In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity(繁荣). Others say that competition is bad, that it sets one person against another and that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

I have taught many children who held the belief that their self-worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life-and-death affairs. In their single-minded pursuit(追求) of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which only values the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary player, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “ I may have lost, but it doesn’t matter because I really didn’t try.” What is not usually admitted by them is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot.

Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one’s self-respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued.Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to disappear can we discover a new meaning in competition.

1.Why do some people favor competition according to the passage?

A.It pushes society forward.

B.It builds up a sense of duty.

C.It improves personal abilities.

D.It encourages individual efforts.

2.The underlined phrase “ the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means _____.

A.those who try their best to win

B.those who are against competition most strongly

C.those who value competition most highly

D.those who rely on others most for success

3.Which point of view may the author agree to?

A.Every effort should be paid back.

B.Competition should be encouraged.

C.Winning should be a life-and-death matter.

D.Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

完形填空(共20小题;每小题1.5分,满分30分)

Pooja Dhingra should have been a lawyer. But while studying at university in Mumbai, she decided to quit her major and to something more .

Remembering helping her mother in the during her childhood, she decided to work with food instead of legal cases. So she her parents to let her go to study cooking.

One day, her friends took her to one of the best macaron(杏仁小圆饼)shops in Paris.

After just one , Ms Dhingra determined that when she to Mumbai she would open her own macaron store, the first of its kind in India. Upon graduation, she started macarons in her parents' kitchen, but it was a complete .The hot and wet weather in Mumbai made it to make delicious cakes. After 60 failed ,she finally got an ideal recipe. being both young and female meant she faced additional ."The biggest problem was to get people to take you .”she tells us. "For example, I had to buy machinery, I would have to ask my father to make these calls for me. " However, she opened her first shop in 2010. To sales in a city where very few people knew what a macaron was, Ms Dhingra _ free samples to customers. The cakes were immediately popular, and sales soon took off thanks to the evaluation. .

Now, Ms Dhingra is the of three busy macaron shops. She has planned to her business across the country. One newspaper article called her " the macaron queen of India" .

1.A. design B. literature C. law D. medicine

2.A. creative B. confident C. enthusiastic D. effective

3.A. bedroom B. study C. kitchen D. basement

4.A. convinced B. warned C. forgave D. reminded

5.A. drink B. effort C. breath D. bite

6.A. replied B. traveled C. walked D. returned

7.A. eating B. making C. bringing D. selling

8.A. comfort B. honor C. failure D. success

9.A. appealing B. difficult C. smooth D. available .

10.A. competences B. assumptions C. statements D. attempts

11.A.Yet B. Still C. Even D. Just

12.A. praises B. sacrifices C. tasks D. challenges

13.A. slightly B. pleasantly C. seriously D. peacefully

14.A. if' B. after C. though D. unless

15.A. suddenly B. eventually C. eagerly D. unwillingly

16.A. check B. promote C. ban D. decrease

17.A. put away B. smoothed away C. cleared away D. gave away

18.A. negative B. positive C. plain D. critical

19.A. customer B. inventor C. owner D. driver

20.A. expand B. sell C. abandon D. Protect

Baths and bathing have long been considered of medical importance to man. In Greece there are the ruins of a water system for baths built over 3,000 years ago. The Romans had warm public baths. In some baths, as many 3,000 persons could bathe at the same time.

Treating disease by taking bathing has been popular for centuries. Modern medical bathing first became popular in Europe and by the late 1700’s has also become popular in the United States.

For many years frequent bathing was believed to be bad for one’s health. Ordinary bathing just to keep clean was avoided, and perfume was often used to cover up body smells!

By the 1700’s doctors began to say that soap and water were good for health. They believed that it was good for people to be clean. Slowly, people began to bathe more frequently. During the Victorian Age of the late 19th century, taking a bath on Saturday night became common.

In the United States ordinary bathing was slow to become popular. During the 18th and early 19th centuries, many Americans were known as “The Great Unwashed!” In one American city, for example, a person was only allowed to take a bath every thirty days! That was a law!

Frequency of bathing today is partly a matter of habit. People know that bathing for cleanliness is important to health. Doctors know that dirty bodies increase the chance of diseases. As a result, in the United States, people generally bathe often. Some people bathe once a day at least. They consider a daily bath essential to good health.

1.In the 18th century doctors believed that being clean was _______.

A. unimportant B. good for health

C. harmful D. popular

2.During the Victorian Age _______.

A. the Americans ever took a bath every thirty days

B. frequent bathing was avoided

C. people used perfume to cover up body smells after bathing

D. the British people generally took a bath once a week.

3.The passage is mainly about _______.

A. bathing in the USA

B. the good points and bad points of bathing

C. the history of bathing

D. the modern medical bathing

It is now February 7, 2035. The search engine TalkTalk will be open to the public next week and this service will soon be something beyond your imagination. For the first time you can not only talk to the search engine, but you can discuss with it what you are looking for.

For example, if you want to know more about the oil price, TalkTalk asks if you want to know the current oil price, the development of the oil price, or news related to the oil price. You say that you want to read news about it and TalkTalk then directs you to your source, or lets you have the latest news related to the oil price in order from the most respectable sources.

Compared with other search services that use a certain algorithm (程序) to provide data from a search, the artificial intelligence (人工智能) behind TalkTalk is said to easily spot if a certain source is aiming to cheat the searcher. TalkTalk also judges and stores every given reply and discussion, to learn how to give correct answers. TalkTalk is also set to answer questions directly where there is a definite answer. How well this will work in the long run is yet to be seen, but thousands of people have tested TalkTalk and the quality is really good.

The first talking search engine saw the light of day more than 30 years ago and was called Speegle. It could read the results from a written search on the Internet, and was mostly for blind people.

So far, TalkTalk cannot read the information from a certain source to you by phone, if it is not freely available. There are currently talks to find an arrangement for this, but it would most likely be difficult because of copyright(版权).

TalkTalk is available over the Internet and also by phone, even though it only speaks English. There are no plans to add other languages in the near future, most likely because it will cost a lot of money. When you are tired of asking TalkTalk all your questions, just ask, “Where is TalkTalk?” and you will get an answer that will make you leave it with a smile on your lips.

1.The example in Paragraph 2 is given to show .

A. how to use the search engine TalkTalk

B. how to search for news on the Internet

C. the oil price is a very hot issue currently

D. TalkTalk has a very high intelligence

2.The advantage of TalkTalk is that it can .

A. be available wherever you go

B. tell if a certain source is reliable

C. read the search results for you

D. offer different kinds of search results

3.What can be inferred from the text?

A. TalkTalk can read all the information online.

B. TalkTalk will speak other languages soon.

C. TalkTalk may have a bright future.

D. TalkTalk is very expensive.

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Hello, TalkTalk

B. Where is TalkTalk

C. TalkTalk is improving

D. Development of search engines

5.In which part of a future newspaper can you read the text?

A. Opinion. B. Culture.

C. Lifestyle. D. Technology.

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网