(筑墙工). On Friday morning, she was thanking God she had it.
On Thursday night, while Pina was babysitting her granddaughter, nephew and two nieces in her sister’s apartment, she smelled smoke and realized the apartment building was on fire. When her 4-year-old granddaughter Ilean Garcia began saying, “We’re going to die, ”she knew she had to act.Pina,39, first sealed the door, and then told all four children to get on the floor. After calling 911, she told the children to start singing and promised them all treats as soon as they reached safety. “I said, ‘OK, we’re going to lie down and we’re all going to play a game,’” Pina said. “We all started singing our ABCs and 123s.I was just trying to make it fun.” Pina patiently waited, and a few minutes later, Riverside County sheriff’s deputies (治安官的助手) arrived. Pina, Ilean,8yearold Gabriel Parga,5-year-old Aubreyana Parga and 4-year-old Meriyah Parga were all trapped on the second floor as flames filled the first story. Pina did the only thing she could. She opened the window and dropped the children, one-by-one, into the arms of the sheriff’s deputies about 15 to 20 feet below. “I just needed to keep the kids calm so they wouldn’t be afraid，”Pina said.“I was deathly afraid inside，but I couldn’t let them know that.”[Not long after dropping the children out of the window, firefighters arrived with a ladder and rescued her. Ten people were treated at the scene for suffering smoke, but nobody was seriously injured.
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．A big fire without serious injury |
| B．A babysitter rescuing kids from a big fire |
| C．A brave babysitter |
| D．How to save children in a fire |
| A．He sealed the door |
| B．She opened the window of the second floor |
| C．She had children start singing |
| D．She let children get on the floor |
| A．The fire didn’t cause any injury |
| B．Lisa Pina was not the last one to be rescued |
| C．The children were sent to hospital after the fire |
| D．During the fire Lisa Pina pretended not to be afraid at all |
9 . Have you ever been sad because of failure? Please remember, for quite often achieving what you set out to do is not the most important thing.
A boy decided to dig a deep hole behind his house. As he was working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch. “What are you doing?” asked one of the visitors. “I want to dig a hole all the way through the earth!” the boy answered excitedly. The older boys began to laugh, telling him that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a while, the boy picked up a jar. He showed it to the visitors. It was full of all kinds of stones and insects. Then he said calmly and confidently, “Maybe I can’t finish digging all the way through the earth, but look at what I’ve found during this period!”
The boy’s goal was far too difficult, but it did cause him to go on. And that is what a goal is for－to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen, in other words, to cause us to keep working!
Not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end up with a success. Not every dream will come true. But when you fall short of your aim, maybe you can say, “Yes, but look at what I’ve found along the way! There are so many wonderful things having come into my life because I tried to do something!” It is in the digging that life is lived. It is the unexpected joy on the journey that really makes sense.
1. The older boys laughed at the boy because he was thought to be______.| A．brave |
| B．impolite |
| C．foolish |
| D．warm-hearted |
| A．To drive them away. |
| B．To show what he had found in digging. |
| C．To show how beautiful the jar was. |
| D．To attract them to join him in the work. |
| A．No dream can come true. |
| B．All work will end successfully. |
| C．Goals shouldn’t be set too high. |
| D．Goals will make us work harder. |
| A．A Boy Dug a Hole |
| B．Joy in the Journey |
| C．No Pain, No Gains |
| D．Failure Is the Mother of Success |
10 . One day, a college student was taking a walk with a professor. As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes. They supposed the shoes belonged to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s word.
The student turned to the professor, saying, “ Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his confusion when he cannot find them”.
“My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by tricking on the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him.”
The student did so, and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. After he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, he felt something hard. He bent down to feel w hat it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen on his face.
He fixed his eyes on the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin. His feelings overcame him. He fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and cried a sincere thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, Whom the timely help, from some unknown hand, would save from dying．
The student stood there, deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears．“Now,”said the professor,“are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick？” The youth replied,“You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget．
1. The student wanted to play the poor man a trick to _________________．| A．find the truth | B．show his wisdom |
| C．amuse himself | D．teach him a lesson |
| A．helpless | B．interested |
| C．peaceful | D．Thankful |
| A．wise | B．rich |
| C．humorous | D．Serious |
| A．A small act of kindness brings great joy． |
| B．God helps those who help themselves． |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way． |
| D．Actions speak louder than words． |
