“I have some good news for you! ”My husband’s promising words on the phone stopped me from setting the table for dinner.
“What?” I barely waited for him to finish. I really waited for him to finish. I really expected some good news. I was so tired. My infant opened his eyes at 2:30 in the morning and kept crying. I could self-diagnose: sleep debt.
“We’ll have a dinner next Thursday.” His words brought hope and happiness to my tired soul. This event would take place in a music building. The more I heard, the more my heart longed for the evening. I hung up and called my parents to ask about babysitting. Five minutes later, the baby was arranged well. Then reality took over. I felt very upset. What would wear? Post-pregnancy pounds left few options. I had neither the time, money, nor the energy to stop for a new dress. Three days before the dinner, I built up enough courage to open the closet door and find something to wear. First, I tried a blue dress but it was too tight. Then, I held my breath, and tried a green one. I couldn’t believe it. It almost fit! Then, I dug through my drawer for something with the words “tummy control (收腹)”.
When that Thursday came, I walked down the stairs wearing my green dress, high heels and jewelry, and my two-year-old son asked in amazement, “Mommy, are you a fairy?” Those words wouldn’t leave until we got in the car. My husband leaned over and said, “Husband and wife, not mommy and daddy.”
At the dinner, there were cloth napkins. Waiters in white shirts and bow ties served us. My husband said, “Thanks for your hard work. You are as beautiful as ever. Sometimes you just need some time that belongs to yourself.” I was moved to tears. I always complained that no one understood me, but actually, my husband knew everything and helped me out.
1. Why was the author so tired? (no more than 10 words)2. Please explain the underlined word in English in Paragraph 4? (no more than 1 word)
3. What made the author upset before the dinner? (no more than 10 words)
4. Seeing the author dressing up, how did her kid react? (no more than 5 words)
5. What do you think of the author’s husband? Why? (no more than 20 words)
| A．had become | B．have become | C．has become | D．became |
3 . As a child, I never considered myself an athlete at all as I was very uncoordinated (不协调的). However, I did love to run because I felt as if I was flying but this all changed two years ago when I suffered a knee injury. I was bedridden for two weeks and I had a difficult time moving even short distances. I literally cried myself on my way to the car for a few days.
When therapy wasn’t working well for me, I signed up for a hot yoga class for girls, Bikram Yoga to be exact. Starting a yoga practice was truly a godsend because it helped me gain strength in my knees but, most importantly, yoga helped me attain a more peaceful state of mind, body and spirit.
Since each class was heated to 105°F, every time I stepped foot in the yoga studio, I’d feel a surge (涌起) of negative thoughts come upon me like a big ocean wave. Some of these thoughts were, in the beginning of my practice, so strong that I walked out of the class several times. However, as the months passed by, I noticed that when I didn’t get swayed away by my negative thoughts, I could stay in the hot room for longer.
After 3-4 months of practicing hot yoga, my arms and legs were beginning to get definition. I also woke up with so much more energy than I had before starting my yoga practice and I gradually started shedding the pounds from my body. Yoga literally made me feel as if I’d taken a shot of energy drink and just gave me that burst that helped my knees heal and made my overall health better.
As I saw some of my classmates do poses that looked appealing to me, I started to think maybe I could do them too. Therefore, yoga helped show me that I have no real limitations physically unless I set those limitations myself through eating junk and thinking in negative limiting terms.
Also, practicing yoga in front of a mirror helped me connect with myself and practicing with a group of people really helped me to feel a greater sense of connection with humanity whereas before I didn’t. Overall, this yoga practice has helped me to see I’m part of a bigger picture in life!
1. What once depressed the author terribly?| A．Her inability to walk. |
| B．Her being uncoordinated. |
| C．Her failure to find her car. |
| D．Her serious physical disease. |
| A．She got emotionally smarter. |
| B．She felt limited but hopeful. |
| C．She became mentally stronger. |
| D．She accepted herself as she was. |
| A．The temperature was difficult to control in yoga class. |
| B．She couldn’t bear the pain the knee injury brought. |
| C．She was greatly influenced by negative thoughts. |
| D．Lack of confidence prevented the author doing yoga. |
| A．She did better than her classmates at school. |
| B．Her physical state has acquired a new outlook. |
| C．She has developed many healthy eating habits. |
| D．Her social circle was widened in the yoga classes. |
| A．To call on readers to sign up for yoga courses. |
| B．To present the benefits of practicing yoga regularly. |
| C．To show readers the necessary skills needed to do yoga. |
| D．To share with readers her experience in taking yoga classes. |
| A．casual | B．desperate | C．sceptical | D．typical |
5 . Why did humans evolve to walk upright? Perhaps because it’s just plain easier. Make that “energetically less costly,” in science-speak.
Bipedalism — walking on two feet — is one of the defining characteristics of being human, and scientists have debated for years how it came about. In the latest attempt to find an explanation, researchers trained five chimpanzees to walk on treadmill while wearing masks that allowed measurement of their oxygen consumption. The chimps were measured both while walking upright and while moving on their legs and knuckles. That measurement of the energy needed to move round was compared with similar tests on humans and the results are published in this week’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
It turns out that humans walking on two legs use only one quarter of the energy that chimpanzees use while knuckle-walking on four limbs. And the chimps, on average, use as much energy using two legs as they did when they used all four limbs.
However, there were differences among chimpanzees in how much energy they used, and this difference corresponded to their different gaits and anatomy. One of the chimps used less energy on two legs, one used about the same and the others used more, said David Raichlen, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.
“What we were surprised at was the variation,” he said in telephone interview. “That was pretty exciting, because when you talk about how evolution works, variation is the bottom line, without variation there is no evolution.”
Walking, on two legs freed our arms, opening the door to manipulating the world, Raichlen said. “We think about the evolution of bipedalism as one of first events that led hominids down the path to being human.”
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the L. S. B. Leakey Foundation.
1. The underlined word “Bipedalism” means .| A．moving sideways | B．walking upright |
| C．walking on four legs | D．running fast |
| A．Masks protect chimpanzees from any harm. |
| B．Masks help chimpanzees walk steadily. |
| C．There was heavy smoke in the room. |
| D．Masks helped to measure how much oxygen chimpanzees consumed. |
| A．have no idea on how human walking on two legs came about |
| B．have had different views on why chimpanzees walk on four legs |
| C．have had different views on how human walking on two legs came about |
| D．have had similar views on how human walking on two legs came about |
| A．How did chimpanzees save energy? | B．Why didn’t chimpanzees walk on two legs? |
| C．David Raichlen researched into chimpanzees. | D．Different chimpanzees consume different energy. |
| A．conserve energy | B．differ from other animals |
| C．free their brains | D．strengthen their legs |
6 . My mother spent at least 12 hours every day rolling country cigarettes to support our family. One day she showed me her wage book,
As I watched her finally
When I was 13, I read the autobiography of Helen Keller. I
At the age of 22, I came back to my village to set up an institution that
Of course, to change people’s mind is challenging. The quickest way to
| A．pointing | B．asking | C．testing | D．giving |
| A．keep | B．break | C．play | D．remember |
| A．order | B．suppose | C．teach | D．advise |
| A．try | B．refuse | C．manage | D．pretend |
| A．agreement | B．complement | C．development | D．excitement |
| A．difference | B．plan | C．mistake | D．decision |
| A．dream | B．trouble | C．curiosity | D．demand |
| A．priceless | B．careless | C．fearless | D．worthless |
| A．abandoned | B．admired | C．conveyed | D．inspired |
| A．hometown | B．community | C．downtown | D．college |
| A．hesitated | B．applied | C．hated | D．agreed |
| A．activity | B．program | C．library | D．campaign |
| A．give out | B．turn out | C．step out | D．break out |
| A．changed | B．finished | C．fulfilled | D．connected |
| A．beautiful | B．joyful | C．useful | D．careful |
| A．supported | B．arranged | C．protected | D．introduced |
| A．recognition | B．invitation | C．examination | D．education |
| A．debate | B．question | C．argue | D．convince |
| A．gift | B．treat | C．job | D．bargain |
| A．affecting | B．receiving | C．suffering | D．improving |
| A．must | B．should | C．need | D．would |
—The bad news about it a wave of selling its shares.
| A．sent off | B．set off |
| C．brought on | D．set up |
| A．constantly | B．apparently | C．urgently | D．instantly |
| A．Based; to lift | B．Based; lifting | C．Basing; to lift | D．Basing; listing |
