The story began with a young mother who had three sons. Unfortunately, the youngest son developed slow thinking skills, not having the intelligence of his brothers.

With double duty as the mother of the household, she was exhausted, so that the youngest was often the target of anger and annoyance. Bad words, such as “you little fool” and the like, served as a daily meal for the youngest.

The words and curses he got from the mother and ridicule from friends convinced him that he was distressing and embarrassing his family. Every morning he woke up with his own face staring from the mirror reflection, he started to say quietly and sadly, “The fool is going to school.”

As adult citizens, there was compulsory military service which should be lived. Thus, the youngest son also signed up and started to follow the various tests: a medical, physical ability test and other tests. On the day of the announcement, he was called into the board of examiners.

In his mind, he convinced himself that he was the fool and couldn’t pass the tests this time as he entered the room with his head down. It was not expected at all. The tests turned out to have the highest praise from the board of examiners.

“Congratulations, young man! Your test results are incredible! You are really a great and talented young man. ”Words from the board of examiners became the discovery of a new side of himself that was not known in advance. Voice kept echoing in his mind, such as “I, the great man, am in the shower”, “The great man washes his face”, “The talented young man again brushes his teeth” and so on. Confidence and improved self-image came beyond usual.

20 years later, the youngest established himself as a successful businessman who was admired and respected, and received many awards.

The mindset and belief are the power behind the success that is within us. Whatever we think and believe in or minds continuously, it will eventually materialize in reality. That’s the universally applicable law.

1.Why was the youngest often scolded by his mother?

A. He was not as clever as his brothers.

B. He considered himself to be a fool.

C. He didn’t behave himself at school.

D. He didn’t cook meals for his mother.

2.From the story we know that the young mother is ____.

A. selfish and lazy

B. gentle and caring

C. ill-tempered and impatient

D. kind-hearted and diligent

3.What happened to the youngest son later on?

A. He received aid from others.

B. He became an admirable psychologist.

C. He became confident and successful.

D. He developed strange mental diseases.

4.From this passage, the author tells us that____.

A. military service can change a person completely

B. mothers’ attitude toward children is important

C. even a fool can become a successful businessman

D. think big and you will get big results

Pango was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were not unhappy. After all, their forefathers had lived in the same way for centuries.

Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people elsewhere who liked to eat frog’s legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, and so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.

This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was catch them. Agreement was reached, and the children were sent into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck arrived to collect the catch and hand over the money. For the first time, the people were able to dream of a better future. But the dream didn’t last long.

The change was hardly noticed at first, but it seemed as if the crops were not doing so well. More worrying was that the children fell ill more often, and, there seemed to be more insects around lately.

The villagers decided that they couldn’t just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money earned to buy pesticides (杀虫剂)and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

Then the people realized what was happening. It was the frog. They hadn’t been useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing more rapidly. They were damaging the crops and spreading diseases.

Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

1.From Paragraph 1 we learn that the villagers ________.

A. worked very hard for centuries

B. dreamed of having a better life

C. were poor but somewhat content

D. lived a different life from their forefathers

2.Why did the villagers agree to sell frogs?

A. The frogs were easy money.

B. They needed money to buy visitors.

C. They wanted to please the visitors.

D. The frogs made too much noise.

3.What might be the cause of the children’s sickness?

A. The crops didn’t do well.

B. There were too many insects.

C. The visitors brought in diseases.

D. The pesticides were overused.

4.What can we infer from the last sentence of the text?

A. Happiness comes from peaceful life in the country.

B. Health is more important than money.

C. The harmony between man and nature is important.

D. Good old days will never be forgotten.

A device that stops drivers from falling asleep at the wheel is about to undergo testing at Department of Transport laboratories and could go on sale within 12 months.

The system,called driver Alert,aims to reduce deadly road accidents by 20%—40% that are caused by tiredness.Airline pilots can also use it to reduce the 30% of all pilot-error accidents that are related to fatigue.

Driver Alert is based on a computerized wristband.The device,worn by drivers or pilots gives out a sound about every four minutes during a car journey.After each sound the driver must respond by squeezing the steering wheel(方向盘).A sensor in the wristband detects this pressing action and measures the time between the sound and the driver’s response.

Tiredness is directly related to a driver’s response time.Usually,a watchful driver would take about 400 milliseconds to respond,but once that falls to more than 500 milliseconds,it suggests that the driver is getting sleepy.

In such cases the device gives out more regular and louder sounds,showing that the driver should open a window or stop for a rest.If the driver’s response continues to slow down,the sounds become more frequent until a nonstop alarm warms that the driver must stop as soon as possible.

The device has been delivered to the department’s laboratories for testing.If these tests,scheduled for six months’ time,are successful,the markers will bring the product to market within about a year.

【小题】According to the text,Driver Alert ______.

A.aims to reduce tiredness-related accidents

B.has gone through testing at laboratories

C.aims to prevent drivers from sleeping

D.has been on sale for 12 months

【小题】How should a driver respond to the sounds from Driver Alert?

A.By sounding a warning

B.By touching the wristband

C.By checking the driving time

D.By pressing the steering wheel

【小题】We can learn from the text that the driver needs to stop for a break when his response time is ______.

A.About 400 milliseconds

B.below 500 milliseconds

C.over 500 milliseconds

D.about 400 minutes

【小题】When the driver gets sleepy while driving,Driver Alert ______.

A.moves more regularly

B.stops working properly

C.opens the window for the driver

D.sounds more frequently and loudly

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