题目内容

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.

He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.

He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find something to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea.

At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.

While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.

Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”

No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.

Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”

Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”

“I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work. You seem to like it very much.”

“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”

Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,

“Tom, let me whitewash a little.”

Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.

“No, no, it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”

“No — is that so? Oh come, let me just try. Only just a little.”

“Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly ...”

“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. I’ll give you half of my apple.”

“Well, here — No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid ...”

“I’ll give you all of it.”

Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures. The fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.

He had discovered a great law of human action that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.

1.Why did Tom take all his bits of toys out of his pockets?

A. Because he was tired and wanted to play with his toys.

B. Because he wanted to exchange his toys with his friends.

C. Because he wanted to give his toys to his friends.

D. Because he wanted to know if he could buy help with his toys.

2. Tom was about to agree to let Ben whitewash when he changed his mind because ______.

A. Tom wanted to do the whitewashing himself

B. Tom planned to make Ben give up his apple first

C. Tom was unwilling to let Ben do the whitewashing

D. Tom was afraid Ben couldn’t do the whitewashing well.

3.We can learn from the passage that ______.

A. Tom was fond of whitewashing the fence

B. Tom had a lot of friends who were ready to help him

C. Tom managed to let other boys do the whitewashing for him

D. Tom was better at whitewashing the fence than others

4.Which of the following is the most suitable title for this passage?

A. The Happy Whitewasher

B. Tom And His Fellows

C. Whitewashing A Fence

D. How To Make Things Difficult To Get

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C Last year my summer holiday was spoiled by my bringing along a modern convenience that was too convenient for my own good: the iPad.Instead of looking at nature, I checked my e-mail.Instead of paddling a small boat, I followed my Twitter feed(推特简讯).Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading four newspapers each morning.I was behaving as if I were still in the office.My body was on vacation, but my head wasn’t.

So this year I made up my mind to try something different: withdrawal from the Internet.I knew it wouldn’t be easy, since I’m bad at self-control.But I was determined.I started by giving the iPad to my wife.

The cellphone signal at our house was worse than in the past, making my attempts at cheating an experience in frustration (沮丧).I was trapped, forced to go through with my plan.Largely breaking away from e-mail, Twitter and my favorite newspaper websites, I had few ways to connect to the world except for the radio—and how much radio can one listen to, really? I had to do what I had planned to do all along: read books.

This experience has had a happy ending.With determination and the strong support of my wife, I won in my vacation struggle against the Internet, realizing finally that it was I, not the iPad, that was the problem.I knew I had won when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi.“I don’t need it,” I said.

However, as we return to post-vacation life, a harder test begins: Can I continue when I’m back at work?

There are times when the need to know what’s being said right now is great.I have no intention of giving up my convenience completely.But I hope to resist the temptation to check my e-mail every five minutes, which leads to checking my Twitter feed and a website or two.

I think a vacation is supposed to help you rest your brain to become more productive.Here I hope this one worked.

1.What do we know about the author’s last summer vacation?

A.He was determined to enjoy the beautiful view.

B.His iPad ruined his plan of finishing a great novel.

C.He hated himself for acting as if he were working on vacation.

D.He felt satisfied that he had stuck to his usual timetable.

2.What did the author do to keep away from the Internet this year?

A.He cut off his cellphone signal.

B.He handed his iPad to his wife.

C.He refused to cheat in his house.

D.He listened to the radio most of the time.

3.When back at work, the author will probably choose to ________.

A.keep control of when and how to use the Internet

B.continue to road more and more books

C.stay away from the Internet for ever

D.stop checking what is being said right now completely

4.What is the author’s opinion of a great vacation in the passage?

A.A vacation is having nothing to do but read all day.

B.A vacation proves that a life of pleasure is overvalued.

C.A vacation means a change of pace to make one more creative.

D.A vacation is a period of time to do whatever one wishes to.

Shake Shack is a new kind of restaurant becoming more popular in the U S.The restaurants are not“fast food.”They are known as“fast casual.”

Observers say Americans want more choices and fresh food when choosing where and what to eat.This trend is one reason why the fast food restaurant McDonald’s has struggled financially.In the last quarter of 2014,McDonald’s net income dropped by about$300 million.The January earnings report brought more bad news.Worldwide sales dropped for the eighth month in a row and even more than expected.While McDonald’s is struggling to get their customers back,Shake Shack,is doing well in making money.The New York-based burger chain had a very successful IPO,or initial public offering,of shares at the end of January.On its first day of trading,Shake Shack went from$21 a share to just under$46 a share.Being part of the“fast casual”trend has helped Shake Shack.Other fast casual restaurants in the U.S.include Chipotle and Panera.

Bonnie Riggs,a restaurant expert with NPD has studied Americans’restaurant habits for almost 30 years.She says one reason why Americans like fast casual food is that it’s new.It is creative,it is something different and people like to try new things.Her study shows Americans made 61 billion visits to restaurants last year.Three out of four visits were to fast food restaurants,like McDonald’s.Fast casual is still a small percentage of restaurant visits,but it has developed fast.Just as Ms.Riggs says,“It’s growing by leaps and bounds,because they meet consumers’needs.They know it's being prepared while they wait,it’s fresh,quality food,good tasting food at what they say are reasonable and affordable prices.”

Many Americans still like their fast food.They just are not going as often.They are finding other ways to have a meal.

1.What is the trouble with McDonald’s?

A.Its share goes down to$21.

B.Shake Shack has taken its place.

C.It’s not popular with Americans.

D.Its sales and income have dropped.

2.We can learn from Bonnie Riggs that Americans____________.

A.1ike to try something new

B.care only about the quality

C.don’t like fast food any more

D.pay more restaurant visits to fast casual

3.What does the underlined phrase“by leaps and bounds”in Paragraph 3 mean?

A.Steadily. B.Rapidly.

C.Slowly. D.Normally.

4.Which of the following best describes fast casual?

A.Fresh-made and tasty.

B.High-quality and expensive.

C.Farm-to-table and traditional.

D.Time-consuming and special.

ELMONT, N. Y. (AP)---Elmont High School senior Harold Ekeh had a plan—he would apply to 13 colleges , including all eight Ivy League schools, figuring it would help his chances of getting into at least one great school.

It worked, And then some, The teenager from Long Island was accepted at all 13 schools, and now faces his next big test: deciding where to go.

“I was stunned, I was really shocked, ”Ekeh told The Associated Press during an interview Tuesday at his home near the Belmont Park racetrack, his four younger brothers running around.

He found out last week he had been accepted to Princeton University. That made him eight for eight in the Ivy League—he had already been accepted to Yale University , Brown University, Columbia University , Cornell University , Dartmouth College, Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania. His other acceptances came from Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Stony Brook University and Vanderbilt University.

“We are so proud of him, ” said his mother , Roseline Ekeh.“Hard work, dedication, prayer brought him to where he is today. ”

Born in Nigeria, Harold was eight years old when his parents brought the family to the United States.

“It was kind of difficult adjusting to the new environment and the new culture, ” he said. But he saw his parents working hard, “and I took their example and decides to apply myself

He referenced that effort in his college essay, writing, “Like a tree, uprooted and replanted, I could have withered in a new country surrounded by people and languages I did not understand. Yet, I witnessed my parents persevere despite the potential to give in. I faced my challenges with newfound zeal; I risked insults, spending my break talking to unfamiliar faces, ignoring their sarcastic remarks. ”

Harold “is tremendously focused in everything he does.” said John Capozzi, the school’s principal, “He’s a great role model. All the students and faculty are so proud of him. ”

Harold is the second Long Island student in as many years to get into all eight Ivies. Last year, William Floyd High School’s Kwasi Enim chose to go to Yale.

Harold, who has a 100. 51 grade-point average and wants to be a neurosurgeon, said he was leaning toward Yale, and had heard from Enin, offering congratulations. Like Enin, he’s likely to announce his college choice at a press conference later this month. The deadline to decide is May 1.

1.Which is closest in meaning to the underlined phrase“apply myself”?

A. Word hard. B. Write to the college.

C. Make a formal request. D. Make an adjustment.

2.Which of the following is true about Harold?

A. He was born into a Nigerian family in the US.

B. He planted a tree once he moved to the US,

C. He was always welcome and popular in his schools.

D. He paid a lot to make his way to offeres from all Ivies.

3.Harold is probably going to

A. Harvard B. Princeton C. Yale D. MIT

4.What can we infer from this passage?

A. Too many cooks spoil the soup.

B. He who laughs last laughs best.

C. One can kill two birds with one stone.

D. Chance favors only the prepared mind.

Are morning people born or made? In my case it was definitely made. In my early 20s, I hardly went to bed before midnight, and I would always get up late the next morning.

But after a while I couldn’t ignore the high relationship between success and rising early. On those rare occasions where I did get up early, I noticed that my productivity (效率) was always higher. So I set out to become a habitual early riser. But whenever my alarm went off, my first thought was always to stop that noise and go back to sleep. Eventually some sleep research showed that my strategy was wrong.

The most common wrong strategy is this: supposing you’re going to get up earlier, you’d better go to bed earlier. It sounds very reasonable, but will usually fail.

There are two main schools (流派) of thought on sleep patterns. One is that you should go to bed and get up at the same time every day. The second school says you should go to bed when you’re tired and get up when you naturally wake up. However, I have found both are wrong if you care about productivity. If you sleep at fixed hours, you’ll sometimes go to bed when you aren’t sleepy enough. You’re wasting time lying in bed awake.

My solution is to combine both methods. I go to bed when I’m sleepy and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time. So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5 a.m.), but I go to bed at different times every night.

However, going to bed only when I’m sleepy, and getting up at a fixed time every morning are my ways. If you want to become an early riser, you can try your own.

1. According to the passage, the underlined phrase refers to ________.

A. people who stay up until the next morning

B. people who get up early in the morning

C. people who feel sleepy in the morning

D. people whose productivity is the lowest in the morning

2. Why did the author want to become a habitual early riser?

A. Because he / she found that the productivity was higher.

B. Because he / she wanted to do morning exercise.

C. Because he / she wanted to test which school is better.

D. Because he / she wanted to have more sleep time.

3.The author experienced all the following EXCEPT ________.

A. going to bed after midnight

B. asking scholars for advice on sleeping habits

C. getting up early occasionally

D. pressing off the alarm to go on sleeping

4. What’s the author’s sleep pattern?

A. Going to bed early and getting up early.

B. Going to bed late and getting up late.

C. Going to bed when sleepy and getting up at a fixed early time.

D. Going to bed early and getting up late.

5. The passage is mainly about ________.

A. main schools of thought on sleep patterns

B. how to have a good sleep

C. wrong strategies for getting up early

D. how to become an early riser

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2.What information CAN’T we get from the advertisement about Quickeats?

A. Different kinds B. High quality

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3.Which of the following can be heated before eating according to the ads?

A. Pasta Salad B. Dried Fruit

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4.What can we learn from the advertisement?

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