Right is right. Right? Of course. But is left wrong? Well, the Romans used to think so. They thought left-handed people were mistakes of nature. Latin, the language of the Romans, had many words that expressed this view. Some words we use today still have this meaning. The Latin word “dexter” means “right”. The English word “dexterous” comes from this word. It means “handy” (clever with hands). So, right is handy. But the Latin word for left is “sinister”. The English word “sinister” comes from this word. Sinister means “evil” (very bad). Is it fair to call right-handed people handy and left-handed people evil? Well, fair or not, many languages have words that express such beliefs. In old English, the word for left means “weak”. That isn’t much of an improvement over “evil”.

 Not very long ago, children were often forced to write with their right hands. Doctors have since found that this can be very harmful. You should use the hand you were born to use.

People who use their left hands are just starting to get better treatment. But why they get all these bad names in the first place? One reason may be that there are not as many left-handed people as there are right-handed people. There is one left-handed person for every five right-handed ones. People who are different are often thought to be wrong. But attitudes do seem to be changing. Fair-minded right-handed people are finally starting to give left-handed people a hand.

1. What does the passage lead us to believe when one writes?

A. He can only use his right hand.

B. He can only use his left hand.

C. He can use either his left hand or his right hand.

D. He can use both his left hand and his right hand.

2. The last sentence of this article means ________.

A. Fair-minded right-handed people want to change the habit of the left-handed people

B. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to help the left-handed people

C. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to use left hand to write and so on

D. Fair-minded right-handed people are starting to give up using their left hands

3. After we read the article we can certainly know that _______.

A. left-handed people have been treated poorly

B. the number of the left-handed people is larger than that of right-handed people

C. right-handed people are much cleverer than left-handed people

D. left-handed people are less smart but hardworking

4. Which of the following is NOT right, according to the article?

A. At one time, left-handed people were forced to use their right hands.

B. Left-handed people today are being treated better than those in the past.

C. There are not as many left-handed people as there are right-handed people today.

D. “Dexterous” comes from Latin, means “evil” and English “sinister” means “handy”.

Dick lived in England. One day in January he said to his wife, "I'm going to fly to New York next week because I've got some work there." "Where are you going to stay there?" his wife asked. "I don't know yet." Dick answered. "Please send me your address from there in a telegram (电报)," his wife said. "All right," Dick answered.

He flew to New York on January 31st and found a nice hotel in the center of the city. He put his things in his room and then he sent his wife a telegram. He put the address of his hotel in it.

In the evening he didn't have any work, so he went to a cinema. He came out at nine o'clock and said, "Now I'm going back to my hotel and have a nice dinner."

He found a taxi (出租车) and the driver said, "Where do you want to go?" But Dick didn't remember the name and address of his hotel.

"Which hotel are my things in?" he said, "And what am I going to do tonight?" But the driver of the taxi did not know. So Dick got out and went into a post office. There he sent his wife another telegram, and in it he wrote, "Please send me my address at this post office."

Dick flew to New York because ___.

A. he went there for a holiday

B. he had work there

C. he went there for sightseeing (观光)

D. his home was there

Why did his wife want a telegram from him?

A. Because she didn't know his address yet

B. Because she wanted to go to New York, too

C. Because she might send him another telegram

D. Because she couldn't leave her husband by himself in New York

Where did Dick stay in New York?

A. In the center of the city.              B. In a hotel.

C. In a restaurant.                     D. At his friend's house.

Who would send him the name and address of his hotel?

A. The manager (经理) of his hotel.       B. The police office.

C. The taxi driver.                     D. His wife.

Which of the following is not true?

A. Dick stayed at a nice hotel in the center of the city.

B. Dick didn't work on the first night of his arrival.

C. Dick forgot to send his wife a telegram.

D. Dick wanted to go back to his hotel in a taxi.

Last year, Jack Bleed cut through the bone of his ring finger while working. The 31-year-old resident of North Little Rock, Arkansas, waited for about six hours at a nearby medical center while the medical staff there called all over town — even as far away as Dallas and Memphis — to find a hand surgeon to reattach his finger. Finally, a willing doctor was located in Louisville, Kentucky. But even though Bleed had insurance(保险), he would have to hire a private plane to get himself there, at a cost of $4,300. In the end, he charged the cost to two credit cards, and his finger was saved. His insurance company eventually covered the cost of the plane, but his experience makes people aware of the fact that trauma(外伤) care in the United States is not only geographically limited, but in many places, non-existent.

Only eight states — New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington — have local, fully functional trauma systems. The remaining states have partial systems, and 12 — including Arkansas — have no trauma system at all.

Although the President has signed a bill of $12 million for the purpose of supporting trauma care systems nationwide, many in Congress(国会) are unwilling to spend government money for a service they think should be paid for by states, says Wayne Meredith, medical director for trauma programs at the American College of Surgeons. Meanwhile, many states have also failed to find the dollars to support trauma systems. To make matters worse, many people without insurance depend heavily on the emergency care services, placing a huge financial burden on the medical centers that serve them.

For the same reason, doctors, too, often go unpaid. They are unwilling to perform emergency care, worsening critical shortages of neurosurgeons, orthopedists, and hand surgeons — the very types of specialists Bleed needed at short notice.

Supporting a trauma care system doesn’t take much. A half-penny sales tax in Miami-Dade County makes its outstanding system work. In Arkansas alone, says Wayne Meredith, a well-funded trauma system would possibly prevent 200 to 600 deaths each year. If trauma care systems were to work well across the nation, experts say, many thousands of lives each year could be saved. “You don’t get much better return on your investment than that,” Meredith says.

In Paragraph 1, the writer uses Bleed’s case to ______.

A. make a comparison                               B. describe a person

C. introduce a topic                                          D. tell a story

Many people in Congress argue that trauma care systems should be supported by ______.

A. the President                                       B. each state

C. insurance companies                              D. the US government

The example of Miami-Dade County shows that ______.

A. its tax policy is admirable                      B. running a trauma system is profitable

C. a trauma system is not expensive            D. sales tax is not heavy in small counties

Why are the present trauma care systems in some states not satisfactory?

A. They are shared by all the states.                    B. They are short of financial support.

C. The doctors are not well trained.                    D. The hospitals can’t provide low-cost services.

In any family with more than one child, chidren seem to naturally compete for their parents’ love and attention. Parents say they love every child equally. But is that true?

       Susan, founder of a consulting firm in Chicago, interviewed 216 women and found that even though none of her questions asked directly about a parent favoring one child over another, about two-thirds of the women said there was a favored child. And they also remembered their experience when they were young. One of the women said, “My mother always liked my brother better, and he got to go to summer camp in 1968 and I didn’t.”

       Plumez, who interviewed parents with both biological children and adoptive children for an adoption book in 2008, found that what matters most is whether your temperaments(性情) are pleasing. “In some cases, parents would say they felt closer to their adopted children,” she says, “Some parents like the children with characters similar to theirs. Two people who are shy and withdrawn might get along well, unless the shy parent doesn’t like that aspect of themselves and they try to push the naturally withdrawn child to be more extroverted.”

       It could be a result of gender, birth order or how easy or difficult a child’s temperament may be, but a parent’s different treatment has far-reaching effects. Students have found that less-favored children may suffer emotionally, with decreased self-esteem and behavioral problems in childhood. Favoritism is a reason for the next generation not to like each other.

       Experts say it is not realistic to say everyone should be treated equally, because no two people are the same and they relate differently to others.

       “It does not mean that parent loves or likes one child more. It has to do with which one of them is independent,” says psychologist Laurie Kramer of the University of Illinois.

The study carried out by Susan shows that ______.

       A. showing favoritism is common in many families

       B. most mothers like their sons better than their daughters

       C. only two-thirds of the women interviewed have more than a child

       D. it is a favoritism that leads to absence of harmony in most families

The underlined word “extroverted” in the third paragraph means _______.

       A. independent              B. outgoing           C. clever               D. brave

What can we infer from the passage?

       A. Favoritism is not beneficial to the development of children

       B. Parents’ favoritism to a certain child can’t be avoided in families

       C. Parents may be favoring one of their children and don’t realize it

       D. People are very much shaped by how they were treated by their parents

What is the best title for the passage?

       A. Parents’ favoritism can affect children deeply

       B. Why do parents show favoritism to children?

       C. Parents should give attention to all their children

       D. Building a harmonious family is important to children

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