For many years Henry had been a journalist. He had worked on many international news?papers and magazines and traveled all over the world.

Henry had witnessed wars and natural disasters such as floods,earthquakes and erupting volcanoes.

He had reported on serious accidents such as major fires and airline crashes. He had seen every kind of terrible crime and strange event there was. He had met and written about some of the most unusual people in the world. In fact,there wasn't much that Henry had not seen or done.

Now he was retired from journalism (新闻业) .He owned a very expensive restaurant and spent his days talking to his wealthy and important customers. He liked to say that nothing sur?prised him.

One day he was sitting at the bar in his restaurant when a big gorilla walked in and asked for a table. Henry showed no surprise. He took the gorilla to a table and handed him a menu. He treated him politely and pretended there was nothing at all strange about having a gorilla in his restaurant. The gorilla looked through the menu and ordered a salad.

Henry served the gorilla his salad personally,knowing that his waiters and waitresses would be too frightened. At last the gorilla finished his salad and asked for the bill. Henry wrote out the bill and handed it to the big animal. The gorilla studied it,shook his head sadly,then gave Henry fifty dollars. "Thank you," Henry said,and then to make conversation he added, "We don't get many gorillas in this restaurant."

"At fifty dollars for a salad," the gorilla said, "I'm not surprised."

(   ) 1. What does the underlined word " witnessed" mean?

   A. Perceived. B. Spectated. C. Observed. D. Identified.

(   ) 2. According to the passage,Henry,as a journalist for many years,had         .

   A. had the most unusual experiences   B. traveled all over the world

   C. made great achievements in his career   D. seen and done everything

(   ) 3. From the sentence "Henry served the gorilla his salad personally,knowing that his waiters and waitresses would be too frightened",you learn that         .

   A. his staff were not brave enough

   B. Henry didn't normally serve customers

   C. Henry was very glad to serve a gorilla

   D. his staff were frightened when seeing Henry serving

(   ) 4. What does the last sentence of the passage imply?

   A. The higher the price is,the more the consumers are.

   B. The lower the price is,the fewer the consumers are.

   C. The more gorillas come,the more complicated the problem is.

   D. The fewer gorillas come,the simpler the answer is.

S Older people like reading negative news stories about their younger counterparts because it boosts their own selfesteem,according to a new study.

German researchers said older people tend to be portrayed (描绘成) negatively in society. Although they are often described as wise,they are also be shown as being slow and forgetful. "Living in a youth centered culture,they may appreciate a boost (增进) in selfesteem. That's why they prefer the negative stories about younger people,who are seen as having a higher sta?tus in our society," said Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick,of Ohio State University.

Knobloch-Westerwick and her coauthor Matthias Hastall,of Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen,Germany,studied 276 German adults,including 178 aged 18 to 30 and 98 be?tween 55 and 60. Their findings are published in the Journal of Communication.

All the adults in the study were shown what they were led to believe was a test version of a new online news magazine. They were also given a limited time to look over either a negative or positive version of 10 preselected articles.

Each story was also paired with a photograph depicting someone of either the younger or the older age group.

The researchers found that older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves. They also tended to show less interest in articles about older people,whether negative or positive.

But younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.

According to Knobloch-Westerwick,older people's preference for negative news about their younger counterparts can be explained by their place in society.

"Everybody likes a selfesteem boost. For young people though,it's almost automatic. Youth is considered important in society”,she said.

After perusing the articles,the participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure levels of selfesteem. Unlike their younger counterparts,the selfesteem of older people rose after they read a negative article about younger people.

(   ) 1. What is the social trend towards older people?

   A. They are often described as wise.

   B. They are also be shown as being slow and forgetful.

   C. They tend to be portrayed negatively in society.

   D. They often tend to be described wise as well as being slow and forgetful.

(   ) 2. What does the underlined word preselected mean?

   A. Choose with care. B. Choose seriously beforehand.

   C. Choose at random. D. Choose deliberately.

(   ) 3. What does the passage imply?

   A. To boot their own selfesteem,older people like reading negative news stories about their younger counterparts.

   B. Older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves.

   C. Younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.

   D. Everybody likes a selfesteem boost.

(   ) 4. The questionnaire is designed to         .

   A. measure levels of selfesteem

   B. identify both older and younger people's reading interest

   C. strengthen understanding between older and younger people

   D. check whether older people are slow and forgetful

The first day of school our professor introduced a little old lady to us.

"Why are you in college at such a young age?" I asked later. She jokingly replied, " I'm here to meet a rich husband,get married,have a couple of children,and then retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one! ”she told me.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class to?gether and talk nonstop. I was always listening to this " time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to make a speech to our football team. I'll never forget what she taught us. As she began to deliver her prepared speech,she dropped her note card on the floor. A little embarrassed she simply said, "I'm sorry. This whiskey is killing me!I'll never get my speech back in order to let me just tell you what I know."As we laughed she cleared her throat and began:" We do not stop playing because we are old;we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young,being happy,and achieving suc?cess. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams,you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing,you will turn twenty years old. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did,but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

At the year's end Rose finished the college degree. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral to honor the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

(   ) 1. Rose set us a good example by        in realizing her dream.

   A. perseverance   B. hard working   C. resolution   D. determination

(   ) 2. What does the underlined phrase "at her age" really mean?

   A. She is actually a middleaged woman.

   B. She is quite a young woman.

   C. She is considerably an old woman.

   D. She is neither young nor old.

(   ) 3. What can we infer from the sentence "Why are you in college at such a young age?"?

   A. The writer asks frankly because he/she thinks Rose is really young.

   B. The writer asks jokingly because he/she knows Rose is really an old woman.

   C. The writer asks the question for sure because he/she doesn't know her real age.

   D. The writer asks the question because he/she thinks Rose is too young to learn.

(   ) 4. What is the best title for this passage?

   A. An Old Wonderful Woman Pursuing Her Dream

   B. No Matter How Old You Are,Never Give Up Learning

   C. Never Too Old to Learn

   D. A Good Student,A Good Example

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