1 . It was a long way up the humble zipper (拉链) to become the mechanical wonder that has kept our lives “together” in many ways. The zipper had passed through the hands of several gifted inventors, though none
The story began when Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing machine, received a patent (专利) in 1851 for an “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.” However, it didn’t go much further beyond that simple
Perhaps it was the success of the sewing machine, that stopped Elias from
Forty-four years later, inventor Whitcomb Judson marketed a “Clasp Locker” device
It was an electrical engineer named Gideon Sundback who helped make the zipper the hit it is today.
In the 1930s, a sales campaign began for children’s clothing featuring zippers. The campaign advertised zippers as a way to promote
Today the zipper is everywhere and is used in clothing, luggage, leather goods and
| A．convinced | B．advised | C．permitted | D．invited |
| A．manufacturer | B．function | C．price | D．material |
| A．imagining | B．delaying | C．pursuing | D．rewarding |
| A．recognized | B．upgraded | C．interpreted | D．pretended |
| A．agreeable | B．familiar | C．similar | D．inferior |
| A．edition | B．credit | C．method | D．wealth |
| A．commercial | B．private | C．domestic | D．potential |
| A．Purposefully | B．Generally | C．Originally | D．Decidedly |
| A．brand | B．assessment | C．packing | D．improvement |
| A．profitable | B．scarce | C．modern | D．noticeable |
| A．Moreover | B．For example | C．However | D．On the contrary |
| A．self-awareness | B．self-reliance | C．self-defense | D．self-guidance |
| A．avoid | B．worsen | C．balance | D．personalize |
| A．mechanical | B．countless | C．reliable | D．portable |
| A．in name of | B．thanks to | C．in addition to | D．in case of |
2 . Pacing and Pausing
Sara tried to befriend her old friend Steve’s new wife Betty, but Betty never seemed to have anything to say. While Sara felt Betty didn’t hold up her end of the conversation, Betty complained to Steve that Sara never gave her a chance to talk. The problem had to do with expectations about pacing and pausing.
Conversation is a turn-taking game. When our habits are similar, there’s no problem. But if our habits are different, you may start to talk before I’m finished or fail to take your turn when I’m finished. That’s what was happening with Betty and Sara.
It may not be coincidental that Betty, who expected relatively longer pauses between turns, is British, and Sara, who expected relatively shorter pauses, is American. Betty often felt interrupted by Sara. But Betty herself became an interrupter and found herself doing most of the talking when she met a visitor from Finland. And Sara had a hard time cutting in on some speakers from Latin America or Israel.
The general phenomenon, then, is that the small conversation techniques, like pacing and pausing, lead people to draw conclusions not about conversational style but about personality and abilities. These habitual differences are often the basis for dangerous stereotyping. And these social phenomena can have very personal consequences. For example, a woman from the southwestern part of the US went to live in an eastern city to take up a job in personnel. When the Personnel Department got together for meetings, she kept searching for the right time to break in—and never found it. Although back home she was considered outgoing and confident, in Washington she was viewed as shy and retiring. When she was evaluated at the end of the year, she was told to take a training course because of her inability to speak up.
That’s why slight differences in conversational style—tiny little things like microseconds of pause-can have a great effect on one’s life. The result in this case was a judgment of psychological problems—even in the mind of the woman herself, who really wondered what was wrong with her and registered for assertiveness training.
1. What did Sara think of Betty when talking with her?| A．Betty was talkative. | B．Betty was an interrupter. |
| C．Betty did not take her turn. | D．Betty paid no attention to Sara. |
| A．Americans. | B．Israelis. | C．The British. | D．The Finns. |
| A．communication breakdown results from short pauses and fast pacing |
| B．women are unfavorably stereotyped in eastern cities of the US |
| C．one’s inability to speak up is culturally determined sometimes |
| D．one should receive training to build up one’s confidence |
| A．People in a conversation are expected to take turns in speaking. |
| B．Conversational techniques such as pacing and pausing may cause people to jump to conclusions about one’s character and capabilities. |
| C．People from Finland tend to pause shorter than those from Britain. |
| D．Different conversational habits may lead to a breakdown in communication. |
| A．being willing to speak one’s mind | B．being able to increase one’s power |
| C．being ready to make one’s own judgment | D． being quick to express one’s ideas confidently |
Pedigree Matters Less
The Exciting Offer, a reality show
Two participants in particular have attracted a great deal of attention: Wang Xiao, who graduated with a master’s degree in law from Stanford University, and Ding Hui, who
Many Viewers imagined that Wang
You
Well, I hate to rain on your parade (泼冷水),
More importantly, no amount of prestige can make up for being an arrogant know-it-all.
In a word, respect is earned by becoming a worthy role model for others rather than through an excellent pedigree (历史).
1.
| A．The city is not commercially busy. |
| B．There are too many temporary residents. |
| C．Few services are offered during off seasons. |
| D．The winter is too cold for them. |
| A．Spend a week in the destination. |
| B．Find a “snowbird” destination. |
| C．Remain in the city where he currently lives. |
| D．Research the destination for roughly a full year. |
| A．Safety of the destination. | B．Tax system of the destination. |
| C．Healthcare system of the destination. | D．The support to get as one ages. |
1.
| A．It can only be washed in the dishwasher. |
| B．It has some smell of coffee. |
| C．It is made of a mixture of coffee grounds and sugar. |
| D．It is first used to contain fertilizer. |
| A．How to prevent sugar from dissolving. |
| B．How to have the coffee grounds recycled fully. |
| C．How to collect large quantities of coffee grounds. |
| D．How to use coffee grounds to produce the solid material. |
| A．It is successful because of advertisements. |
| B．It is well-received by the public. |
| C．It is oversupplied on the market. |
| D．It’s more popular among individuals than cafes. |
1.
| A．Long-distance runners should have light, thin bodies. |
| B．Training in mountainous regions gives runners advantages. |
| C．Many factors contribute to the success of marathon runners. |
| D．Runners from mountainous areas are good marathoners. |
| A．Efficient use of oxygen. | B．Motivation to run. |
| C．Slow breathing rate. | D．Light and slim bodies. |
| A．They give trainers positive feedback. | B．They seldom get financial rewards. |
| C．They mostly live in poor conditions. | D．They gain nationwide popularity. |
| A．Violence sports are the source of social instability. |
| B．Violence sports are to blame for crime and school bullying. |
| C．Violence sports serve as an escape for negative emotions. |
| D．Violence sports won’t attract many people’s interest in the long run. |
| A．The man bad poor imagination because of the car accident |
| B．The man must have advised the woman to wear the seat belt |
| C．The woman was likely to have got seriously injured in the car accident |
| D．The woman wasn’t wearing the seat belt when the accident happened |
1.
| A．They want to eat in a fashionable way like young people |
| B．They prefer to cat food that is tastier and more widely accepted |
| C．They become aware of the ham processed foods do to health |
| D．They try to change their way of processing foods little by little |
| A．They contain not too many chemical additives |
| B．They are cultivated in the soil rich in organic matters |
| C．They produce as many calories as processed foods |
| D．They are usually grown in commercial farming areas |
| A．They are allowed to move about and eat freely |
| B．They are tasty though kept in the crowded building |
| C．They can hardly grow in a healthy way without good food |
| D．They produce eggs which usually contain important vitamins |
10 . Digital Heaven
If you had the opportunity to live forever, would you take it? The
How? One plan
As a further step, Ray Kurzweil also consider the nano transmitters being able to connect you to a world of virtual reality on the Internet, similar to what was depicted in the film ‘Matrix’. With the nano transmitters in place, by thought alone, you could log on to the Internet and instead of the pictures coming up on your screen they would play inside your mind.
For Ray this would be, quite
Generations of Christians believed in Christ partly because his rebirth held out the
Who needs faith when you’ve got
| A．devotion | B．reference | C．obstacle | D．priority |
| A．possibility | B．challenge | C．pressure | D．judgment |
| A．revealed | B．adapted | C．preserved | D．ceased |
| A．In consequence | B．In effect | C．In contrast | D．In total |
| A．relevant | B．identical | C．distinctive | D．limited |
| A．creative | B．ambitious | C．previous | D．conscious |
| A．relies on | B．applies to | C．sums up | D．figures out |
| A．proposes | B．predicts | C．quotes | D．recognizes |
| A．processed | B．admitted | C．injected | D．turned |
| A．update | B．promote | C．arrange | D．detect |
| A．translate | B．transmit | C．transplant | D．transform |
| A．Regardless of | B．Aside from | C．Other than | D．Instead of |
| A．typically | B．literally | C．instantly | D．faithfully |
| A．strength | B．request | C．clue | D．promise |
| A．mind | B．soul | C．broadband | D．data |
