If you were given a chance to choose your favorite life metaphor(比喻), what would it be? Do you agree with Forrest Gump’s mother that life is “a box of chocolates” because “you never know what you’re going to get”? Or do you prefer the phrase from the 1930’s song that “life is just a bowl of cherries(樱桃)”? Though simply stated, each conveys a very different view. A “box” implies mystery, because we don’t know what is in a closed box. Meanwhile, a “bowl” of cherries is completely in view.

For many centuries, the metaphor of life that probably burst into most people’s mind was the one suggested by Shakespeare: “All of life is a stage…” On that stage, we take seven roles. More recently, psychologist Erik Erikson took up the idea of life as a stage. Erikson regarded development as a “powerful unfolding” in which we are driven from one stage to the next as our bodies, minds, and social roles develop.

Stage metaphors fit with many of our common-sense ideas about change, but the problem with the stage metaphor is that it isn’t particularly accurate. None of the studies that try to clarify the universality of adult life stages actually studied people as they developed over time. All of them were based on performances of their samples(样本) at one point in time. People’s actual lives don’t fit into these stage metaphors. They don’t automatically transform when people reach a certain age. Instead, people’s real lives are messy, unpredictable, and full of surprises.

Today, I’d like to focus on an even longer study, an 80-year study which is the subject of a recent book by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. Their final chapter summarizes the “many changes of healthy and unhealthy pathways” that their participants took over the course of their lives. As I too discovered in my research, the pathway provides a perfect metaphor of human development. We don’t all go down the same road marked with the same signposts based on age. People travel through diverse routes as they track the years of adulthood. Friedman and Martin use health and long life as their measure; I’ve used sense of achievement. In both cases, we are in perfect agreement in evaluating development not according to age but “the key features of life”.

The paths that Friedman and Martin describe seize the changes that characterize people as they age. Some examples are “The High Road” (reliable, full of plans); “Not Easy Street” (exposed to high stress throughout life), “Catastrophe Lane” (a downwardly twisty life); “Happy Trails to You” (cheerful, sociable), “The Road to Resilience” (able to handle stress with a strong will). Though I haven’t yet been able to follow my participants for 80 years, I too saw some of these pathways among my samples: “The Minding Way” , “The Downward Slope” , “The Straight and Narrow Path” , and “The Successful Trail”.

The pathway metaphor gives you hope for changing the direction of your life if you are unhappy with it so far. You can’t stop the clock from ticking the minutes between one birthday and the next, but you can adjust the road that you’re on by changing yourself, your situation, or both.

1.The author introduces the topic of the passage in the first paragraph by ______.

A. making comparisons B. giving examples

C. describing scenes D. providing explanations

2.According to the passage, the “stage metaphor” ______.

A. leads to misunderstandings

B. is used in memory of Shakespeare

C. doesn’t exactly reflect one’s real life

D. hasn’t enough stages to clarify life changes

3.The author is convinced of the life metaphor Friedman and Martin suggest because she ______.

A. spent less time on her research B. has found their book a bestseller

C. considers their measure more scientific D. got a similar finding to theirs

4.When a person is facing difficulties bravely, which metaphor can best describe him?

A. “Not Easy Street” B. “Happy Trails to You”

C. “Catastrophe Lane” D. “The Road to Resilience”

5.What does the passage focus on?

A. The pathway as a perfect life metaphor.

B. Various views on life metaphors.

C. The stage as a common life metaphor.

D. Different kinds of life metaphors.

No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22, 1998.It was started to protect the environment. By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day.

The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001.Other cities, including Taipai, Shanghai and Wuhan, also support the day.

In Beijing, more and more people are joining the campaign(运动). It asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5 (World Environment Day). The slogan for the day is, “If we drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day.”

So far, more than 200,000 drivers have shown their support. “We can’t control the weather, but we can choose not to drive,” said Wu Zonghua, a car club chairman. Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year. In the first quarter of 2012, Beijing only had 52 blue sky days. This was 11 days less than the number for the same period the year before. Much of the dust(灰尘) comes from the desert, but cars cause most of the air pollution. We must do more for No Car Day.

1.The first No Car Day fell on _______.

A.February 2nd B.June 5th C.September 22nd

2._______ was the first city to have No Car Day in China.

A.Beijing B.Chengdu C.Shanghai

3.What does the underlined word “slogan” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.目的 B.原因 C.口号

4.How many blue sky days did Beijing have in the first quarter of 2011?

A.63. B.52. C.41.

5.Which of the following statements is True?

A.China is the first country to start No Car Day.

B.Much of the dust in the air comes from cars.

C.No Car Day has been supported by over 1,000 cities around the world so far.

From the health point of view we are living in an amazing age. We are free from many of the most dangerous diseases. A large number of once deadly illnesses can now be cured by modern medicine. It is almost certain that one day medicines will be found for the most stubborn remaining diseases. The expectation of life has increased greatly. But though the possibility of living a long and happy life is greater than ever before, every day we witness the unbelievable killing of men, women and children on the roads. Man VS the motor car! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing. Thousands of people the world over are killed or horribly killed each year and we are quietly sitting back and letting it happen.

It has been rightly said that when a man is sitting behind a steering wheel (方向盘), his car becomes the extension of his personality. There is no doubt that the motor-car often brings out a man’s very worst qualities. People who are normally quiet and pleasant may become unrecognizable when they are behind a steering-wheel. They say, they are ill-mannered and aggressive, willful as two-year-olds and completely selfish. All their hidden angers and disappointments seem to be brought to the surface by the act of driving.

The surprising thing is that society smiles so gently on the motorist and seems to forgive his behavior. Everything is done for his convenience. Cities are allowed to become almost uninhabitable because of heavy traffic; towns are made ugly by huge car parks; the countryside is ruined by road networks; and the deaths become nothing more than a number every year, to be easily forgotten.

It is high time a world rule was created to reduce this senseless waste of human life. With regard to driving, the laws of some countries are unbelievably lax (不严格) and even the strictest are not strict enough. A rule which was universally accepted could only have an obviously beneficial effect on the accident rate. Here are a few examples of some of the things that might be done. The driving test should be standardized and made far more difficult than it is; all the drivers should be made to take a test every three years or so; the age at which young people are allowed to drive any vehicle should be raised to at least 21; all vehicles should be put through strict tests for safety each year. Even the smallest amount of alcohol in the blood can damage a person’s driving ability. Present drinking and driving laws ( where they exist) should be made much stricter. Speed limits should be required on all roads. Governments should lay down safety specifications for car factories, as has been done in the USA. All advertising stressing power and performance should be banned. These measures may not sound good enough. But surely nothing should be considered as too severe if it results in reducing the number of deaths. After all, the world is for human beings, not motor-cars.

1.What is the main idea of this passage?

A. Traffic accidents are mainly caused by motorists.

B. Thousands of people the world over are killed each year.

C. The laws of some countries about driving are not lax.

D. Only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents.

2.What does the author think of society toward motorists?

A. Society laughs at the motorists.

B. Huge car parks are built in the cities and towns.

C. Victims of accidents are nothing.

D. Society forgives their rude driving.

3.What does the author mean by saying “ his car becomes the extension of his personality” in Paragraph 2?

A. Driving can show his hidden qualities.

B. Driving can show the other part of his personality.

C. Driving can bring out his characters.

D. Driving can represent his manners.

4.Which of the followings is NOT mentioned as a way against traffic accidents?

A. Build more highways.

B. Stricter drivin tests.

C. Test drivers every three years.

D. Raise age limit and lay down safety specifications.

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