1 . When I teach yoga (瑜伽), I usually announce “Phones off and at the back of the room” at the beginning of class. Recently, I forgot and had to whisper to a student texting during class to turn off her phone. She looked displeased but did so. But two days later, in another class, I was met with resistance from a young woman who completely refused.
“But I’m on call. I might have to jump up and run out of class.”
“Then maybe this isn’t the best place for you to be tonight.”
That response got me an angry and unfriendly look. But when she came back the next week, there was no phone and she was much more present.
Present is what I’m asking my students to be. Present to themselves and their yoga experience. You cannot be present to yoga if you are texting or emailing or anxiously awaiting a call. And neither can anyone around you. Definitely, if one phone is out, many pairs of eyes are drawn to it. And then other phones start to appear. Forget the fact that you’re missing the class you paid for; you’re at risk of losing your balance and hurting yourself or someone else due to inattention, or disturbing someone else’s moment of peace and stillness with the clicking of your keys.
So please, do yourself and everyone around you, this teacher included, a favor and turn your phone off and put it away before you unroll your yoga mat. If you truly are on call, think hard before you come to class.
Be present for yourself, wherever you need to be.
1. How does the author introduce her topic?| A．By giving examples. |
| B．By making comparison. |
| C．By presenting the process. |
| D．By analyzing cause and effect. |
| A．Because she thought she was reasonable. |
| B．Because she was brave enough to say no. |
| C．Because she didn’t like the yoga class at all. |
| D．Because the author was rude to her. |
| A．Hurting yourself. | B．Missing the class. |
| C．Disturbing others. | D．Getting others’ admiration. |
| A．To describe the situation of her yoga class. |
| B．To explain her relationship with students. |
| C．To show her opinion about using mobile phones. |
| D．To stress the importance of being attentive in yoga class. |
2 . For many years, I strongly believed that my suffering was because of my size. I imagined that when the weight disappeared, it would take old wounds, hurts and rejections with it.
Many people with weight problems also mistakenly believe that changing our bodies will fix everything. Perhaps our mistake is believing that being thin equals being loved, being special, and being cared for. We fantasize (幻想) about what it will be like when we reach the long-awaited goal. We work very hard to realize this dream. Then, at last, we find ourselves there.
But we often gain back what we have lost. Even so, we continue to believe that next time it will be different. Next time, we will keep it off. Next time, being thin will finally bring us happiness, self-worth, and, of course, love.
It took me a long time to realize that there was something more for me to learn about beauty. Different cultures have different standards of beauty. In Samoa a woman is not considered attractive unless she weighs more than 200 pounds. More importantly, if it’s happiness that we want, why not put our energy there rather than on the size of our body? Why not look inside? Many of us struggle hard to change our body, but in vain (徒劳的). We have to find a way to live comfortably inside our body and make friends with and care for ourselves. When we change our attitudes towards ourselves, the whole world changes.
1. The passage tries to stress the importance of ____________.| A．body size | B．different beauty standards |
| C．culture difference | D．attitudes towards life |
| A．The whole world. | B．All the problems. |
| C．All the dreams. | D．All the truth. |
| A．The author is a Samoan. |
| B．The author probably got wounded in wars or accidents. |
| C．The author succeeded in losing weight. |
| D．The author has been troubled by her/his weight. |
| A．One’s happiness is determined by a person’s weight. |
| B．Not all countries take being thin as the standard of beauty. |
| C．It’s entirely wrong to care about whether a person is fat or not. |
| D．Once a person loses weight, he/she won’t gain back the weight easily. |
3 . The Big Ben is located in the tower at the eastern end of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, Greater London. It was designed by Edmund Beckett and Baron Grimthorpe.
The Big Ben is very famous throughout the world, but nobody really knows why it is called Big Ben. There are two hearsays about this. Some people say that it was named after Benjamin Caunt, a boxer, who was called Big Ben. More people believe it was called after Welshman, Sir Benjamin Hall. He was the commissioner(特派员)of the work at the time of its installation in 1859.A story was told that during a debate in the Commons on what to call the bell, Sir Benjamin was about to give his ideas when a MP who sat behind the front bench shouted, “Let's call it Big Ben!” Then this name came into being.
The bell hasn't gone through a smooth road since the beginning of its design. Because there was great disagreement about the design of the clock. It took fifteen years to build. In 1857, the bell was completed and tested on the ground, but a four-foot crack appeared and the bell had to be cast again. Finally, the clock started ticking on 31 May, 1859, and struck its first chime(报时)on 11, July. Then in September, the bell cracked again. It was silent for four years but was eventually turned a quarter of a revolution(旋转). In this way, the crack was not under the striking hammer. Craftsmen made a square above the crack to stop it growing longer and it can still be seen today.
The Big Ben is famous not only for its 13-ton weight, but also for its accuracy(准确性) which is a result of its precise mechanism(机械装置). Even one extra penny's weight on the balance will cause a gain of two fifths of a second in twenty-four hours. Although there have been several problems, the bell is still striking today.Its chimes can be heard all over the world on the B.B.C.
1. What can we know about the Big Ben?| A．It is located in the Houses of Parliament. | B．It is the largest and tallest clock tower in the world. |
| C．It is well-known all over the world. | D．It is the heaviest clock in the world. |
| A．The bell worked well at its first test. |
| B．The construction of the clock was long but not smooth. |
| C．The clock started to strike chimes on 31 May,1859. |
| D．The crack finally disappeared after a quarter of a revolution |
| A．Accurate and heavy. | B．Accurate and colorful. |
| C．Heavy and colorful. | D．Attractive and accurate. |
| A．Sir Benjamin Hall was a famous architect at that time. |
| B．Even the tiniest extra weight on the balance will affect the clock's accuracy. |
| C．The chimes of the clock could be heard all over the world. |
| D．The clock has been ticking ever since 31 May,1859. |
4 . I started out in life with few advantages. I did not graduate from high school. I worked at menial(不体面的) jobs. I had limited education, limited skills and a limited future.
And then I began asking, "Why are some people more successful than others?" This question changed my life.
Over the years, I have read thousands of books and articles on the subjects of success and achievement(成就). It seems that the reasons for these accomplishments have been discussed and written about for more than two thousand years, in every possible way. One quality that most philosophers, teachers and experts agree on is the importance of self﹣discipline(自律). As Al Tomsik summarized it years ago, "Success is tons of discipline."
Some years ago, I attended a conference in Washington. It was the lunch break and I was eating at a nearby food fair. The area was crowded and I sat down at the last open table by myself, even though it was a table for four. A few minutes later, an older gentleman and a younger woman who was his assistant came along carrying trays of food, obviously looking for a place to sit. With plenty of room at my table, I immediately arose and invited the older gentleman to join me. He was hesitant, but I insisted. Finally, thanking me as he sat down, we began to chat over lunch.
It turned out that his name was Kop Kopmeyer. As it happened, I immediately knew who he was. He was a legend in the field of success and achievement. Kop Kopmeyer had written four large books, each of which contained 250 success principles that he had obtained from more than fifty years of research and study. I had read all four books from cover to cover, more than once.
After we had chatted for a while, I asked him the question that many people in this situation would ask, "Of all the one thousand success principles that you have discovered, which do you think is the most important?”
He smiled at me with a twinkle in his eye, as if he had been asked this question many times, and replied, without hesitating, "The most important success principle of all was stated by Thomas Huxley many years ag. He said, 'Do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.'"
He went on to say, "There are 999 other success principles that I have found in my reading and experience, but without self﹣discipline, none of them work."
1. Why did the writer ask the question in Paragraph 2 ?| A．Because he wasn't satisfied with himself. |
| B．Because he was a person of self﹣discipline. |
| C．Because he dislike those successful people. |
| D．Because he wanted to share his idea on success. |
| A．His great kindness. |
| B．Then gentleman's fame. |
| C．His eagerness for success. |
| D．The gentleman's good manners. |
| A．Personal changes |
| B．The secret of success |
| C．Sayings of wisdom |
| D．The gentleman's legend. |
| A．The Magic of Reading |
| B．An Unexpected Conversation |
| C．A Question that Changed My Life |
| D．The Power of Self-discipline |
