Like most July days, it was hot. I stepped into a tiny ice-cream shop to cool off with a chocolate ice-cream. It was an old-time store with little round tables and chairs.

As I entered, I found a very old woman bent over a table near the door. Her back was so badly twisted by some sadness that her face nearly touched the table top. I sat down facing her several tables away.

“Poor woman,” I thought. “What does she get out of life? Why God let people live so long past their prime?”

As I thought, another aged lady entered the shop and sat down with her. Soon the two of them were talking about childhood days. They talked of how little the shop had changed in 70 years… In minutes, the two of them were trembling with laughter.

I looked again at the first woman, then in the mirror on a nearby wall, catching a picture of myself.

I was wearing a dirty shirt. She was well dressed in white, her hands shining with gold rings.

I was gloomy(愁闷的). She was laughing, smiling.

I was putting the pieces of my life together. She had millions of wonderful memories to recall.

I sat alone. She was sharing the day with a good friend.

I was secretly worried about getting old. She was old, but it wasn’t hurting her.

As I left the shop, I thought of my foolish question about God letting people live past their prime. Why, that woman was more alive, more sensitive to life than I was. Age has not bent her spirit.

1.The word “prime” in paragraph 3 means ______.

A. old age B. middle

C. childhood D. greatest period of life

2.Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A. To tell us the life of old people.

B. To show the difference between the old and the young.

C. To show that old age does not mean going short of spirit.

D. To make the reader have a pity on the old people.

3.Which of the following is the conclusion the writer made about the old lady?

A. She was to be pitied for her old age.

B. She considered the young man pitiable.

C. She was more alive and sensitive to life than the writer.

D. People should not be allowed to live when they are too old.

Clive Roberts,a director at ELS Educational Services,says English tests are changing greatly in response to the global growth in the use of English as a lingua franca— the common language used among people with different native languages.For that reason,a lot of new tests are being developed while old tests are being improved to meet the needs of universities and employers worldwide.

Changes in language testing

“A lot of tests are now delivered online,all four skills are being tested,in some cases,by computer,in particular speaking and writing skills,which are the most difficult to assess on a computer environment,”says Mr.Roberts.

Computer testing will reduce the length of time required for testing,because the tests adjust to the test-taker’s ability.These computer-adaptive tests also increase accuracy in scoring.Computer-adaptive tests change depending on the test-taker’s responses.They can become more or less difficult during the testing session.For this reason,the set of correct answers will be different for each test-taker.

Cultural sensitivity

Another change to language testing relates to cultural sensitivity.The term refers to material on a test that is based on a certain culture or is hard for test-takers from different cultures to understand.

Mr.Roberts says test development companies are now hiring people with intercultural communication backgrounds to review test items.The companies want to make sure the test does not upset test-takers.

Proficiency(精通程度)in language

Changes to English proficiency tests make them better at measuring the learners’ ability.However,Mr.Roberts says the changes may mean the tests are more difficult for some students.

“The tests have become more proficiency-oriented.The items are being designed in such a way that they test real-world proficiency and not simply sort of an artificial environment or a specific set of skills that are taught in a classroom.So a lot of authentic texts,a lot of authentic listening passages are being used.”

The changes mean students have to be able to understand English the way it is used in everyday life, not just in textbooks.

1.Which of the following can best replace the underlined words“a lingua franca”in Paragraph l?

A. a universal language B.a second language

C.a native language D.a mother tongue

2.Which of the following is true about online English tests?

A.Listening is more difficult to be tested online than speaking.

B.Online English tests need more time.

C.Online English tests make scoring more accurate.

D.Online English tests are more difficult.

3.Why is proficiency stressed in language testing?

A.To make the test more difficult.

B.To get learners to learn textbooks well.

C.To test learners’speaking ability.

D.To test learners’ real ability to use the language.

4.Which words can best describe the new English tests?

A. More accurate but easier.

B.Less practical but harder.

C. Better but harder.

D.Less popular but easier.

In the United States, 30 percent of the adult(成年人)population has a “weight problem.”. To many people, the cause is clear: We eat too much. But scientific evidence does little to support this idea. Going back to the America of 1910, we find that people were slimmer than today, yet they ate more food. In those days people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less, and didn't watch television.

Several modern studies, moreover, have shown that fatter people don't eat more on average than thinner people. In fact, some investigations (researches), such as a 1970 study of 3,545 London office workers, report that, on balance, fat people eat less than slimmer people.

Studies show that slim people are more active than fat people. A study by a research group at Stanford University School of Medicine found the following interesting facts.

The more the men ran, the greater loss of body fat.

The more they ran, the greater their increase in food intake(吸收)。

Thus those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost greatest amount of body fat.

1.What kind of physical problem do many adult Americans have?

A. They are too slim B. They work too hard

C. They are too fat D. They lose too much body fat.

2.Based on the statistics (数据) given in the article, suppose there are 500 adult Americans, about how many of them will have weight problems?

A. 30 B. 50 C. 100 D. 150

3. Is there scientific evidence to support eating too much is the cause of a “weight problem”?

A. Yes, there is plenty of evidence.

B. Of course, there is some evidence to show this is true.

C. There is hardly any scientific evidence to support this.

D. We don't know because the information is not given.

4.In comparison(比较)with the adult American population today, the Americans of 1910____

A. ate more food and had more physical activities

B. ate less food but had more activities

C. ate less food and had less physical exercises

D. had more weight problems

5.What have modern medical and scientific researches reported to us?

A. Fat people eat less food and are less active.

B. Fat people eat more food than slim people and are less active.

C. Fat people eat more food than slim people but are less active.

D. Thin people run less, but have greater increase in food intake

There’s a case to be made, from things like Google search figures, that Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken – you know, the one about two paths diverging (分开) in a wood – is the most popular in modern history. Yet people still can’t agree what it means. On the surface, it’s a fridge-magnet cliché (陈词滥调) on the importance of taking risks and choosing the road less travelled. But many argue it slyly mocks (暗讽) that American belief in the individual’s power to determine his or her future. After all, the poet admits that both paths look roughly similarly well-travelled. And how could he be sure he took the right one? He’ll never know where the other leads. Looking back at our life histories, we tell ourselves we faced important dilemmas and chose wisely. But maybe only because it’s too awful to admit we’re stumbling (跌跌撞撞地走) mapless among the trees, or that our choices don’t make much difference.

Two psychologists, Karalyn Enz and Jennifer Talarico, throw light on these matters in a new study with a title that nods to Frost: Forks In The Road. They sought to clarify how people think about “turning points” versus “transitions” in life. A turning point, by their definition, is a moment that changes your future – deciding to leave a job or marriage, say – but often isn’t visible from the outside, at least at first. “Transitions” involve big external changes: going to university, marrying, emigrating (迁出). Sometimes the two go together, as when you move to a new place and realize it’s where you belong. (“New Yorkers are born all over the country,” Delia Ephron said, “and then they come to New York and it hits them: oh, that’s who I am.”) But it’s turning points we remember as most significant, Enz and Talarico conclude, whether or not they also involve transitions.

The distinction is useful: it underlines how the most outwardly obvious life changes aren’t always those with the biggest impact. Hence the famous “focusing illusion”, which describes how we exaggerate (夸大) the importance of a single factor on happiness: you switch jobs, or spouses, only to discover you brought the same troublesome old you to the new situation. Before it became a joke, “midlife crisis” referred to a turning point that happens because your circumstances don’t change, when your old life stops feeling meaningful. Turning points can be caused by mundane (世俗的) things – the offhand remark that makes you realize you’re in the wrong life – or by nothing at all.

1.Why do some people think the poem makes fun of the American belief?

A. Because the two roads are more or less similar in the poet’s view.

B. Because Americans believe they can decide their future themselves.

C. Because Americans can find their way easily in a forest just with a map.

D. Because Americans surely know which road to take without consideration.

2.Which of the following can be considered as a transition?

A. Your experience of midlife crisis.

B. Your choice of the road to take.

C. Your decision to travel abroad.

D. Your move into a new flat.

3.What can we infer from this passage?

A. Turning points involving transitions are often remembered as most significant.

B. The biggest impact is often characterized with obvious outside changes.

C. A fundamental change is often affected by more than one single factor.

D. We can rid ourselves of the unpleasant past with the change of a job.

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

A. Is our fate in our own hands?

B. Must people make changes in life?

C. Should we choose the road less travelled?

D. Are turning points connected with transitions?

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