Jeanne Calment, a French woman, became a record breaker on 17 October, 1995, when at the age of 120 years and 238 days, she became the longest-lived human being on record. A Japanese man died in 1986 at the age of 120 years and 237 days.

   Jeanne Calment lives in a small old people’s home in the south of France; her husband, her only child and her grandson have all died. She is nearly blind and deaf and is always in a wheelchair, but her doctor describes her as being more like a 90-year-old woman in good health than someone of 120. She still has a lively sense of humor. When asked on her 120th birthday what she expected of the future, she replied: A very short one. She also remarked that she thought the good Lord had forgotten all about her.

   So what is the key to a long life? According to some doctors, diet, exercise and no smoking are the three important factors. Jeanne Calment has followed two of the tips. She has always eaten a healthy diet, and she used to do exercise every day until she broke her leg at the age of 115. However, until recently she drank two glasses of strong red wine a day, and she does smoke (now only a little). Besides, Jeanne Calment might have got very good genes from her parents. Her father lived to the age of 94 and her mother to 86.

A local lawyer bought her house when she was 80 under an agreement that he would pay her some money every year until her death. It must have seemed a good move at the time, but so far the lawyer has paid her at least three times the value of the house. Every year on her birthday, Jeanne Calment sends him a card saying: Sorry, I’m still alive!

How does Jeanne Calment feel about her old age?

   A. She is miserable and unhappy.          B. She is cheerful and humorous.

   C. She would like to live much younger.    D. She feels she is going to die very soon.

We can owe her good health and long life to _______.

   A. smoking only a little every day

   B. her giving up smoking and drinking

   C. drinking two glasses of strong red wine every day

   D. the good genes from her parents, a healthy diet and some exercise

Which of the following word could best replace the word “move” in the fourth paragraph?

   A. deal             B. trick             C. march             D. sport

Why does Jeanne Calment say “Sorry, I’m still alive” to the lawyer every year on her birthday?

   A. Because she had an agreement at 80 with the lawyer which was to her advantage.

   B. Because she has asked the lawyer to pay her more rent than they first agreed.

   C. Because the lawyer has paid her much more money than the value of the house.

   D. Because the house she sold to the lawyer is worth the money he has already paid.

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A

Many years ago my student asked me the question, "Mrs. Kindred, why do you teach?" Without taking time to reflect, I answered, "Because someday I might say something that might make a difference in someone's life." Even though I was sincere, that wasn't a very good answer and my student didn't let it slide.

"Let me get this straight," he said, "You went to college for four years so you could come here every day because you have the hope that someday you might say something that will influence someone?" He shook his head as if I were crazy and walked away looking confused. I'm one of those people who look back and wish they had said something smart or witty, or swift.

Even though that particular student might no longer wonder why I teach, there are days when I wonder. On those days, I remind myself of the real reasons I teach:

It's in my blood. My mother was my most influential teacher, and she was a 6th grade reading teacher until her death in 1990. She instilled(逐渐灌输) in me a love of reading and the knowledge that education opens doors.

Teaching is a way to make a difference. If you throw a stone in a pond the ripples go on and on until they reach the shore. You can't have ripples without a "stone." Good teachers throw stones that make a positive difference, and that's what I strive to do.

I genuinely love teenagers.

I want to share with others what I know and what I have learned through the years. Life is full of ups and downs, and if I can help students avoid some potholes on the road of life, I want to do so. If they'll allow me to celebrate their victories with them, I want to do too.

Teaching isn't for everyone, but I know I made the right career choice.

41. Why did the student continue to ask the question about the writer’s being a teacher?

  A. Because he thought her answer was unbelievable.

  B. Because the writer was insincere.

  C. Because the student was naughty.

  D. Because the answer was difficult to understand.

42. What do you think of the writer?

  A. Stupid.                       B. Honest.                    C. Conservative.                   D. Polite.

43. According to the text, which of the following is NOT true?

  A. The writer’s mother has the greatest influence on her.

  B. The writer’s answer made the student confused.

  C. In the writer’s opinion, some people in the world are unfit to teach.

  D. The writer annoyed the student who asked the question.

44. We can infer from the text that _________.

  A. the writer was also a good teacher in school

  B. the writer often plays with her students beside a pond

  C. the writer devotes herself to teaching and her students

  D. the writer often accompanies the students on their way home

45. What’s the main idea of the text?

  A. A student’s silly question.                                 B. A good teacher who likes students.

  C. A confused student.                                          D. The reason why I teach.

There is a wonderful story about a young girl who had no family and no one to love her.

One day, feeling very sad and lonely, she was walking through a grassland when she noticed a small butterfly caught in a thorn(荆棘)bush. The young girl carefully released the butterfly. Instead of flying away, the little butterfly changed into a beautiful fairy. The young girl rubbed her eyes in disbelief.

“For your wonderful kindness,” the good fairy said to the girl, “I will give you any wish you would like.” The little girl thought for a moment and then replied, “I want to be happy.”

The fairy leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. Then the fairy disappeared.

As the little girl grew up, there was no one in the land as happy as she. Everyone asked her secret of happiness. She would only smile and answer, “The secret of my happiness is that I listened to a good fairy when I was a little girl.”

When she was very old and on her deathbed, the neighbors all gathered around her, that her unbelievable secret of happiness would die with her. “Tell us, please,” they begged, “Tell us what the good fairy said.” The lovely old woman simply smiled and said, “She told me that everyone, no matter how secure they seemed, no matter how old or young, how rich or poor, had need of me.”

1. ______ the girl felt sad and lonely.

A.There were many friends but

B.There was nobody to love her so

C.There was nothing to do

D.Seeing the butterfly was caught

2. Noticing the butterfly was caught by the thorn, the orphan girl ______.

A.helped the butterfly escaped from the thorn

B.felt sorrow, but she didn ‘t go up to help it

C.fell down on it too

D.failed to help it release from the thorn

3. The only thing that the little girl wanted was________.

A.to be rich

B.to have her own parents

C.to have a lot of friends

D.happiness

4. The neighbors all gathered around the old happy woman when she was dying, because ______.

A.they loved this woman deeply and they didn‘t wanted her to die

B.the woman had lots of money to be shared as soon as she died

C.they wanted to know the secret of her lifetime happiness

D.they wanted to pray for her after her death

 

When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon (丝带)around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.

Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio(小儿麻痹症)at the age of seven. Her spine (脊柱)became bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but noting was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.

In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.

Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953. For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last.

1.What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?

A.a far better artist                        B.a much more famous person

C.a much stronger person                  D.a far more gifted artist

2.The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by        .

A.back injuries       B.her bent spine      C.polio             D.the operations she had

3.Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the          .

A.1930s            B.1970s            C.1950s            D.1940s

4.What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?

A.Devotion          B.Encouragement     C.Worry            D.Sympathy(同情)

 

Four people in England back in 1953, stared at Photo 51,It wasn’t much—a picture showing a black X. But three of these people won the Nobel Prize for figuring out what the photo really showed –the shape of DNA The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. The fourth, the one who actually made the picture, was left out.

Her name was Rosalind Franklin.”She should have been up there,” says historian Mary Bowden.” If her photos hadn’t been there, the others couldn’t have come up with the structure.” One reason Franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the Nobel decision. But now scholars doubt that Franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competitors

At Cambridge University in the 1950s, Watson and Click tried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA’s parts and then putting them together. In the meantime, at King’s College in London, Franklin and Wilkins shone X-rays at the molecule(分子). The rays produced patterns reflection the shape.

But Wilkins and Franklin’s relationship was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of Watson and Crick, Wilkins thought Franklin was hired to be his assistant .But the college actually employed her to take over the DNA project.

What she did was produce X-ray pictures that told Watson and Crick that one of their early models was inside out. And she was not shy about saying so. That angered Watson, who attacked her in return, “Mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend. Clearly she had to  go or be put in her place.”

As Franklin’s competitors, Wilkins, Watson  and Crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers, says historian Pnina Abir-Am. In 1962 at the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony, Wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned Franklin, Watson wrote his book laughing at her. Crick wrote in 1974 that “Franklin was only two steps away  from the solution.”

No, Franklin was the solution. “She contributed more than any other player to solving the structure of  DNA . She must be considered a co-discoverer,” Abir-Am says. This was backed up by Aaron Klug, who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself. Once described as the “Dark Lady of DNA”, Franklin is finally coming into the light.

1.What is the text mainly about?

A. The disagreements among DNA researchers.

B. The unfair treatment of Franklin.

C. The process of discovering DNA.

D. The race between two teams of scientists.

2.Watson was angry with Franklin because she     .

A.took the lead in the competition            B.kept her results from him

C.proved some of his findings wrong          D.shared her data with other scientists

3.Why is Franklin described as “Dark Lady of DNA”?

A. She developed pictures in dark labs.

B. She discovered the  black X-the shape of DNA.

C. Her name was forgotten after her death.

D. Her contribution was unknown to the public.

4.What is the writer’s attitude toward Wilkins, Watson and Crick?

A.Disapproving.      B.Respectful.        C. Admiring.         D.Doubtful.

 

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