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Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything:animals, spiders, insects...

One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon(茧)of a butterfly. He took it home. A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged(露出)easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract(收缩) in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

 Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

And we could never fly.

In the story, what happened to the cocoon of the butterfly after the man’s help?

A. The cocoon was broken and the butterfly died.                   

B. The man helped the butterfly out of the cocoon more easily

    C. The butterfly couldn’t fly for ever normally.                              

    D. The butterfly should spend more time practicing flying.

What would have happened to the butterfly without the old man’s help?

    A. It would have died in the cocoon.       

    B. It would have become a true butterfly.

    C. It would have been strong enough to go farther.

    D. It would have stopped struggling through the cocoon.

The underlined word “cripple” in Paragraph 7 probably means ______.

    A. disable              B. climb                C. enable               D. beat

What can we learn from this story?

    A. Man can never go against nature.

B. It’s necessary to live with some difficulties.

C. One cannot help others without thinking twice.

D. Mankind should take good care of insects.

William James, the great psychologist (心理学家), said that most men are “old fogies (守旧者) at twenty-five”. He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs. They have closed their minds to all new ideas; they have stopped to grow.

The minute a man stops to grow –no matter what his years –that minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old. Goethe passed away at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier; Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy. Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight. He died crying, “What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense (extremely large).”

And there you have the real answer to the question, “When is a man old?”

Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had a lot to learn.

As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every year and say, “I grew”, he is still young.

The minute he ceases (stops) to grow, the minute he says to himself, “I know all that I need to know,” –that day youth stops. He may be twenty-five or seventy-five; it makes no difference. On that day he begins to be old.

According to William James, _______.

A. most people are not open to new ideas before 25.

B. few people continue to improve themselves after 25.

C. some people still try to make progress after 25.

D. all the people stop to make progress after 25.

The author mentions Goethe, Gladstone and Laplace to show that _____.

A. the great man stops to grow that minute he begins to be old.

B. the really great man never grows old.

C. the great man usually dies young.

D. the really great man never dies.

What do we know about Laplace?

A. He was a great writer.

B. He was not pleased with what he had learned.

C. He thought he was one of the greatest man.

D. He thought he was old when he was 25.

The author probably agrees with _______.

A. people should be pleased with what they have.

B. people should try to make a great difference.

C. people should cease to grow when they are 25.

D. people should not be satisfied with what they know.

Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed. When a person does a certain thing again, he is impelled(推进,敦促)  by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly; thus a habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. It is therefore very important that we should pay great attention to the formation (形成) of habits. Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits as long as they live, and sometimes become ruined by them..
There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help. Many successful men say that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty and thoroughness(周详).
Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on. These are all easily formed habits. Unfortunately older persons form habits which ought to have been avoided.
We ought to keep from all these old habits, and try to form such habits as will prove good for ourselves and others.
【小题1】Habits, whether good or bad, are formed_______, _______ everyone knows.

A.day by day; and
B.gradually; as
C.gradually; that
D.century after century; as
【小题2】Why should we pay much attention to the formation of habits?
A.Because habits are of great help to every one of us.
B.Because a man can never get rid of a habit.
C.It is because we are forced to do them again and again.
D.It is because it’s hard and even not possible to smooth them away
【小题3】The bad habits formed by __________
A.children sometimes stay in all their lives
B.older people sometimes can kill them
C.persons sometimes can remain with them
D.younger people sometimes can break them

Habits, whether good or bad, are gradually formed. When a person does a certain thing again, he is driven by some unseen force to do the same thing repeatedly, then a habit is formed. Once a habit is formed, it is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to get rid of. It is therefore very important that we should pay great attention to the formation of habits. Children often form bad habits, some of which remain with them as long as they live. Older persons also form bad habits lasting as long as they live, and sometimes become ruined by them.  
There are other habits which, when formed in early life, are of great help. Many successful men say that much of their success has something to do with certain habits in early life, such as early rising, honesty and so on.
  Among the habits which children should not form are laziness, lying, stealing and so on. These are all easily formed habits. Unfortunately older persons often form habits which could have been avoided(避免).
  We should keep away from(远离) all these bad habits, and try to form such habits as will be good for ourselves and others.
【小题1】________ are formed little by little.

A.Good habitsB.Bad habits
C.Both good habits and bad habitsD.Either good habits or bad habits
【小题2】The underlined word "them" in the first paragraph refers to ________.
A.bad habitsB.good habitsC.children D.other persons
【小题3】Generally speaking, it's difficult for one _____ and easy for them _____which should be avoided.
A.to form bad habits; to form good habits
B.to form good habits; to form bad habits
C.to form such habits as will be good; to get rid of bad habits
D.to get rid of bad habits; to form good habits
【小题4】Why should we pay much attention to the formation of habits?
A.Because habits are of great help to every one of us.
B.Because a man can never get rid of a habit.
C.Because it's hard and sometimes even impossible to throw away bad habits.
D.Because we are forced to do them again and again.
【小题5】According to the passage, early rising ________.
A.has something to do with success
B.is an easily formed habit
C.is such a habit as should have been avoided
D.is such a habit as will be kept

In some parts of the United States, farming is easy. But farming has always been difficult in the northeastern corner of the country, which is called New England.

New England has many trees and thin, rocky soil. Anyone who has wanted to start a new farm there has had to work very hard. The first job has been cutting down the trees. The new job has been digging out the roots of the trees. Then the farmer has had the difficult job of removing stones from his land. This work of removing stones never really ends, because every winter more stones appear. They come up through the thin soil from the rocks below. Farmers have to keep removing stones from the fields. Even today, farms which have been worked on for two hundred years still keep producing more stones. That is why stone walls are used instead of fences (篱笆) in New England fields. The stone walls are not high and a man can easily climb over them. However, they keep the farmer’s cows from joining those of his neighbor’s.

1.Where is New England?

A. In England.    B. In North America.

C. In South America.  D. In Australia.

2.Why do stones keep appearing?

A. Because the farmers keep digging them out.

B. Because there are rocks below the soil and the soil is too thin.

C. Because there are no trees at all.

D. Because the wind keeps blowing.

3. Why do the farmers build stone walls instead of fences?

A. Because the stone walls are not high and a person can easily climb over them.

B. Because the stone walls can stop the cows from joining their neighbor’s.

C. Because there are too many stones.

D. Both A and B.

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A. There are almost no trees in New England.

B. Farming is difficult in New England.

C. It’s difficult for farmers to remove stones from the fields.

D. The stone walls in New England are not high.

 

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