The night fell heavy in the heights of the mountains and the man could not see anything. All was black. The moon and the stars were ______ by the clouds. As he was climbing only a few feet away from the top of the mountain, he suddenly ______ and fell into the air, falling at great ______. He could only see black spots as he went down, and the ______ sensation(感觉)of being pulled by gravity grew more and more ______ .

He ______ falling, and in the moments of great ______ ,it came to his mind all the good and bad ______ of his life. He was thinking now about how ______ death was getting ______ all of a sudden he felt the rope tied to his waist pull him very hard. His body was hanging in the air. ______ the rope was holding him and in that moment of ______ he could do nothing but ______ : “Help me! Help me! God” Suddenly a deep voice coming from the sky answered, “What do you want me to do?”“Save me, God.”

“Do you really think I can save you?”

“Of course! I ______ you can.”

“Then ______ the rope tied to your waist.”

There was a moment of silence and the man decide to ______ the rope with all his strength.

The next day people found the climber dead and ______ , hid body hanging from rope, his hands holding tight to it. Only one foot away from the ______ .

And we? How ______ we are to the rope tied to our waist? Sometimes we always tied to what we take as the only ______ .maybe we should have a try to let ourselves go.

1.A. covered B. filled C. broken D. polluted

2.A. stood B. slipped C. stopped D. risked

3.A. length B. speed C. depth D. width

4.A. length B. sensitive C. terrible D. confusing

5.A. energetic B. distant C. regular D. powerful

6.A. sank B. observed C. heard D. kept

7.A. excitement B. peace C. terror D. calmness

8.A. experience B. dreams C. disadvantages D. crossroads

9.A. close B. opposite C. fierce D. long

10.A. as B. because C. when D. after

11.A. But B. Only C. Nowhere D. Actually

12.A. patience B. appreciation C. excitement D. stillness

13.A. figure B. scream C. recognize D. present

14.A. wish B. suggest C. believe D. order

15.A. cut B. occupy C. brake D. handle

16.A. pull up B. back out C. take off D. hold onto

17.A. frozen B. calm C. exhausted D. reliable

18.A. top B. heaven C. ground D. attached

19.A. addicted B. attracted C. adopted D. destination

20.A. route B. dependence C. goal D. intelligence

The American Bystander

On a humid subway ride into work a few days ago, a woman on the other end of my car had a seizure (病情突然发作). All of a sudden, I heard her let out a painful sigh as she collapsed. For several minutes, the train continued down the track, and everyone in the car just stared at the woman. Finally, at the next stop a man informed the operator of what had happened and called 911. Luckily the woman came to herself as the EMTs carried her off the train. Ever since, I’ve been puzzled by the same question — why didn’t anyone do anything? And more importantly, why didn’t I do anything?

We’ve learned about the commonly referenced bystander effect—a psychological phenomenon in which individuals will avoid offering help to a person in need when other people are present. The bystander effect is attributed to two different psychological processes: social influence—individuals in a group will monitor and imitate other group members’ behavior—and shift of responsibility—individuals will cease to help because they believe that someone else will.

Even though most people probably haven’t witnessed a woman having a seizure on the subway, I’m sure if asked, anyone could think of a time when they could have helped and simply didn’t. In fact, I know that we have all experienced the bystander effect, because I believe it is one of American society’s most common headaches.

Anyone who follows the news can tell you that most of what we hear or read about these days is another death or another hate crime committed right in our own country. Consider the most recent theatre shooting in Nashville. The headlines read Another Theatre Shooting, Gunman is dead. When we read that headline or heard it on the news, most of us just acknowledged how sad it was, then told ourselves that there is nothing we can do to help and assumed that someone else would.

If America is just one large group of witnesses, all while telling ourselves that someone else most certainly will step in, how can we hope to shake the hold of this social psychological spell? The solution lies solely within us, to know the difference between doing what is justifiable and doing what is right, helping those in need when we have the means and opportunity to do so.

I want to be like the man on the subway who told the operator about the woman’s seizure, because as soon as he did, people followed suit and offered help. We have the power to choose whether to justify passivity or actively decide to do the right thing, and as a society I believe we ought to break free from our psychological tendency to just stand by.

1.What was the most passengers’ attitude towards the woman’s seizure?

A. Indifferent. B. Skeptical.

C. Enthusiastic. D. Concerned.

2.The psychological explanation for the fact that most people hesitate to help is that ________.

A. they need heroes or good examples to learn from

B. they believe such cases are none of their business

C. they fear that their behavior will be imitated by others

D. they count on other group members to give a helping hand

3.What can we learn from the theatre shooting in Nashville?

A. The mass media are only too concerned about crimes and deaths.

B. The majority of the US citizens are suffering from crimes.

C. People get too accustomed to pay adequate attention to crimes.

D. Media coverage is inconsistent with what the Americans assume.

4.As far as the author is concerned, the key to solving such an effect lies in ________.

A. the necessary means and opportunity to help others

B. the essential power to display psychological tendency

C. the acute awareness of making a right choice

D. the determined effort to help whoever is in need of help

George Aldrich, whose official title is chemical specialist, works at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. He uses his nose to protect astronauts from unpleasant or harmful odors (气味). His near four-decade career has involved smelling objects from technical handbooks to astronauts’ personal things.

It’s crucial that all items taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are odorless. Since astronauts are allowed to bring personal items aboard, all their objects must be smell-checked before leaving Earth. In a video provided by Science Channel, Aldrich relates on specific occasion when an astronaut wanted to build a ship in a bottle in space. Everything in the ship-building process had to be sniffed — right down to the glue.

Aldrich and his team are responsible for making sure that objects are not only odorless but also harmless to astronauts. When the ISS heats up, a process called off-gassing occurs, which means chemicals flow out from certain substances (物质). Objects that would be safe on Earth could give off unpleasant odors or become dangerous when exposed to high temperatures in the ISS’s unique environment.

Of course, humans aren’t the only testers or the first to be exposed to potentially dangerous objects. Before Aldrich sticks his nose into a substance, it has been examined by machines. Even though machines can detect unsafe substances, computers cannot tell exactly how things smell to humans. While something could be technically fine, it could be smelly to an astronaut.

Aldrich’s nose is not alone there. He is the head of a hard-sniffing team of smell testers. Together they smell each object and rate it on a scale (等级) of 1 to 4. According to NASA, I cannot be detected, and 4 is considered not bearable. After the scientists conclude their tests, the scores are averaged. If an item is rated more than 2.4 on the scale, it fails the test and is not allowed on the flight.

1.Which can describe the smell check from Paragraph 2?

A. Quite dangerous. B. Extremely strict.

C. Rather boring. D. Very complex.

2.What is a threat to astronauts’ safety at the ISS?

A. Negative emotions. B. Odor-related disease.

C. The off-gassing process. D. Changes in temperature.

3.What should be done before Aldrich and his team start their work?

A. Using machines to test objects.

B. Having a meeting to make the scale.

C. Using computers to examine their noses.

D. Listing potentially dangerous substances.

4.What is the text mainly about?

A. An unusual smell tester. B. Astronauts’ life at the ISS.

C. Strong odors in a spaceship. D. The smell of personal items.

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