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?
Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver.The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman.
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction.She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland,“It's OK.It wasn't your fault.”When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson:You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn't the only CEO to have made this discovery.Rather, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up.It's hard to get a dozen CEO's to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule.They say how others treat the CEO says nothing.But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul.
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like,“I could but this place and fire you,”or“I know the owner and I could have you fired.”Those who say such things have shown more about their character than about their wealth and power.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson.He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management.
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,”Swanson says.“I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables.”
(1)
What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman's dress?
[ ]
A.
He was fired.
B.
He was blamed.
C.
The woman comforted him.
D.
The woman left the restaurant at once.
(2)
Odland learned one of his life lessons from ________.
[ ]
A.
his experience as a waiter
B.
the advice given by the CEOs
C.
an article in Fortune
D.
an interesting best-selling book
(3)
According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about ________.
Suppose we built a robot(机器人)to explore the planet Mars.We provide the robot with seeing detectors(探测器)to keep it away from danger.It is powered entirely by the sun.Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times?No.The robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any.So we would probably program it to stop its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning.
According to the evolutionary(进化的)theory of sleep, evolution equipped us with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking for the same reason.The theory does not deny(否认)that sleep provides some important restorative functions(恢复功能).It merely says that evolution has programmed us to perform those functions at a time when activity would be inefficient and possibly dangerous.However, sleep protects us only from the sort of trouble we might walk into; it does not protect us from trouble that comes looking for us.So we sleep well when we are in a familiar, safe place, but we sleep lightly, if at all, when we fear that bears will nose into the tent.
The evolutionary theory explains the differences in sleep among creatures.Why do eats, for instance, sleep so much, while horses sleep so little?Surely cats do not need five times as much repair and restoration as horses do.But cats can afford to have long periods of inactivity because they spend little time eating and are unlikely to be attacked while they sleep.Horses must spend almost all their waking hours eating, because what they eat is very low in energy value.Moreover, they cannot afford to sleep too long or too deeply, because their survival(生存)depends on their ability to run away from attackers.
(1)
The author uses the example of the robot in space exploration to tell us ________.
[ ]
A.
the differences between robots and men
B.
the reason why men need to sleep
C.
about the need for robots to save power
D.
about the danger of men working at night
(2)
Evolution has programmed man to sleep at night chiefly to help him ________.
[ ]
A.
keep up a regular pattern of life
B.
prevent trouble that comes looking for him
C.
avoid danger and inefficient labour
D.
restore his bodily functions
(3)
According to the author, we cannot sleep well when we ________.
[ ]
A.
are worrying about our safety
B.
are overworked
C.
are in a tent
D.
are away from home
(4)
Cats sleep much more than horses do partly because cats ________.
[ ]
A.
need more time for restoration
B.
are unlikely to be attackers
C.
axe more active than homes when they are awake
D.
spend less time eating to get enough energy
(5)
Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?
[ ]
A.
Evolution has equipped all creatures with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking.
B.
The study of sleep is an important part of the evolutionary theory.
C.
Sleeping patterns must be taken into consideration in the designing of robots.
D.
The sleeping pattern of a living creature is determined by the food it eats.
阅读理解:
Several years ago, my parents, my wife, my son and I ate at one of those restaurants where the menu is written on a blackboard.After a wonderful dinner, the waiter set the check in the middle of the table.That’s when it happened:my father did not reach for the check.
Conversation continued.Finally I realized that I should pick up the check!After hundreds of restaurant meals with my parents, after a lifetime of thinking of my father as the one with dollars, it had all changed.I reached for the check, and my view of myself suddenly changed.I was an adult.I was no longer a kid.
Some people mark off(区分)their lives in years, I measure mine in small events.I didn’t become a young man at a particular age, like 16, but rather when a kid who wandered in the streets called me “mister.” These events in my life are called “milestones”(里程碑)
There have been other milestones.The cops(policemen)of my youth always seemed big, even huge, and of course they were older than I was.Then one day they were suddenly realized that all the football players in the game I was watching were younger than I was.They were just big kids.With that milestone gone was the dream that someday, maybe I, too, could be a football player.Without ever having reached the hill, I was over it.
I never thought that I would fall asleep in front of the TV set as my father did.Now it’s what I do best.I never thought that I would go to the beach and not swim, yet I spent all of August at the shore and never once went into the ocean.I never thought that I would appreciate opera, but now the combination of voice and orchestra attract me.I never thought that I would prefer to stay home in the evenings, but now I find myself passing up parties.I used to think that people who watched birds were strange, but this summer I fond myself watching them, and maybe I’ll get a book on the subject.I feel a strong desire for a religious belief that I never thought I’d want, feel close to my ancestors(祖先)long gone, and echo my father in arguments with my son.I still lose…
One day I bought a house.One day-what a day!–I became a father, and not too long after that I picked up the check for my own father.I thought then it was a milestone for me.One day, when I was a little older, I realized it was one for him, too, another milestone.
(1)
The tone established in the passage is one of ________.
[ ]
A.
sad regret
B.
amusement
C.
happiness
D.
deep feeling
(2)
The author mentions the event in the restaurant because ________.
[ ]
A.
that was one of his milestone
B.
he paid the bill but he didn’t want to
C.
he became a father with dollars
D.
that was the last restaurant meal with his parents
(3)
“Then they were suddenly neither.” Suggests that ________.
[ ]
A.
suddenly they became older than I was
B.
suddenly I knew that they was neither bigger nor older than I was
C.
suddenly I realized that I made mistake
D.
suddenly I found myself no longer a kid
(4)
Which of the following best expresses the author’s thinking?
[ ]
A.
One day is worth two tomorrow
B.
To save time is to length life
C.
When an opportunity is lost, it never comes back to you
D.
Time and tide wait for no man
阅读理解。
I’m seventeen.I had worked as a box boy at a supermarket in Los Angeles.People came to the counter and you put things in their bags for them and carried things to their cars.It was hard work.
While working, you wear a plate with your name on it.I once met someone I knew years ago.I remembered his name and said, “Mr.Castle, how are you?” We talked about this and that.As he left, he said, “It was nice talking to you, Brett.” I felt great, he remembered me.Then I looked down at my name plate.Oh no.He didn’t remember me at all, he just read the name plate.I wish I had put “Irving” down on my name plate.If he’d have said, “Oh yes, Irving, how could I forget you?” I’d have been ready for him.There’s nothing personal here.
The manager and everyone else who were a step above the box boys often shouted orders.One of these was:You couldn’t accept tips.Okay, I’m outside and I put the bags in the car.For a lot of people, the natural reaction is to take a quarter and give it to me.I’d say, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” They’d get angry.When you give someone a tip, you’re sort of being polite.You take a quarter and you put it in their hands and you expect them to say, “Oh, thanks a lot.” When you say, “I’m sorry, I can’t,” they feel a little put down.They say, “No one will know.” And they put it in your pocket.You say, “I really can’t.” It gets to a point where you almost have to hurt a person physically to prevent him from tipping you.It was not in agreement with the store’s belief in being friendly.Accepting tips was a friendly thing and made the customer feel good.I just couldn’t understand the strangeness of some people’s ideas.One lady actually put it in my pocket, got in the car, and drove away.I would have had to throw the quarter at her or eaten it or something.
I had decided that one year was enough.Some people needed the job to stay alive and fed.I guess I had the means and could afford to hate it and give it up.
(1)
What can be the best title for this text?
[ ]
A.
How Hard Life is for Box Boys
B.
Getting along with Customers
C.
Why I Gave up My Job
D.
The Art of Taking Tips
(2)
From the second paragraph, we can infer that _________.
[ ]
A.
the writer didn’t like the impersonal part of his job
B.
with a name plate, people can easily start talking
C.
Mr.Castle mistook Irving for Brett
D.
Irving was the writer’s real name
(3)
The box boy refused to accept tips because _________.
[ ]
A.
customers only gave small tips
B.
some customers had strange ideas about tipping
C.
the store forbade the box boys to take tips
D.
he didn’t want to fight with the customers
(4)
The underlined phrase “put down” in the third paragraph probably means _________.