Bissel is a small village of the West Sahara. It lies next to a l.5-square-kilometer oasis(绿洲), from where three days and nights are generally required to go out of the desert. However, before Ken Levin discovered it in 1926, none of the Bissel villagers had ever walked out of the desert. Reportedly, they were not unwilling to leave this barren land. Many had previously tried but failed, always somehow finding themselves back at the oasis after several days of trying to walk out.

When interviewed by Ken Levin, an expert at the British Royal College of Sciences, the villagers explained that no matter which direction they walked it always brought them back to the village.Why couldn’t the Bissel villagers walk out of the desert? Levin was very puzzled. He had, by himself, managed to walk north from the village and reach the nearest town in three and a half days. He decided to carry out an experiment to solve the mystery. He and a Bissel villager called Argutel, would walk out of the desert together. They prepared enough water for a half-a-month journey and two camels. But this time Ken Levin didn't bring his compass. Levin would follow Argutel.

Ten days later, they had walked for about 500 miles but were still in the desert. On the 11th morning, an oasis came into their view. They were back at Bissel. Levin now understood why the Bissel people couldn’t escape the desert. They had no knowledge of the North Star, which had for centuries provided sailors and other travelers with a point of direction. In the desert, if a person goes forward relying only on their senses, they will not be able to travel in a straight line. Rather they will travel in a very large circle and eventually track back to where they began. Levin explained to Argutel the function of the North Star and said, “As long as you rest in the daytime and walk towards the brightest star at night, you would be able to walk out of the desert.” Argutel did as he was told. Three days later, he came to the edge of the desert.

Now in the West Sahara, Bissel has become a bright pearl, where tens of thousands of tourists come every year. Argutel’s bronze statue stands in the center of the town. On its base are the words: __________________________.

1.Ken Levin asked Argutel to walk to the north in order to ________.

A. prove that people could walk out of the desert see

B. how far away Bissel was to the edge of the desert

C. tell people not to walk in circles

D. show Argutel was a great person

2.According to the passage, Ken Levin ________.

A. knew Argutel before he came to the village

B. came to Bissel to do experiments on behalf of his college

C. became the first man to walk out of the desert from Bissel Village

D. taught Bissel villagers knowledge of the North Star when he first arrived

3.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A. Ken Levin didn’t walk south because it would take more days

B. the use of a compass was necessary to walk out of the desert

C. tourism in Bissel has been greatly developed and improved

D. Argutel became the leader of Bissel after his return

4.Which of the following can most probably be found at the base of Argutel’s statue?

A. A new life starts from the fixed direction.

B. Where there is a will , there is a way .

C. A long journey starts with the first step .

D. Two heads are better than one.

 

Once upon a time there lived an old man in a nice cottage with a large garden. The old man was seen   41  his flowers all the time. They were so well-tended that every passer-by could not but   42  for a glance.

One day a young man went by the garden. He gazed at the splendid garden, lost in admiration at the beauty of the scenery. Then, suddenly he   43  the old gardener was blind.   44  , the young man asked, “Why are you busy tending these flowers every day which you can’t  45  in fact?” The old man smiled and answered that “ I can tell you 46  reasons. First I was a   47  when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, although I can’t see these flowers, yet I can  48 them. Third,I can smell sweetness of them. As to the last one, that’s   49 .

“Me? But you don’t know me,” responded the young man   50  .

“Yeah, it’s   51  that I don’t know you. But I know everyone knows flowers and would never turn them down. I know the beauty of my garden will get many people into a good mood(心情). In the meantime, it also   52  a chance to me to have a word with you here and to enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”

The old man’s  53  astonished me. The blind man grows flowers and serves them as a link of minds so as to make everybody enjoy the sunshine in spring. Isn’t it one kind of happiness?

I believe every flower has   54  with which they can see the kindness of the man’s heart. The blind man grows flowers in his heart. Though   55 to see the beauty of blossoming, he surely can hear the voice of it, I suppose.

1.                A.loving          B.watering        C.tending   D.planting

 

2.                A.stop           B.stay            C.live  D.run

 

3.                A.realized        B.noticed         C.felt  D.thought

 

4.                A.Excited         B.Frightened      C.Shocked  D.Satisfied

 

5.                A.feel           B.see            C.hear D.eat

 

6.                A.one           B.two            C.three D.four

 

7.                A.gardener       B.teacher         C.farmer   D.painter

 

8.                A.taste           B.plant           C.touch    D.appreciate

 

9.                A.it             B.me            C.them D.you

 

10.               A.with pleasure    B.in surprise      C.with hope  D.in anger

 

11.               A.true           B.possible        C.a pity D.a shame

 

12.               A.introduces      B.offers          C.stands D.leaves

 

13.               A.words          B.behavior        C.story D.attitudes

 

14.               A.ears           B.soul           C.eyes  D.heart

 

15.               A.refusing        B.trying          C.pretending D.failing

 

 

Over the last 70 years, researchers have been studying happy and unhappy people and finally found out ten factors that make a difference. Our feelings of well-being at any moment are determined to a certain degree by genes. However, of all the factors, wealth and age are the top two.

Money can buy a degree of happiness. But once you can afford to feed, clothe and house yourself , each extra dollar makes less and less difference.

Researchers find that, on average, wealthier people are happier. But the link between money and happiness is complex. In the past half-century, average income has sharply increased in developed countries, yet happiness levels have remained almost the same. Once your basic needs are met, money only seems to increase happiness if you have more than your friends, neighbors and colleagues.

“Dollars buy status, and status makes people feel better,” conclude some experts, which helps explain why people who can seek status in other ways---scientists or actors, for example—may happily accept relatively poorly-paid jobs.

In a research, Professor Alex Michalos found that the people whose desires—not just for money, but for friends, family, job, health—rose furthest beyond what they already had, tended to be less happy than those who felt a smaller gap. Indeed, the size of the gap predicted happiness about five times better than income alone. “The gap measures just blow away the only measures of income.” Says Michalos.

Another factor that has to do with happiness is age. Old age may not be so bad. “Given all the problems of aging, how could the elderly be more satisfied?” asks Professor Laura Carstensen.

In one survey, Carstensen interviewed 184 people between the ages of 18 and 94, and asked them to fill out an emotions questionnaire. She found that old people reported positive emotions just as often as young people, but negative emotions much less often.

Why are old people happier? Some scientists suggest older people may expect life to be harder and learn to live with it, or they’re more realistic about their goals, only setting ones that they know they can achieve. But Carstensen thinks that with time running out, older people have learned to focus on things that make them happy and let go of those that don’t. “People realize not only what they have, but also that what they have cannot last forever,” she says. “A goodbye kiss to a husband or wife at the age of 85, for example, may bring far more complex emotional responses than a similar kiss to a boy or girl friend at the age of 20.

1.According to the passage, the feeling of happiness ________.

A.is determined partly by genes              B.increases gradually with age

C.has little to do with wealth                 D.is measured by desires

2.Some actors would like to accept poorly-paid jobs because the jobs_____.

A.make them feel much better               B.provide chances to make friends

C.improve their social position               D.satisfy their professional interests

3.Aged people are more likely to feel happy because they are more______.

A.optimistic         B.successful         C.practical          D.emotional

4.Professor Alex Michalos found that people feel less happy if _______.

A.the gap between reality and desire is bigger

B.they have a stronger desire for friendship

C.their income is below their expectation

D.the hope for good health is greater

 

It’s true that quite a few most respected scientific authorities have confirmed that the world is becoming hotter and hotter. There’s also strong evidence that humans are contributing to the warming. Countless recent reports have proved the same thing. For instance, a 2010 summary about the climate science by the Royal Society noted that: “The global warming over the last half-century has been caused mainly by human activity.”

You may not believe that humans could change the planet’s climate, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, billions of tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere because of human activity. As has been known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible (看不见的) blanket.

Of course, the earth’s climate has always been changing due to “natural” factors such as volcanic eruption or changes in solar, or cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific research, however, the warming observed by now matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build-up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere – not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.

Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming recorded so far, that would give birth to a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it: “If some newly discovered factor is to blame for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”

The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths – one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.

1.In most scientists’ opinion, the global warming is mainly caused by ________.

A.solar activity                           B.volcanic activity

C.natural factors                          D.human factors

2.The text is developed by ________.

A.giving typical examples

B.following the order of space

C.analyzing a theory and arguing it

D.comparing and finding differences

3.The underline word “identical” in the last paragraph probably means ________.

A.totally different                         B.exactly the same

C.extremely important                     D.partly independent

4.Which of the following is not the cause of climate change?

A.volcanic eruption

B.cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun

C.changes in solar

D.floods and droughts

5.Which of the following can be the best title?

A.Are All the Scientists Really Scientific?

B.Where Is Global Warming Leading Us to?

C.Are Humans Definitely Causing Global Warming?

D.What’s the Relation of Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases?

 

When I worked as a waitress in Chicago, US, my coworkers and I would sigh whenever we heard someone with a foreign accent coming into our restaurant. We knew what it meant to serve a non-American: no tip. We would work just as hard as we always did, but we might not get paid.

Americans have an unspoken rule about tipping: they give tips to almost everyone who offers them a service of some kind. Americans tip their waiters, barbers and taxi drivers. An appropriate tip is between 15 and 20 percent of the amount charged for the service (But the charge for the tip doesn’t appear on the bill. The customer is expected to add it himself/herself.) Tipping less than this sends a message to your waiters that you think they’ve done a bad job serving you. And to leave no tip at all is simply unacceptable.

It’s not that American waiters are greedy. In many countries, waiters are paid a salary for their work. They’ll earn money even if no one comes into the restaurant. This system offers much more safety for waiters than the American version. In the US, waiters know that a night without customers means a night without pay.

Some countries include a tip for waiters – a “service charge” – on the bill itself. Since the tip is included with the other charges, waiters don’t need to worry about people forgetting to tip. But in the US, waiters do not receive a salary, and service charges only appear on bills when there are six or more customers at the table.

Since almost all American customers are familiar with the system, they know to add a tip without being told. But visitors to the US may expect waiters to be paid a salary, or think that the tip is included on the bill.

So much as we waiters loved hearing stories about other places from our foreign customers, we were always nervous when they got ready to leave the restaurant. We were never sure what to expect.

1.If you order $200 worth of food, which of the following is a proper total payment?

A.$200             B.$215             C.$220             D.$230

2.Why don’t some foreigners tip a waiter according to the writer?.

A.because they are unfamiliar with the American tip system .

B.because they are too mean to give tips to any waiter.

C.because they have difficulty communicating with waiters.

D.because they are not really easy to become satisfied.

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A. The service charge never appear on the bill in the USA.

B. Customers are usually expected to tip waiters in the USA.

C. Dining out in other countries is much more expensive than in the USA.

D. Waiters in other countries earn much more money than those in the USA.

4.What is the main purpose of the passage?

A.To complain about the difficult life of American waiters.

B.To warn other waiters not to serve any foreign customer.

C.To call on foreign customers to leave tips for American waiters.

D.To tell us something about American waiters’ salary system.

 

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