I recently turned fifty, which is young for a tree, midlife for an elephant, and ancient for a sportsman, Fifty is a nice number for the states in the US or for a national speed limit but it is not a number that I was prepared to have hung on me．Fifty is supposed to be my father's age．but now I am stuck with this number and everything it means．
A few days ago, a friend tried to cheer me up by saying, “Fifty is what forty used to be．”He had made an inspirational point, Am I over the hill? People keep telling me that the hill has been moved, and I keep telling them that he high-jump bar has dropped from the six feet I once easily cleared to the four feet that is impossible for me now．
“Your are not getting older, you are getting better．” says Dr．Joyce Brothers．This, however, is the kind of doctor who inspires a second opinion．
And so．as I approach the day when I cannot even jump over the tennis net．I am moves to share some thoughts on aging with you．I am moved to show how aging feels to me physically and mentally．Getting older．of course, is obviously a better change than the one that brings you eulogies(悼词)．In fact, a poet named Robert Browning considered it the best change of all：
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to me．
Whether or not Browning was right, most of my first fifty years have been golden ones, so I will settle for what is ahead being as good as what has gone by．I find myself moving toward what is ahead with a curious bleng(混合)of both fighting and accepting my aging, hoping that the philosopher(哲学家)was right when he said．”Old is always fifteen years from now．”
(1)
The author seems to tell us in Paragh I that ________
[ ]
A．
time alone will tell
B．
time goes by quickly
C．
time will show what is right
D．
time makes one forget the past
(2)
When the author turned fifty, people around him ________
[ ]
A．
tried to comfort him
B．
got inspiration with him
C．
were friendlier with him
D．
found him more talkative
(3)
The author considers his fifty years of life ________
Mike Ingram had been a guard on the Ohio State football team in the late 1950s．I believe he may have been captain in his senior year．He is a tough-looking guy, a hero in Columbus, a brave fighter in a red-and-gray uniform．
One holiday season Jack and I had been at the F & R Lazarus department store downtown, and we saw, carrying a tall pile of boxes, someone who clearly was working in the Lazarus stockroom(仓库)．It was Mike Ingram, post-Ohio State football player．
We stared－how could we help it?And Mike Ingram stopped in his track, looked right back at us, and said, with bite in his tone：“Yeah, it’s me．”Meaning：Go ahead and stare if you must．
Couldn’t really blame him．There was nothing wrong with what he was doing-he was earning some money in the stockroom．But he was out in the world now, he wasn’t where he had been when everything was bathed in sunlight; he was in Ohio Stadium, hearing the supporting shouts from 78,000 people who loved him and his teammates．He had moved past that first of life’s roles, as everyone does．It was his misfortune to have been famous very early; there must have been dozens and dozens of men in their twenties working in the Lazarus stockroom, but Mike Ingram was the one sure to attract curious passers, because he was no longer who he was supposed to be．
(1)
When the writer met him in Lazarus, Mike was a ________．
[ ]
A．
salesman
B．
manager
C．
laborer
D．
customer
(2)
By saying“how could we help it?”the writer means that ________．
[ ]
A．
he and his friend just can’t force themselves not to look at Mike
B．
he wonders whether he and his friend can help Mike
C．
he and his friend can’t stop looking at each other
D．
he and his friend can do nothing to stop Mike carrying the boxes
(3)
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
[ ]
A．
Mike used to be very popular when he played in the Ohio State football team．
B．
Many other people would stare at Mike like the writer when they run into him．
C．
Working as an ordinary worker, according to the writer, is Mike’s misfortune．
D．
Some people accept what life gives them．
(4)
We can infer from the passage that when Mike was stared at, he looked ________．
[ ]
A．
nice
B．
worried
C．
shy
D．
unhappy
阅读理解
Children’s Books：Hawking’s fact and fiction
George F．R．Ellis＆ Ruby
BOOK REVIEWED－George’s Secret Key to the Universe
by Lucy ＆ Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time was a huge commercial success．Its achievements in bringing difficult scientific ideas to a wide audience are not so clear．Now the distinguished physicist has teamed up with his daughter Lucy to produce a children’s book designed to communicate contemporary physics．Will it capture the attention of young minds and teach them some real science?Or will it be boring and over the heads of the prospective readers?
George’s Secret Key to the Universe is an adventure story complete with villains(反面人物)and hero and is illustrated with enjoyable line-drawings．It involves a lost pig, a humorously portrayed(描写)intelligent computer, school bullies and a trip through the Solar System．Didactic discussions on aspects of modern physics, such as supernova(超新星)explosions and black-hole physics are hung on this set-up．There are also fact boxes on physics and astronomy, and some photographs of astronomical phenomena：planets, comets, galaxies(星系)and so on．Overall, the book is a serious effort to convey facts and ideas in present day astronomy and astrophysics, within a science-fiction adventure story．
The mixture is great．Children love facts and adventure stories．The combination will catch their interest and keep them occupied for hours．After ten minutes of leafing through the book, my granddaughter Ruby was deeply absorbed and I had to promise to bring it back for her to read after I had completed my review．Like any educational tool, it will succeed for some and not for others．I suppose there should be more of the former．
(1)
Where do you think this passage is taken?
[ ]
A．
From a news story．
B．
From a textbook．
C．
From a book review．
D．
From an advertisement．
(2)
Which of the following books is mainly reviewed in this passage?
[ ]
A．
George’s Secret Key to the Universe
B．
A Brief History of Time
C．
The Nature of Space and Time
D．
Hawking’s fact and fiction
(3)
What is the author’s attitude towards the book being reviewed?
[ ]
A．
It will be less successful．
B．
It will be more successful．
C．
It will be a complete failure．
D．
It all depends on Ruby．
(4)
The underlined part “leafing through”(in the last paragraph)probably means ________．
[ ]
A．
adding leaves to
B．
throwing away
C．
tearing up
D．
turning pages of
阅读理解
Life isn't always easy at Michala R．'s house．Her little brother, Evan, has autism, a disorder that makes it difficult for him to communicate and control himself．In the past, Evan either wouldn't react when someone spoke his name, or he would get angry．
But things have changed since eight-year-old Evan started getting a new kind of medical treatment．“Evan doesn't behave unreasonably these days,”says Michala, age 12．“Now, if I call his name, he looks at me．He has learned to dress himself, and unlike before, he laughs and plays．”
Doctors wanted to find out whether the treatment that had worked so well for Evan could help other kids, too．When Michala heard her parents saying that the hospital needed ＄200,000 for autism research, she wanted to help．She started making bracelets(手镯)with colorful beads(珠子)．She sold them for ＄3 each．
Michala's relatives helped to sell her bracelets．But soon, word of the project spread, and suddenly it seemed as if everyone wanted to buy bracelets．So Michala started handing out sets of supplies so that others could help．Bracelet sales brought in lots of money, and Michala got some big cash donations, too．In just six months, she reached her goal of raising ＄200,000!The money made it possible for doctors to learn more about the treatment．
Michala appeared on national television to talk about her success, and the governor of Kentucky honored her with an award．Bracelet sales increased quickly．In addition to the first ＄200,000, Michala has raised ＄100,000 more．She's now working on a plan to support an autism center in her hometown．It's a big task, but Michala is confident．“If you know you can achieve your goal, then you will,”she says．
(1)
According to Paragraph 2, the new medical treatment Evan received was ________．
[ ]
A．
effective
B．
unsuccessful
C．
unnecessary
D．
free
(2)
How long did it take Michala to collect all the money for the hospital?
[ ]
A．
Three months．
B．
Half a year
C．
One year
D．
A year and a half
(3)
What do we know about Michala?
[ ]
A．
She has a hobby of collecting bracelets．
B．
She is setting up an autism center in her hometown．
C．
She has a strong sense of social responsibility．
D．
She prefers to achieve her goal without the help of others．
(4)
What's the author's purpose in writing the passage?
[ ]
A．
To introduce a new medical treatment
B．
To raise money for an autism patient．
C．
To let us know more about autism．
D．
To tell us an inspiring story
阅读理解
Children's Books：Hawking's fact and fiction
George F．R．Ellis& Ruby
BOOK REVIEWED-George's Secret Key to the Universe
by Lucy & Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time was a huge commercial success．Its achievements in bringing difficult scientific ideas to a wide audience are not so clear．Now the distinguished physicist has teamed up with his daughter Lucy to produce a children's book designed to communicate contemporary physics．Will it capture the attention of young minds and teach them some real science? Or will it be boring and over the heads of the prospective readers?
George's Secret Key to the Universe is an adventure story complete with villains and hero and is illustrated with enjoyable line-drawings．It involves a lost pig, a humorously portrayed intelligent computer, school bullies and a trip through the Solar System．Didactic discussions on aspects of modern physics, such as supernova explosions and black-hole physics are hung on this set-up．There are also fact boxes on physics and astronomy, and some photographs of astronomical phenomena：planets, comets, galaxies and so on．Overall, the book is a serious effort to convey facts and ideas in present day astronomy and astrophysics, within a science-fiction adventure story．
The mixture is great．Children love facts and adventure stories．The combination will catch their interest and keep them occupied for hours．After ten minutes of leafing through the book, my granddaughter Ruby was deeply absorbed and I had to promise to bring it back for her to read after I had completed my review．Like any educational tool, it will succeed for some and not for others．I suppose there should be more of the former．
(1)
Where do you think this passage is taken?
[ ]
A．
From a news story．
B．
From a textbook．
C．
From a book review．
D．
From an advertisement．
(2)
Which of the following books is mainly reviewed in this passage?
[ ]
A．
George's Secret Key to the Universe
B．
A Brief History of Time
C．
The Nature of Space and Time
D．
Hawking's fact and fiction
(3)
What is the author’s attitude towards the book being reviewed?
[ ]
A．
It will be less successful．
B．
It will be more successful．
C．
It will be a complete failure．
D．
It all depends on Ruby
(4)
The underlined word “leafing”(in the last paragraph)probably means ________．
[ ]
A．
adding leaves to a book
B．
throwing away a book
C．
tearing up a book
D．
turning pages of a book
阅读理解
To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely strory the Christians(基督教徒)ever cooked up．For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil(邪恶的)．So when Colu brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be eden, ever jumped to be the obvious conclusion．Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut o the door of Europeans．
What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake, a plant that was the to have come from Hell(地狱)．What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots w looked like a dried-up human body occupied by evil spirits．Tough the tomato and the man were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population consio them one and the same, to terrible to touch．
Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most of the We people continued to drag their feet．In the 1880s, the daughter of a well-known plant expert that the most interestinig part of an afternoon tea at her father's house had been the “introduction this wonderful new fruit-or is it a vegetable?”As late as the twentieth century some writers classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an”evil fruit”．
But in the end tomatoes carried the day．The hero of the tomato was an American named R Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820, people journeyed for hun of miles to watch him drop dead．”Wha are you afraid of?”he shouted．”I'll show you fools these things are good to eat!” Then he bit into the tomato．Some people fainted．But he sur and, according to a local story, set up a tomato-canning factory．
(1)
The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because ________．
[ ]
A．
it made Christive evil
B．
it was the apple of Eden
C．
it came from a forbidden land
D．
it was religiously unacceptable
(2)
What can we infer the underlined part in Paragraph 3?
[ ]
A．
The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down
B．
There was little pregress in the study of the tomato
C．
The tomato was still refused in most western countries
D．
Most western people continued to get rid of the tomato
(3)
What is the main reason for Robert Johnson to eat the tomato Publicly?
[ ]
A．
To manke imself a hero
B．
To remove people's fear of the tomaoto
C．
To speed up the popularityt of the tomato
D．
To persuade people to buy products fo\rom his factory
(4)
What is the main purpose of the passage?
[ ]
A．
To challenge people's fixed concept of the tomato
B．
To give an explanation to people's dislike of the tomato
C．
To present the change of people's attitudes to the tomato
D．
To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence
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