I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my adult-education classes. He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice. The first time he had lost his five-year-old daughter. He and his wife thought they couldn’t bear that first loss; but, as he said, “Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days.”

This double bereavement was almost too much to bear. “I couldn’t take it,” this father told us. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, rest or relax. My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone.” At last he went to the doctors: one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped. He said, “My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice(大钳子), and the jaws of the vice were being drawn tighter and tighter.” The tension of grief(悲伤) --- if you have ever been paralyzed(使瘫痪) by sorrow, you know what the meant.

“But thank God, I had one child left --- a four-year-old son. He gave me the solution to the problem. One afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, ‘Daddy, will you build a boat for me?’ I was in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything. But my son is a persistent fellow! I had to give in. Building that toy boat took me about three hours. By the time it was finished, I realized that those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months! I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and thinking. In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring. So I determined to keep busy.”

“The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done. Scores of items needed to be repaired. Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention. During the last two years I have completed most of them. I am so busy now that I have no time for worry.”

No time for worry! That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hours a day at the height of the war. When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, “I am too busy. I have no time for worry.”

The underlined word “bereavement” in the second paragraph refers to _________.

A. having lost a loved one

B. having lost a valuable article

C. having lost a profit-making business

D. having lost a well-paid job

Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because _________.

A. he couldn’t earn enough money to support his family

B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease

C. he couldn’t get out of mental pressure

D. he felt tired of adult-education classes

Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because _________.

A. he hadn’t been able to spare time to mend them

B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them

C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention

D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind

At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to ________.

A. prove that he followed Churchill’s example

B. support his student’s solution to his problem

C. show that he was successful in his career

D. make it clear how his conclusion was reached

We already know the fastest, least expensive way to slow climate change: Use less energy. With a little effort, and not much money, most of us could reduce our energy diets by 25 percent or more—doing the Earth a favor while also helping our wallets. 

Not long ago, my wife, PJ, and I tried a new diet—not to lose a little weight but to answer an annoying question about climate change. Scientists have reported recently that the world is bending up even faster than predicted only a few years ago, and that the consequences could be severe if we don’t keep reducing emissions(排放)of carbon dioxide(CO2)and other greenhouse gases that are trapping heat in our atmosphere.  21世纪We decided to try an experiment. For one month we recorded our personal emissions of CO2. . We wanted to see how much we could cut back, so we went on a strict diet. The average US household(家庭)produces about 150 pounds of CO2 a day by doing common-place things like turning on air-conditioning or driving cars. That’s more than twice the European average and almost five times the global average, mostly because Americans drive more and have bigger houses. But how much should we try to reduce? For an answer, I checked with Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In his book, he had challenged readers to make deep cuts in personal emissions to keep the world from reaching extremely important tipping points, such as the melting(融化)of the ice sheets in Greenland or West Antarctica. “To stay below that point, we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent,” he said. 

Good advice, I thought. I’d opened our bedroom windows to let in the wind. We’d gotten so used to keeping our air-conditioning going around the clock. I’d almost forgotten the windows even opened. We should not let this happen again. It’s time for us to change our habits if necessary. 

Why did the author and his wife try a new diet?

A. To take special kinds of food          B. To respond to climate change. 

C. To lose weight                      D. To improve their health

The underlined words “tipping points” most probably refer to  .

A. freezing points       B. burning points       C. melting points     D. boiling points

It can be inferred from the passage that 2___.   ..

A. it is necessary to keep the air-conditioning on all the time ..

B. it seems possible for every household to cut emissions of CO2

C. the average US household produces about 3,000 pounds of CO2 a month.

D. the average European household produces about 1,000 pounds of CO2 a month.

Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

 A. Saving Energy Starts at Home         B. Changing Our Habits Begins at work

 C. Changing Climate Sounds Reasonable  D. Reducing Emissions of CO2 Proves Difficult     

Ants have a reputation for strength,organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.
A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting therough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp youn teeth do this job effectively,but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.
But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group,the ageing ants are given a new role more suyted to their physical abilities.They become carriers and teansport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.
The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research showin the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率)of is workers.
“Cuting leaves is hard work,”said Dr.Robert Schofield,who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片)between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that,because of this age-related wear,a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as largre animals.
Like humans,leaf-cuttre ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worhwhile contribution to society.“This study shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with,”said Dr.Schofield.
【小题1】The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because      .

A.they can teansport the leaves effectively
B.they have a sharp blade to cut leaves
C.other members are busy with other work
D.they can finish the job in a better organized way
【小题2】The undrelined word“blunt”in the second paragraph can be replaced by      .
A.quite looseB.less sharp
C.quite fragileD.more dirty
【小题3】What happens to the ants when they become old?
A.They no longer hve work to do.
B.They keep doing the same work.
C.They have to leave and live on themselves.
D.They are given a new worthwhile job.
【小题4】It can be learned from the passage that       .
A.Dr.Schofield is the first to research leaf-cuttre ants
B.older ants are more powerful in carrying leaves
C.large animals can also suffer from some kind of wear
D.leaf-cutter ants are the most lever ants in the world
【小题5】What can be the best title for the passage?
A.The key secret to the success of ants
B.The developed structure of ant colony
C.The most challenging job for leaf-cutter ants
D.No V-shaped blade,no success of ants

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