Obviously!

Until Descartes came along in the seventeenth century, everyone assumed that we exited. Obviously. The fact seemed so mind-blowing obvious that it wasn’t really discussed. We could see ourselves in the mirror, we could feel pain and pleasure, we could think thoughts for ourselves and, more importantly, perhaps, all the world’s main religions assumed that we do exist. So we exist.

No you don’t it!

You don’t exist. That’s because it’s impossible to show once and for all that you do. There’s no proof. You might think you exist-that you are sitting at a table reading this book, for instance-but how could you show with 100 percent certainty that this is true? There’s no experiment that could prove it. Although Descartes said just you could prove your own existence by the fact that you are able to think, this isn’t actually, according to the British philosopher A. J. Ayer. Just because we know that we are thinking, this doesn’t mean that there is a “you” doing the thinking. It just shows that the thoughts are happening, not that anyone is having them. Thoughts exists, “You” don’t.

_____________!

What a waste of time this question is. Although you can argue until the end of time whether you exist or not, it doesn’t get you anywhere. Unless you forget about this unanswerable question, you’ll be stuck thinking about it forever, and that isn’t of any use to anyone. Move on. Think about something more important! This very roughly, is the view of almost all philosophers, who prefer to answer other, apparently more useful, questions.

Yes, but…

You exist, but not in the way you might think. According to the great French philosopher Ren Descartes, you can’t show that anything exists—apart from your own self. The existence of the entire world can be doubted in one way or another, but the facts you’re having thoughts shows that there might be something (that’s you) having them. This let Descartes to write the famous philosophical phrase, “ I think before I am”.

1.Which of the following can be the missing heading?

A. Forget about it B. What a ridiculous point

C. Think about it D. What a pointless question

2.This passage is anything but a(n)___________.

A. comment B. discussion

C. argument D. debate

3.The famous answer to the question “Do I exist?” is ___________.

A. No, you don’t exist.

B. I think, therefore, I am.

C. Yes, you do exist.

D. It won’t get you anywhere

Long, long ago, in a dense forest there were thousands of tall and beautiful trees. They were happy, but____ of themselves. Among them there also a(an) ____ tree whose branches were badly twisted. All the trees made ______ of that ugly tree.

“How are you, hunchback?” the other ____ always shouted and their laughter made the ugly tree ____. The ugly tree thought, “I wish I were as ____ as the other trees. Why did God do this to me? Neither can I provide shade to the travelers. Nor can the ____ make their nests on me. Nobody needs me.”

One day, a woodcutter came to the____. He took a look at the trees and said, “These trees are lovely. I must ____ them.” As soon as he picked up his axe, the trees became ____. “Chop, Chop, Chop” went the woodcutter’s axe and one by one the trees started to fall.

“None of us is going to ____,” screamed one of the beautiful trees.

But when the woodcutter came near to the ugly tree. He had just raised his axe when suddenly he noticed how ____ the ugly tree was. “Hmm! This crooked tree seems to no ____ to me.”, he thought. Then he moved towards another beautiful tree. The ugly tree breathed a huge sigh of ____. He realized that by making him ugly, God had actually given him a boon. From that day on, the ugly tree never ____. He was happy with his crooked branches. He never forgot how he had escaped from the woodcutter’s axe, only because he was crooked and ugly.

1.A. proud B. short C. tired D. full

2.A. strong B. ugly C. thin D. straight

3.A. light B. fun C. sense D. use

4.A. directions B. persons C. trees D. animals

5.A. surprised B. angry C. sad D. moved

6.A. short B. long C. hard D. beautiful

7.A. fish B. pets C. hens D. birds

8.A. forest B. shop C. office D. hospital

9.A. cut B. put C. bring D. take

10.A. puzzled B. frightened C. amused D. satisfied

11.A. appear B. escape C. remove D. lie

12.A. soft B. flexible C. bent D. tall

13.A. doubt B. harm C. use D. way

14.A. desperation B. anger C. sorrow D. relief

15.A. complained B. grew C. spoke D. Waited

With her pretty face and soulful voice, Zhang Bichen was instantly thought a possible champion when she first set foot on the stage of the TV show The Voice of China.

On Oct 7, 2014, the 25-year-old girl won the fierce competition and received the title of the “Voice of the Year”. Zhang’s dream of being a singer star came true at last. What impressed people was not only Zhang’s singing skills, but her willingness to make an effort. “I gained the opportunity to sing on The Voice of China,” she said.

In fact, being a singer has always been her dream. She wanted to apply to a college for singing, but her parents insisted that she should have a stable job after graduation because she did very well at academic studies. So Zhang gave in to her parents and learned French at university. However, in the first year of her college, she was discovered by a South Korean company when she entered a singing competition. To pursue her dream, Zhang signed a contract with the company, started her career in South Korea, and became a member of a band.

“My company had rules that did not allow us to use cell phones. During the first few months after I arrived in South Korea, a totally unfamiliar country, I felt terribly homesick. But I could only phone my parents in the restroom when nobody noticed.” said Zhang. “When I did not have much income, I had to eat instant noodles every day for months.”

It was her positive attitude and outgoing character that helped her through. “When I feel down, I tell myself it is not winning or losing that matters. The most important things are standing on the stage and singing for people.” she said.

1.On October 7, 2014, Zhang Bichen ________.

A. won the championship of The Voice of China

B. signed a contract with a big company

C. first set foot on the Chinese stage

D. was successful in her study

2.The reason why Zhang learned French at university is that _______.

A. she is good at French

B. French is popular in the world

C. it is easy for her to find a stable job

D. she can realize her dream

3.What is the main idea of the last two paragraphs?.

A. The company in South Korea has strict rules.

B. Zhang’s road to success isn’t easy.

C. Zhang always lives a simple life in South Korea.

D. Zhang has an outgoing character.

CANYOUIMAGINEHOWHARDITWOULDBETOREADSENTENCESLIKETHIS? Every one of us gets so used to punctuation marks that not many of us give them a second thought. Actually, the ancient Greeks wrote this way. The lack of punctuation marks probably didn’t bother good readers, though. As they read, they just put pauses where they fit best. Also at this time, sentences switched directions. A sentence read from left to right. The next one read right to left, and then left to right again, etc. The ancient Romans sometimes punctuated like this: They • put • something • that • can • separate • words • in • a • sentence. The word punctuation actually comes from this idea and the Latin word punctum, which means a dot.

When the 5th century arrived, there were just two punctuation marks: spaces and points. The spaces separated words while the points showed pauses in reading. Then in the 13th century, a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation. He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence. He used a slash (/) to indicate a short pause. Over time, that slash was shortened and curled, and it became the modern comma (逗号).

Since that time, other marks have enlarged the punctuation family. The exclamation mark (感叹号) comes from the Latin word io. It means “exclamation of joy.” The question mark originally started out as the Latin word questio, meaning question. Eventually, scholars put it at the end of a sentence to show a question.

Punctuation even keeps changing nowadays. New marks are coming into existence, and old punctuation marks are used in new ways. Take for example the “interrobang”. This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both. For example, “She did what?” or “How much did you pay for that dress?” Obviously, the interrobang is not widely used or recognized yet, but its invention shows that English is not yet finished with its punctuation.

1.From the first paragraph, we can know that _______.

A. good readers had trouble reading without punctuation marks

B. a sentence always read from left to right in ancient Greece

C. ancient Greeks switched the direction of punctuation marks

D. the use of punctuation marks can date back to ancient times

2. The passage is developed _______.

A. by time B. by space

C. by comparison D. by importance

3. We can learn from the passage that _______.

A. ancient Romans didn’t use any punctuation marks

B. exclamation and question marks came from Latin

C. spaces and slashes were already used before the 5th century

D. Aldus Manutius first started to use commas

4. What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

A. The combination of two marks will not work.

B. It takes time for people to accept new punctuation marks.

C. Old punctuation marks need to be standardized.

D. Punctuation marks are still changing today.

A

“Cool”is a word with many meanings.Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold.As the world has changed,the word has had many different meanings.

“Cool”can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything.

When you see a famous car in the street,maybe you will say,“It'cold.”You may think,“He's so cool,” when you See your favorite footballer.

We all maximize(扩大) the meaning of“cool”.You can use it instead of many words such as“new” or ”surprising”.Here's an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used.A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall(瀑布)they had visited.On onestudent's paper was just the one sentence,“It's so cool.”Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt.

But the story also shows a scarcity(缺乏)of words.Without “cool”, some people have no words to show the same meaning.So it is quite important to keep some credibility(可信性).Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word“cool”? I can.And I think they are also very cool.

1.We know that the word“cool” has had

A.many different meanings

B.no meanings

C.only one meaning

D.the same meaning

2.If you are——something, you may say,“It's cool.”

A.afraid of

B.angry about

C.interested in

D.unhappy with

3.The writer takes all example to show he is——the way the word is used.

A.pleased with

B.worried about

C.interested in

D.careful with

4.In the last paragraph,the writer suggests that the word“cool”

A.can be used instead of many words

B.usually means something interesting

C.can make your life colorful

D.may not be as cool as it seem

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网