题目内容
The word “death” is a word many Chinese friends tell me I should not say aloud. They advise me to avoid the word because only speaking of it may bring ill fortune. I deeply believe, however, that to know how to live, we must also know how to die. The problem is how we talk about death.
Like everyone in Taiwan this week, I have had “Tomb Sweeping Day”. I am proud to be part of a people whose culture sends millions of families to cemeteries on this special day to share memories and endless love.
Today, eight days after the death of Pope John Paul II, millions of people of all backgrounds still grieve(悲痛) his passing away. He was a deeply human person who knew how to laugh and show emotions, a writer with a gift for words a leader who appealed to us by the sheer light of his love for life.
On the same day and only hours before the Holy Father left us, a friend of mine named Veronica McBride died of cancer in a small Wisconsin city. My friend Veronica was 52 years old. She was an attractive, humorous young woman who, as the saying goes, “never married”. She published several humor books with her mother, Mary McBride. She enjoyed traveling, and for years sent Christmas card photos of herself standing beside monuments or odd animals. She fought cancer for five years. She joked about her treatment keeping her pretty because it kept her thin, and told me she didn’t mind losing her hair because of chemo therapy. “I get to wear nice wigs!”
The last time I saw Veronica was when I visited her family on a sunny day in August in 2003. When she burst into the front door later and saw me in the living room, she ignored me completely in her hurry to hug her newest baby nephew, leaving me shaking my head in laughter at her.
As we look to the significance of the Holy Father and his life, surely we must also keep our eyes open to see the wonder and goodness in ordinary people who show us how to live and how to die.
【小题1】The purpose of the article is ___________.
A.to memorize his friend Veronica |
B.to talk about the significance of life and death |
C.to teach us how to face life and death |
D.to compare his friend and the Holy Father Pope John Paul II |
A.a medical treatment | B.a kind of cancer |
C.a kind of medicine | D.the newest machine |
A.Because they are both the persons he admires. |
B.Because they have a lot in common. |
C.Because he wants to show that ordinary people can be great as well. |
D.Because he wants to memorize them both. |
A.brave | B.sportive | C.humorous | D.energetic |
【小题1】C
【小题2】A
【小题3】C
【小题4】D
解析
When someone says, “Well, I guess I'll have to go to face the music,” it doesn’t mean he is planning to go to a concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you did not do this or that. Terrible music, indeed, but it has to be faced. At some time or another, every one of us has had to “face the music”, especially as children. We can remember father’s angry voice: “I want to talk to you!” And only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase “face the music” is known to every American, old and young. It is at least one hundred years old. Where did the expression come from?
The first explanation came from the American novelist James Fenimore Cooper. He said, in 1851, that expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings (舞台的两侧) to go on stage. After they got their clue(暗示) to go on , they often said, “It’s time to go to face the music. ” And that is exactly what they did face the orchestra (乐队) which was just below the stage.
An actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of the audience(观众) that might be friendly, or perhaps unfriendly, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So “face the music” came to mean: having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.
【小题1】The expression “face the music” means ______.
A. plan to go to a concert |
B.get one’s clue to do something |
C.have to go through something far less pleasant |
D.disobey what one's father says |
A.children | B.novelists | C.actors | D.audience |
A.老板 | B.同事 | C.角色 | D.台词 |
If you look up the word “create” in the dictionary , you will find it means “to bring into being, to cause to exist something each of us does daily”.
We are creative whenever we look at or think about something in a new way First, this includes an awareness of our surroundings.It means using all of our senses to become aware of our world.This may be as simple as being aware of color and texture(质地),as well as taste, when we plan a meal.Above all, it is the ability to notice things that others might miss.
A second part of creativity is an ability to see relationships among things.If we believe the expression,“There is nothing new under the sun, the creativity is remaking or recombining(重组) the old in new ways.”For example, we might do this by finding a more effective way to study or a better way to arrange our furniture, or we might make a new combination of camera lenses and filters to create an unusual photograph.
A third part of creativity is the courage and drive to make use of our new ideas, to ask for them to achieve some new results.To think up a new idea is one thing; to put the idea to work is another.
These three parts of creativity are included in all the great works of geniuses, but they are also included in many of our day-to-day activities.
【小题1】Which of the following activities is NOT a creative one according to the passage?
A.To prepare for a meal. |
B.To arrange the furniture in a special way. |
C.To buy some books from a bookstore. |
D.To“write”a letter with the computer. |
A.a new thing can only be created at the basis of earlier things |
B.a new thing is only a tale |
C.we can seldom create new things |
D.we can hardly see really new things in the world |
practice?
A.It’s more difficut to create a new thought than to use it in practice. |
B.To find a new thought will clearly lead to the production of a new thing. |
C.A man with an excellent ability of practice can easily become an inventor. |
D.One may come up with a new thought, but can not put it into practice. |
A.How to Develop One’s Creativity |
B.What Is Creativity |
C.The Importance of Creativity |
D.Creativity, a Not Faraway Thing |
There are over one million superstitions(迷信), and most people believe at least one or two of them.
Many people are superstitious about numbers. They think that there are lucky numbers and unlucky numbers.
The number 13 is often considered unlucky. In some parts of the world, buildings have no 13th floor and streets have no houses with the number 13. In Japan, "4" is considered unlucky because in Japanese the word "four" is pronounced the same as the word "death" .
Japanese never give gifts of four knives, four napkins, or four of anything.
What are the lucky numbers? Seven is a lucky number in many places, and "8" is considered a lucky number in Japan and China. In China, businesses often open on August 8, and many couples register to get married at eight past eight on August 8.
Superstitions about numbers are so widespread that some people--called numerologist--make a living by giving advice about numbers.
In 1937, when the Toyoda family of Japan wanted to form a car company, they asked a numerologist if "Toyoda" would be a good name for the company. The numerologist said it would not be. He explained that "Toyota" would be a better name for the company. The family took his advice. As a result, millions of people drive "Toyota" and not "Toyoda" .
There are many other kinds of superstitions. There are superstitions about eating, sleeping, sneezing and itching(抓痒). There are superstitions about animals and holidays and horseshoes.
There are even superstitions about superstitions. Those superstitions will tell people how to reverse bad luck.
When the Japanese bump heads, they immediately bump heads again. According to a Japanese superstition, the first-bump means their parents will die, but the second bump "erases" the first bump
To reverse bad luck in general, people turn around three times, turn their pockets inside out, or put their hats on backwards.
In the United States, baseball players sometimes wear their caps backwards when their team is losing. It looks silly, but the baseball players do not mind if it helps them win the game.
【小题1】It can be inferred that superstitions about numbers are .
A.popular neither in Japan nor in China |
B.popular only in Japan and in China |
C.popular both in Japan and in China |
D.causing great troubles both in Japan and in China |
A.change to bad luck | B.cause to go in the opposite direction |
C.change for the worse | D.exchange |
A.he is mad | B.he is happy | C.he is superstitious | D.he is very sad |
A.persuading us to believe superstitions |
B.showing us some facts of superstitions |
C.showing us the magic power of number |
D.showing us a numerologist |